Getting back into reading again 📚 (successfully this time…🤞🤣)

Elsie LMC

Hello everyone! 😁 I’m very excited to be back sharing another post and would just like to take a moment to say thank you for the kindness on my last one 💛. It really meant a lot and it’s safe to say that I’m back to my regular schedule of Fridays alone 🤣, also the thing that I was stressing over has passed and went well so yay!! 🎉 I thought a lighthearted post would be a nice new beginning with this whole schedule thing and of course this was the first that came to mind! 💭

If you’ve been here with me for a while you may know how I’ve been struggling with reading for an absolute age. I’ve always been a huge bookworm but recently that’s become difficult. I want to read but everytime I tried last year I just found it difficult to take in the words. Even if I end up making it through a page it’s after being so repetitive in trying to force what’s going on into my mind that I’ll either get tired from it or just give up out of sheer frustration. It’s been hugely upsetting because before it would have been a rut stopping me from time to time but this is just different because I really want to read but with what seems to be a symptom of fatigue from my chronic pain I just can’t make much sense of it. Fragments of this have seeped into blogging with posting less and going about things longer with reading comments/posts written by my favourite bloggers but I haven’t given up trying (my bucket lists are a sure sign of that but each time it’s a nope when I set bookish goals! 🤣).

Lately something has happened which means I can get my reading kicks another way (whilst of course still trying as I want to build up that mind muscle! 💪🏼)…my sister gifted me a kindle Paperwhite for Christmas!! 🎁 I wasn’t expecting it at all and am not in the least bit ashamed to say that I cried which triggered a series of events where my family cried too 🤣. Because of it (and the element of lightness it adds to continuously trying to make a go of things) I’m now getting into audiobooks and I’m also still attempting to ease into more visual reads.

Once upon a time I would have thought it’d be difficult to stare at the screen and say no due to worry’s over it bringing on a migraine and whilst that might still be the case if breaks from the screen aren’t taken I’ve really found that it’s made a difference with things. Not exactly with deciphering words when I get confused because I don’t know what that’s about so I still take my time but I’d started using colourful overlays beforehand with books and they work well with this too (especially thanks to the light of the screen which can be dimmed or switched up helping to see through the panels). I don’t always want to reach for those either so every so often I’ll test things out and on a particular light setting one afternoon I found that I got lost reading, slowly but surely and it felt amazing! ✨ – that was Renegades by Marissa Meyer and it’s really good so far! I’m reading a sample but I think I’ll buy the rest as an audiobook.

Last year I didn’t finish any books at all, I hardly even started any. I just kept trying with what I was already in the middle of but nothing would click. Now I feel like something has and I’m less likely to get upset thinking about how I used to be able to do something because yeah I’ll keep trying but now I’ve got this to keep me tuned into what I’m missing through the audiobooks as I’m more likely to go with them when I don’t want the strain of re-discovering the other way.

A part of me feels like I can’t count audiobooks as actual books but they’ve literally got the word book in there! They’re part of what is getting me back into losing myself in other worlds and it’s just one of those moments where you’re grateful for something, like another avenue of things. Growing up, since I’ve always been a bookworm, I used to hold a view towards audiobooks that they weren’t actually reading, but they are! 😍 They’re a different way of gaining that same information, whether it’s read to you or not, it’s all a way to appreciate a good book!

I’m currently on a Kindle Unlimited + an Audible trial and out of the two I think after the times up I’m definitely going to keep the Kindle Unlimited as on that there’s both written and audio formats! (A lot of them even go as downloads in my audible account so I’m basically getting from audible anyway which confuses me 🤣). With my one audible credit they gave for subscribing I of course chose Coraline by Neil Gaiman (read by Dawn French who is so funny!!) and I’m glad I get to keep that even tho I won’t stay on audible 😆. The catalog on Kindle Unlimited is super vast and I love how it treats your choices like taking out a book from a library that’ll get returned 📚 it makes things feel cozy 🤣. The prices in general for audiobooks are quite good too, it seems to me that you get a better deal when purchasing the written version and selecting that you’d also like the audible narration compared to simply buying the audible edition so that’s good to know!

All in all I just wanted to let you guys know about this change and how truly happy I am to have that form of escape back in my life again!! 🙌😄 I was gonna say to expect some book reviews but let’s not count our chickens! 🐔 We’ll walk before we can run 🤣. I used to leave the Goodreads icon link to my account at the bottom of each blog post and then I stopped because with not feeling able to read I wasn’t using it and then it became something I saw as a daunting app because it held the reading challenge I’d set for myself which was a flop. Well this year I don’t know about a challenge but I will most definitely be using Goodreads to track what I’m checking out so I’d love it if you could give me a follow there and then we can see what books are working well for each other (with me hoping yours are available on Kindle unlimited too 🤣). The icon is back at the end of my posts and I know I’ll enjoy noting down this new reading journey because for so long it just wasn’t possible 💫.

