Ok I’m going with my experience here. I’ve been an avid reader of hundreds of books a year since I was a teen. When I had my baby, I wen through a traumatic birth that left me with post partum PTSD. When that happened I couldn’t read anymore. What helped me get back into reading is audiobooks and comics/mangas. 5 years has passed, I’m now mostly recovered from the PTSD but I am not the reader I used to be, I can now read a book now and then, I sometimes read big fanfics because knowing the characters and tags help a lot but audiobooks are really my go to and I can listen a bit everyday. Well, nevertheless, don’t feel bad for not reading, do whatever feels good to you.

Audiobooks are a nice middle ground if you are too busy. If you have time to read some books then i would suggest you to avoid any app from the phone. Literally turn off you phone/tab and find yourself some nice, quiet place where you can read your book. Read it slowly at first and choose something you are really interested in and possibly not too " heavy" to digest. Some anthologies of short stories would do great.

The problem for me is that I’m always trying to read shit that is boring as fuck, for like self betterment or something. Like I try to read non-fiction history, or a textbook, or some award winning abstract cerebral literature shit. Y’know, to learn something or get a different perspective and generally be a better person.

My brain doesn’t like that shit. My brain wants to read about emotionally repressed wizards shooting red lightning and werewolves that have too much sex. Way too much sex.

Maybe you have a similar problem as I do. You’re trying to read based on what you think is logical to read. You only have so many hours in a day so you want your reading to have a purpose or a benefit, but the books you enjoy reading don’t make you think or teach you a skill. They’re emotional fluff, but they’re what you actually enjoy reading. Does that sound like you? That’s me in a nutshell. Logically at odds with what I enjoy.

If I want to actually get through that other boring crap I have to set a schedule, read like 3 pages a day and put it down. I have to stick to the schedule, like working out. It takes forever to get through a book. It works though.

Have you tried audio books?

if you’re at least not opposed to the idea, an e-ink reader worked wonders for me. picked up a kindle on a whim despite not having read a book in so long. managed to get back into the habit due to that. my favorite device now, hands down.

also when i get stuck on a long book, i just take a break from it and switch to a shorter book.

I’ve discovered that my brain will only accept certain content certain ways. If I’m really into a fun book, then text is perfect. If it’s any kind of “literature” or non-fiction, I need to listen to it at the fastest setting my brain can absorb (usually 2x speed) while doing things that would otherwise not be fun (unloading the dishwasher, cleaning, doing laundry, whatever). And I pay attention to my emotional reactions to stuff. If something is too heavy to be fun (or to handle in general), I don’t make myself go back to it. I evaluate whether I want to continue. I have more than 1,000 books on my Libby wishlist, so I feel no guilt about moving on to the next thing.

It takes me about a week of holiday before I can read. No work stress, and less obsession with the continual dopamine hits of smart phones, eventually lets my brain relax enough to pick up a book.

Every time I come back from holidays I tell myself I should keep reading. I never have kept it up though…

Hey there, I was right there with you about a year ago. Couple years ago I easily read through 50 books in a year, then right at the end of college I couldn’t even begin one. After 3 years being out, I finally finished a couple books in less than half a year.

What helped is reading something easy and fun. Hitchhiker’s guide to the galaxy was it for me. Nowadays I’m doing therapy as well, which helps. I’m nowhere near as voracious a reader as I once was but I’m a different person than I was years ago, so that’s fine.

In my personal experience, when I do a lot of quickly rewarding things, the pace of my life speeds up. Drastically. It’s something that takes weeks to recover from. For example, whenever I hit the road for a few months, away from my computer, using my phone for only a couple hours a day, I find this peace. It’s not the sort of peace you feel when you’re just chilling during the day. It’s lasting peace, on a large scale. And I read a lot when I’m out there. But as soon as I return home, I return to my computer, and suddenly, life is full of opportunities for instant rewards (dopamine) again. And then I lose the patience for the slower and greater dopamine sources. It’s like, why would I want to wait hours to receive a lot of dopamine, when I could just have a little bit now, and a little bit then, and a little bit later. It takes willpower. You need to take a step back from the daily rush, especially involving your phone and social media, and YouTube and stuff.

It will require willpower, because the change will not be instant. Going outside and basking in the breeze is one of the easiest ways for me to just slooow down. Try meditation too. Just sit there, thinking of nothing (or if you have to, think about your breathing, or even think about thinking about nothing), and feel your body relax. You do not need to be doing things all day every day. Boredom can even be your friend. Learning to become one with nothingness is how you’re going to start reading again. Be patient, and commit to things without expecting instant gratification.

You are getting a lot of advice on which books to read and strategies on how to read them, but one thing that I feel is often very overlooked, despite how important it is, is to search a proper ambient for a reading session.

Get yourself a comfy seat and a nice light. Turn off your phone’s notifications (except for calls and other important matters) and put your phone away, same with your computer. You can have soft background music (no lyrics, of course) if that is your cup of tea, just make it so you cannot see the screen. Get a cup of coffee or tea if you like that, and put an alarm on your clock: until the alarm sounds, there are no obligations or anything else for you to do other than reading at your own pace.