Constant Reader's Block

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aintshesweet

Well-Known Member
Mar 24, 2011
201
191
42
New Orleans, LA
Hello, everyone! It has been a while since I've posted something...and there's a reason for that! I officially have Constant Reader's Block. This has never happened before. It occurred while I was reading Doctor Sleep (shortly after it was released). I don't know why, but I could not get through it. I've had this problem with other SK books, but I've plowed through & I have always been glad that I did. There are still so many SK books that I haven't read, but I just can't make myself pick up anything (any book, for that matter). I didn't even run to the nearest bookstore to buy Mr. Mercedes! My friends, I hope you can help me with this! I have always been a reader and now I feel like I lost my love for it. Any suggestions to jump start my love for SK (or fiction books in general) again?! Please help!
 
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carrie's younger brother

Well-Known Member
Mar 8, 2012
5,428
25,651
NJ
The best advice I can give is to not fret about it. Let it go. Listen to music, watch TV, watch movies, dance, sing, look at art, etc. etc. Reading is a very active pass time. With music or art, you just let it happen; with a book, you have to work at it and sometimes the brain needs a rest.
Then, after you've had a break for a while, perhaps an audio book will bridge the gap for you? Finish Doctor Sleep on audio and by the time you are done, maybe you will want to read another SK book. Or not. Perhaps it will take another audio book. You get the picture. :watermelon:
 

Kurben

The Fool on the Hill
Apr 12, 2014
9,682
65,192
59
sweden
I'm sorry. I don't have any really good advice to offer but i can say that i suffer with you. I was sick for two years with constant attacks of epilepsy which made my brain so slow it couldn't take in text. Any book and it didn't matter if i had read them before or not. I spent two years reading 6 books of Enid Blyton that was left from my childhood. It was agony but i still had to read or i couldn't sleep. I can still almost recite them page for page. But i think whats needed is a break from literature. Take an interest in some Tv-series. Buy a season of some and you have hours of things to look at. After that you might feel like reading again. Just a suggestion.
 

EMTP513

Well-Known Member
Oct 31, 2012
503
1,923
Hello, everyone! It has been a while since I've posted something...and there's a reason for that! I officially have Constant Reader's Block. This has never happened before. It occurred while I was reading Doctor Sleep (shortly after it was released). I don't know why, but I could not get through it. I've had this problem with other SK books, but I've plowed through & I have always been glad that I did. There are still so many SK books that I haven't read, but I just can't make myself pick up anything (any book, for that matter). I didn't even run to the nearest bookstore to buy Mr. Mercedes! My friends, I hope you can help me with this! I have always been a reader and now I feel like I lost my love for it. Any suggestions to jump start my love for SK (or fiction books in general) again?! Please help!

I couldn't get through it either. But I know why. I guess I'll read it later. Or not. One of the people who works with me doesn't see how I can read and watch horror at all, since we see so much of real terror in our work. But that's exactly why I can. I've never seen a horror movie or read a scary story that's been as terrifying as what we sometimes see. The book or movie would be rated R if it were about some of what we see.
I had to stop reading a Robin Cook story for that reason. It was so life-like, so much like my work that it didn't feel like entertainment. It felt stressful, so I had to stop reading it.
BTW a good number of cardiologists act exactly as he portrayed the one in that story; like they're part of God's right hand, and they see it as almost a literal thing.
 

RandallFlagg19

Well-Known Member
May 5, 2014
809
6,209
38
I have dedicated myself to reading one specific author (and no one else) for a 6 – 12 month period; and I have taken a hiatuses from reading specific authors from a 1 to 10 year period.


I bought half blood prince at a midnight release party but didn't read the book until 2 years later. I had read the first 5 Harry Potter books in the year 2000 when I was 15 and embarrassingly and shamefully still naive enough to believe in magic (still naive enough to believe that I might discover I could do magic and by metaphysical force set, my school yard bullies’ pants on fire: or something of like vengeance. I was an alienated, tormented, bullied child who could do nothing right in the "real world". I wanted to get very deeply away from reality, so J K Rowling’s magical world worked for me. By the time I was 20 in the year 2005 ( release of half blood prince) I was very much over my naivety and fantasy of magic and could not stand reading books that didn't have a solid ground in reality( I don't think I can ever read Harry Potter books again).


Maybe you have had a shift in what types or genres of fiction appeal to you.


The other members have posted some great responses, maybe you just need to let your mind relax; or try an audio book. I mostly prefer to read a book or story but I have had experience with a few stories I couldn't read but very much liked listening to.
 

Lina

Committed member
Jun 24, 2009
3,356
6,024
Russia
Oh, I know the feeling, I hate myself when I don't read, but I guess it's right that sometimes brain needs some rest. With me, after some time an incredible urge to take a book appears, I just can't resist it and I start reading. Sometimes I have to make an effort and make myself read at least few pages a day. Another option is to pick some "easy" book for a start, the one that you will be not frightened to start reading (I mean, you know, sometimes I look at all those 500-or-more-pages-long book and I think I will never read it in the end, it's too big for me. But when I become interested in the story, it goes so easy...)
 

EMARX

Well-Known Member
Feb 27, 2009
2,970
15,757
I read every day and if I don't I get cranky. I'm reading Mr Mercedes at a snails pace, not because I'm not enjoying it, but exactly the opposite. I'm just revelling in it, afraid to turn the page at times because of the feeling of dread Mr King always places me in. I do have times when I don't know what to read so I will have every kind of material close at hand. It sometimes takes a day or two, but it usually works.
 
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aintshesweet

Well-Known Member
Mar 24, 2011
201
191
42
New Orleans, LA
Thanks so much for the great responses! It's funny because I was thinking of listening to audio books. I did this for a while when I was suffering with chronic dry eyes. I listened to Under the Dome, Duma Key, & It. I loved it. Any particular SK audio books you would recommend? I was thinking of trying Dr. Sleep.
 

VultureLvr45

Well-Known Member
Mar 15, 2012
2,650
13,707
Maryland
Love the picture (I'm jealous too...cool avatar). Don't force the reading visually. Maybe step into non-fiction, or classic poetry, or listen to different genres on the trips to and from work, perhaps a biography of someone you admire, or visually read short, short stories or 1 minute mysteries. I have a very hard time reading if the material doesn't grab me or if it is something that I have a hard time connecting with. Short stories are good, especially from many different authors, perhaps 'Best Of' compilations or 'O'Henry Award Winners'. Our library has 'playaways'; they are preloaded stories on small mp3 like devices. Great to wear if you are excercising or gardening, or shopping etc and want to listen rather than visually read. Makes a great choice if your hands need to be busy doing chores or mindless stuff like dishes or folding laundry.