Discovering the books you like and you don’t is a journey in knowing yourself, and at 34, I still don’t know 100% who I am with respect to the books I read. I know certain aspects of what I like or disilke, but in both regards I still often get surprised by a book – I like a book that I didn’t think I’d like and vice versa. But what I do know for sure is as I get older, I am enjoying fewer books. This post is both a vent and asks for suggestions.
I’ve been reading novels and non-fiction since I was 8-9. At this point, reading for me is a mechanical habit. Every day, that’s how I use my free time. I can read 100-200 pages of a book someone recommended without enjoying those pages at all, within a few hours. And even though I don’t enjoy it, I still have to do it, its a mechanical habit, and I like having that. So taking a break from reading is not something I’d like. I’d like more to define a comfort zone of reading, and stay in that comfort zone. But that asks the original question, I don’t know myself well enough to define a comfort zone yet.
However, over the past 4 years I have been dropping books the moment I don’t like it anymore, and I’ve been dropping 90-95% of the books recommended on Reddit or by friends. During this period I have about 150 books that I dropped after 30% of the book. Almost no book is really giving me the feels. I just read now like a robot to fill time. That itself is actually a reading slump. I want to change that.
Of the remaining 5%, the books I really enjoyed recently are East Of Eden, Demon Copperhead, My Dark Vanessa, Misery, All 6 Earthsea books, But even among them, I think I was really really looking forward everyday to only East Of Eden and the Earthsea series. I can say that in 4 years, only these two I have 100% enjoyed throughout, every page, every moment, and I wanted to read them all the time. My firm favorite all-time books are Kane And Abel, Rage Of Angels, The Other Side Of Midnight – these I read when I was 11-12 and why I got into reading really. Then followed the Harry Potter books that completely sealed the deal about reading. I want to get back to that time, I’ve been trying since 4 years, but I’ve been unable to, hence asking for help here. I’d like to be in a state where I finish most of the books I pick and I enjoy them thoroughly.
I just now stopped reading Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell at about 40% of the book. I paused and thought about defining my comfort zone of likes and dislikes , then asking for a recommendation here.
I think I don’t like:
1. Being inside the head of a character. I like stories told from an outside perspective – not as letters, not as memoirs, and no character in the book is involved in telling me the story. I want the author telling me a story about some strangers (Demon Copperhead and My Dark Vanessa very rare exceptions). But I dislike first-person or Character POVs (Cloud Atlas stretched the first-person narrative too far for me).
2. Long monologues, especially internal monologues. It ties with not being inside a character’s head.
3. Unreliable narrators – I don’t like POVs from someone who’s high, someone who has schizophrenia or dementia. I like stories told solidly where I can rely on every sentence I read. Which further requires of course an outside narrator (like the author themselves).
4. Too many cliffhangers or cheap thrills. Books where everything is about the plot or some mission and only the cliffhangers and your curiosity push you to read more, so you read hyperfast without soaking anything in (Project Hail Mary was an example of this for me).
I think I like – East Of Eden is the center of this group of books:
1. Life changing, philosophical and challenges my thoughts about the world and people – prime example was East Of Eden and My Dark Vanessa.
2. Many characters conversing with each other. I like conversation in double quotes more than monologues or internal dialogues. Example “David said…Nancy replied….and then Jake added…” . I want to know the characters from the words they express to other characters. I don’t want to know what they think inside. Being amonst many characters talking to each other makes me feel less lonely tbh. The book should feel like a crowd.
3. Most importantly, character and environments that you keep missing after you’ve finished the book. I still miss the world of East Of Eden, the characters dialogues. I miss them like I’d miss dear friends.
Because of East Of Eden, I’ve been recommended Lonesome Dove. I don’t want to read about American West again so I didn’t pick that up. 100 Years Of Solitude didn’t work for me, quit it after 40% – too weird and unrelatable.
I’d like to know how to find my reading comfort zone and get out of this slump where I drop most of the books. And if anyone has been through this, recommendations for books if they have had similar tastes.
Thank you for reading upto here if you did!
by nefrpitou