Does Reading Ever Feel Like a Chore?

[Book Fiend]

Now don't get me wrong, I LOVE reading. However, my TBR pile is enormous and getting bigger by the day, added on to which is my desire / urge / need to basically read every book ever written (within reason, I think I might give Mills and Boon a miss!) and sometimes it just feels like a huge pile of work waiting to be done. There is a little voice in my head that pipes up whenever I'm being lazy that admonishes me 'You should be reading, think of all those books you have to read! You'll never get them all read at this rate!!!'

 

Sometimes it can really take the joy out of reading for me. I feel like I'm reading towards an end goal, rather than just for the pleasure of it.

 

Is it just me that gets like this??

[Coffin Nail]

Every now and again I get that way, especially when it's something uninspiring.

I get that way that my eyes are looking over the words but taking in nothing. Then you catch yourself and have to turn back and reread it.

 

Whenever that happens, I leave it alone and do something else. Or find a book in your pile that you're really looking forward to and start that instead.

[Kylie]

I know exactly what you mean. Sometimes I feel it's a race against time to read all my books, but I just try to keep reminding myself to enjoy the ride.

 

And yes, I feel guilty when I'm not reading!

[iamnotreal]

I feel like this, too. My TBR pile currently stands at approximately 130 books tall, and as much as I'd like to get through them all I just don't have the time. And the more time goes on, the more guilty I feel about not reading them and the more I feel pressured to do so.

 

It doesn't help that I am stuck with reading what is possibly the most dreadful book that I have ever laid eyes upon. Deary me.

[Kell]

Only when I'm reading a book for review that isn't as good as I'd hoped it would be. THat only very rarely happens and I always feel guilty writing a negative review when I've been asked to do one, but I have to be honest about how much (or how little) I enjoy the books when I'm reviewing them or it wouldn't be fair to anyone who read the review and went on to read and perhaps be disappointed by he book.

[pickle]

Only if I am having to edit and read client reports otherwise if i choose to read something i do it for pleasure if i don't like a book i put it down guilt free and read something else.

[BookJumper]

It feeling like a chore is a sure-fire sign that I'm reading the wrong book, so whenever I get that feeling I'll quite happily abandon said wrong book and find something with which to reignite the passionate love affair that reading should be !

[Steeeeve]

It does sometimes feel like a chore but for me it's not because my TBR pile is getting bigger. That can be overwhelming but it's fine as long as they're books I want to read.

As Giulia says the only time it really feels like a chore is if I'm reading a book I'm not enjoying. I'll often abandon the book but I don't really like to. That means I've wasted some time reading it and on top of that it goes back to the TBR pile. Even though I didn't like it I feel like I'll have to read it one day. I probably never actually will read it but there's still that niggling feeling there.

[Echo]

Yes, it can definitely feel like that sometimes, especially as my TBR pile has grown. And anytime I have to read something for school.

[Nollaig]

It sometimes feels like a chore for me but only because I have a very short attention span. I force myself to pick up books, and I'm usually fine once I get going, but if not I'll pick up another book and try. I hate just NOT reading because there's so much I want to get through.

[Talisman]

It can with certain types of more academic non fiction, but never with fiction, if it starts to get like that I know I am reading the wrong book and I go and find a different one !

[Cookie]

Now don't get me wrong, I LOVE reading. However, my TBR pile is enormous and getting bigger by the day, added on to which is my desire / urge / need to basically read every book ever written (within reason, I think I might give Mills and Boon a miss!) and sometimes it just feels like a huge pile of work waiting to be done. There is a little voice in my head that pipes up whenever I'm being lazy that admonishes me 'You should be reading, think of all those books you have to read! You'll never get them all read at this rate!!!'

 

Sometimes it can really take the joy out of reading for me. I feel like I'm reading towards an end goal, rather than just for the pleasure of it.

 

Is it just me that gets like this??

 

That is exactly how I feel sometimes!

 

I can pick up a book and even if I really love it I'm thinking read faster read faster because I have so many books to read and so little time to do it! I think that even if I could dedicate every minute of the day to reading there would still not be enough time!

