Survey: attention span?

[ilai]

I feel like when I get bored, I should be reading a novel. But I've never gotten into the habit of reading fiction--I suspect my attention span is too short or something. Does anyone else have this problem, or is it just me?

(For reference, the last book I read [aside from The Tao of Pooh] is Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. It took a while because I would read maybe 30-50 pages at a time, plus I was trying to get up to speed reading in Chinese again.)

Comments

[exponentialdk.livejournal.com]

Have you considered that your boredom and your disinterest in reading have the same root? That perhaps you'd be fine reading a novel when you're not bored (but you are busy then), and when you find yourself disinterested in all the usual things you're also disinterested in the unusual things?

I've read little fiction, but I used to read lots of non-fiction. It's hard to blame boredom for my reading of textbooks (even when I wasn't taking the class) at the expense of novels.

[ilai]

That's interesting, I haven't thought of it that way. I guess that could be it, but I'd have to get a novel first to find out--my collection is non-existent, and the branch library on Pearl Street is never open when I'm actually bored :)