Definitely, the premise is so intriguing. This could have been huge. Instead, we are stuck with unlikable characters(imo Parisa and Callum are the worst ones) who have only a semblance of depth and complexity. Better prose and dialogue would also have helped I believe.

But I understand being so invested that you just can't walk away. Good luck with Atlas Paradox! I hope the ending makes it all worth it.

I haven't had a chance to actually check out any recommendations but I've added a couple to my list and a friend saw it and said he thought they were good choices, so there's that at least.

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I was turned off by the fake-sounding cameos by real rock musicians. They made it read like bad fan-fic.

Nope. Any time I have attmepted to track my reading, I suddenly find that I don't have time to read....even if I had been reading voraciously for the entirety of the last six months. It's got to be some subconcious quirk.

If it's something that I have to read for an assignment, then I take notes on it. That makes me an active reader and more engaged with the material.

If it's not something that I have to read, then I give it a fair shake (15 to 25%). If it still doesn't interest me, I move on.

Same here. I was so excited to read this. One could argue that my expectations were too high, but I genuinely don't think that was it.

If you're looking for something fun and easy to read, DO NOT READ INFINITE JEST. That fucking book took like 4 months of my life and nearly killed my love for reading.

Yeah. The $25 shop is just for new releases. At least for me. I buy the rest of my books used.

I'm on the Storygraph train! Their buddy reads feature is great and I like being able to see the types of books I read. They also have a better star system than Goodreads.

try an audiobook! Also personally I don't like fiction so maybe you don't either! Saying "books" is like saying "food", that some people love eating but people don't just love eating any food, they love eating specific types of food. So maybe you haven't found your niche yet, but you have to keep exploring until you do, and that means finishing a book even if you don't want to!

I love that series

You tube music has dozens of collections of “Classics for Reading” or something similar.

My strategy when I haven't read a book in a while is to go back to nostalgia. It's more important to develop the habit of reading than what you read.

I suggest going back and reading books from your childhood. Books that you loved. (For me, it's discworld.) You can now go back with an adult eye and you'll automatically analyze them a bit more than you did before. You can start there.

Once you're back in the habit, you can try other books from the same author, similar authors, or maybe you can switch genres and read more about something in the setting. You don't have to treat reading like a punishment or a chore. Find stuff you enjoy and try it. It's not bad to try a new book and give up after two chapters. Dip your toes into all kinds of water and find what you like.

My discord book club gives points for pages read, so I have a good idea of how many pages I read in a timeframe.

And most of my reads are KU, so I'm able to go back through them to remind myself if I read something or not. I'm too lazy to get a Goodreads account, so sometimes I'll pull a sequel to a book I don't remember DNRing, but I'll remember a few pages in. Wish I could get Amazon to quit recommending books I already read, or that I read and didn't like.

I had never read Colleen Hoover and decided to try Verity as my intro to her. It was the most ridiculous thing I have read in years.

"The Scholar's Tale" in Hyperion.

For me it’s the Timshel chapter

There’s always at least one roaming cat in the used bookstore I frequent. It definitely sets the mood.

I use StoryGraph and love it. I find the recommendations are decent, but what works even better is I use the feature to find people who have reading tastes similar to mine and then I go look at their 5 star reads. I’ve found some good stuff that way

Do you have any hobbies or interests? Maybe choose a book on that topic to start. For example, I once dated a personal trainer who wanted to read more. He was also into sports, so I told him to try a biographies of famous athletes and coaches. It worked. After a couple of those he moved into “food writing” (i.e. Anthony Bourdain’s Kitchen Confidential, Michael Pollen’s books). Maybe you could try a similar approach.

Also, try to be easier on yourself. It’s okay to not finish a book if you’re not into it. Life’s too short. And don’t feel like you need to read 100 books in a year. Just try to read for 10 minutes a day to start.

Good luck and happy reading!

It sounds like you need to build resilience. Think of it like this when a toddler doesn’t get what they want, what do they do? They through a fit. An adult (generally) not so much. That is because of emotional resilience. The adult has learned how to regulate their feelings and take the steps they need to in order to ultimately get what they want. That skill wasn’t learned overnight. In order to build that resilience with reading, you have to enjoy and finish books first. If you like fantasy, read fantasy. Once you’ve developed a habit of reading and built up your mental chops for reading a bit, then you can throw in a book that’s not your jam but will help you grow from time to time. At first, these books will be hard because you don’t like them. So, pick easier or shorter ones. You’ll get so those are tolerable in between the books you like. After a bit more of this, you start branching out more. That may be all you ever do. Or you may discover a new genre that you adore. The key is that it should never be something you force yourself to do all the time. Push yourself out of your comfort zone occasionally, yes, but if it’s a hard slog all the time, it’s not sustainable nor is it good for you.

I strongly recommend her short autobiography that can be finished in one sitting (though maybe not the case if you’d like to savor her words), titled Timecode of A Face. Thought-provoking, meditative and introspective. It touches a bit on Zen philosophy as well, and in it she recounts her experience of becoming a Zen Buddhist priest. It’s a piece of work I’d gladly reread multiple times!

Chapter 42 of The Portrait of a Lady, when Isabel is hit with the realization of who her husband truly is.

I read it on the beach on a tab of acid and it blew me away. Then once I finished the book I read that it’s regarded as the best prose in the novel.

i started keeping track this year. i use goodreads because it’s the first thing i found. i really like being able to see all that i’ve read