Trouble getting into books

[Anonymous No.7242210]

Basically, sometime around year 11 I realised that literature (specifically novels and poetry) are actually extremely interesting and well thought out. However, I spent the previous 11 years of school thinking it was cool not to read so I have problems keeping with a book. I can generally read and enjoy about half of it, but then, like going to the gym, I just put it off day after day until I forget.

Anyways, long story short, how do you guys finish books?

Only books I've finished in years are: Pride and Prejudice, Heart of Darkness, and The Reader.

[Anonymous No.7242228]

>>7242210
I think you need adderall.

Heart of darkness is what, 150 pages?

[Anonymous No.7242236]

>>7242228
It's 115, found the first 75 pages pretty boring, but forced myself through it in one between lecture session.

[Anonymous No.7242238]

>>7242228
I read that over the course of 3 sessions, I couldn't understand the prose at all. Guess I'm a pleb

[Anonymous No.7242247]

First you got to set yourself an arbitrary page count for the day. Say "Today I will read AT LEAST 50 pages".
Then you stick to that and feel pretty good, especially when you exceed your daily page goal. Then after a while you realize that your attention on the page goal has completely sublimated any enjoyment or ideas you might have got from the literature itself. You've just fallen into a pointless numbers game with no ultimate goal at the end and pretty soon the goals fall apart. You'll fall into a kind of slump where you can't really read with that much enthusiasm (or maybe even anhedonia where you don't get satisfaction from doing anything). Just go back to your CBT exercises and write your predicted enjoyment of a thing beforehand, and then actual satisfaction afterwards. You'll find that your satisfaction is usually higher than you expected and pretty soon this will start working organically without the need for pen and paper &c. Soon after you'll find a book that you're really interested in and you'll read it in a day. You'll pick up another book expecting the same result, but you'll be disappointed. At this point you should repeat these instructions.

[Anonymous No.7242254]

>>7242210
down in a sitting, then amp it up to a bigger book. Also, stop reading complex books until you can give them their required attention.
Good luck, anon.

[Anonymous No.7242257]

>>7242254
Sorry, messed up.

Read shorter books like novellas or collections of short stories. Continue doing thing until you can get a few stories down in a sitting, then amp it up to a bigger book. Also, stop reading complex books until you can give them their required attention.
Good luck, anon.

[Anonymous No.7242262]

Discipline yourself boy. Begin a daily schedule that you write before you go to sleep; decide what you wish to di with your day, and plan it out. Spend about an hour on each of your daily goals/tasks. An example morning schedule would be like this, but in table form: between 6 and 10 in the morning I shall wake, shower, shave, meditate, eat, read, and go for a swim.

Also, read books that interest you; do not feel forced to read something, but also do not procrastinate out of laziness or boredom. If you find a genre or period of literature you like, read more of that and dig deeper into it. Read from a range of books to do this. For example you could read about Ancient Greece, then read their literature; from Herodotus you may wish to learn about Ancient Mesopotamia - you could then read about the history of Mesopotamia. Another example would be reading Heart of Darkness, from that you could read Conrad's other novels such as 'Typhoon'; from Typhoon you may be interested in more ship-based books so you could move onto Homer's Oddysey or In Hazard by Hughes.

Most importantly enjoy it, and realise the virtue of study and learning.

[Anonymous No.7242268]

>>7242247
>>7242254
Thank you!

Going to go out tomorrow and buy a bunch of novels to power through. I'll guess I could try CBT but I'm not really sure what it is.

[Anonymous No.7242275]

>>7242262
Do you have any novel suggestions with a good well-constructed dystopia?
I might try to start with those.

[Anonymous No.7242280]

>>7242210
So your problem is that you enjoy reading, but tend to put it off?
I must say your problem is more interesting than the standard ‘I can’t read for more than 5 minutes before getting bored. Help me /lit/!’

My recommendation would be to get some kind of routine into your reading. I am not suggesting that you force yourself to read an hour a day or something, but that you should think of moments when you’d have the time to read, like in bed before going to sleep, when you’re using public transport, when you are at home and have time for it &c. Or just read whenever you feel like it.

Don’t think of reading as something you do because you want to better yourself, but simply read if you want to.

[Anonymous No.7242290]

>>7242210
Are in college? Have been to college? Have you completed college?

The reason why I ask these questions is because most of who have graduated college are used to reading 100+ pages of material every week. For some majors its 300+ pages a week. In short, we develop a disciple to be able to sit for long periods of time and read; often making mental checkpoints.

