Losing interest?

[whitegold]

Lately i've been having trouble finishing books that i'm reading. I really don't know why. It can be a captivating story but as soon as i put the book down, i never want to pick it back up. Does this happen to anyone else?? I have been reading Middlesex for months now. The story is really interesting and it is well written. Im half way through the book but i'm just never in the mood to read it anymore. Weird or what? Maybe im just losing my reading mojo, or i need a change; a light read, something uplifting? i don't know. Anyone else going through this?

I hope there isn't a similar topic like this already..

[sagedautumn]

Nah it's a good topic and one we all face from time to time. For example, although I HATE giving up on something I could not for the life of me finish Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman. I hope I could pick it up again one day

[Dominique]

I feel like that too sometimes. Also if it's a really long book, and Middlesex is quite long, depending on your schedule it can take a bit longer to read it. Often if I'm reading a book for over about two weeks I start to get sick of it. It might just be that you're not "in the mood" for anything you're reading. It could be a good excuse to go out and buy books you are in the mood for!

Sometimes though I don't feel like reading with everything that's going on in life Maybe you need to give yourself a bit of a break to bring back the joy in it

[ItalianLaneGirl]

Funny you should start this topic thread...I'm going through the same thing! This past week I looked at all the books on my bookshelves and NOTHING looked intriguing. I looked at my TBR list to get something from the library and again, nothing looked interesting. Right now I'd rather watch a movie than read a book. I started a few, but just can't get into anything...I have 3 started right now.

[Dominique]

I felt the same in May. I was studying so much that at night I just wanted to watch a dvd or tv. I didn't finish anything! So I just let myself not read and this month I'm back into it again.

edit: sorry I meant in April

[Michelle]

feel the same way. I thought I would get so much reading done this month because I've had nothing else to do but I have yet to finish a book. I wasn't into Mansfield Park so that was slowing me down. Instead of putting it down, I just forced myself to read a bit each day and then allowed myself a nice, easy read, too (The Host). Now I'm really into the Host and have spent a good chunk of the last two days reading. I guess you just have to find a captivating book.

And Middlesex took my months despite really enjoying it. It's a good read, but maybe not a page-turner?

[Ansku]

I agree. I love books and there is a lot of books that I would love to read, but I just don't read them. I buy or borrow books from library, and they can be in my shelf months before I start reading them. I always blame school, but my tests are over but still I don't read anything.

I don't know. I guess it's easier to sit and watch TV than read a book. I hope that I will read more often than I do now.

[Dominique]

I find sometimes too that if I bought a book awhile ago and it's just been sitting on my shelf I can lose interest in it. It's like because it's been there every day for a few months and I can see it I lose interest in it and want to read something else? Lol if that makes sense.

[Pilleriin]

May 26, 2008 9:26:04 GMT -5 Dominique said:

I find sometimes too that if I bought a book awhile ago and it's just been sitting on my shelf I can lose interest in it. It's like because it's been there every day for a few months and I can see it I lose interest in it and want to read something else? Lol if that makes sense.

Yup, it makes sense. I lose interest very easily. When I buy a new book, I'm very anxious to read it, but I'm almost always reading something else. When I finish the first book, then I don't feel like reading the new book anymore.

I also don't read anything new so easily. I don't have a lot of spare time and because of that choose very carefully what I read. So most of the times I re-read something I know what's good, rather than reading a new book, I also buy ice cream like this

May 26, 2008 8:43:54 GMT -5 Michelle said:

And Middlesex took my months despite really enjoying it. It's a good read, but maybe not a page-turner?

It took me 3 months to read Middlesex, I liked it, but it had some really slow parts

[thenephilim]

I have been having this same dilemma. I have been working long hours so far this summer and when I get home from work, I am either exhausted or go and workout and become exhausted. Then I don't have energy to stay awake to read, so it has been taking forever to get through books, causing me to lose interest in them. I also have books sitting on my shelves that have been there for years, so I really need to get back into the habit of reading. However, like some of you have mentioned, when you are tired or not in the mood to read, all you want to do is watch tv or a movie.

[Bina]

I had this with Garp even though I love the story. I´d read it before and within a week but this time it took me ages and I read lots of other books instead.

[lindsay]

I go through that all the time. I try not to force myself to read when I've lost interest because there would be no pleasure in it so I think it would be pointless.

[Isa]

I'd also recommend putting it down - I remember very well struggling to read Joseph Heller's "Portrait of the Artist as an Old Man", I just couldn't go on with it so I put it back on the shelf. About a year later, I picked it up again, and I practically inhaled it! Sometimes your appreciation of a book has a lot to do with the mood you're in, so you wouldn't want to ruin a good novel by reading it at the wrong time. If I remember correctly, Sara Nelson wrote something to that effect in "So Many Books, So Little Time", and I very much agreed with her.

[annak]

You know, sometimes you just have to put it away. I was reading "Becoming Jane Austen" a biography, a while ago and even though I love Jane Austen and I love reading about people, I just felt all "blaaah" while reading it. A few days ago I had this itch to start it again and I'm almost finished, so it might just be that you need a change of pace because you're forcing yourself to read something. Or maybe stop reading all together for a while? I know that when I haven't read in a while, I like it a lot more when I start again.

[oureternity]

I went through this around April I think, it happens to me every now and then, so I try to read a variety. To be honest, whenever that happens I pick up one of Hornby's books! Haha, they're always light and funny and gets me back on track.