Monday 21 December 2009

GoodRead - Reader's Block

We all know there’s such a thing as “Writer’s Block” (I, like most writers – professionals or amateur – suffer from this when I write sometimes. It takes a lot of hard work to get past it), but is there such a thing as “Reader’s Block”?

Because, if there is, I seem to be suffering from it at the moment!

You see, the last two books I have tried to read (“The Maze Runner” by James Dashner & “Candor” by Pam Bachorz) have started great and then, out of nowhere, I seemed to have suddenly hit a reading wall. I can’t get seem to get past it. It has became a real effort to actually pick up the book and actually read it.

And reading, in my view, shouldn’t be like that. Reading should be fun and a good book should be enjoyed. A good book should be something you try desperately to find time to read it. I felt that with books that with most of the books I have read this year (Mortal Instruments, Shiver, Hunger Games and Catching Fire to name a few), but with the last few books, it’s suddenly seemed to become a biot of a struggle, and I’m not sure why.

Maybe it’s the time of year – Christmas. There’s all the goodies on TV and at the cinema and the books I am reading aren’t holding my attention.

Maybe it’s the fact that, over the past few weeks, I’ve suddenly done more stuff with my friends and family.

Or maybe… now this is where my logic is taking me… maybe, it’s the fact that over the past few months – okay, maybe the whole year, even, I have really stuck my reading material inside one genre – fantasy. I’m not blame the genre itself, but I am blaming my choice of reading materials. I am an animal that, when it comes to reading, I like a mix of both familiar and not-so-familiar. I love fantasy and fantasy within the YA (Young Adult) genre and over the past year, there has been some amazing books within this area (books that most adults would miss unless they actually look for them), but maybe… maybe my mind is rebelling from this and wants me to attack books outside my comfort zone.

I have two or three crime books by my bed (as well as more fantasy stories – Sookie Stackhouse books 2 to 5 [I went mad! So shoot me!] among other books) as I am going to sit down and tackle them before I return to the realm of fantasy (well, February and March because of the release of “Gone” by Lisa McMann and “Lord Sunday” by Garth Nix).

You know what they say, a change is as good as a rest. So maybe that’s what I need…!

So, if you are waiting for a review from me, you might have to wait a little while I’m afraid. I’m suffering (but hopefully will recover) from a nasty case of Reader’s Block.

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