Why are books so boring?

[Lightspeaker]

First of all, I've never heard of anyone getting into a book on the first page. Books can't immediately wow you with visuals and music the way a movie can so you need story investment.

I would have to disagree. There are a number or great books that grab you immediately due to a strong opening.

"Tyler gets me a job as a waiter, after that Tyler's pushing a gun in my mouth and saying, the first step to eternal life is you have to die. For a long time though, Tyler and I were best friends. People are always asking, did I know about Tyler Durden." - Fight Club

"My apartment in New York was on Perry Street, a five minute walk from the White Horse. I often drank there, but I was never accepted because I wore a tie. The real people wanted no part of me." - The Rum Diary

"I did two things on my seventy-fifth birthday. I visited my wife?s grave. Then I joined the army.? - Old Man's War

"Hughes got it wrong. In one important detail. You will have read, in Tom Brown, how I was expelled from Rugby School for drunkenness,which is true enough, but when Hughes alleges that this was the result of my deliberately pouring beer on top of gin-punch, he is in error. I know better than to mix my drinks, even at seventeen." - The Flashman Papers

"The Hegemony Consul sat on the balcony of his ebony spaceship and played Rachmaninoff?s Prelude in C-sharp Minor on an ancient but well-maintained Steinway while great, green, saurian things surged and bellowed in the swamps below." -Hyperion

Dear OP: what books have you tried (and failed) to get into?

Damn it, why do you do this to me?

I've actually not read any of the books you list here AND NOW I WANT TO READ THEM ALL. X-D

i'm an avid reader and I DON'T WANT TO READ because books nowadays are just boring... thank god for the crack that is fanfiction... free and more interesting then about 80 percent of the books in print right now -.-

uhhhh...fan fiction?

I like fan fic as much as the next person but....

and what books are you reading? 50 shades on repeat?

Nah, 50 Shades pretty much IS fanfiction so that can't be it.



Anyway I'm really not sure what else to say after my earlier post. I love reading. I've always loved reading. I read Jurassic Park and The Lost World when I was about eight. I was reading Tom Clancy books like Rainbow Six when I was about eleven. I've read Lord of the Rings something like six times. I've even gotten through a translation Romance of the Three Kingdoms (though boy was that a heavy read). My entire house is full of books and I constantly have a book backlog that rivals my game backlog.

Maybe it'd help if we knew what it was ABOUT reading that bores you. Is it the lack of stimulus? Or is it overly descriptive prose? Or what?

If its just lack of visuals you could maybe try some manga?

 

[Pax Romana]

I've tried reading books in the past and they're so boring. I can barely get past the first page. I don't know if it's because they fail to grip me or something else.

People keep asking me trto try to read but nothing I can find is good.

Perhaps if you told us some games where you really enjoyed the story I could suggest some books for you on that basis. This comment is going to be on page two of the thread so given your affliction you will likely never read this. That's a shame

I love JRPG's. Some of my favorites being Mother 3, Digital Devil Saga, Chrono Trigger and Xenoblade.

I also love the Ace Attorney series. And those are the closest thing to books.

So you like fantasy essentially. The visual style of JRPG specifically but this obviously does not matter with the written word.

I think a good series would be the first law trilogy by Joe Abercrombie and the Mistborn Trilogy by Brandon Sanderson. The painted Man by Peter Brett is also very popular and quite fast paced. These are all really good fantasy stories and they are not overly long. People will recommend Game of Thrones (Song of Ice and Fire) but its quite long and not finished yet. The same for the Malazan series, it is terribly long. You would probably be best served with a shorter series by what you have said so far.

For Sci-fi I would recommend the Hyperion Cantos by Dan Simmons which I quite enjoyed. I can't really say about crime or courtroom drama it's not a genre I read. Perhaps someone else here might be able to comment.

