I have an issue where I can't seem to finish a book before I start another one. Right now, I have 12 books that I have made various levels of progress in. I am interested in all of them, and want to finish them, but it's going to take a long time because I keep starting new ones.
I have ADHD, and I feel like I have an issue of craving novelty, and get excited about a new book before I'm done with everything else I'm already reading. I usually only read one or two books a day–one fiction, one nonfiction. Switching it up like that seems to help, but I still struggle a lot to complete any book unless it's short. I probably have about another 10 books that are virtually abandoned because other ones have taken their place.
How do you keep yourself interested in one book at a time and not open one book after another?
by StellaZaFella
3 Comments
Read till the end
I don’t think this is a books question, but an ADHD question. Have you talked to your doctor about it?
I do thi also, because I read according to my mood or what I’m doing at the time. Sometimes I want an audiobook, and sometimes I want to curl up in the dark with something spooky.
I’m doing well now with only 4 books going. Two are audiobooks, one of them has several people waiting on it. I make time to listen to it 2 or 3 hours a day for that reason. I’m enjoying it, but not more than the other books.
I don’t have ADHD, but desire for novelty is not unique to it. Readers have it, crafters have it, all the people with hobbies have it. We have multiple projects/books/series on the go and I feel zero guilt about it. Any pressure to finish something in a given time, whether it is art or books, is pressure I put myself under. That pressure usually results in some kind of chart or spreadsheet that’s supposed to help me corral my unfinished life and I usually spend more time on the organizing than I do on finishing the projects.
If you truly want to pare down your in progress books, spend an hour reading each one and deciding if it’s something you want to continue right now. Give yourself permission to move it from the nightstand to the bookshelf and take it on another time or never. Maybe choose your top three and read those in rotation until they’re done. Remember that reading for pleasure should be pleasurable, not onerous.