I really struggle to read books cover to cover. It probably is one of my worst habits. I don't know if it's down to my poor attention span or my poor choice of reading material, but I have tried reading a wide range. I even set myself the challenge of reading 50 books during this year (which isn't actually that many) to encourage myself to read and i can't see it happening - so far this year I have read four, and one of which was a book for my english lit class. What generally happens is I get about a third of the way through the book and I get bored. It doesn't seem to bother me that I wont know what happens to the characters at the end. So I'd appreciate it if you could either give me some tips on how to actually get reading (and I do want to read) or some books which you weren't able to put down. As a general rule I'll give any book a go, but with my attitude as it is at the minute, I dont think I should try and books that are too 'heavy'.
Try reading poetry or short stories. They aren't nearly as long as novels but are still fun to read. As for novels, we can't recommend anything unless you tell us what genres you like reading (or don't mind reading). I know that a lot of people find fantasy books to be fun reads.
I feel the need for more details: What have you been reading or trying to read, and which ones did you kind of like even though you put them down? What made you get bored? ChickenFreak
Thanks for the intrest Generally I'll try to read anything intended for the YA audience, genre doesn't matter. I have in the past probably enjoyed reading stories about typical teenage issues, historical novels or novels based in the past, stories with elaments of fantasy, action novels and some thriller novels. I used to love romance too, but now Ive gone right off it. I'm not completely sure why I'm getting bored with books, but I think it could possibly be because I feel I am at the bridging point between YA novels and adult novels (Im 16). Usually Im finding there isn't enough substance in the YA novels Im reading, but the adult novels Im trying to read are too much for me yet. I had to read To Kill A Mockingbird for lit class, and I did get all the way through it after a lot of forcing and admittidly I did enjoy it now that I look back at it. I would read that book again now without any trouble but whilst I was reading it I didn't feel that way.
Perhaps read some Edgar Allan Poe--short stories, and I'd recommend "The Cask of Amontillado" to start you off. It's not as long or complicated as most of his stories, but it's a very entertaining read and one of my favorites.
In that case, I'd suggest digging into more adult novels, and also perhaps giving nonfiction a try. It appears that I also wasn't crazy about YA fiction - looking around at my bookshelves, I have a lot of children's books that I loved when I was a kid, a lot of regular novels, and not a single YA book. So maybe just get a long, long list of authors and books in many genres and go to the library, dipping into book after book but not forcing yourself to read past the first few pages if they don't appeal. And not focusing on the literary, reading-list stuff, but instead on the stuff that people read for sheer enjoyment. I've been dredging up old favorites lately, so I have a long list, partly sorted by genre: -- Murder mysteries (I tend toward female authors): - Agatha Christie (Some of my favorites are At Bertram's Hotel, Elephants Do Remember, The Mirror Crack'd, The Moving Finger, The Body In The Library) - Charlotte Macleod (The Sarah Kelling series, starting with _The Family Vault_) - Dorothy Sayers (Start with _Strong Poison_, or the Wimsey short stories) - Martha Grimes (Even if you don't like mysteries, try _Hotel Paradise_. If you do like mysteries, also start with the first Richard Jury and read your way through.) - Ngaio Marsh (Most of them, but _Death In A White Tie_ is my favorite) - Anne Perry. Maybe. I enjoyed the first several books in the Pitt series, but I slowly lost interest. - Laurie R. King (Start with _The Beekeeper's Apprentice_.) -- Science fiction/fantasy, with some help from the science-fiction-focused member of the household: - Marion Zimmer Bradly (_Mists of Avalon_) - Ursula K. LeGuin (Earthsea trilogy) - Isaac Asimov, though probably not starting with the Foundation series. - Orson Scott Card (_Ender's Game_ and follow-ons) - Steven Gould (Not to be confused with Stephen Jay Gould.) - H. Beam Piper (I like the Little Fuzzy series; he recommends Space Viking. This may be a girl/guy thing.) - Ray Bradbury - Robert Heinlein (Some people call him sexist, and I sometimes agree, but he still writes a mighty fine story. If the adult novels don't work, there are a number of juveniles as well.) - Tolkien - _The Hobbit_, even if the Lord Of The Rings trilogy is a little much. -- Other fiction: - Stephen King - Elizabeth Peters - Douglas Adams, the Hitchhiker's series. Many others, but my brain is fuzzy. -- Nonfiction: - Calvin Trillin, especially his food books ... I know that there are many, many others, but everything I think of is interest based. Herman Herst for stamp collecting, Henry Mitchell for gardening, Margaret Visser if human customs interest you, and so on and on. -- Then there are also the children's books that are worth reading as an adult. You may have already read them, but just in case: - Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials series. - The Harry Potter books. - _A Wrinkle In Time_, and the other Madeline L'Engle books. - _The Chronicles of Narnia_. And ignore the recent re-ordering to make them events chronological; _The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe_ is supposed to be read first! - _The Wind In The Willows_ - _Alice in Wonderland_ and _Through The Looking Glass_ - _A Little Princess_ and _The Secret Garden_ - Everything by Roald Dahl OK, this is getting a little long, huh? I'll stop here. ChickenFreak
One of the things my grandpa always says about reading is; "Like my english teacher said in 7th grade when we were suppose to be reading, he told us that we should read ANYTHING we like. So I asked him, 'what do you mean by anything?' and his response was 'Anything, if you like to read porn then by god read it, I don't care, just as long as your reading' " So yeah, my suggestion to reading is just read anything around you that strikes your interest. Whether it be a newspaper article or a magazine at the doctors office or even some book you find lying around the house. Another thing I do when reading is go to a room where no one else is (since there's always a television or something on in my house where its distracting) that has plenty of lighting and a radio or cd player. Turn on the music, you don't have to listen to it its just to block out all the other noises, and just read until you get tired of reading. Surprisingly doing this can make me read for an entire day when usually my short attention span let's me read for maybe an hour or two. By the way, Chicken I would LOVE to know the complete list of what you got on your shelves. There's very good names there.
So stick to some action/adventure YA stuff. Some of my favorites in my teen years (actually, I still enjoy them now and then) were: The Everworld Series by K.A. Applegate The Pendragon Series by D.J. MacHale Harry Potter books (do I really need to mention them?) There's so many out there. You just need to find your niche. Happy reading.
HP, like InkDream said. Have a go at Artemis Fowl and Percy Jackson and the Olympians, too. Pretty easy reads, besides being entertaining.
All you have to do, truly, is find something entertaining and attention-grabbing. Maybe the problem has been books that you don't find very interesting in the first place?
Thank you so so much for the advice Im definatly going to make a list of all the boos that have been suggested and get as many as I can from the library to give them a go.