When you get one of these books (the First Law starts with action as does the Painted Man) I think you should set aside an hour to an hour and a half and just stick with it. I would almost guarantee it will hold your interest after that point. Best of luck

 

[Vault101]

Maybe try a genre you wouldn't normally be interested in? Perhaps you could try a graphic novel (I really hate these, but who knows, maybe you'd like them).
.

do you dislike the content of graphic novels or just the medium? some people don't like the combination of visuals/reading

 

[Secretarial-Humbug]

I find this idea interesting because, from my standpoint, I was an avid reader in younger times.

I ate up books at a pretty solid rate, but I found that since Uni, wherein I HAD to read rather than being given a choice (humanities degree and all that jazz), my perspective on books has kinda changed.
Now reading feels like an active chore for me, rather than an enjoying past-time.

Oh I'll still read, but it hasn't the same luster that it held for me before, though I'm always a stickler for a Discworld novel because I can finish it in one go.

I must, however, raise debate with fellow posters Hairless Mammoth and Kolby Jack about Lord of the Flies.
Whilst I do disagree with the opinion that it is garbage, I respect other people having stances and opinions upon it that differ because that's good for diverse arguments and human variety, but I still want to offer a counterargument against it being worthless.

Now granted, it reads like something from a past era, but it does have some stirkingly beautiful yet simplistic descriptions,
e.g.
'Within the irregular arc of coral the lagoon was still as a mountain lake ? blue of all shades and shadowy green and purple'

'Wave after wave, Ralph followed the rise and fall until something of the remoteness of the sea numbed his brain'

'Then the wind roared in the forest, there was confusion in the darkness and the creature lifted its head, holding toward them the ruin of a face'

It tries to paint a semi-realistic picture of what would happen if a group of kids were stuck on an island, and ok I grant it takes liberties with this to some extent to suit Golding's message about the warped primitivty of human nature, but it does a pretty decent job of characterising the boys as individuals that are somewhat 3-dimensional.

Now of course my opinion is biased because I read the book and enjoyed it, and thus I am saddened by people that don't like it at all, but I've already diverged too far from the point already so that's my few cents. Again, don't want to convert people to my way of thinking, just offer an alternative opinion that may be considered.

I'll admit books have become more boring over time for me, but this may simply be because I've an apathetic attitude and would rather assimilate stories in different forms, for instance through visual or audible platforms.

Apologies for the long post.

 

[Cowabungaa]

They're not. Most people I know that don't like reading don't have much imagination, which is something books take. If you can't mentally transport yourself to the world the book is painting you're pretty much bound to get bored of it. Books have a level of abstraction that some people can't really 'deal' with.

Just go play a game or watch something instead.

 

[esserin]

snip

Yeah, I guess it wasn't an accurate use of the term because the term can't really be applied to books, but I don't think it diminishes my point. There's something more personal and visceral about SEEING a character get shot and other characters react with shock than just reading about it, no matter how well-written it is. Like I said, there are books I really liked, but I don't see them as a better/more fulfilling/deeper/more intellectually satisfying way to consume stories. I just think that's silly.

Actually, "show, don't tell" was a term specifically made for writers as a tip.

It tells an aspiring writer that he isn't conveying what's going on well enough. It's kinda like seeing a second-hand account of what happened versus actually being there and seeing it happen.

If you can imagine how people might react to something then you can imagine the character's reactions in a book.

I, personally, started reading with the comic series "Asterix et Obelix" that my sister would get me as a kid. I really became an avid reader at school as a way to spend time in class when they gave out stupid assignments.

Books: the smartphones of the pre-smartphones era.

 

[StormShaun]

I am sorry for your stunning loss.
As a aspiring writer, I believe it is time to end this harsh moment.
Goodnight my sweet Prince, may you find a better light on the path you walk.

*Plays [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gIuotFZnBtk]*

All joking aside, I think it depends on many different things, so you don't need to feel negative about it.

Your personality, your entertainment, your mind, how you were raised, and all other kind of questions matter.
This especially applies to your imagination. If it is not the creative, vivid sort, I believe a book would be hard to vision. After all, the author wants you to see certain things, like a single brush mark, a war, a world, and other events that you could not witness in real life.

