Books and reading

When Reading Feels Like Homework

Book club books can make reading feel like a chore

Alan Simpson
Reading is a Novel Idea
2 min readApr 28, 2022

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Book cover of A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles
Image by Author

I wrote yesterday about how I still am not back to my old reading habits an how I let other things distract me.

Part of my problem this week is that I am trying to finish my book club book before we meet tonight. I did not choose the book. I probably would not have read the book if not for book club.

This can be a good thing. It makes me read out of my comfort zone. It can introduce me to authors and books I didn’t know I would love. It can make me learn something.

It can also be a bad thing in that it makes something that should be enjoyable feel like homework. That’s where I’m at this week. I’m not loving the chosen book.

The book is A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles. I know people love the book. That’s probably why it was chosen as this month’s book. I just find it long and boring. There are bright spots here and there, but not enough of them for me to want to keep reading. But, I keep reading.

I keep reading because I don’t want to be in a discussion about a book I didn’t finish. I keep reading because I have never not finished reading a book for any of my various book clubs throughout the years. I keep reading…

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Alan Simpson
Reading is a Novel Idea

I am a semi-retired former librarian who writes about a variety of topics. I review TV shows. I review books. I write about what is happening around us.