Tired of Reading Books I Don't Enjoy

I feel like I am making too many threads lately but I am trying to detox and relax from this terrible semester I've had. And, I find myself trying to read a book. I can't tell if…I am still withdrawing from caffeine and it's affecting my ability to pay attention to anything, or if I am reading the wrong kind of book, or…

What I am trying to say is, that I think I may be losing my ability to enjoy reading. The last book I read…The Stand by Stephen King…took me 3 months to finish. I am a very tenacious reader, so even if I hate a book, I will finish it.

But, I am tired of reading things I hate. I'm tired of reading things that are boring and dry. I'm tired of reading shallow novels that have lack of depth and writing ability in them. I'm tired of forcing myself to read.

I don't know what I want to read, but, it's not been what I've been reading lately. I need something good, not excessively hard, something that keeps my attention, and yet something with depth and beauty of language. I need something that's not technically dry like a sci fi novel or military thriller. Something without deus ex machinas in it, or cliches. Something that makes me feel like I've been challenged, without making me feel like I'm slogging through something unenjoyable. Something original, and thoughtful. Something that accurately and insightfully collects the human experience and reflects it back at me, instead of a pale imitation that doesn't measure up.

I'm probably asking for something that is too complicated to express in words. I'm not sure if someone on this forum will reccomend me something that fits. It's worth a shot though

I felt inclined to suggest Blood Meridian to you but it is quite explicit at times. While English is not my mother tongue and I might have no been able to understand it in its full depth, it was able to enthrall me no less with it's strange poetry of bleakness. Not even the setting ("Wild West") which I had no particular interest for either managed to lessen the joy I got out of it.

I'm by no means an avid reader and I have not read a single famous book on philosophy which is why I can't recommend any 'deeper' literature.

You know, I started reading the rest of one of my textbooks and seem to be into that. *shrug*

Did you really hate The Stand?

"The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao" seems to fit what you are looking for.

So does "What We Talk About When We Talk About Love". It's a collection of short stories by Raymond Carver. Here's what the wiki says about him, "Carver's career was dedicated to short stories and poetry. He described himself as "inclined toward brevity and intensity" and "hooked on writing short stories" "

kamya said:

Did you really hate The Stand?

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I wouldn't say I hated it. The Stand really didn't keep my attention very well until the last 20% of it. So it was 1,000 pages of God-when-will-this-be-over and 200 pages of I-must-know-the-end. It was just tedious for a long long bit of it, building up to this clash of good and evil. Then, when the clash did come, it didn't give enough attention to it…so the end felt anticlimatic and forced.

Dissapointing. Stephen King has a habit of making me waste months of my life only for poor endings. Re: The Dark Tower series.

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kamya said:

"The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao" seems to fit what you are looking for.

So does "What We Talk About When We Talk About Love". It's a collection of short stories by Raymond Carver. Here's what the wiki says about him, "Carver's career was dedicated to short stories and poetry. He described himself as "inclined toward brevity and intensity" and "hooked on writing short stories" "

Click to expand...

You know, you have a habit of reccomending really good books so I'll definitely take a serious think about these.

Well, I respectfully disagree on your Stephen King stance (except for the Dark Tower series - I love everything he's written, but that series just doesn't do it for me. I have talked to lots of people who say you either love it, or hate it.)

As for recommendations, Ray Bradbury's Martian Chronicles comes immediately to mind - it's a beautifully written, thought-provoking masterpiece of a novel and deep without being 'too deep', if that makes sense. At any rate, it fits all your criteria...might be a thought?

My fave Stephen King novel is "Insomnia". It's great, plus I can't sleep either...

hey sophia try something new like nature in real life.