There isn't anything bad about this, after all, there are probably many people who are like the same, and probably even prefer a different media. Even I personally don't like some genres, non-fiction fails to grab hold of me most times, and the more logical books (and any University/Collage reading) ... well, yeah, I'm bad with them. [sub][sub][sub]Don't even say the word "fan-fiction" to me ... At least on a professional level.[/sub][/sub][/sub]

Well, all of that matters, but it won't unless the book is actually good.

EDIT:
Some people are really missing the point of "show and tell." (Well, unless I'm really tired and missing the whole point.)
A book can have both, and "telling" isn't a bad thing.

"Showing" is more living the scene, painting a picture word by word. Like ...

Lifting heavy eyes from the humming screen, the crimson streaks living inside his eyes looked almost crazed. His gaze was sharp, quick, as if eager to hunt down pray. Quickly, I pushed my copy of 50 Shades of Gray behind the couch cushions.

Telling is pretty much just quicker. It works with summaries and other writing terms (which I can't be bothered to remember, because I'm tired).

I saw him turn to me, and within a second, I hid my book.

Plot twist: The man dies after seeing 50 Shades of Gray. After all, it turns out to be a book that was written by Satan in human skin.
... Remember kids, Fan-fiction of terrible stories kill!

 

[murrow]

Reading is all about habit. Just like concert music. At first it might seem like a chore to sit in silence for 2h30 hours in front of an orchestra, but soon you'll get to like it, and eventually you'll crave ending the week watching your favourite symphony being played.

Of course, some factors help. First, get a book that interests you. Contrary to what I frequently hear people saying, it doesn't need to be an "easy" one. It has to speak to you and make it worth getting out of your comfort zone. I once had a friend who hated poetry with the utmost passion. Seeing that he was a metalhead, I recommended him John Milton's Paradise Lost, a hard read by any account. He couldn't put it down.

Second, get an e-reader and keep it always with you. This will sound sacrilegious to some, but I'm of the opinion that the work is more important than the medium. And books are heavy and fragile. Depending on your habits, being limited to the printed medium will mean you'll confine your readings to when you're at home. After all, it's too much trouble to carry a 600 pages volume around. An e-reader weights nothing and can carry a whole library worth of titles. And you can also buy new books directly from the device.

We all have times during our day in which we are stuck bored, doing nothing. Waiting in queues, in the bank, in traffic, etc. We'd love to be doing something fun, but there simply isn't anything at hand. This is the best time for reading. I myself commute to work, that's when I get most of my reading done.

Lastly, like all habits, reading is one that can be lost. Back in the day, I used to run 12 miles a day. If I attempted the same mark today I probably wouldn't make it. Same thing with reading. It's important to keep yourself "fit" by always finding time to read. The tip above is useful. Some people dedicate their weekends or evenings to reading, only to find themselves too tired to do so. It's understandable: we all need a break and reading can be extenuating, especially if the book is challenging. Making the most of the lazy intervals in our weekdays might remedy that.

 

[COMaestro]

Sorry you feel that way, OP. I would agree with most here that you likely just have not found a particular author you like. You can't just go by genre, as there is a mixture of greatness and crap available in all of them and it's hard to know which is which. Additionally, even great books or authors just won't resonate with everyone, as demonstrated by your reaction to Pratchett (which book of his did you try, by the way?). Though I truly hope you are exaggerating that you can't get past the first page of a book, as if you can't you really aren't trying to read at all.

Required reading in school turns many people off of reading, usually because they are forcing you to read a genre that just does not appeal to you. Some classes are better than others, as they will provide a wide range of genres in an effort to have you read stuff you do find appealing but also expose you to other things as well.

