You pick up an acclaimed book, one that you’ve been meaning to read for a long time. Eagerly, you scan through the lines, but your brain refuses to make sense of the words. And despite your umpteenth attempt at re-reading, the first page still remains an incomprehensible cluster of words.
This annoying phenomenon is known as the reader’s block, and happens to even the best of us. Sometimes it’s the genre that doesn’t sit right with us, or sometimes it’s the plot that doesn’t enthral us.
Whatever the reason may be, here we bring 5 tested methods that will definitely help you defeat your reader’s block!
1) Mix up your genres
If you have been reading a lot of mystery novels recently, it’s time to switch to something more light-hearted, or whatever intrigues you in that case, other than your mastered genre. As it often happens, our minds get bored of reading similarly-structured works, and they provide no stimulation after extensive reading.
In such cases, stepping out of your comfort zone and picking up a book that’s contradictory to your current read might be the way to go! Click on the picture for a list of light-hearted books you must read!
2) Abandon The Book
This is a hard choice for many of us, but remember, you aren’t obligated to put yourself through a 300-paged novel that doesn’t remotely interest you. And so, it is perfectly all right to give up the book and replace it with one that you are excited about.
As Mortimer Adler once said, “It’s not how many books you can get through, it’s how many books get through you.” In fact, Good-reads even has a list for the most abandoned books of all times. So don’t beat yourself up if you couldn’t get through the first page of Sapiens or Wuthering Heights, because well, most of us couldn’t.
3) Pick up an easy book
If you’re a newbie in the reading community, you might be very well acquainted to this. Many a times we set our reading expectations so high that even starting the book seems impossible. At such times, classics like Pride And Prejudice or 1984 for might be the wrong choice for you.
Instead, here is a list of 5 easy books that you can read which will help you get over your book slump. Their enthralling plots and simple yet effective language will remind you just why you fell in love with reading, and why it’s one of the most magical things known to man.
4) Detach yourself from technology:
Reading is a demanding activity, and to get the best out of it you need to divert all your attention towards your book. However, with the current technological distractions around us, we are said to have an attention span of merely 8 seconds.
This can prove to be an obstacle in our reading habits, as movies and videos provide stories on a platter and are continuously diminishing your attention span, making you more and more detached from books.
And if such distractions are what cause you reading slumps, then turning off your mobile phone and spending some time with your book might be exactly the thing you need!
5) Take a break from reading
Have you just binge read a 500-paged book in a night? Or have you just finished an extremely thrilling trilogy that left you shattered? If that’s the case, getting yourself out of the fictional world and starting a new book might be a problem.
The best way to cure this would be to explore some new hobbies and take a break from reading. Although make sure to get back in your normal reading regime after a while, as a long break might elevate the reading block instead of curbing it.
To sum it up, here go the 5 tested methods:
1) Try reading a new genre
2) Abandon the book if it doesn’t interest you
3) Start with an easy book
4) Lock up all the technological devices
5) Take a short reading break
What do you prefer to do when having the reader’s block? Comment below!
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