Reading habits during Covid

Submitted: 3rd April 2020

Isolation reading

To say these are tricky times is an understatement. Reading can be a joy as you can really escape from the world right now, and isn’t that what we all need? However, there’s many people, book bloggers and bookworms in particular who are finding that the one thing that normally brings such joy is hard and isn’t bringing the joy it normally does. Authors are discussing on twitter just how tricky it is to sit down and write. Concentration? What’s that? Many home school their children so there is no time to be creative.

Compared to nurses and doctors, those who deliver goods and medicines, shop assistants and all those people who we need to keep the country working, the fact people can’t settle down to read or write is a small dot in the grand scheme of things. What interests me is the fact that my reading habits and tastes have changed so much recently and many readers have been getting in touch to say the same thing. So, do you agree with any of the following

Book emporium (c) The BookTrail

I read less at the moment as I just can’t concentrate

Do you find that you read more as you need to escape more than ever?

I read faster than normal as it’s harder to relax/ I read slower as it’s harder to get engaged

Reading more books means that my brain is kept distracted so I don’t think of the sad news

I need romance novels and easy to read novels right now

Crime fiction with a fast action plot keeps me distracted

Visiting the beach via books set in coastal areas is ideal right now as it’s the closest I can get to the seaside

I abandon books more than I used to as it’s harder to become immersed in a good read

When reading about crowds and busy places I think NOOOOO! Keep apart from people!!!

On The BookTrail:

The trails keep coming! I’m keen to get books on the site for authors who are missing their physical book launches. It’s a joy and a distraction to keep booktrailing although my reading speed has dropped a lot. I feel I need to reread books at the moment and catch up with books I have had on the TBR pile for ages. Writing reviews is the hardest as it’s tricky to write how I feel about a book when life is so complicated right now.

When you can’t travel or even go out, BOOKS and TRAVELLING VIA BOOKS is a godsend!

I need to read to escape to places so different to the world we’re living in now

Reading to escape is more important than ever!

Escaping via a good book is so important and good for your health – mental and otherwise

Books set in Japan BookTrail Literary Tour

How books help me

I am able to shut the world off when I read

It’s harder to get into a book at the moment but I find that a few crime novels interspersed with a lighter read or historical fiction helps

Reading crime fiction about serial killers makes you realise characters are having it harder than you at the moment 😉

I can’t read sad books as I haven’t got the mental strength right now. A character died in a book earlier this week and I just stopped reading. Things just set me off!

Books about dystopian worlds and pandemics/diseases – not for me right now.

Light-hearted and funny is the way to go

Translated fiction opens up new worlds and new cultures change your perception and give you a new angle on the world – totally what you need right now!

The BookTrail Suitcase

To bookbloggers and readers

Read if it helps but never force it

Your health is more important than anything else

Save up your pennies for when the bookshops open again and then let’s support them like never before! (And if online sales open up properly again then let’s start early)

Find a favourite book to reread which helps to restart your reading mojo if you’ve lost it.

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