How to Solve your ‘Post Pandemic’ Reading Blues

To start with, we are very much still in a pandemic regardless of what any of our wayward governments are telling us. So when I say ‘post pandemic’, I am rather referring to the period that some countries are in currently where we are no longer subjected to certain pandemic restrictions. I don’t know if it’s just me or if this is a general consensus, but did anyone notice that the further along we went through this year and a half, the more difficult it became to sit down and engage with a good book? It’s strange, during the first lockdown I was absolutely plowing my way through books but until very recently, I haven’t even gotten through the first page of ‘Joy Luck Club’- a book that has been at the top of my reading list for eons (that already has a movie that I love). I don’t know if anyone else is struggling with this, but I thought I would share some of the tips and tricks that are helping me work my way through this reading slump.

1. Schedule

It sounds super annoying and very structured, especially for those who use reading as an outlet from the more structured aspects of life e.g. work/school, but it’s super easy and effective. 

Give yourself goal posts and split up your reading daily to reach that target  e.g. “I want to read 1 chapter by the end of the week”; first, look at the number of pages in the chapter, then divide it by 7. When doing this, also keep in mind your schedule- do you finish late or have to get up earlier some days? Use that to decide how to schedule your reading. E.g. If you want to read a chapter in a week with 49 pages, you have to read 7 pages a day. But maybe you have an early start on Friday and a late finish on Wednesday and don’t think you’ll have time to read those 7 pages, there are a couple ways to rectify this;

1. Be diligent, commit to reading those 7 pages a day regardless of the changes to your schedule.
2. Redistribute, take on more pages on your free days. Either don’t read on your busy days, or read less on those days.
3. Where you have time, make time. If you normally read before bed but you’re finishing late on Wednesday and know you’ll be too tired to do that, think about when else throughout your day you could slot them in e.g. during lunch break or on your morning commute.

2. Audiobooks

Now, before you tell me “audiobooks don’t work for me”, let me explain. Audiobooks once upon a time weren’t for me either, but here we are. The trick however, is combining an audiobook with something else. 

1. Listen to the audiobook while following along with an actual physical copy of the book. Reading along while listening is really helpful in keeping you engaged with what is actually being said. If you’re a reader, you might have developed a tendency to speed read to get through books efficiently but actually, sometimes you miss out on a lot of things, and listening to an audiobook can help with that. Both have individual attributes that can make it difficult to focus, but I believe the combination of both is the perfect combatant. Sometimes when you’re reading a book, you might find that you’ve been staring blankly at the page and haven’t actually engaged in anything that happened in the last chapter and sometimes, the lack of a physical focal point when you’re listening to an audiobook can mean your mind wanders and you’ve suddenly missed three car chases and the protagonist losing a limb. Now, I’m under no delusion that this is cheap but if you are an Audible user and have some credits or know someone who does and you’re struggling to get through a book this might be the solution for you. Also there are so many audiobooks that have been uploaded for free on different platforms e.g. YouTube (be aware with YouTube you might get a missing part or two because Penguin took it down for copyright lol), but there is a wealth of free audiobooks out there. I was struggling to get through Dune for a long time even though I was really enjoying it. Then I started reading it along with listening on YouTube and got through the entire second half of the book in 2 days. 
2. Audiobooks are also great if you’re a gym goer or a jogger etc. They once again tackle the issue of not being able to focus on a book as you’re focusing on your workout. Simply replace your music with a little Sci-Fi epic and kill two birds with one stone. Be warned though, I once almost fell on the treadmill because I was getting extremely invested in ‘Children of Blood and Bone’. 

3. Mix It Up

It sounds simple but just try reading something that isn’t your usual genre. If you’re into romance novels, why not try some Sci-Fi or a psychological thriller. A huge part of what could be contributing to your inability to fight the reading funk is the fact that you’re in a monotonous loop, reading the same  type of story. If you’re someone like me, you might jump from genre to genre and you’re thinking well this tip is unhelpful to me- well, you are wrong. I am someone who once exclusively read non-fiction; once I finished Undergrad I pretty much wrote off anything outside of that, so I thought maybe if I try and change that that could help. And help it did. I have been considering going back to school to get a screenwriting MA for a while now (yes I realise the irony of me saying this after saying I don’t read non-fiction anymore), and for Christmas my sisters bought me a Masterclass package and back in February I started to watch Issa Rae’s class ‘Creating Outside the Lines’ about the process of creating a pilot and screenwriting tips. In one of the first few lessons she suggested a book called ‘Screen Writing for Dummies’ so naturally, as the Issa stan I am, I instantly bought it. It stayed on my shelf collecting dust until about two weeks ago due to my commitment to exclusively reading fiction but after a nudge from a couple friends to write my script, I decided to give it a swing and the step away from my usual comfort zone into something that ended up being really interesting has really helped motivate me to get back into the swing of both reading and writing.

4. You Don’t Have to Finish

One of the most common blocks when it comes to reading is a commitment to a book you haven’t finished. But sometimes it’s okay to admit that you might have the block because the book isn’t for you. In the time you’ve been avoiding finishing that book, how many books that you may have loved have you missed out on? For the first time in years, back in April I started a book written by a white author. It was gifted to me for my birthday in February and I was excited to see what the author had to offer. I quickly realised it wasn’t for me; I’m not very interested in autobiographical works but I thought I would give it a swing. However, it was a swing and a miss and I spent at least two months forcing myself to read it. I eventually realised it was time to let it go and go to one of the books in my embarrassingly long ‘To be read’ pile and I was instantly more interested in the book I read next. Your membership to the “I love reading club” doesn’t suddenly get revoked because you realised a book wasn’t for you. Read another book or three and revisit the book later (or never), stop letting that one book stop you from reading altogether.

I hope one of these tips is helpful in fighting your reading blues, and I would love to hear what our readers do when they are struggling to get through a book. It’s also important to just be easy on yourself. You shouldn’t feel guilty about not being able to read, reading should be about entertainment, learning and self improvement. Happy Reading!

– Thea