I love reading and try to read every day, usually in the evening before bed. Looking back at my reading from last year, I found that I averaged two to three books per month. At the same time, I noticed some big gaps with no reading at all. Monthly gaps. There was no significantly heavier workload or anything else that took up all my attention. And yet, I didn’t finish a single book in the time I would typically finish a few.
Thinking it through, I noticed that those gaps usually started with me struggling with a particular book. Something recommended by someone reliable as valuable and worth reading. But the deeper I got into it, the more I felt it wasn’t clicking for some reason. I would push through the pages, trying to convince myself that it must be worth it. But the more I did, the more I shied away from reading. Suddenly I was too tired or had other things to do. Reading, which had served as a relief, became something I dreaded. So days (weeks) went by, and I was still stuck on the same chapter.
It wasn’t just the lost time. The real problem was that I could hardly recall the content of this supposedly valuable book after a while. Driven by the intention to read something meaningful and important, I had achieved the opposite. In those moments, I often blamed my lack of discipline or attention. “The book is validated, it’s me who can’t handle it.”
C’mon. I’ve swallowed many books in the past. Many great books that gave me a lot of insight. No problem with attention span, no need for discipline. Actually, that’s not quite true. I often needed a lot of discipline to put the book down and go to sleep. So if discipline wasn’t the problem, what was?
After observing this pattern for a while, I think I’ve found three main reasons: the topic isn’t interesting to me, the style of writing doesn’t suit my current taste, or it’s simply the wrong time for it. The first two mean the book is wrong for me, at least for now. Both require honesty to drop it and move on. The purpose of reading is to bring you joy or educate you (best if both). Not to leave you annoyed and exhausted, holding on only because of some vague greatness you don’t see. You shouldn’t let other people’s judgment override your own.
The third reason, timing, is even easier to manage once you accept that different kinds of time are suited to different kinds of books. You can be interested in a book on a complex topic, but if you save it for moments when you’re tired and want to relax, no wonder you won’t get through it. I used to be someone who read one book at a time, which meant I had nothing suitable to read in the “wrong” moments. Once I noticed this and allowed myself to read two or three books in parallel (different in style, mood and complexity) I was surprised by how much more I could read without forcing it.
Of course, the point isn’t to read more for its own sake. It’s about enjoying the ride, while exploring beautiful worlds and novel ideas. So every time I find myself struggling with a New York Times bestseller recommended by yet another billionaire, I remind myself that life is too short for great books that aren’t for you.