hi! title says it all, i want to start reading again so pls recommend some books to read. i’m 18 and looking to get back into reading, but it feels… hard. i haven’t really fully read a book in about 4 years. the last one i tried to read was The Inheritance Games and honestly, i was enjoying the story, but I just couldn’t stay focused enough to finish it. i don’t know why. it’s not that i hate reading or anything… it’s like my brain just drifts off or loses interest even when the story’s good.
i just graduated and i'm on vacation now, so i thought this would be the perfect time to try again. maybe even fall in love with reading the way i used to. when i was younger, i read a lot—Harry Potter, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Dork Diaries, Bible stories, and even a bunch of the “classics.” in 7th grade, i read Crime and Punishment by Dostoevsky and actually loved it. it was intense but it grabbed me and made me feel like i understood something bigger than myself. now, though, it’s like i can’t connect with books the way i used to.
i also read manhwa sometimes (korean comics), which used to be an escape for me, but even that’s lost the spark lately. i miss that feeling of being completely absorbed in a story, of actually being excited to flip the page or scroll through it. i guess i’m kind of mourning that version of myself who loved to read. i want that back or at least, i want to try.
on top of that, i’ve been having a hard time emotionally over the past few years. so please, if you have any book recommendations for someone who’s out of practice and kind of lost their reading spark, i’d love to hear them. i’m open to anything fun, deep, emotional, light, weird and just something that might make me fall in love with reading again. i’m trying to work on myself, and i think maybe reading could help me with that too. so aside from fiction, i’d also really appreciate recommendations for self-help books or anything that talks about mental health, healing, or figuring life out as a young adult, and books that are gentle and validating but still offer something real.
as for fiction genres, i’m open to:
- contemporary/coming-of-age
- psychological/thriller
- soft fantasy or light sci-fi
- romance (especially if it’s character-driven)
- anything with emotional depth or characters i can really care about
- short stories or novellas (in case my attention span still struggles lol)
but honestly, i don’t mind if the book doesn’t fit into any of those genres. i’m not expecting a miracle, but even just finding one book that I connect with again would mean a lot. so if you have any favorites whether they made you think, made you cry, or just reminded you how good reading can feel, please send them my way.
thank you so much in advance <3
by Interesting-Phrase56
2 Comments
omg i relate to this so hard 😭 reading used to be my safe space too, then life got chaotic and suddenly my brain was like “nope.” but lately i’ve been slowly getting back into it, and one that actually *reeled* me in was *The Key to Kells* by Kevin Barry O’Connor. it’s not super well known, but it’s one of those books that feels like it *gets* you while also keeping you hooked with mystery & emotion. like… secret societies, lost manuscripts, characters that feel real af?? it gave me that *woah i forgot how good books can feel* moment.
and since you liked *Crime and Punishment* (which is wild btw, respect), i think you’d vibe with something that makes you reflect but doesn’t feel heavy or pretentious. *Key to Kells* def has that quiet depth.
hope you find that spark again <3 sending good book energy your way 📚✨
1. Reread the things you loved. This can get you in the habit of reading and you already know you like those things.
2. Read the YA that you didn’t read while you were the target audience for it: Percy Jackson, Maze Runner, Selection, Matched, Hunger Games, etc. These books are awesome and it doesn’t matter if you’re “not a kid anymore”.
3. If you really want an adult book, try Dark Matter by Blake Crouch, The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton, or Elder Race by Adrian Tchaikovsky.