So You Haven't Read a Real Book Since Highschool - Now What?
Hi! Like almost half of adults, I stopped reading books during the majority of late high school/early college, and it took me a long time to rebuild the mental reading muscles and my attention span.
If you are interested in doing the same, but aren't sure where to start, here's some suggestions that helped me (mileage may vary so if you disagree, don't attack me):
Reread old favorites.
Especially if they are YA books with good writing, but even bad or complex/more adult writing is fine if you know you will enjoy it. This will accomplish a few things:
- YA books are made to be easy to read and introduce young (or returning!) readers to longer and more complex fiction without being overwhelming or vocab-heavy.
- you will already have a vague understanding of the plot, and you know you enjoyed it when you read it X years ago, so you're less likely to give up reading out of frustration/boredom/confusion/etc.
- this will help build the habit of reading as painlessly as possible :)
2. Short Stories
If you don't want to start with YA, or have good reading bones but just don't have the attention span for it, try reading short stories, particularly mysteries. I recently read two collections of Sherlock Holmes mysteries and they were perfect for stop-and-go reading, since I didn't need to invest weeks of time into waiting for plot to develop or getting to know characters. Instead, I could read one story in an afternoon.
Mysteries (or horror, there's a lot of crossover) are also great because they are very drama heavy. Who doesn't enjoy reading about (fictional) crimes, murders, and evil plots?
Authors I'd recommend:
- Arthur Conan Doyle - Sherlock Holmes is great for this, especially if you have any sort of grasp of British culture (or just, are a brit).
- Agatha Christie - I haven't read her short stories, but I've heard good things about them!
- Edgar Allen Poe - more of a horror writer than a mystery writer, but he has lots of short stories. Might be a bit more complicated prose-wise.
Anything that was originally published as a serial in a magazine is generally a safe bet, since it had to be short + keep readers attention from the start.
3. Use physical books (ideally small paperbacks).
Yes, reading on your phone/kindle is easy, free, and convenient, but if you can, reading a physical book is (IMO) much better for building the habit. If you're reading on your phone, it's MUCH easier to get distracted, your eye strain will be the same as if you were scrolling through TikTok, and it's harder to have a tactile view of your progress through the book (turning pages, seeing your bookmark move through the book).
Plus, you don't get to feel pretentious reading on the subway, waiting in the dentist office, during breakfast with your roommates, etc. if you're on your phone. (obviously the most important benefit lmao)
You can find these pretty cheaply at bookstores, thrift stores, local library book sales, or for free with a library card. Small paperbacks are the best for transport, and are generally cheap enough you don't feel bad about dog earing the pages or penciling in notes.
If you MUST use your phone (for cost or accessibility reasons), try to have a mode for reading on your phone that turns on low blue-light and do not disturb to minimize eyestrain and notifications grabbing your attention.
4. Use Sparknotes (no, seriously).
I LOVE historical fiction, but even experienced readers can get lost in the sauce of missing historical context, vocabulary we don't use anymore, weird writing quirks, and dense descriptive paragraphs that you skim just to realize there was one sentence hidden in there that fundamentally changes the plot.
To fix this, if you're reading something (particularly something complex or with a lot of cultural drift from what you grew up in), I recommend the following strategies:
look up words you don't understand (obvious, but it merits a mention)
AFTER reading a chapter where you feel lost (do not rob yourself of a good struggle to figure out what's happening, do that before this), look up the sparknotes of the book and read ONLY up to the point you are in the book. Give it a good honest try first, since otherwise it will turn into a crutch, but if you're completely lost this is a good emergency measure.
watch a youtube video about the book. This works especially well if you already know the spoilers around the book (everyone knows Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde are actually the same person, for example). I highly recommend Overly Sarcastic Productions for this, particularly their Frankenstein and Dracula videos (although if you don't know much about Dracula try reading it a bit first because the style is very interesting when you aren't spoiled already). There are definitely other similar youtubers out there, OSP is just the one I'm familiar with.
One last nonjudgmental note: if you need "booktok" books to get yourself to read, try to keep it to a minimum if your goal is to read harder books.
The benefits of reading are improved critical thinking, better dopamine regulation/improved attention span, and learning about other cultures, time periods, and people's perspective. Getting off on monster billionaire boyfriend porn isn't really effective for that, as fun as it might be. If you're aware of that, by all means, go crazy! but you might not be getting as many mental benefits as reading not-for-gooning literature, so just adjust your expectations accordingly. :)
Hope that's helpful! Happy reading!
