Reading burnout: a state dreaded by readers of all kinds. What do you do when your favorite act becomes, dare I say, slightly odious? How do you overcome the sudden, frustrating repugnance borne by a struggle to concentrate, especially when you are someone who normally can read for hours on end without growing weary? As an avid reader, what do you do with yourself when your perhaps most-loved occupation devolves into a difficult battle to lift the words off the page with tired eyes and an exhausted mind? Most importantly, how do you most quickly curtail this dreadful period of reading-induced lethargy?
As someone who reads daily, I know from experience how exasperating reading burnout can be. Luckily, I’ve also learned a handful of tricks that can effectively rejuvenate the mind and rekindle the love for reading, which I’ve listed below.
Read a different medium
I’ve found switching literary mediums an extremely effective way to dispel reading frustrations. For example, if you’re like me and generally read novels, you could try poetry, plays, biographies, essays, short stories, or letters. This trick worked incredibly for me last summer: after reading War and Peace, I felt quite burnt out on the novel form, so I turned to plays, reading a handful of Shakespeare’s great works. Turning to a medium and time period I read less frequently was extremely refreshing; I immensely enjoyed immersing myself in the world of verse and word play, and the reading difficulties I faced after completing Tolstoy’s masterpiece quickly dissipated.
Read a short work
Sometimes, the thought of reading a lengthy novel can be draining (and this is coming from someone who loves lengthy works). When this dread sets in, I take refuge in shorter novels or novellas, which I always find particularly absorbing, perhaps because of the techniques their authors use to elucidate breathtaking thoughts in such short spaces. Additionally, by reading shorter works, you are able to, of course, read a greater variety — you can expose yourself to many new authors, cultures, time periods, ideas, and philosophies in the same time it might take you to read one extremely long work. Reading these shorter pieces also invariably produces a sense of satisfaction and confidence in me, which helps me to work my way back to longer novels.
- Suggestions:
- Novels, Tales, Journeys: The Complete Prose – Alexander Pushkin
- Petersburg Tales – Nikolai Gogol
- White Nights – Fyodor Dostoevsky
- The Village of Stepanchikovo – Fyodor Dostoevsky
- Agnes Grey – Anne Brontë
- Chronicle of a Death Foretold – Gabriel García Márquez
- A Hero of Our Time – Mikhail Lermontov
- The Death of Ivan Ilyich – Leo Tolstoy
- Notes From Underground – Fyodor Dostoevsky
- The Last Day of a Condemned Man – Victor Hugo
- The Metamorphosis – Franz Kafka
- He: Shorter Writings of Franz Kafka – Franz Kafka
- The End of the Affair – Graham Greene
- A Room of One’s Own – Virginia Woolf
- Candide and L’Ingénu – Voltaire
- One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich – Alexander Solzhenitsyn
- Fathers and Sons – Ivan Turgenev
Read a modern take on an old theme or historical event
I hate to say this, but sometimes you just need a break from centuries-old literature. When this is the case, I like to read modern takes on old themes; this could mean a continuation of a legend, like the Trojan War, or a work that looks at the past in a different way. To give examples in the Greek mythology vein (of which there are boundless novels to choose from), there are Madeline Miller’s famous Circe and Song of Achilles, which delve into stories from Homer’s Odyssey and Iliad, respectively, and Donna Tartt’s The Secret History, which draws upon Euripides’ Bacchae. If you’re a Shakespeare enthusiast, there’s M.L. Rio’s If We Were Villains, which, similarly to the The Secret History, isn’t a reimagination or continuation but instead a play on the consequences of immersing yourself too deeply in your object of study, which can lead to a blurring of the lines between the works and characters you study and your reality. And if you’re looking for something that’s based in the historical past, great works include Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, Toni Morrison’s Beloved, Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, Khaled Hosseini’s Kite Runner, and Anthony Doerr’s All the Light We Cannot See.
Take a few days off
This is probably an obvious piece of advice, but it’s one that I sometimes need to hear. I read almost every day, so it can be difficult for me to take a step back from the written word; as soon as I finish one book, I dive into literary criticisms about it, and then I start another. But, of course, this constant rotation of reading materials can lead to burnout, and when this happens, the best course of action for me is just to pause for a few days and pursue other passions, even though it may feel odd or uncomfortable to not engage in the activity I love for a brief stretch. During the time I would usually read, I draw/paint, walk outside, go to an exercise class, or hang out with friends. Generally, during this time away from reading, I like to give my brain a break and focus more on the external environment rather than the internal landscape of thought, and this helps to recharge my weary mind.
Set the scene
Sometimes, you just need to set the surrounding scene so you can enjoy the literary scene. Making the act of reading feel more like an event instead of something dredged in the monotony of everyday life can quickly make your experience feel more enjoyable and relaxing rather than mundane and task-like. Producing a nice environment can help you focus, unwind, and become engrossed in your piece of literature.
Reread a favorite
I don’t know why, but I find that rereading my favorite works helps me pull myself out of reading ruts; maybe it’s because I already know the plot, have a mental picture of the settings and characters, and possess a decent hold on the work’s philosophy, leaving me free to pay more close attention to specific imagery, plot structure, and word choice. In general, rereading is also a very rewarding experience due to the freedom it gives you to make discoveries, which can help you gain a much greater understanding (or maybe these discoveries just add to the overall ambiguity of the work, who knows?) of the piece’s objective and the author’s strategies.
Even if I reread a longer favorite, like Crime and Punishment, I still find myself refreshed, even though, as I mentioned previously, sometimes I just need a hiatus from lengthy works.
Go forth, and dispel your reading burnout
I hope that these suggestions aid all those faced with the daunting task of defeating the seemingly indomitable force of reading burnout. Equipped with these tools, I exhort all those plagued by this malady to quickly release themselves from the oppressive weight of reading fatigue and regain their passion for literature!