Why The Heck Is Reading So Hard?

Image via CR Fashion Book
By Ashley Bell

It’s a question I ask myself at least once or twice a month when I have a moment and feel like it’s time for some hot girl reading. Immediately, I find myself spending about twenty minutes setting up the perfect reading atmosphere, and about twenty seconds actually reading.

With the latest lockdown still lingering over Melbourne once again and university wrapping up for the semester I’m sat in my room trying to do anything but spend all day on my phone, and feeling uninspired to do anything let alone pick up a book. After watching enough of Emma Chamberlain’s recent videos I thought maybe I should give this whole reading thing another crack. And so I did.

Looking for something easy and engaging to start off my newfound “passion” for reading, I reached out for a little John Green number, Turtles All The Way Down. Admittedly, this book has taken me around three months to finish, despite it only being 286 pages. Whilst I found it both exciting and frustrating with that John Green depressive flair I still struggled my way to the end. So, why is it just so hard to read, and finish a book? And why have I only made it through half a book in two years?

I took to the internet to delve deeper into my troubles and felt surprisingly, and yet sadly, less unique in my struggle. A study conducted in 2019 revealed way back in 1980, 60 per cent of young adults said they read a book, newspaper or magazine everyday. I don’t know too many people who could make that claim these days. Yikes.

But there’s also more to why it might be feeling particularly difficult to pick up a book right now. Vox columnist and book critic Constance Grady suggests the looming uncertainty of the pandemic is putting people in a mood that’s “terrified, angry, and sad,” which makes it hard for them to focus on anything, including a book.

Neuroscientist and psychologist Oliver J. Robinson noted that this anxiety as a whole can impact your cognitive function, concentration and in tern, ability to get through a novel, even if you previously loved reading as a self-soothing technique.

But this uninspiring feeling of picking up a book and putting it down within the first two pages makes the whole experience even less attractive. I haven’t yet cracked the secret code to finding the perfect book for me, and without it, I’m stuck flipping through pages of words and sentences without meaning.

Don’t get me wrong, I love a dash of Hunger Games, or a dabble of Harry Potter, but now as a 20-year-old it feels almost embarrassing to be seen reading young adult fiction that was probably made into a motion picture during the 2010’s - and probably starred Dylan O’Brien.

It’s the feeling of not being able to put a book down until reaching the end of the chapter, then being forced to read even more because of course it ended on a massive cliffhanger that I miss the most. But maybe Wuthering Heights and Great Expectations just aren’t for me.

Pursuing through the first page boredom, I’ve set myself the goal of finishing at least one more book this year (let’s not get too crazy here), and despite what I said about Dylan O’Brien, I’ve picked up The Maze Runner with the hopes of reviving that un-put-downable feeling. 

Wish me luck.