While reading is for some an amazingly entertaining activity, others struggle to get through any book. It’s part human nature, as we are all different and respond in various ways to different forms of entertainment. But the other part has to do with the book itself, how it was written and the theme it revolves around. Some people consider reading to be a boring activity altogether, but others only find certain books uninteresting.
Unfortunately, sometimes we need to power through and figure out ways of reading books we don’t particularly like, so learning how to read a boring book is a skill we will all find useful at least once in our lives.
Why are some books boring?
First, let’s try to tackle the root problem: reading can’t be boring if you have an interesting book in your hand. Not all books are action packed thrillers though. Books with deep meanings, entire pages describing a tree or exploring philosophical concepts are generally harder to read and considered by many to be boring.
Learning how to read boring books can be surprisingly rewarding, because you might even learn to enjoy some masterpieces and appreciate their value once you manage to overcome your own misconceptions.
Here are some of the main reasons why some books are considered boring by certain readers.
Not the right genre / author / style
Reading is a matter of taste. It is a personal experience and we all process the content we read in different ways. While some books may seem like masterpieces to others, they may not be your cup of tea and prove to be impossible to get through. That is mostly fine, it’s what makes us unique and special.
The important thing to remember is that with the immense number of titles available out there, different genres and authors, it’s literally impossible not to find something that matches your preferences. Finding a book to be boring may mean that it simply is not the right style for you. Explore different genres, different authors and you will surely find something right for you.
You have the wrong mindset about reading
Another important reason why people find books or reading to be boring is the simple fact that they have the wrong mindset. Approaching this activity with the misconceptions we acquire throughout our life has a toxic effect on our reading habits.
Many of us see it as a chore rather than a relaxing and rewarding activity for example. It may have something to do with going through the mandatory reading lists we all experienced in school or with the ties reading has with learning. The truth is though that reading can be a very relaxing, fun and beneficial way to spend a couple of hours after work.
Changing the way we look at reading as an activity will have a strong effect on how we see the books we are reading as well. With a different thought process, we can approach reading with a more open mind and accept the boring books as part of the experience and appreciate them for what they are.
Books are not interactive and your brain got used to being overstimulated
Another common problem for people nowadays is the fact that they got used to different, more engaging and interactive forms of entertainment. We consume a lot of content by watching TV, Youtube or scrolling through our social media apps.
While that may seem fun, the problem is that it over-stimulates our brain. It gets flooded with blue light, sound effects, flashing images and bite-size content that requires no effort for the reward.
This can alter our brain’s view on what entertainment is and books will suddenly seem boring and “not enough”. An important aspect to keep in mind is that even though the instant gratification of watching mindless content on our phones or TVs has no health benefits whatsoever, on the contrary.
What are some great tips on how to read boring books?
Now that we have some idea of what makes certain books boring for some people, let’s see a couple of solutions to overcoming this issue. Sometimes reading a boring book is either mandatory for school or simply important for your general knowledge and can even turn out to be a great experience if you manage to finish it using our advice below.
Have the right mindset
Like with pretty much anything else in life, the most reliable solution to any problem comes from within. The first thing to change if you want to get over the fact that a book seems boring is to look within for the reason and for the solution.
One thing that can help tremendously is to realize that there is beauty in any single book you get your hands on. Someone out there spent days, weeks or even years writing it and poured their hearts and souls on pieces of paper for you to enjoy. Every single book has something to teach you and brings you a different perspective over the world.
Approach every book with an open mind and try to look for the beauty in it. Maybe it’s not a page turner, maybe it won’t keep you up at night, but if it made it from the manuscript stage to being published and lying on your table, it means there is something within for you to discover. No book is boring if you approach it with the right mindset and a certain level of insightful curiosity.
Know your motivation
Nothing is impossible if you have the right motivation. Neither is reading a boring book. If you ever feel like you’re hitting a wall while reading a certain title and can’t seem to bring yourself to read a single page more, take a step back and start asking yourself some questions.
Why are you reading this? Is it a mandatory read for school? Are you reading it because it’s a must-read masterpiece? Are you reading for the health benefits, for the general knowledge boost? As soon as you realize what force pushes you forward, you will find it a lot easier to achieve your goals.
Speaking of goals, if you’re an up and comer reading enthusiast, it may be a good thing for you to know a little about Basmo, the best reading tracking app out there.
One thing Basmo is great for is setting your reading goals, which will help you tremendously in keeping yourself motivated even through the most boring books.
Choose a daily goal for the time you spend reading each day or a yearly goal for the number of books you want to go through within the next 12 months and Basmo will save your preference and generate insightful statistics and will help you track your progress.
