BiblioQueria 16

This doesn't happen to me very often, but when it does, it's very upsetting. What with all the stress and chaos from moving (and the cost of the electrician, and then the washing machine and the dishwasher leaking into the basement and the strange suitcases all the way from Italy coming to our front door that were meant for the previous owners and the lovely stinkbomb put in our mailbox by some smartass kids), I simply cannot concentrate enough to read. I can barely get through the newspaper. All I'm really cabable of doing at the moment is vegging out in front of the TV at the end of the day. Please tell me I'm not the only one who has had this experience. I want my brain back!!

And so my question to you is...

Have you ever had a time in your life when you just could not get yourself to read, even though you were surrounded by books?

Comments

[Debbie Ridpath Ohi]

So did you find out what was in the suitcases?

Times I couldn't get myself to read despite being surrounded by books:

- When my tendinitis was at its worst and I couldn't even hold a book. Ugh. That truly sucked.

- Just after my brother & his wife died in a car accident. I couldn't concentrate on anything except cross-stitch, and I usually don't have the patience for needlework of any kind.

- Just after we moved in. And that was because the books were still in boxes. :-)

Good luck with getting settled in your new house!

Debbie

[bibliobibuli]

yes, it happens to me from time to time and it's very frightening ... maybe it's a natural cycle we all go through ... after eating a lot of words our brain might need space to digest ... maybe it's a signal to get on with your own creative projects for a while ... and in my case i think there are some funny hormones involved (it's me age, dear) because i'm often lost in a general haze of vagueness and finding impossible to concentrate ...

take a break from reading and don't feel guilty

[Kate S.]

I have definitely had that experience in moments of stress. It's that scattered, inability-to-focus quality that you describe. And it's doubly distressing because it's exactly when you need books the most to escape from the stress that you can't seem to enter into them. The best way for me to get back to reading at times like that is to opt for comfort re-reads. There's no shame in a bit of distraction courtesy of the television either though!

[Tania]

That's happened to me a few times when I've been really stressed and/or have a lot on my mind. Don't worry...it shouldn't last long!

[Amy]

I'm there now. Mine is the result of reading a really, really bad Jodi Picoult book for my book club--and it was the first book I read in 2006. It appears to have jinxed me. It's sad, really.

[Bibliofilos]

Dear, this happens to e-v-e-r-y-b-o-d-y now and then! Even to the biggest book addict! The only advice I can give you, if you still feel a nagging urge to read, is to pick a book, which in content is a very light read, uplifting, nothing too heavy or challenging. It's not a shame now and then, to read a book like that. If you do not feel the nagging urge 'oh-my-god-i-need-to-read-something!', just leave it for a while, I promise you that in no time you'll be craving for books again!

[Lazygal]

I hate that feeling - when a book looks at you lovingly, temptingly and you just... can't. I feel like I'm not myself then, because I tend to define myself as a reader. It seems to happen when I'm really stressed, or when I've managed to contract some form of fever. And, thank all the gods, it passes. But it's horrible when it's happening!

Good luck.

[eliane]

Oh, yes, I had those times. Not reading always went together with not doing a lot of other things as well, very depressing. Long time ago though, opposite now. I am portraying authors almost weekly now, and one publisher has even sent me a book out of gratitude!!

[zhoule]

I'm sort of in that phantom zone right now, too. Well, sort of. I'm reading, but I'm reading pretty slowly.

I have three books on reserve from the library, plus some Canadian small press stuff, Don Quixote, a book by Saul Bellow and some Malamud on my night table. Most of these books are just sitting there.

The culprit behind my snail's crawl pace is that I'm reading Such A Fine Balance by Mistry. Lovely book, but huge (710 pages) and utterly depressing. I'm still reading it, and I started it in October or November. Still slogging through. Hands down, the most depressing book I've ever read.

Funny that such a downer of a book would curb your appetite for reading. Of course, I wasn't the happiest camper in 2005, which have something to do with it.

I'm now feeling obligated to finishing it, as I'm 550 pages in. I'm this close to the end. Might as well try to put it to bed.

