I think I've lost my interest in books.. help?

[SirJazzHands]

I don't know what it is, but I can't find anything to read to hold my interest.
Give me a book that will make me like reading again. =(
I think trying to read stuff like Faulkner and Pynchon has just destroyed me. While I loved The Sound and the Fury I just can't take it, I want something simple.. maybe some nice short stories. Something classic though, back to the basics. I don't want anything "experimental".. just nice pretty prose. Maybe something similar to J.D. Salinger's Franny and Zooey/Nine Stories or Bradbury's Martian Chronicles.
Thanks.

[Tournesol]

Sir Jazz, let me just say that I understand completely how you feel.

A few months ago, I scanned bookshops for something, anything, that would catch my interest!

Eventually I took a chance at Travel literature. I read 'Zaatar Days, Henna Nihgts' by Maliha Masood. Now, obviously you might want to choose Travel literature to your liking...lol.

I also read some Modern Fiction, like 'For One More Day' by Mitch Albom. His writing is invigorating, I could not put down the book!

The key, I think, is to take a chance on types of literature that you may not have tried before. Also, stay clear of the lenghty ones. You want to feel a sense of accomplishment sooner rather than later...lol.

I hope you get something to stimulate your appetite for reading again!

[Remarkable]

You might try reding some of Rushdie's work,but evit the long ones.They are pretty impegnative but the language is so wonderful and the storytelling so fanastic and fluent that you won't understand how you read the book that fast.
Try reading "Shame".

[_Shannon_]

When I start to feel that way I reach for something like Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler or Jim Thompson.....or go on a non-fiction spree. I can unequivocably recommend Tracy Kidder's Home Town http://www.amazon.com/Home-Town-Tracy-Kidder/dp/0671785214/ref=pd_bbs_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1210077368&sr=8-2. It's non fiction--but is so well written--it's absolutely. gripping.

Other great non-ficition choices are Rocket Boys by Homer Hickam (it's the basis for the movie October Sky), Friday Night Lights, Gang Leader For a Day by Sudhir Vanketesh.

I find well written non-fiction to be a great bridge for the gaps when I am booked out.

[mickitaz]

Trust me.. I have been there as well. As sad as it sounds, after reading the last Harry Potter book, I could not bring myself to read. It was almost like I was betraying a friend who had died.

I tried devouring Milton...a task my cousin had taken me up on with online weekly discussions. But alas, he has a new love in his life, and Milton with out assistance is difficult.

I came here..searching to regain my soul. And it seems that I have rekindled that lost spirit. One way that I did it... think of a movie you really liked, and research it.. Most movies are based on a book. Try to find out what book it is, and pick it up. You might find a path you never went down before.

[DapperDrake]

George Eliot - Silas Marner

Short and brilliant, if that doesn't rekindle your passion for literature then a break might well be in order.

[byquist]

How about Chekhov short stories? Or Dick Francis mysteries.

[Joreads]

I think that we have all been there at least once. I find the best thing is not to force yourself, it will come back to you when you are ready.
1984 and Animal Farm worked for me but remember we are all different

[aeroport]

Hemingway?

[kasie]

Sorry but Tough Love is the only solution here - Cold Turkey.

Read Nothing.

Do Not Touch A Book, Magazine, Cereal Packet, Printed Matter of Any Kind.





Seriously though - you may just need a rest. Don't read anything for a while, give your mind a rest. The urge to read will come back, I promise (been there, done that) and you may find that by giving yourself a break you will open your mind to types of books you had not considered before.

[Erichtho]

Seriously though - you may just need a rest. Don't read anything for a while, give your mind a rest. The urge to read will come back, I promise (been there, done that) and you may find that by giving yourself a break you will open your mind to types of books you had not considered before.

I second that. Don't ever force yourelf to read something, read only when you feel an urge to read. Everyone has such phases. Sooner or later, you will read again, and with pleasure.

Maybe you can re-read then an old favourite of yours that you hadn't touched for years. Such books don't need to be of great literary quality, but because they have a special place in our hearts they can work wonders that the great classics never could. ;)

[Rakthor]

This happens to me sometimes. Maybe you could read some of the Horatio Hornblower stories by C.S. Forester. They're fairly easy to read, yet they're fun and enjoyable. I recently picked up one of the Hornblower novels, and I am greatly enjoying it.
On the other hand, I do agree with rest. Sometimes the best cure is just time.

[Sir Bartholomew]

i think Sherwood Anderson's Winesburg Ohio fits well to what you need, if you haven't read it yet.

[Tersely]

What I did when I fell into a slump was to go to my local bookstore and just visually browse. No knowing what I might buy, no planning...I just picked up a couple of contemporary books that looked interesting and went from there. I was burnt out from reading classic after classic to the point of where I didn't feel like I had any interest anymore. So in going around to the store not knowing what I would pick up--but knowing that it would be something I'm interested in---helped a lot. You never know what you'll find.

[JBI]

Try poetry. It is a new gate for anyone into literature to open.

