When I'm reading most fiction books, after a few chapters I feel a strain in my head. I find this especially with books written before WWII, they are so slow, like running sand paper over my eyes. The only books that have genuinely got me hooked are 1984, Wolf Hall, and the Space Odyssey series, by which I mean I could read over a 100 pages in one stretch without stopping or feel like it was a chore. It is different for graphic novels: I've read many of these and they don't bore me.
Is there anything I can do to help myself? What kind of book/author should I go for?
old scifi is shit. we have different expectations nowadays
get an adderall prescription then read philip k dick
>>8037233
You also have to check if your editions have bad kerning/inappropriate typography/ bad structure/ poor printing. A badly structured book, no matter how good it is, will be almost impossible to read. Good structure means your eyes glide through the page. Reading should be effortless. When you buy a book, check it and see if you can read a couple pages without getting lost. If your eyes can't follow the sentences correctly, search for another edition.
>kerning: space between letters
>designer here
>>8039560
>>8037233
I'm an ereader fanboy, but I do genuinely believe they help for that purpose. Paper is great for analytical analysis of a book and giving it heavy notation.
However, OP, it could be that you're reading wrong. What I mean by that is that you may be reading everything at one pace. Perhaps you're vocalising the words as you read and it makes you read slower?
If that is the case, get How to Read a Book by Mortimer J Adler ASAP!
Practice reading at different places as the book demands it. If you do that comprehension and speed should both increase.
I wish you luck, senpai.
>>8039701
I meant pace not places. Fucking auto correct.
Also, there is a senpai filter for "f a m"?
senpai senpai senpai
You're not used to such a writing and simply need to read more, and more challenging titles. Quit the low genre fiction and get fine authors who are easy to understand. Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Harper Lee, Anton Chekhov, Albert Camus, Guy de Maupassant; people with fluid, neat proses which ask little effort. Prefer short stories over novels for the moment, slowly read longer and longer ones, then switch to more dense writers. John Steinbeck, William Faulkner, Gustave Flaubert, Leo Tolstoy, Mark Twain; avoid Émile Zola, Herman Melville and those who are versed in long, realistic descriptions for the moment. Try a bit of poetry in the meantime. Soon, you should be able to read whatever you want.
i found wolf hall unreadable
most short stories are under 'three chapters' length so your head would never hurt there
quick someone post the avid reader
>>8039746
OP here
I got through Gatsby pretty painlessly. And you mention Twain: I got 200 pages into Huckleberry Finn, but I got so lost and the inconsistent pace it has just made me give up.
>>8039914
I mention Mark Twain, indeed, but as the next step. One does not born with the ability to focus his attention on a long span, or to fluidly go through the pages. This is something you can train yourself on, step by step, with carefulness and assiduity. You should also read in a silent environment, with no screen on, and no parasite sound; avoid any distraction. Try to restrict your time spent on the computer/video games/television to a minimum, ideally less than two hours a day and even if you've played thirty minutes ago, your mind's still excited and unable to fix your attention onto your book. Drink a lot of water, and don't read in your bed, or in another incongruous position. Make sure you also have enough lighting, and everything should be right.
>>8039982
Even when I'm sitting in a quiet room ready to read, I almost immediately feel a tenseness in my head, and something always distracts me if the book isn't particularly engaging (Huckleberry Finn, Heart of Darkness).
>start with the Greeks
Judging by what you've read, I'll give you some suggestions:
>Childhood's End by Arthur C. Clarke
>Hemingway's novels (The Old Man and the Sea, A Farewell to Arms)
>Fahrenheit 451 or Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury
>Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
>Issac Asimov (Foundation Trilogy, Robot novels)
These novels are 20th century, written in English, and are light an enjoyable. Good luck Anon.
>>8040082
Maybe you're conditioned not to like it. It happens when they use reading as a kid as punishment/ they only give you lame stuff to read. How do books sound in your head when you read them? My brain goes full voice acting mode. I would recommend starting with someone that you really like and go up from there. The thirst is there, you just have to train it.
>>8040517
I should have got books that I personally wanted to read rather than looking at the list of "classics". I've got bloody Moby Dick sitting on the shelf and I've heard that book is slower than a snail riding a tortoise.
