View Full Version : Failing but trying again
Reading was my true love passion all of my life. It was free, entertaining, educational, it was what I did. Whatever this neuro BS is that has taken away much of my vocabulary, ability to maintain an intelligent conversation and it's taken "my read", I just cannot read the books I love. Someone on another forum suggested simpler books, like cozy mysteries. That genre is typically along the plot line of someone runs a B&B and just happens to solve murders that keep happening there. I gave those a shot, 50 pages in, I just couldn't stand it. It's not my genre, no offense to anyone who likes cozy mysteries. I liked some in the past, just not what I'm looking for now. I'm looking for the old me.
So I re-requested a bunch of well-reviewed literary fiction from the library and I am going back to reading it for at least an hour a day. Even if I hate it because I can't comprehend it, if the themes go right over my head, if I'm bored, no complaints, I'm doing it. I'm also going to the library tomorrow so I don't have to wait for all my requests.
I have to do the same thing with film. I've watched 1 movie and 1 documentary in 2 yrs. I was an independent film buff. That disappeared, too. Netflix documentaries here I come!
Please wish me luck. You can't have a simpler experience than the public library, it was such a huge part of my life and I want it back.
Freshstart, do audio books have the same effect? Our brains are strange things and hearing the words could be possible or not.
iris lilies
7-4-16, 6:51pm
Seriously consider high quality children's books.
They engage our minds yet will not require attention to a lot of detail. start with the Newbery Award winners and Newbery Honor books.
i agree, crappy adult novels are not good enough to grab and keep,our atyentin. Cozies are not my thing either. I like literary nvels, but not TOO literary, haha.
I wish you the best of luck, Freshstart.
Great suggestion, IL.
I would suggest audio books as well. What about podcasts for info sessions?
I use podcasts to fall asleep at night because I always used to read, I need something going to fall asleep. It usually takes me 2 nights to get through one because I do fall asleep, lol. I also listen to TED talks
Don't have a CD player except in the car but could download audiobooks into my laptop. I used to listen to them all the time when I was working and driving from house to house.
Quality children's books is a good idea as long as it's not syfy or like the Hunger Games stuff. I could go back and do the oldies but goodies, like To Kill a Mockingbird, etc
iris lilies
7-4-16, 10:26pm
I use podcasts to fall asleep at night because I always used to read, I need something going to fall asleep. It usually takes me 2 nights to get through one because I do fall asleep, lol. I also listen to TED talks
Don't have a CD player except in the car but could download audiobooks into my laptop. I used to listen to them all the time when I was working and driving from house to house.
Quality children's books is a good idea as long as it's not syfy or like the Hunger Games stuff. I could go back and do the oldies but goodies, like To Kill a Mockingbird, etc
Hunger Games books arent especially high quality.
there are hundreds of good titles published every year for childeen and teens.
I'll look up a list of award winners
I ran in the library to have something to read until my requests come in. I grabbed a book about a group of people living in Manhattan. Looked like a quick but maybe not totally dumbed down read. I get home and go to read it and it's written by a Real Housewife and the blurbs are by other housewives! lmao, if I can't read this, schedule my lobotomy !
I loved Detective Donut and the Wild Goose Chase. A REAL kid's book that might be lost on the little nippers. It made me smile when I worked at the library, so I bought it.
Could you take notes on books you find challenging? That might be a way to nail down the concepts in your mind.
Good luck--I'm a reader, too. I find myself reading fewer books these days, but reading (on line) is a part of who I am.
You might consider that your body is telling you it wants a new passion. I only mention this because after being a voracious reader from age 13 to 40ish, I have fallen out of reading and my life is better for it. My drifting away from reading for pleasure was from visual overload after going back to school at age 40 and feeling like I had to read everything that was assigned. I also like learning so I wanted to read a lot. But then it just took a toll and the pleasures of reading faded rather quickly.
Now I find I get a great deal of pleasure from doing other things, mostly physical things like puttering in the garden and the house, exercising, walking. In the evenings I'll lay on the couch and listen to music while watching the changing light from the sunset. I play with my pets a lot. I get pleasure from just sitting and being in the moment too.
Maybe there's an untapped passion waiting for you?
ps. I agree with the books for young readers recommendation. I have a handful that I just love and made sure to save them during my recent book purge because they still give me pleasure and they are easy to read and process. You might see if you have a children's bookstore nearby and drop by. The staff are usually more than happy to share some favorites or recommend books based on your interests. I've gotten some real gems that way.
it's been hard to come up with a new passion with the physical limitations still a problem. I was hoping I'd love riding my recumbent stationary bike that I've been cleared to do but in all honesty, I'm only doing it because I have to. I wouldn't mind finding a new passion but am not ready to give up on reading just yet, it's too ingrained in me and I've always made it a priority. I do have adult coloring books, tricky with my eyes but I am having eye surgery soon and that should open up other things to do like cross-stitching again. Things I just don't see well enough to do now. I can't wait. The surgery should make reading easier, as well. Next week is the first one!
Since you mentioned the eye problems, I was wondering, are you reading large print books? I imagine you are, but if not, that could be why you're finding it hard to stick to reading.
I have much of the same problem you do. I was a voracious reader in my 20s-40s. Slacked off to nothing. I started back up a year or so ago, but much in my life had changed at the same time. I still have a worse time sitting still long enough to bury my nose in a book, but it's getting better. I feel like if I can get in 15-20 min during my lunch break that's good practice. Then on the weekends I try for an hour here or there and at night I try for an hour before bed.
Someone here on the boards recommended reading Thomas Hardy's "The Woodlanders," and I loved it, then I had to read everything he wrote. Here's the thing: the story lines were not complex, the language was. I didn't need an adventure or difficult theme to follow, I just needed rich language, imagery and new words.
It's just a thought. What is it about reading that you miss? For me, it was not just escaping, it was being enriched by the turn of a phrase, being courted by clever writing and deep imagery. I love reading a phrase that takes me aback to where I have to read it again and again because it's so. good.
Maybe revisit the classics where you already ventured and can now perhaps discover new meaning?
You might like the Anne of Green Gables...I turn to them when I am world weary.
I do use large print books when they are available. I don't have the words to explain what I miss about reading, it's all encompassing. The problem stems from a neuro issue and I am not willing to give into it until I have tried my absolute hardest.
try the books by James Herriot. They are a collection of short stories about the life of a country vet in England. Very entertaining and you only have to commit a short time for each story. I also like Anne of Green Gables.
I forgot about James Herriot. I'd agree they are readable.
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