I often evaluate the number of pages, look at my open availability to read, and immediately create a reading schedule. If the book is 300 pages, my goal is 4 days (75 pages a day). This allows for me to engage the book and finish it within a workable time frame so I don't forget plots, characters, events, names, ext, ext.

However, it sounds like you are not an efficient reader yet. I suggest you stick to short stories until you develop your reading skills.

[Anonymous No.7242291]

>>7242280
I think your last line perfectly sums up my problem tbh.

[Anonymous No.7242292]

I was in the same boat as you last year OP, but even older (24). I'd read about 10 pleb tier books in my life. Even though I was interested, it was almost painful to focus and read. I was diagnosed with ADD and started taking a low dose of amphetamines 1 year ago and in that time I've read 25 books, 3 of them over 700 pages. I was always skeptical of the overdiagnoses of ADD but now I don't give a fuck, it was magic for me

[Anonymous No.7242301]

>>7242275
Here's a selection mate:

The Foundation Pit - Platonov
>In Andrey Platonov’s The Foundation Pit, a team of workers has been given the job of digging the foundation of an immense edifice, a palatial home for the perfect future that, they are convinced, is at hand. But the harder the team works, the deeper they dig, the more things go wrong, and it becomes clear that what is being dug is not a foundation but an immense grave.

1984 - George Orwell
>Hidden away in the Record Department of the sprawling Ministry of Truth, Winston Smith skilfully rewrites the past to suit the needs of the Party. Yet he inwardly rebels against the totalitarian world he lives in, which demands absolute obedience and controls him through the all-seeing telescreens and the watchful eye of Big Brother, symbolic head of the Party. In his longing for truth and liberty, Smith begins a secret love affair with a fellow-worker Julia, but soon discovers the true price of freedom is betrayal.

The Iron Heel - Jack London
>Set in the future, "The Iron Heel" describes a world in which the division between the classes has deepened, creating a powerful Oligarchy that retains control through terror. A manuscript by rebel Avis Everhard is recovered in an even more distant future, and analyzed by scholar Anthony Meredith. Published in 1908, Jack London's multi-layered narrative is an early example of the dystopian novel, and its vision of the future proved to be eerily prescient of the violence and fascism that marked the initial half of the 20th century.

[Anonymous No.7242304]

>>7242275
You could google ‘/lit/ starter kit’ and check some of them out. Though /lit/ hates most of the books on the list, they are good entry points, specifically for people who don’t read that much. I’d recommend that you read different types of novels and try to figure out what kind of literature you like; you probably won’t like them all. Still, I’d suggest finishing them – you can’t really claim to have an opinion on a novel you have not finished – and for that reason shorter novels or novellas are probably preferable. You could also check out the wiki and see if anything piques your interest.

Not >>7242262 btw.

[Anonymous No.7242305]

>>7242290
Currently studying a BA with a major in English, but I coasted through my first semester without reading most of the books. Australian universities don't seem to require all that much reading.

[Anonymous No.7242312]

>>7242301
Thank you!
I've heard incredible things about 1984, but the amount of conspiracy theorists citing it has kept me away from it.

[Anonymous No.7242315]

>>7242305
I must as kwhat‘s the point of a BA in English if you don’t even bother to read the books? If you‘re just doing it for the degree, English is an odd choice.

[Anonymous No.7242316]

>>7242305

That is crazy, by the time I was in my fourth year (in the United States) I was reading 600+ pages a week, some of it was theory too.

I'm not sure what year you are, but you should prepare yourself for more demanding courses as your college education comes to a close.

[Anonymous No.7242322]

>>7242315
I see the major as a way for me to have more credentials as an English teacher. That job is pretty much the easiest way to travel why being paid.

[Anonymous No.7242324]

>>7242312
1984 and Brave New World are the most well known dystopian novels. You can read them in different ways: as images of a potential future, as stories, or as literature. 1984 is the more well known, of the two, fairly short, and in my opinion better. Most people who reference it reference it so badly they make me wonder if they have even read it.

But yeah, it‘s probably a good idea, you might want to read BNW next and make your own decision. You could look up some of the novels on the starter kit and see if they interest you. It’s probably better to read one novel at a time.

[Anonymous No.7242332]

>>7242324
These are helpful for finding 'begginer' reads, but it's important that OP expands out of /lit/ begginer core if he's to enjoy himself. Check out the chart thread in the catalog/archive OP.