[Shannanigan]

Do you read Caribbean Literature? It's saved me a few times...something different to break the kind of feeling you're having

[PierreGringoire]

Pretty prose, eh?
Well there are quite a few authors that dit that description.
Read Count of Monte cristo. If it is too intimidating a read since it is ong read the abridged version (which I regretfully read because it was so enthralling). You can't dislike that book. Go to spark notes and read the Motifs and themes it has in it (I do that with every book I am about to read), if it interests you, do not think twice. Aleandre Dumas is king.
And you'll be obsesessed with reading. Be aware it doesn't necessarily mean you will like the three musketeers. He writes Count of Monte Cristo piece afterwards when he was wise and actually has a good moral message.

Anything by Charles Dickens , A tale of two cities and GReat Expectations I'm primed up to read next. I read a Christmas Carol and he is one hell of a writer. He is amazing. Honestly, I think A Tale of Two Cities might be a safer bet since he takes a more tragic but REAL tone by just a small bit. Again read the motifs and themes in sparknotes.

[SirJazzHands]

Thanks for all the help guys, I think I found something out of left field to spark my interest momentarily-- I'm reading Chronicles of Narnia and I'm loving it so far, I never did read much of this except Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe in 5th grade.
Also I am very tempted for some unknown reason to buy a bible.. particularly Oxford's World Classics version, it has annotations and stuff. Has anyone here ever read it?
http://www.amazon.com/Bible-Authorized-James-Version-Apocrypha/dp/0192835254/ref=ed_oe_p

[Shannanigan]

Great choice!!! I LOVE the chronicles...have two sets of them, lol. Enjoy!

[_Shannon_]

Pretty prose, eh?
Well there are quite a few authors that dit that description.
Read Count of Monte cristo. If it is too intimidating a read since it is ong read the abridged version (which I regretfully read because it was so enthralling). You can't dislike that book. Go to spark notes and read the Motifs and themes it has in it (I do that with every book I am about to read), if it interests you, do not think twice. Aleandre Dumas is king.
And you'll be obsesessed with reading. Be aware it doesn't necessarily mean you will like the three musketeers. He writes Count of Monte Cristo piece afterwards when he was wise and actually has a good moral message.

Anything by Charles Dickens , A tale of two cities and GReat Expectations I'm primed up to read next. I read a Christmas Carol and he is one hell of a writer. He is amazing. Honestly, I think A Tale of Two Cities might be a safer bet since he takes a more tragic but REAL tone by just a small bit. Again read the motifs and themes in sparknotes.
You and I---we are simpatico. Any chance you also have a fondness for Stevenson?? I discovered a few years ago that it turned out all my favorite books were boys' adventure novels! LOL! Have you read The Scarlet Pimpernel? If not you so, so should!

[_Shannon_]

Oh--and Jazz- hooray!! I am pleased that you found something! I often turn to children's literature when I need to read something good and sustanitive--but not overly complicated.

Re: The Bible--I don't care for the King James's translation- but the annotations themselves might be wrth the price! If you can find it the Richard Lattimore translation of the New Testament is tres fab! (I used to translate Greek once upon a time in another life....and so I have wierd translation issues. I am such a goober! :D)

[SirJazzHands]

Ah I dislike just labeling them "childrens lit" as if that's the end of it though.. it's very nice stuff, I think. I've mentioned on this forum before, but authors like Roald Dahl, they write in a way that I love. Sure my favorites might be crazy like Faulkner, Woolf, Twain, Salinger, but the childrens lit is just as good, just a different style, certainly not "dumbed down" in my opinion.

[_Shannon_]

Oh- I most certainly did NOT mean that as a slight in any way :) I am sorry if I offended!

It's some of my very, very favorite writing. One of my daughters is named for Lucy Maude Montgomery...I just think there is a difference in the situational complexities of children's literature and literature written with adults as it's intended primary audience. Because of that difference, I find myself returning to folks like Frances Hodges Burnett, and Frank Baum, andMadeline l'Engle when I want to be reading great literature--but without the intense complexity of say, Faulkner or Dostoyevsky. Does that make sense??

[SirJazzHands]

Ah yeah of course it does. You didn't offend me or anything, I was just worried you were classifying childrens lit as merely "light reading" and that's kinda depressing I think :P But I'm glad that you like them.

[Joreads]

Thanks for all the help guys, I think I found something out of left field to spark my interest momentarily-- I'm reading Chronicles of Narnia and I'm loving it so far, I never did read much of this except Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe in 5th grade.
Also I am very tempted for some unknown reason to buy a bible.. particularly Oxford's World Classics version, it has annotations and stuff. Has anyone here ever read it?
http://www.amazon.com/Bible-Authorized-James-Version-Apocrypha/dp/0192835254/ref=ed_oe_p


I finished Animal Farm last night and then I picked up Narnia. I am ashamed to say that I have never read them. I saw the movie of Lion when it came out here and Prince Caspen is on the way so I thought that i better make a start on it.