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drop-in-the-dessert t1_j2jecgq wrote

I would first ask why it is so important that you read books instead of fanfiction. There is nothing wrong with liking (fan)fiction and you can actually learn a lot from fictional stories. Characters in books make mistakes, observations and have perspectives that you can learn from.

If the only reason that you want to read books is because they feel more legitimate (as your comments seem to say), that may be the problem. You won’t enjoy it as much if you have to do it, it is only a performative action for you. It is also a mistake the assume that reading books = self-growth, you have to be in the right mindset to take in the message, what you won’t have if you force yourself to read them.

Perhaps instead of setting a goal where you have to read a certain amount of books so that you feel accomplished, set yourself the goal of finding a book-genre / writer that you enjoy, en then find the motivation to switch form online to offline.

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ccRumandChickenWings OP t1_j2jiufk wrote

I love fanfictions and i honestly think that some of them could easily have been books. It's not that I think that books are superior in any way but when i read fanfictions i am looking for what I know I will like so I always read the same type of things. It has happened that I read 10 different stories with the same premise just because I liked it. It's almost like comfort food.

When you read a physical book, given the lack of specific tags, it's always a surprise. I just want to expand my horizons.

I also want to be able to talk about what I read to people in real life. I could talk about fan fictions online but it's not the same (also I like to talk a lot ahah)

I think you are on point with finding a genre or an author that I enjoy. When I first read something by Oscar Wilde I read in a short span of time almost all his works. Since then I didn't get lucky in finding something similar so it's been a bummer.

Also no worries in me forcing myself to read ahah if that were possible I wouldn't have books unread that I bought 8 years ago

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