…won’t be the soul of wit today, I’m afraid. My evening is being spent practising for my ECDL (European Computer Driving Licence) and by ‘practicing’ I mean ‘learning’. Most of it has been fairly simple, but now I’m trying to learn about Access, which I’ve never used, and have no clear idea what it is.
Not much reading happening at the moment, either. Have four books on the go, none of them making much headway… it’s very rare that I get ‘readers’ block’, but that is what it feels like at the moment… Anyone else get this? Reading doesn’t get anywhere, and you become amazed that you ever managed to read so many thousands of words on hundreds of pages… Very un-Stuck-in-a-Book, and not something I get often, but right now I’m not feeling at all bookish. Oh dear!
Remedies, please….
It’s not a remedy, but after reading ‘Human Traces’ I was unable to read anything for about a week! I was so exhausted.
Hmm – remedies. Read an undemanding piece of froth, so that your brain is sufficiently unscrambled to make way for weightier tomes?
It happens to me occasionally so I read magazines and poetry and do other things. The urge always comes back and it’s such a welcomed event!
Take heart!
I go through this “I can’t find the right book to read” phase every now and then. I don’t have a remedy – you just have to live through it until the next “just the right book” turns up – it will!
Or you could turn to something completely different that’s got nothing to do with books, or reading, or libraries.
Good luck.
Have a break – watch a DVD, listen to music, see a friend, permit yourself to be not reading. Otherwise it’s like poking a bruise the whole time to check whether it still hurts. The urge to read will always return.
I’e been suffering with a particularly nasty bout of readers’ block myself recently. I have been reading a lot of short stories from random collections, a lot of newspapers, and the odd chapter here and there.
Think I’ve finally found “just the right book” and the block is dissolving, but it’s a horrible feeling “not to be able to read”. You have my sympathies.
Go back to a favourite?
Or … just remember a favourite and see the scenes that you loved conjured up behind your eyelids.
You’ve got so many books inside you that perhaps this readers’ block is your psyche’s way of saying … no more for a little while, please … .
Is it, possibly, the summer calling you to be out and about in the fresh air? Maybe a punting expedition with a book to hand is the thing – perhaps your mind’s temporary block would unravel with a bit of al fresco reading on the bank after some moderate exercise on the water?
I second the “take a break” idea. Watch a movie, sit outside, whatever else you like to do. The urge to read will strike again!
On the very rare occasions when I just don’t feel like reading, I often find it best just to leave off reading for a day or two (or even a few days). Which is to say that I agree with most of the other comments.
Whenever that doesn’t work, I’ll fall back on the kinds of books that are my comfort reading. Reading is such an individual thing though that I’m not sure whether this would work for you.
I like to reread a favorite too–a nice comfort read where you’re assured you’re going to like it! At the moment I’m not making any progrss either–but I have too many good books started and go from book to book. I need to just make a pile and start with the top one and read it through, then move on to the next. Hope you get out of your slump soon.
I read a slew of old favorites to remind myself what I am reading for. It may take a few days or a week but you get used to reading again. Good luck.
I has this last week – and unblocked wonderfully with The Darling Buds of May series. Have you read them?
I gobbled all five of them in the end. Feeling a bit light-headed now…