[Ooshie]

No, reading is just as automatic (and necessary!) as breathing to me; sometimes I breathe quickly, sometimes not so fast...

 

It might be different if I ever thought about how many books I have that I still have to read, but I don't, ever. After reading posts on the forum about "to be read" piles or shelves, I briefly considered it, then decided it would just stress me! So my unread books will continue to live in friendly not-so-little piles wherever I put them.

[ned]

I hate not finishing a book no matter how bad it is so when i get one that i don't like it can seem like a chore to finish it

[arewenearlythere]

I'm very selctive over the books I read, big books scare me! I tend to read one book at a time but I can see the how reading multiple books can become a chore.

 

Sometimes I drift off into my own world when reading a section of a book then I need to re-read it! Other times I may need to refresh my memory by thumbing through the chapters I read months ago, in order to remember what happened before...these can feel like a chore to me, my own fault though!

[sirinrob]

Most of the time its a pleasure. I occasionally read books that prove to be a chore to read. If they are for one of my challenges, then i tend to stick with them, otherwise abandon and read something else.

[nicx27]

I can understand this, and it's definitely related to the vast size of my TBR pile. I know I will never ever get to the end of it and it's a feeling of hopelessless, rather than chore really. I need to read about three times as fast!

[Johnny Carson Whit]

It can be a chore if you are not reading something you enjoy, and you are trying to read it just for the sake of getting through it. This is the kind of thing that puts people off I think, because a book that will enthrall a new reader (who will give up at the first excuse) is a very rare thing.

[Ruth]

Now don't get me wrong, I LOVE reading. However, my TBR pile is enormous and getting bigger by the day, added on to which is my desire / urge / need to basically read every book ever written (within reason, I think I might give Mills and Boon a miss!) and sometimes it just feels like a huge pile of work waiting to be done. There is a little voice in my head that pipes up whenever I'm being lazy that admonishes me 'You should be reading, think of all those books you have to read! You'll never get them all read at this rate!!!'

 

Sometimes it can really take the joy out of reading for me. I feel like I'm reading towards an end goal, rather than just for the pleasure of it.

 

Is it just me that gets like this??

I know exactly how you feel. I DO love reading, but sometimes I look at all the books I still have left to read (takes a long time as they are spread through various rooms in the house) and it seems a daunting prospect.

[BigWords]

There have only been a few times when I've felt completely overwhelmed by a book's contents. Okay, not so much fiction, but non-fic software guides which seem to have been translated from Japanese into German then into English via Babelfish. I'll never, ever forgive the author of a certain book on C++ for making the it look so complicated when it remains one of the easiest things to pick up.

[rune]

My to read pile is not that large. However, I can find reading a chore if I am not finding the book engaging

[Univerze]

Nope. This is because I never feel compelled to finish a book I don't like, when it doesn't appeal to me after a while, I put it away (sometimes for later finishing). Also, I don't have a TBR pile either.. the books I own and want to read still are not that many, and the books I don't own and want to read could be hundreds, so I have never bothered to make an actual list.

And I never read something I don't feel like reading. I can't work through a system, which is why I have never joined a book club, or done a book challenge. I pick up whatever books strikes my fancy at that moment, and when I want to read something else, I do. Reading for me, is always fun.

[Gemz]

i find it a chore if i don't like the book, but if the book becomes to the stage i am totally lost as to what is going on i either stop reading it or go back to the beginning i cant stand reading and being lost. although i couldnt read wuthering heights after one page (which i read about 20 times) i just had to give up, maybe try again some time but really couldnt read it.

[beef]

I feel like this several times a year, I keep a stack of books I refer to as the "slam dunk pile" for just such an occasion, generally short books or very very easy to read books that help ease the feeling of it being a chore or break up the monotony of the book i am struggling with (but I rarely give up on the difficult book).

[Kreader]

Rarely. These days I can abandon a book I really don't like unless I'm reading for more than pleasure and there isn't an alternative book with another approach to the subject.