And it's not like it's a horrible book. Beautifully written, it is.

[zhoule]

I meant to say A Fine Balance. Gheeze. Haven't had my coffee yet.

[R J Keefe]

Times like this, you need a favorite mystery writer. PD James and Barbara Vine are always worth re-reading. I'm coming to like Ian Rankin a lot. And Carl Hiaasen (not really mysterious, but still) may even make you laugh!

[Isabella]

Been there! And often it happens just after moving. Even if I've set books aside, somehow they're never exactly right. There's exhaustion, but guilt too, that I really should be spending my time more productively, setting up house.

Chin up! Go watch tv, and get some sleep. The right book does come along eventually, and then I use it to hide from all my other obligations.

[patricia]

Yes! I totally understand the guilt factor!! I feel like I should be working all the time getting things organized. But after a while, I simply run out of steam, and I can't make the most simple of decisions, let alone where a damn bookcase should go.

[zhoule]

You know, this may be a silly idea, Pat, but have you tried going back and re-reading a book you read, say, 10 years ago that you really enjoyed?

Sometimes, all you need is "comfort food". I find that if you re-read something, you know the plot, so you get distracted by other tangibles. Characterization. The writing style. Etc.

Maybe that's all you need: familiarity in a suddenly strange and alien new fortress that you find yourself in? Something that recharges the ol' batteries.

[patricia]

That's an excellent suggestion, Z.

Everything is strange and new right now. I'm just as traumatized as my cats.

[bluecrow]

When peoples talks around me...that's when i coulnd't get myself to read. Well to tell the truth sometimes i manage to concentrate enought in this situation....but since these are really few times and i've always got something to read listening to peoples even when it's not my business only because i've a book between my hands it's really upsetting

[cipriano]

Yes Patricia, it happens with me whenever I am sick.
And the thing I hate most about being sick (besides any pain and physical discomfort involved) is this lack of desire to read anything.
It is when I am the most unlike me.

I hope you get your Reading-Groove-Thang back!
[My computer woes seem to have been solved...]

[cipriano]

Yes Patricia, it happens with me whenever I am sick.
And the thing I hate most about being sick (besides any pain and physical discomfort involved) is this lack of desire to read anything.
It is when I am the most unlike me.

I hope you get your Reading-Groove-Thang back!
[My computer woes seem to have been solved...]

[cipriano]

BTW, great picture there.
You always know the EXACT picture to get the point across.
Sorry for my multiple postings... I got all excited with this new Mac.

[hadas]

Yap. Definitely after giving birth, the longest period in my life in which I've lost all intelligent cells in my brain. And then when moving from one country to other (a thing I did 6 times already !) there's a period of a month or two that my mind is in chaos. You'll see, though - there's nothing as sweet as the first book after the storm :)

[eliane]

Yea, Hadas. I have exactly 6 international moves behind me as well, and childbirth twice. Those things are cruel attacks on reading habits, you are very right.

[clarion]

Yes, just after childbirth. Must have expelled all the brain cells along with the baby. Both grew, thankfully! On the opposite side of the coin, a time when books were a comfort greater than any other non-human source was when my mom had to move to a nursing home. After visiting her I truly needed a "book shot" so it was off to the library or Barnes and Noble.

[Irene Hahn]

Only once, when I was so sick with an unexplained virus thast even moving around was a chore. Usually, when I'm sick, I'm re-reading old favorites...

[Slimbolala]

Certainly. In the wake of Katrina, there were weeks where I was simply incapable of concentrating long enough to register the sentences. My wife (a devout bibliophile) is still only getting back in the book reading swing. It's a nice sign, though, that our heads are getting normal again (also, having a chance to visit your lovely blog is another sign of normalcy).

[Lori]

For me it's more that I just can't seem to find a book that I want to FINISH. But I agree with Kate S. and some of the others who suggested a "comfort book." More than that, I specifically suggest Anne of Green Gables, or maybe even her literary sister Emily. :O)