Used to love reading books, now I just cannot seem to finish a book, start them, read 2 or 3 chapters, get bored/forget about it…Is it old age?????

ADD?

Find better (/different) books?

Make time to read? I read in bed at nights, helps me wind down.

I read lots during holidays but less when I'm working.

Having said that I've only completed one book this summer but two others are in a a state of flux…

"Dr Zhivago" I WILL finish

"The Third Policeman" by Flann O'Brien, on the other hand, is maybe just a bit too surreal…

Even tried re-reading a couple that I really enjoyed a couple of years ago (Prachetts) best I did was 2/3rds of one during 2 weeks hols.

If I try reading in bed I just seem to look at 3-4 pages and then realise I haven't actually read those pages, and have to go back and start again till I get bored and go to sleep

I used to get through a couple of novels a month.

picks up book, stares out the window, puts down book, gets on bike…………

ring a bell mate ? 😛

Maybe you are bored of the type of books you have normally read and need a change of reading material – from fact to fiction, from SF to mystery etc?

Are you distracted or stressed?

I am an addicted reader (yes, cereal packets!) but even I can go for a few weeks or months on odd occasions when I dont feel like reading.

Considered trying an audio book for a change – loads of CDs of all sorts at your local library – handy when fixing the bike.

I've pretty much given up reading these last couple of years – I'll read a couple on holiday but that's it. It's a few reasons for me – having a kid increases time pressure by an order of magnitude, plus I play a lot of online bridge during the week which I use to unwind, whereas previous I'd read.

Because your wife/GF/partner keeps on at you when you are reading to do stuff? No, that would be why I now take ages to read a book and why I have about five half finished books around the house.

Not that I mind… no, of course not.

computer use ruins your attention span?

I read and write all day at work. but none of it creative. It is the thing I hold most responsible for the waning of my reading.

When I used to commute by public transport, I could zone out and enjoy reading – a book a week was normal. But for the last few years, I've commuted by bike, and I tend to find the wind keeps flipping the pages….

At home, our evenings feel dominated by the TV, and I can't read while it's on.

Reading in bed doesn't work (I just fall asleep), and besides the bedroom is for a maximum of two activities….

So, I too have a pile of half-read and unread books around the house. And with a child on the way, it's guaranteed I'll read even less….

That happened to me. Discovered I needed glasses.

Had an eye check recently?

I had the same as epicyclo, didnt even notice till I put on some reading glasses, then I realised what hard work it had become.

I find that during the summer months I tend to read less, there's so much more to do outside. I've got 3 books on the go currently too. Though that's partly because none of them are quite as engaging as I had hoped they'd be.
As others have said you might want to try something brand new for a bit and then go back to the other(s). Or take it out riding with you and find a nice quiet place to sit down for a couple of hours… in fact that's what I'll suggest to Molgrips for our weekend excursion 🙂

I wish I had the time at the weekends to cycle somewhere nice, sit down for a couple of hours and read, then cycle back.

There just seems to be so much more stuff to do at home (dogs, chickens, garden, etc) all the time that any free time gets filled quite quickly. I don't have time to swim, go to the gym, go shooting, go for long runs, nothing. Just get back, housework, cook, eat and then sleep.

WHAT HAVE I BECOME?

Too busy?

Make time.. don't take on too much stuff…