It may help to try reading something you don't need to work as hard to visualize in your mind. Read a novel based on a movie property or game, so that you already have an image of the characters. If you like Star Wars, I would strongly recommend Heir to the Empire by Timothy Zahn. A majority of the characters and vehicles you will already be able to visualize in your mind, so it will require less from you than some other works. This was the book that rekindled my love of Star Wars after 10+ years of forgetting it even existed, and was written so well I could practically hear John Williams conducting an orchestra in my head.

Tolkien is a bit too flowery in his descriptions of things, so I don't think The Lord of the Rings would be a good fit for you, though I seem to recall The Hobbit being a bit easier to read. Again, if you've seen the movies, a lot of the visualization will already have been done for you and it's different enough that it won't just be a complete rehash of the movie. You could also try the Harry Potter series if you liked the movies, as there is a ton of stuff that is in the books that never made it to the screen.

And I will always be happy to recommend Jim Butcher's Dresden Files series. Starts with the novel Storm Front and it's a very fun read involving a private investigator in Chicago who just happens to also be a wizard and all the crazy things he gets involved in. Butcher is my favorite author due to this series, though his fantasy series, the Codex Alera is also quite good.

Ultimately, it comes down to you. You have to make an effort if you want to enjoy reading. Unlike a movie, a book can't play itself. Alternately, you can do what some other people have suggested and try audiobooks, as they do play themselves and some of the readers are very skilled in their performance. The Dresden Files are read by James Marsters and he does a fantastic job after the first couple of books once he finds his stride. (He is so good that the one book he was too busy to record is being re-released 2+ years later with him reading it. That just doesn't happen with audiobooks!)

Good luck to you, and do realize that there is nothing wrong if you can't get into reading. Not all media will appeal to all people.

The Great Gatsby bored the hell out me. Does that mean The Great Gatsby is a bad book?

That the book bored the hell out of you does not make it a bad book, no. It IS a bad book though.

 

[Ikasury]

i'm an avid reader and I DON'T WANT TO READ because books nowadays are just boring... thank god for the crack that is fanfiction... free and more interesting then about 80 percent of the books in print right now -.-

uhhhh...fan fiction?

I like fan fic as much as the next person but....

and what books are you reading? 50 shades on repeat?

50 shades of twihard-bullocks is the absolute worst fanfiction has to offer and THAT'S PUBLISHED!! -.- you wonder why i stick with the stuff that's not nor bothers with changing the names to make a few bucks?

i know people wank on fanfiction a lot, but feh, its free and if you find one of the few good writers you can get into a story that's well developed with new takes on characters you already like, and enjoy for no loss other then your own time... what does barnes and nobles offer me now a days? 50 shades knockoffs, triangles of the worst excuses of tangential 'love', and 'he/she said' levels of description for 15-50 dollars a pop? yay?

as someone that has done editing for these wank-knockoffs for money and the saddness of discovering that generally 6 out of 10 sound like they're all written by the same 5th grade grammar skills and effort for description... i'll stick to my 500k epics in fanfiction... at least they're interesting and provide better detail... plus free :3

 

[SquallTheBlade]

There's something more personal and visceral about SEEING a character get shot and other characters react with shock than just reading about it, no matter how well-written it is.

I'm pretty much completely opposite. I like to to be TOLD what goes through characters mind. Let's say a character is shocked about a friend of his getting shot. You can see the emotion on his face but what does it really tell you? You might see that he is horrified, scared, about to cry etc. You know he is not having pleasant feelings at that moment but you can never be 100% sure what is going on in his mind. It might be very very complex feeling that can't be shown.

But if you tell the viewer/reader about what goes in his mind, you are sure. When you tell something you can describe emotions in much better detail which will make the scene much more impactful. At least in my opinion. Heck, sometimes characters will show very different emotions outside than they feel inside. That's something you can't tell by just showing.

 

[SidheKnight]

I wish I knew how to help you.

The only good advice I can give you is: The Harry Potter and A Song Of Ice And Fire (Game Of Thrones) series are wonderful books.

 

[RaikuFA]

I wish I knew how to help you.

