I remember reading the Harry Potter series or CHERUB when I was a kid / teenager and it was like I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough because I was so gripped. I’d almost want to skip ahead because I couldn’t wait to find out what was going to happen.
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Nowadays I read books and enjoy them, but I feel like that “can’t put it down” feeling is so rare, and limited to small points in the book. I recently read “The Shining”, and thought it was very good, but some people on reddit say they were so scared they had nightmares…? I wish I could experience such strong emotion from a book!
I also finished the entire First Law series and again, I thought it was well written, but it took me a while to finish it. Some parts I was well gripped but it was very rare that I felt like I couldn’t put the book down.
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Is our imagination just that much better as a child? Or am I just reading the wrong books? I feel like I’m forever chasing that “high” that I used to get from reading.
by Alternative-Money-37
21 Comments
> am I just reading the wrong books
That’s a 10/4 good buddy
As you get older, you’ve generally read more books so you’re more likely to find them predictable or full of tropes or unrealistic in some way (due to having more real world experience of your own). Realistically the books you read when you were younger also like that, but you weren’t aware of it at the time so it didn’t bother you. That can influence your ability to get into books now compared to how you did when you were younger.
read more literature
The more books you read, the more you see the tricks that authors use to get you to have certain reactions. This is particularly true if you only read in certain genres, since each genres has its own specific tricks.
I found that my love for reading has ebbed and flowed throughout my life. There have been times when I have not really had much interest in reading at all. And then there are times when I read about a book a day. Just be patient with yourself. There might be some reason why you can’t get into reading right now but that can change for your future.
I know it is easier, hard to keep out the daily noise of bills, kids grades, job stress, etc.
I have the same feeling. When I was a kid, I was easily hooked by every book.
Now, sometimes I love a book, but it’s very rare for me to be hooked. And when it happens, it’s never on the same level as when I was a kid
I think some of that is also
1) your attention span has probably shortened since you were a kid because of technology/social media
2) pre-smart phones/pc ubiquity reading was like the number one way to entertain yourself
Personally I think my ability to curate a reading list for myself has become much better since I arrived at my mid 20s. At that point I was really much better about knowing my own tastes and what I was looking for in books. I developed a good ability to qualify the recommendations I got, and not just jump at every book anyone said was good or important.
Because of this, I find reading immensely enjoyable nowadays. Sure, I liked it a lot as a child too, and there are some books from my pre teen and teen years that I still think of fondly. But pretty much all my favorite books are ones that I have read in adulthood. No, I can’t sit there and read for hours on end, because I have responsibilities like a job and household chores et cetera. However, I think the overall experience of reading is as fulfilling and enjoyable as ever.
As someone who likes to read all types of genres, it may just take a certain book to bring that “magic” feeling back. Explore more books that interest you – who knows, you may just find something outside of what you usually read sparks your interest 🙂
Not knocking adult fiction or more literary/brainy novels, but there’s no shame in picking up YA fiction as an adult – after all, reading should be fun so read what you like! YA fiction is where my reading obsession began, here and there as an adult I bring myself back there, why not 🙂
It is harder when your breadth of reading grows. After a while it is “I read this plot in such and such book” as plots are re-used so much.
Essentially you have reached diminishing returns.
I find it more enjoyable now. Mainly because of my broadened vocabulary, but I feel like my imagination is MORE vivid now if anything. I’ve seen so much more in my life than I had as a kid, which gives my imagination more to feed off of
No I think reading is better as an adult but you have an easier time getting into it as a child. As an adult I have vastly more experiences and understanding of the world to draw on and relate to within books. When I was a kid there were some books I straight up know now I didn’t understand.
Some of the best elements of books are those that are like “here’s something that you know happens to you but nobody’s ever put it into words and also I the author died two centuries ago”. It’s very touching.
Just need better books OP, you’ll find them!
I’ve always loved reading but I think sometimes it’s hard to find something you enjoy as an adult as opposed to a child when you are reading mostly books for kids. There’s so much choice as an adult it can take a bit of looking for what you enjoy plus you start to notice writing styles and find a preference/notice when something is poorly written [in your opinion] so sometimes it can take a bit of starting something deciding you don’t like it and finding something else. It can help if you find an author you like and you can check out their other work or authors they themselves enjoy or are inspired by.
It could just be a genre problem. A lot of the fiction that I read when I was younger was paced and structured a lot differently than what I read now as an adult. I think that you just need to find the genres that *do* pull you in and that *do* interest you. This might seem silly, but try some things that are geared towards adult and teen audiences. Maybe Percy Jackson if you haven’t read it–amazing. YA is something that as long as the quality is good, everyone can enjoy it. I would also recommend some contemporary lit. Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwang kicked me out of the *biggest* reading slump. It was hilarious and delightful, the voice was just perfect. My mother and I read the whole series ravenously.
It’s tricky to find authors that can keep up with the attention of their audiences, but they’re out there.
Also, The Shining was good but ***Misery*** was the one that I read in literally one sitting, highly recommend.
Take an adderall or vyvanse then read a book. You’ll get that feeling back and then some.
To a certain extent I think most people’s imagination declines as they get older… but I still enjoy books just as much as I used to. There aren’t *as many* good books (it certainly seemed like what I read when I was a kid was fresh and new), but perhaps that’s because back then, everything *was* fresh and new. That’s certainly doesn’t mean that you can’t enjoy a book nowadays though. It just takes more work to find one that elicits the same reaction.
I think that there was something so magical and joyful reading as a child. I remember just devouring books and thinking they were all amazing. There were few books I didn’t enjoy. As an adult, while I do find books that are engaging, I am far more critical of plots and characters. Because of life and responsibilities, I feel like I don’t want to waste my time on a bad book. For example, in middle school and high school I loved the Xanth series. Like I read every thing my libraries had to offer like 20 books in the series. I revisited the series a few years ago and I don’t think those books were very good. There’s definitely some “problematic” storylines I did not notice as child.Obviously they are not written for adult me and they don’t inspire the same joy they did when I was kid.
The ‘can’t put down’ feeling has largely dwindled, now that I’m older. But I still enjoy a lot of books, just different books than when I was younger. Having said that, I still reread Tolkien after all these decades, and pick up different things from it thoughout the years.
About 1 out of every 4 books I read I feel that way still. Maybe reading the wrong books
As a kid I could be much more immersed in a book, especially when it was fantasy, because that barrier between real and not real is not solid yet. I would have the most vivid imaginations and truly believe I was in that world with the characters, at least for a moment. I still have a great imagination; but I know clearly what is fake and what is real.