>>7242312
Here's another selection mate - I'm this guy >>7242262

[Anonymous No.7242349]

>>7242332
>BNW in utopia and Fahrenheit 451 in dystopia

And eh, he’ll ‘expand’ when he does and if he does. Might as well enjoy himself. I don’t think he’s going to read all of the starter kit before looking at something else, anyway.

Hell, I have only read three fifths of them.

[Anonymous No.7242363]

I have a personal rule where I read a minimum of 25 pages a day, and I've kept to it for a pretty long time now. Obviously some days I will read more, but EVERY damn day I will read at the very least 25, even if I don't have time or whatever, I will make time. It really moves me through books, I highly recommend it.

(inb4 25 pages is pleb-tier)

[Anonymous No.7242372]

>>7242363
Eh, that would feel like a drag. I just read whenever I feel like reading. Sometimes I read 20, sometimes ten, sometimes I can go days without reading. At other times I can read hundreds of pages a day, though it takes a fairly simple novel to do that: Dune I read in a day.

[Anonymous No.7242378]

>>7242363
During my time reading P&P I had a rule to go through at least 50 pages a day, and it worked, but I didn't enjoy or really understand anything from the book. I only realised what was happening when i read it again in uni and we had in-depth discussions. Maybe that's just me though. I'm not sure if it was the 50 page rule or just my attitude, i guess we'll see soon enough.

[Anonymous No.7242390]

>>7242324
Ignore this, read this >>7241079

[Anonymous No.7242401]

>>7242372
20-10 is less than a half hour of reading. You have more free time than that I'm sure.

[Anonymous No.7242403]

>>7242390
That’s worse. You have to consider what the point of the starter kit is.

[Anonymous No.7242416]

>>7242401
Depends on the text. But reading takes more than time: it takes energy, and if I’m feeling exhausted after a long day, I just don’t have the energy to read even if I want to. But the ten pages, twenty pages are when after reading for half an hour I don‘t feel like reading any longer. Sometimes I read more, sometimes I don’t; the 10–20 pages is more of a lower bound: if I don’t have the energy/will to read that I probably won’t read at all. If after 20 pages I feel like reading more, I will.

[Anonymous No.7242420]

>>7242403
To be boring, unfun, and genuinely misleading? That's the point?

[Anonymous No.7242437]

>>7242416
That just sounds like you're forcing yourself to do something you don't like doing. Do you hear people who enjoy, say, exercising saying "I can only manage 10-20 minutes, sometimes I don't even bother"?

[Anonymous No.7242446]

>>7242437
Eh, I do enjoy reading, but I tend to read more on weekends and holidays.

To take the exercising example: someone who does manual labour and enjoys going to the gym, might not do so after a long day.

[Anonymous No.7242457]

>>7242403
>>7242420

Seems so. /lit/ will never put together a good starter kit because it's out of touch with anything that isn't blazing high modernism or postmodernism.

[Anonymous No.7242940]

>>7242457
I think anon was saying the original starter kit was all that lmao

[Anonymous No.7243139]

fucking libraries only giving you 9 weeks and shit. honestly you should be able to rent a book for up to twice that amount of time

[Anonymous No.7243148]

how did you manage to avoid reading for 2004 years

[Anonymous No.7243218]

>>7243139
>2.5 months
Yeah bullshit I know

[Anonymous No.7244004]

>>7243139
Your library gives you that long?
The local one nearest me gives you two weeks, and you can only renew it twice, then you need to return it for at least a week before you're able to take it out again

[Anonymous No.7244022]

>>7243148
nice

[Anonymous No.7244035]

>>7244004
I think he's counting the renewals. Over here it's 3 weeks plus two renewals, that makes 9.

[Anonymous No.7244910]

I'm a little bit similar to you. I would love to be able to read for hours and hours, but my brain doesn't work that way. However, I still love reading, and this is how I do it...

I prefer to set time goals rather than page goals. I have Spotify playlists for 15 min, 30 min, and 1 hour reading blocks. It all depends on how busy I am that day. I don't stop reading until the playlist finishes.

I generally find that, after a long day at work (I'm a high school teacher so my days are pretty hectic), reading relaxes me more than plonking in from of the TV. So I usually read as soon as I get home.

I usually read books that are around 200 pages. I like crime/detective/espionage novels where the plot moves along at a decent pace.

[Anonymous No.7246088]

>>7244910
My problem with that is that I can't read while listening to music so keeping time is quite difficult.