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Relax before your reading sessions
While the mindset is important, equally important is to have the right state of mind when you’re about to tackle a boring or difficult read. Being well rested and relaxed is essential if you want to power through a book you’re having trouble reading.
Starting a reading session with a break may not sound like the most productive thing to do, but it can be a game-changer.
Disengage from media / remove distractions
Distractions are a tough obstacle to overcome nowadays, with our phones giving us tens of notifications every single day. It’s always a good idea to turn off the notifications on our phones, to turn off the TV and try to disengage from any possible distractions during reading sessions, but especially when reading a boring or difficult book.
Whenever we try to go through a long paragraph or follow a complicated storyline, distractions can seriously throw us off our game and force us to read again and again the same couple of sentences until we reach the point where we question whether we should just give up.
To make sure that our reading sessions are less likely to get interrupted, it may be a good idea to create a reading schedule that works for our daily routine.
Basmo can help with that. The app will allow you to create a personalized reading schedule, where you can select the exact days and the time of day each reading session should take place.
That way you can take advantage of having the house for yourself while the children are in school or football practice for example. The app will also remind you of any upcoming reading sessions you have scheduled through push notifications on your mobile device.
Read small parts of it at once
This scheduling feature from Basmo can help in more ways than one. Not only does it allow you to ensure that your reading sessions take place at optimal times, but you can also pre-determine their length.
Especially when it comes to boring or tough reads, consuming the content in small chunks will ensure that you don’t get burnt out or too tired to finish. Take advantage of the timed reading sessions Basmo allows you to track and only read for 15-20 minutes in a sitting for example.
Take enough breaks
Reading sessions within the Basmo app can also be paused and restarted how many times you see fit. Taking breaks while reading boring books can make the difference between actually finishing them or giving up along the way.
Perhaps instead of setting a scheduled 20 minutes reading session several times a day, setting an hour long session works better for you. You can take short breaks within the session to relax your eyes, do something else for a while and then return to reading. Pause-play your reading session from the app and nothing is lost.
Perhaps… Don’t read it!
Where all else has failed, giving up is definitely not a tragedy. Having a “did not finish” pile is something even some of the most avid bookworms will admit to. Some books are not worth the effort if that means they could set you back days or weeks on your journey to achieving your yearly reading goals for example.
Basmo has got you covered in this case as well. Among the other personalized reading lists you can create, populate and edit, the app allows you to create your own “Did not finish” list.
All the titles you started and never finished will be saved in this list and you can return to them whenever you feel prepared to give them another try.
Use Basmo to make reading more interesting
Basmo is an overall great aid for your reading habits in general. It allows you to keep your reading routine in check, you can create several reading lists so you can choose your next book according to genre or type of book, and it provides you with a series of interesting statistics about your reading.
Having access to things like your reading speed, average number of pages per hour, progress to meeting your goals and other insights will put you in a neat competition with yourself. It will give you an extra incentive to try to improve your reading. Sometimes learning how to read a boring book fast starts with knowing how quickly you can read a book in general.
Try audiobooks and pair listening with a fun activity
Sometimes a solution to going through difficult or boring reads is to figure out easier ways to consume the exact same content. That is where audiobooks come into play.
Instead of reading a boring book, listen to it being read to you in a calm and pleasant voice, while you also engage in an interesting activity that brings you pleasure. If you’re interested in finding out more about the activities you can do while listening to audiobooks, we have you covered!
A great solution for this is the Summary Z app, which focuses on exactly that – providing you with bite-size audio summaries on the most relevant books you can think of.
Try visualizing what you read
Some say that a person with a rich imagination can never get bored. The same applies to reading boring books. If you try to visualize what you read, to imagine what the characters look and sound like, the surroundings and everything else you read about, chances are you will never really get bored reading.
Use a rewards system
Sometimes you just need to figure out ways to bribe yourself into doing something. It is what it is, we all do it sometimes. Figure out what rewards work best for you and use Basmo to track your progress towards your goals and use the statistics to set the milestones you want to reward yourself at.
A piece of chocolate after every 50 pages? A nice bubble bath after each chapter? No problem. As long as it keeps you going, everything is acceptable.
Don’t do it alone
We are all social beings. We like to find other people with common interests and just as much, to find people who hate the same things we hate. This social aspect of ourselves can come in handy whenever we are faced with tough reads. Get a reading buddy whenever you know you are going to struggle to find an answer to “how to read a boring book for school?”
Join online communities on Reddit or Facebook and even use the statistics available in your Basmo app to compare with other readers’ numbers. Turn it into a competition if that’s what it takes.
Final thoughts
There are many ways to learn how to read a boring book, but what it all revolves around is using the right mindset and the right tools. Basmo can be of amazingly great help if you give it a try.
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