The only good advice I can give you is: The Harry Potter and A Song Of Ice And Fire (Game Of Thrones) series are wonderful books.

I don't like the GoT show.

 

[Cavouku]

You know what always bothered me about reading books? I can never find a comfortable position, especially one with good lighting. Though that's not the only thing, it's a literal pain in the neck more often than not.

I also just haven't been getting into stories and such as of late. I've been on a sort of "world-building" binge, and typically am less concerned about characters and their interactions so much as the broader context of their culture and world that facilitates said interactions. I'm not concerned that Jenny's actions were a reflection of her father's passive nature towards her mother's alcoholism, I'm curious as to where and when they live that alcoholism comes about, and whether or not it's unusual, as well as the responses.

For this reason I read a LOT. Of non-fiction. Mostly about cultures and such that I have only limited familiarity with, or language conventions. It's my understanding that an Australian Aborigine group do not have a native word for "left" or "right", instead navigating solely through cardinal directions. I find that fascinating, and it offers characterization of cultures, which I've always been a little more into than the personal plights of characters.

That said I've been meaning to get myself to read a bunch of the classics I have lying around. Moby Dick, Robinson Crusoe, Three Musketeers, Hunchback of Notre-Dame, and a few others like Plato's Republic. I also wanted to get into reading some things like religious texts, but for these I would much prefer to have original-language texts to cross-reference for translation considerations. "I am that I am" is poetic-sounding, but not necessarily the best translation of "ehyeh asher ehyeh".

While I dig the idea of an e-reader to mitigate my first problem it feels like such a waste to just trashcan the physical copies I have laying around. As far as getting into narrative, I'm more or less in the same boat as OP.

 

[Fdzzaigl]

You don't even like to read something like Harry Potter? As much as that has been ridiculed, they're pretty good books and got a lot of people into reading in the end.

A big part is your parents though, if they read to you and stimulated you to read it's gonna be far more likely that you end up reading books yourself.

 

[RedDeadFred]

Maybe try a genre you wouldn't normally be interested in? Perhaps you could try a graphic novel (I really hate these, but who knows, maybe you'd like them).
.

do you dislike the content of graphic novels or just the medium? some people don't like the combination of visuals/reading

The medium in general. It's just an odd combination for me. Stories just don't seem to flow as well to me. It's kind of hard to explain, but I never really feel immersed in what I'm reading/looking at. I also just like using my imagination while reading. Like I said in my post, my brain simultaneously creates the world while I'm reading. To have the pictures there is just a bit jarring for me. I'm sure there are a lot of great ones, but it just doesn't seem to be for me.

Edit: Wow did I use the word "just" a lot.

 

[Chaos Isaac]

Maybe you're just not a book person, that's all. I know I love to sit down with a book and let my mind run away with the details to build the world, but not everyone's like me. And that's coo'.

Play some vidya games or something.

 

[Section Crow]

Eh, from I can gather from your descriptions you may want to have a look into adventure books so you don't get bogged down with the lack of interactivity, though I haven't dabbled in that genre since I was a kid there is probably some online one's you can trial to see if that's more preferable to you.

I'd throw around my personal recommendations but I don't really feel all that confident in my preferences for someone who isn't yet keen on reading. Have you tried reading short stories rather than an entire book? Or even something less wordy like poetry? Mebbe, something akin to zombie survival guide which is quite straight-forward and easily digestable.

I'm really not sure pal, I think this is going to be a matter of trial and error till you find something that sticks.

 

[kommando367]

Try hunting or fishing while reading.

The longer you spend in one spot with no other entertainment trying not to make noise, the more interesting books get.

 

[RaikuFA]

You don't even like to read something like Harry Potter? As much as that has been ridiculed, they're pretty good books and got a lot of people into reading in the end.

A big part is your parents though, if they read to you and stimulated you to read it's gonna be far more likely that you end up reading books yourself.

My mom reads every night. My dad reads Tuesdays with Morrie every once in a while. Even my fiancee has gotton back into it.