Reading is one of the coolest and most beneficial activities ever existing. It’s the best way to learn new things and to escape this world to much more interesting ones. However lots of people seem indifferent to literature. Throughout the years I’ve heard so many people saying that they truly tried to read but always failed.

That statement has always surprised me, cause it seems so easy: you just sit and read, what’s so difficult about that? Later, after thinking about this for some time, I realized that there are certain mistakes that people make even in this simple activity. These habits kill any person’s love for books, that’s why they can’t make themselves read. That’s exactly what I’m going to talk about in this post. So, what prevents people from enjoying literature?

Reading the wrong books

The first and most important thing to know about reading, is that it’s just a hobby, hence it must bring you joy. But it can’t do so, if you keep picking the wrong novels. I’ve seen so many lists named something like “100 books everyone must read to be considered smart”. They manipulate people, making them read something they have absolutely no interest in. As well as those new fancy coaches that say that your range of books should be versatile, otherwise you won’t grow and become “the better version of yourself”. I think that if you enjoy reading only detectives, no one should stop you from sticking to that genre. Isn’t reading a certain type of books better than not reading at all?

Here’s a confession I have to make. From the age of 7 up until almost 15 I only read the school list of books (cause it was mandatory), and Harry Potter. I kept rereading it over and over again, and I never got tired of it. I can count on my fingers the amount of other books I voluntarily read throughout those years. Everyone I knew kept criticizing me, urging to read something else, but I just didn’t want to. Even when I’d forcefully pick something else, I wouldn’t finish it, cause it was dull for me. Then one day my curiosity stepped in and I felt like I’m tired of my favorite book series and I want to see what else is out there. That’s when I started choosing other novels and broadened my reading horizons.

What I’m trying to say, is that wrong books will absolutely kill your love for this hobby. So, instead of listening to others’ opinions, listen to your heart and pick the books you sincerely want to read no matter what everyone else says.

Not dumping a bad book

I am actually guilty in this one too, cause my perfectionism doesn’t allow me to leave a novel unfinished, even if it’s boring af. But I realize that it’s a bad habit (and I try to work on this), cause I don’t get anything good from the reading, I just do it to reach the ending asap. And after finishing a bad book I feel like I need a break cause I don’t want to read anything else. That’s basically how your love for literature is being murdered right in front of your eyes. So, my advice is, if you don’t like what you’re reading, simply put it aside and pick something else. Why torture yourself if you can spend that time on things you enjoy? Maybe one day you’ll return to this book and realize that you’ve grown and matured enough to like it this time.

Reading when you don’t want to

Even the biggest bookworms get in “reading slumps”. It’s basically a period when you have no mood for reading at all, even when the book is very interesting. I’ve also been there, and at first I was trying to fight it, to be disciplined and read at least 10 minutes a day. Eventually I accepted it and just let it go, along with the feeling of guilt inside of me. And it was the best decision ever. I realized that at that point I got some other new interests and hobbies that required my whole attention and I thoroughly enjoyed doing those things. Later, when my new hyper-fixation has settled down, I realized that I have missed reading, so I voluntarily picked a book again.

Don’t be afraid that when you don’t want to read for a few days, weeks or even months. It happens to everyone. Maybe you have new hobbies that are more preferable for you at this moment. Or there’s something important and time-consuming going on in your life and you subconsciously don’t want to overstimulate your brain and fill it with extra information. Just accept this phase and don’t feel bad about not reading. Who said that you should have a book in your hands 365 days a year?

Choosing quantity over quality

This can happen especially to those who follow book blogs in different platforms. Book bloggers always love to brag about how they’ve read 20, 50 or even 100 books in a month. And then you look back and realize that you’ve only read one or two novels. Of course you may feel like a loser already. So you decide that you’re going to be more disciplined and read at least 10 books a month. This usually brings to failure, cause choosing quantity over quality is never the right decision. Isn’t it better to read a book for a whole month, enjoy it and learn lots of new things from it, rather than quickly reading a dozens of novels only because of a competition? I think the answer’s quite obvious.

And also, a little secret I should tell you. Most of book bloggers don’t even properly read all those 20 books they boast about. Some of them read the summary in the internet, others only read the dialogues and skip the rest cause “it’s not interesting”. That’s why they can’t even give a proper review for their read works, they keep repeating some cliche words and phrases that everyone else says. My point is – don’t believe in everything you hear. I can say that I just flew to space and safely came back. But it doesn’t mean that it’s true.

Reading to impress

This last point kind of summarizes everything I wrote above. Some people read not because they want to but because they want to be seen intelligent and smart. They read not for themselves but rather to impress others. Or maybe they love reading but instead of choosing their favorite genre they opt for the mainstream and trending books, so they’ll can show off that they read the latest bestseller. Maybe this will work for a while but I truly believe that eventually it will lead to not wanting to read at all. So, try to avoid making this mistake.

To wrap things up, my main tip is – read whatever you want and whenever you want. Literature isn’t a place for competition or forced actions. Unless you’re working in this field and need to read something for your work. In other cases remember that it’s just a hobby and its primary goal is to bring you happiness and joy and educate on its way. So don’t overcomplicate things that are very simple.