Here’s to finding ways that enable us to do things that shouldn’t have to stop! (I don’t know if that has negative connotations but yay for reading!! 🤣). Thanks for stopping by today and checking out my post ☺️. Be sure to let me know what you’re reading at the moment or even what you’d consider to be the greatest book of all time! 📖 Stay safe, take care and buh-bye 🌊✨💛xx

33 Comments

  1. How nice that you got Kindle!!! Also happy for you that you are back to reading 😍😀 I also am back to it and loveeee it!! I couldn’t read much last year because of depression. Now it gets better. I just couldn’t concentrate. I know how annoying it’s to not be able to do the things we love to do. I also want to listen to audiobooks. They are nice and it’s another form.

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    1. Thank you!! 😆💕 I was in total shock over it 😮🤣. Ahhh fantastic!!! I’m so sorry to hear that, it’s frustrating when something you loved which may have helped you through tough times didn’t feel possible 💛. It’s not a nice feeling at all not being able to concentrate so I’m very happy you’re getting back to what you love again!! 🙌 Yes!! Audiobooks are great and it’s nice having that extra path to either head for or use as a backup plan so things can still move forward and be enjoyed ✨📚

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    1. Thanks Zainab!! 😄 Ahh that’s such a lovely idea and very kind of you too, I’d like that! ✨ I’m always pulled towards YA fantasy/dystopia or realistic fiction (used to have a thing about John Green so stuff like that) and lately with the audiobooks I’ve gone for thrillers that are recommend to be like Girl on the Train because that’s great! What about you? 💛

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      2. YA Rom Coms can be such magical reads when you come across some good ones! I remember liking The Sun is Also a Star and also What If It’s Us, you might have already read them but if not I recommend! (And I’m hopeful beyond hope that they’re classed as Rom Coms 🤔🤣). Oooh I’ll definitely be looking that up, I’d love to get lost in a series because then if the first is good there’s just more to come! Thanks so much 💛

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    1. Ahh fantastic!! ✨ I’m so happy to hear that you’ve managed to get back into reading as well and even tho it’s a sad moment when a good book ends it must have felt brilliant getting to that point after not being able to read! 🙌 I’ve heard of Jeffery Archer before but don’t think I have read anything by them, will have to look into that! You too and thanks for sharing your thoughts 💛

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  4. Yay! I’m so happy to hear you’ve found a new way of reading! I recently got into audiobooks last year and I’ve really been enjoying listening to them before bed because it’s a nice way to wind down and I can close my eyes; it’s very peaceful! 😄

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    1. Thank you!! 😄💛 Ahh that’s amazing, I’m happy to hear you’re enjoying listening to them to wind down as it’s such a nice feeling having a good book that allows that to happen! ✨ Do you find that sometimes you wish they’d read faster? I think it’s gonna take some time to get used to someone else’s pace 🤣, altho above all it is just nice being immersed in reads again and I love when the reader puts on accents for different characters! 🙌😂

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      1. I haven’t had too hard of a time with the pacing so far. I recently just finished The Hobbit and it was an ensemble cast … and I didn’t really care for it. It felt like I was listening to a play rather than someone read to me and I just didn’t care for it. I hope you find books that are well paced for you!

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      2. Ooh I feel like I may have crossed paths with that version of The Hobbit before on a podcast app but could have been different 🤔 (was surprised to find the entire thing there tbh) and altho at first I thought this is cool as I hadn’t expected it, I couldn’t bring myself to keep listening as it was very high energy. I listened before sleeping and found it’d wake me up through trying to keep track of it all and then I have this thing where I feel like I need to keep in mind the characters names, even if it means reciting them to myself which isn’t going to bode well when there are a load of dwarves arriving at the beginning so it wasn’t relaxing at all 😅🤣. Thank you so much! 😄✨

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      3. Oh it’s possible! This one had sound effects too, like water sounds and swords clanging and singing… so much singing 😂 Yes, because this wasn’t a true read of the book you don’t know who’s who because it’s not like it says “said Bilbo” you know? So I never knew who was talking really!

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    1. Oooh that sounds interesting, hope it keeps you captivated! 💛 I just cancelled audible so I’m a full on Kindle Unlimited girl now 🤣, it’s just so much more worth it for all that you get and it’s nice scrolling through the options altho already I need to make space before it let’s me take anything else 😅😂

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      2. That’s a great idea, I really want to use Goodreads as a tool of sorts to motivate me to not give up on reading. I think I’ll love seeing the list of books I’m reading as they’re not physical anymore with being ebooks and audiobooks and won’t be stored on an actual shelf that I’d normally obsess over so I’ll treat it like a digital one 📚🤣

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