I love reading, really – I do. But over the years I’ve gotten deeper and deeper into blogging and general internet life, I’ve found reading being a past time I normally reserve for my twitter feed. Shameful, I know. Even with a kindle, it just doesn’t beat flicking the pages of the real thing. But I always have the excuses – I don’t have time, it’s pointless because I fall asleep after two pages (not necessarily a bad thing, but does make it hard to really get into a book), I haven’t found a book I really like… the list goes on.
A group of my closest friends decided to set up a book club. I wasn’t keen. They’ve promised me it was more chatting and drinking wine than actual discussions about book – but then my argument was the why couldn’t we just meet up for a drink, why does enforced group reading have to be part of it. Again, not that I’m against reading by any means – but the idea of reading a book to a deadline and then discussing it in a group just makes me think of school and it didn’t appeal as a social activity in all honesty. So I passed on the book club, my friends went ahead – and low and behold a few months down the line and FOMO has kicked in. Hearing stories of that book club night that ended up with espresso martini until 1am and I figured I should get over my negativity towards said book club and get involved.
That being said, the first book on the roster didn’t really win me over. I tried, I really did – I made it my mission to read it. Taking it with me every time I locked myself away for a bath, switching iPad reading for the book.
The book in question is ‘We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves’ by Karen Joy Fowler. I think my problem was that my focus is just off sometimes – I think I blame the internet. My attention span is just absolutely shot for something like reading! It’s awful. Plus, my usual choice of book is generally quite trashy/easy reading – as it’s usually something I reserve for zone-out time when on holiday.
But all that being said, I really do want to get back into reading. Am determined to finish the book I’ve started – and then pick up another. I want to take more time to switch off all the internet connected gadgets in my life and go back to basics with a book.
I’d love to hear some book recommendations. I tend to like… books set in America, relatively modern day (no period drama type stuff), crime thrillers… I used to have a thing for Jodi Picoult but think I’ve moved on a bit, but anything along that sort of line would be interesting! Please let me know your suggestions below!
I have a similar mind set to you. Although I recently got into reading extremely regularly during the Christmas school holidays as I had so much time on my hands, I got through 4 books! But now that school has started again, I just find myself to not want to waste my “precious” time on reading when I could be blogging or on social media. This is such a bad sign and I think I need to re-evaluate.
Try Ghostman by Robert Hobbs. It’s an absolutely amazing crime thriller, incredibly gripping.
While they are set in Australia, not America, Rebecca James has a lot of great books that combine teen/young adult life type stuff with thriller-esq themes. Each of her books is quite different in theme and story, but they all end with a twist.
nueyork.blogspot.com
Read:
– The Husband’s Secret by Liane Moriarty
– Before I go to Sleep
xx
I go through phases with reading but I’m also trying to get better at reading more regularly. I often wonder what all the scrolling on my iPhone and iPad does to my eyes! I’ve been using the wishlist on Amazon when I get recommendations so I have a few lined up when I finish a book and want a new one.
You might like The Rosie Project (easy read and pretty funny) and Fatherland (quite a thought provoking crime).
Summer House With Swimming Pool by Herman Koch is an incredible read, I really could not put it down!
Phoebe – http://www.phoebetea.co.uk
xx
You might like to check out Mel Sharratt, she writes gritty chick lit and also has a couple of crime thrillers. Taunting the Dead, and Follow the Leader (which I’m currently reading).
Maybe start a bedtime ritual like I have. I do my double cleanse and then climb into bed with a hot drink, my skincare and my kindle. I’m often found reading late in to the night and it’s blissful as you have no distractions.
I’m totally with you on this – I actually did a very similar post last week about getting back into reading! I loved The Night Circus, not trashy but still a nice one to read before bed x
http://cocoamay.blogspot.co.uk
Love that I’m not the only one thinking this! Here’s to bringing back reading to our internet-filled lives!
For utter charm and loving characters like old friends by the end of the book….the guernsey literacy potato peel pie society
For a heart breaking tears and inspirational bedtime read Wonder
For a dreamy romance with flamenco, love and coffee… the return
I stopped reading regularly when university took all the fun out of it with textbooks. I got back into it by re-reading some favourite books of mine so I could remember how much I loved it, and then I started picking up new books. x
http://thewhimsicalfox.blogspot.com.au
I really liked Girl Boss by Sophia Amoruso but not sure if you’re looking for non-fiction as well?
The Latest. Beauty & Colour
I go through stages like this. You should try Us by David Nicholls. Its an easy read and got me back into reading again. I couldn’t put it down!
The Memory book 🙂 i have a few good book reviews on my blog so you might find some others that look of interest.