lit, am I fucking alone in feeling this way??? I started like 5 books and I have this tendency to start books and not finish them because I get bored. Does this happen to other people too? I often start a book and feel like it has nothing of deeper value that I am going to be walking away thinking about, so I put the book down because I don't want it to become a chore that makes me hate the book.
>>8219648
>am I fucking alone in feeling this way
yeah, kid, you're the only person in the history of the world that has ever felt that way. congratulations. good post.
>>8219648
Just read short stories.
>>8219663
like what?
I started keeping a list of all the books I've finished, as well as some notes of what I thought about it.
For some reason just having that list motivated me to actually finish them - I don't let myself add it to the list until I'm done with it. It feels strangely rewarding when I do it, and I also think it's nice having a record of what I've read and my basic notes about it to go back and review sometimes - I have a shit memory so it's easy to not even really remember what sort of stuff I've read.
I'm thinking that I might start rewarding myself for every 5 or 10 books I put on it the list, just to further incentivise getting through books from start to finish. Once you're in the habit it's easier to keep it.
I'm a bit autistic about record-keeping though so that might be part of why I get such a kick out of keeping a list of stuff I've read, your mileage may vary.
>>8219676
Joyce, Borges, Munro, Chekhov, Kafka the list presumably goes on.
>>8219682
>Kafka
oh shit, kafka and joyce have short stories? gotta buy that. I know borges and I still need to get into him, I have a book by him. I'll have to check out those other authors, I don't know them.
There was a brand new dover thrift edition of dubliners for 1 dollar on amazon with free shipping. SCORE.
>>8219678
Why don't you use Goodreads for that? I do and I like to run all sorts of stats, using their engine or in my head, if they're too autistic. I don't even read that much. Recently I finished the Oresteia by Aeschylus and I added each play separately to boost up my numbers, although the plays are about forty pages each and the whole trilogy was one book anyway. A stupid exercise in vanity, and for what? It's not like anybody sees those stats or cares about them and I don't go around boasting, not that they're anything to write home about. So why, then?, I wonder.
it's called being a pseud
>>8219739
that hurts anon
>>8219738
>Why don't you use Goodreads for that?
Honestly, I wasn't aware of it. I just kinda started keeping a reading journal on a whim in January because I was curious how many books I could read in the course of a year and I like having some sort of thing I can refer back to down the line. Goodreads would probably be just as effective, but I'm already comfortable with the system I have.
>>8219648
Ya, I also tend to start 3 to 10 books and then have to force myself to finish them instead of just starting more. If I ever get a clear plate I'll spend the day reading new ones then read much less the following week. Just always seeking novelty is all. Short stories does work, it just means you'll have a growing number of author collections on permanent rotation.
Learn not to care.
I feel the same and that's why I just read short stories like a pseud. Don't force yourself into something you don't enjoy.
>>8219815
The problem is I started a bunch of books that are hard as fuck to read and I can't seem to finish them. Like, I really don't understand notes from underground and nausea is driving me insane trying to get through a single page and feel like I get what is going on. I think I should just accept what the character in nausea is saying as absurd and just try to connect what he's doing, because from what I can tell so far everything he's saying about his surroundings is absolutely meaningless and someone told me that it's just sartre trying to get us to ask ourselves how much of our thoughts throughout the day are just as absurd.
>>8219739
what is a pseud
>>8219829
Notes from Underground has a context. Check out DFW's "Joseph Frank and Dostoevsky." There are also probably better options.
Nausea might also require context. But like. Who cares dude. Fuck Sartre - fucking faggot. Have you seen those eyes of his? Woof.
>>8219712
>being this fucking dense
Did you know that James Joyce was Irish? Totally shocked me, like what did he write dubliners about?
>>8219648
he would look quite cute as a trap
>>8219891
I want to shave his legs and go to town on him
>>8219712
ouchie my brain thinky :(
>>8219914
I'd go down on him as is, he's adorable. Stop being so straight.
>>8219915
I got kinda a boner when you said this to me desu.
>>8219921
I get off on shaving other people, otherwise I agree.
Faggots should be gassed desu senpai.
>>8219935
Anon, that hurts :(
>>8219938
No, your nervous system will shut down rather quickly, I assure you.
>>8219928
>>8219921
>>8219914
>>8219891
>>8219648
My autistic friend only plays WoW and wants to be a writer. He is 24 years old and has read <10 books in his life. His favorite story is WoW and his favorite book is The Alchemist. We traded books, I gave him simple ones he might like like Count of Monte Cristo and Invisible Man, he gave me YA fantasy. His list of books he wanted to read was entirely YA, fantasy, and John Green. The only books I've given him that he enjoyed were self help books.
Consider why you don't want to read. Most likely you just aren't motivated. Change, improving oneself, is tough for most people and strongly avoided.
>>8219676
Alice Munro
>>8219831
An method cook's best friend.
I was like that too. I would try to force myself to read 100 pages a day to finish books faster, but I would just end up dropping most of them anyway. Reading started to feel like a chore - it gradually became something I didn't want to do but forced myself to do. I would buy books, read 100 pages, lose interest and want to read something else, drop what I'm currently reading and buy another book just to enter the same cycle again. Even with the books I did finish, I wouldn't comprehend much in terms of content. I was just skimming with the intention to make it to the finish line. I ended up calling quits on reading last August because of all that crap. Recently I starting taking SSRIs for muh anxiety and I noticed it had a dramatic effect of my attention span. I picked up reading again with War and Peace around the same time I started taking the SSRIs, and I actually finished the fucking thing and understood almost everything. I had picked up War and Peace last year and read the first 200 pages before dropping it - I noticed the second time that I didn't pick up ANYTHING that was happening during my first attempt. I've been reading at my own pace now. Some days I'll read 100 pages, some days I'll read 5 pages, others I won't even read at all. I don't force myself anymore, nor do I rush myself to finish a book. I've been able to complete Don Quixote and Against the Day because of this. Feels pretty good t b h.
>>8222460
Sounds pretty cool anon. Idk if I would trust ssris myself, but it sounds like it worked out pretty well for you.
>>8222474
SSRIs aren't that bad, aside from the excessive yawning it causes and the withdrawal symptoms if you suddenly stop taking them.
>>8219648
I'd fuck im if he shaved his legs.
>>8219676
Tolkein wrote some pretty dank short stories.
