Reading improvements since book blogging š«

Iāve talked about this alot in the past two years, but when my depression and anxiety striked me, I had also started to have so much trouble reading.. While I can swear that I wasnāt that slow of a reader, it took me MONTHS to finish a single book ā If I even got to the āfinish lineā. My concentration and imagination took a harsh hit; I wasnāt able toĀ *SEE* the words being acted in my head anymore.. which was my favorite thing- because looking at words on a page? and beingĀ *conscious*Ā of it ?? Hell I hated that.
While in high school, I could read 2-3 books simultaneously (One for french class, one for english class and THEN one for pleasure).. I could even read while having music on!
Being a reader for as long as I could remember⦠this was something very hard to live with and endure, I had lost my greatest ability; and I DID NOT wanted to lose something as precious as enjoying reading, as my godmother has passed it down to me.
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Of course, I decided blogging so iād FINALLY have people to chat books with ā because, along with having barely only one friend, I has nobody to talk books with.. like the majority of us, it seems!
But over that, it was a little āpushā for me to finally getting my reading abilities back. My very firstĀ chaotic review that Iāve post right after creating my blog has been āSweet Thingā;Ā Which believe it or not, has been the FIRST BOOK in about a year that I had finished cover-to-cover, and had gotten so much INTO IT that it made me feel all the feels!!! and although it might seems a little āoverreactingā, I was so so proudĀ of that.
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And that was only the beginning- Two years after creating my blog, only a mere few days ago, I hit one of the exciting milestone!! Not only was I able to read fantasy; as of which the first tome of that particular serie had given me lot of trouble understanding (fantasy + second language) .. BUT I am able to read chunks ofĀ 25%. at. a.time.!!Ā
Although the bad thing about this is that erm.. I mostly read thoses at night-time, because far less distractions to start with.. so you can bet it still takes me quite some time to *get* to finish my chunck of 25% in that sittingĀ -Which got me to stay up passed 2-3am reading.. woops-Ā But it stays that itās the most that iāve read of a book in one sitting.. and that means iām improving!! š„°
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List of my overall achievements since blogging;
ā„ Finishing whole books again, only few DNFs compared to before I started. As of which, Iāve read a total of 20+ books in the past two years!Ā (while still not being āhugeā, iāll take it. Opposed to 1-2, itās still big for me!)
ā„ Discovered new genres that I likedĀ (related; Genres I never knew prior to blogging)
ā„ Going over my prior ārestrictionā, and started reading in english ā my second language; all books that I had read before had been french
ā„ Started reading and loving E-books, recently joined the audio-books too
ā„ This one is not solely about books, though it did helped me LOTS to remember what had happened in the two previous book while reading the third tome, I seem to remember things so much better ! I noticed that at work, actually; we got new recipes and after Iāve done it maybe 2-3times I knew it by heart already..
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Of course, I still run into some troubles here and then ā thus having still some way to go, but Still!! Weāre seeing some bits of improvements here. We all gotta start somewhere ā¤ļø
Did your reading improved aswell since youāve started blogging?
Iāve read more books and Iāve started reading few ARCs but I donāt think my reading has otherwise improved. I am more ready to go out of my comfort though. I donāt try to avoid friends to lovers trope as much as I used to.
That’s great!
even if it’s small, it’s a start! xx
youre doing amazingly kristina!
Thank you Lauren š„° xx
Congrats! I can’t imagine losing my…. imagination… while reading. That’s always been my lifeline.
I wish I could say the same, but as my health fluctuates and slowly worsens, I have issues blogging/writing reviews. As I struggle there, my reading slows. Recently, its gotten much worse, and Ive thought about stopping my blogging and reviewing. Still on the fence there. When things are going rough, I can’t think well enough to write the reviews. My memory takes such a hit.
Before I started reviewing/ blogging, I often read a fiction and a nonfic book at the same time, and clear 15-20 books a month. Now it’s just one at a time and I’m getting lucky to get 10 books a month, excluding kids books. (I’m not quite sure how I niched myself there šš)
So, um…. I think I’m the opposite of you š. Blogging has made me read less.
Yeah itās really rough! I hated it.
Oh noo- im so sorry! Seeing it deteriorate is the worst, although you have a « goodĀ Ā» reason as when youāre sick sometimes you donāt feel like doing things like that..