I’m pregnant with my first baby and I can’t believe how much my brain power has diminished. I like reading but I can’t seem to focus and read anything that is “intellectual” or “difficult”, whether that be a complicated plot, non linear timeline when it comes to events, or flowery and/or dated (such as Jane Austen) prose etc. For example, I loved East of Eden (one of my favorite books) but now is probably not the time to read a long book about generations of people and humanity. I tried North and South but it has me straining more than I typically would. I am in a reading slump. Please help.
I would like nothing too upsetting because I am pregnant so I’m easily riled up. That means no gore, sexual assault, thrillers, scary books, depressing books etc. Bonus points if it is heart warming and happy.
Books along the lines that I think my brain can handle are: Harry Potter, Scythe series, Where the Crawdads Sing, Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine, A Lady’s Guide to Fortune-Hunting, and the Hunger Games (though I don’t particularly love this series). I think it would help if the pacing of the book isn’t too slow and the book is under 500 pages. I think perhaps a book that is more straightforward in its elements (but still interesting in some capacity) is what I need right now. I do not like Colleen Hoover and I did not like Emily Henry’s Book Lovers. I could not finish The Flatshare and I found Edenbrooke and The Alchemist to be crimes against literature.
Books I think would make my brain short circuit would be like Dune (which is too imagination heavy), the Martian (which is science heavy), The Murderbot series (which is tech heavy), and Jane Eyre (my other favorite book… due to the prose being less straight forward). These are books I have enjoyed outside of pregnancy but I am not craving right now. I typically like a good classic book but I just don’t think I will enjoy something like that at this moment.
I want to read something new that I haven’t read before. Thanks so much!
by SwadlingSwine
2 Comments
My comfort reads are always things like Tamora Pierce and the Enchanted Forest Chronicles by Patricia Wrede (Honorary mention to Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine). Easy, a little older, YA, stuff I’ve read before, relies heavily on tropes of the genre and subverting them, but everything will work out OK in the end.
Books I have enjoyed so far in my pregnancy: The Thornbirds, Shadow of the Wind, The Midnight Library
You might also enjoy The Seven Sisters series