It? Too long? No. Not to me. I'm a character-driven reader and King does that so well! If you're a plot-driven reader than i'd see the problem. For me though he dives deep into characters and that is what I want and NEED from a story generally! Plot? Who cares about the plot? Not me! Well, not much anyway in comparison to the characters. I don't think it's too long at all and I usually read much shorter books. But something I love about King is how much he dives into his characters. So far from King i've read: Joyland, Misery, The Tommyknockers, On Writing, 'Salem's Lot, Needful Things, Pet Sematary, Carrie and It. So I haven't read a ton from him yet but his character-work is why I love his work so far.

This plus when I wanted to get into reading in 2015 I started reading just a chapter a day. Not much, because even that took a lot of energy to begin with. Now i'm an avid reader and can read for hours. It took time and practice. Just start with something manageable, like a chapter or 20 minutes a day as Penguin-47284 mentioned. And find something you'll enjoy. It doesn't matter if it's horror or YA or middle grade or fantasy or a manga etc. Read what you want, what excites you to read it. And DNF a book if you aren't enjoying it.

For choice people have already talked about ways to decide what books to read. For me personally I used to make TBRs and POPs (piles of possibilities i'd choose from) but this year i've finally decided to stop doing that. Don't get me wrong, I think they worked for me for a time and got me into reading and reading diversely (which personally I enjoy) but it no longer works for me. I just want to read what I want, when I want. And now? I'm more excited to read than ever before! What will I read next? I don't know. I have ideas. I used to share my TBRs and POPs (book blog, booktube ...) so I felt stuck in them, like a promise, and I could not break a promise.

Now I write down a bunch of books i'm thinking of but I don't share it, no promise is made. When I go to pick up another book I decide what I want to read based on what I feel like reading. There may be other considerations but nothing set in stone. Like, is this book club on Goodreads reading a book I want to read? Do I feel like joining in? If so, I will, if not, I won't.

Granted all this is me personally. I'm not saying it works that way for everyone (or even anyone) else. You'll figure out what works for you. Good luck :).

Then ... stop reading the classics? It sounds like you don't like them, and that's ok. Just read what you want to read, for fun, for enjoyment. Not what you feel like you're supposed to.

I do get anxiety about what book to read next and think about other books while i'm reading one, because I want to read so many books and there's not enough time in a lifetime to read them all, but ultimately I choose something and I read it. If i'm not liking it I generally DNF and move on. I don't need to be blown away by a book to finish it though. But it sounds like you're hating the classics, which is fine, just means that's not what you want to read and that's ok.

I used to be the "not like other girls" stereotype, which is not a good place to be. It's problematic. Sure, it's because I wasn't a girl and didn't have the words to say that. But now that I got that figured out I understand things a lot better and it's important to read/look at all povs and ultimately, we're all human. Whatever our gender is or isn't, we're human. We have the same emotions, the same feelings.

I used to feel the exact same way. But at 30 I found the words to describe the gender confusion (that I had no idea was related) I had my entire life and realized i'm a nonbinary trans guy and at 31 I learned i'm autistic. Kinda explains it all to me. But of course that doesn't mean you are autistic or trans, I don't mean to imply that. Just saying I could relate to having felt that in the past, including when I was 21 (i'll be 34 next month), and what ended up being my reason as to why lol.

Granted I wouldn't say I didn't enjoy books with female protagonists, I just couldn't understand them as well. Of course now I read a variety, men, women, nonbinary.

What Laura9624 said. I enjoy learning new things. I read nonfiction about topics that interest me. Animals, nature, autobiographies, memoirs, social justice, some history, and other random things. I read nonfiction and fiction for pleasure. I enjoy and get pleasure from learning about topics that interest me.

I enjoy learning things. I enjoy learning about particular topics. I also have aphantasia and nonfiction is way easier for me than fiction (though I do read mostly fiction and I do love it to).

Frankenstein is my favorite book, particularly the 1818 edition. So I bought a limited edition awhile back, found a picture of it here https://www.pinterest.com/pin/671880838138481349/

I have over 1,100 physical books (way more ebooks, over 4,400, and 300 something audiobooks but those take up no more space than my tablet lol). I have them all logged onto multiple Goodreads shelves, started doing it when I became an avid reader in 2015.

And, mine are mix of genres. Horror might be the biggest but it's not like, a giant compared to other genres. I love a little bit of everything at least. I got horror, nonfiction (nature, animals, autobiographies, memoirs, biographies, social justice related things, disability justice, queer studies, anti-racism, history, paranormal, religion, psychology, Science, and other random topics here and there), classics, manga, comics, graphic novels, science fiction, fantasy, historical fiction, thrillers, contemporary, literary, romance ...

Yes I did just look at my bookshelves lol.

And each "area" looks ... fairly equal. Ish. An interesting mix at least. Horror and nonfiction (all subgenres combined) are definitely the largest.

Yea :( that makes me sad. There is nothing wrong or shameful about reading erotica. That's why I mentioned that first, but then others had mentioned balance and I didn't want to assume that it was all about feeling ashamed.

But it's a shame there is such stigma around reading erotica. Hell anything deemed "feminine" is often looked down upon and most people reading erotica, are women. Of course there is nothing wrong with a man or nonbinary person reading erotica, but seeing as it's mostly women, it gets looked down on, because sexism.

There is nothing wrong or shameful about reading erotica. Ignore the elitist stigma. An addiction, from my understanding, requires it to actually affect you in a negative way in your day to day life. Is it negatively affecting your relationships? Your work? Stuff you have to do? If it's not negatively affecting anything like that, I wouldn't call it an addiction.

If it is though or you're just feeling like you need some more balance, look at the books that are not erotica that you enjoy and find some more books like them and just try and find a better balance. I know that can be easier said than done. Good luck with finding your answer.

I sometimes use my library, but I also love buying books. I don't really have a system but I do use the library extension on chrome (which works on Goodreads and other sites) so I know easily if a book is at my library (or scribd or hoopla) or not. Many books I want to read are not at the library. I do buy cheap used books from thriftbooks sometimes to. They don't all have to be new. :)

In my experience the mainstream/popular ones tend to be ableist among other things. They don't take minorities into account and assume everyone has all the privileges the author does. And also, they can be summarized in a blog post usually.

There are good ones out there (in my personal opinion) but they can be hard to find.

My Goodreads want to read shelf

Well i'm disabled and unable to work however I became an avid reader late 2015, I was 26 then. I get benefits from reading, it keeps my mind active, it helps reduce stress, it builds empathy, it shows me different points of views and broadens my worldview, and I learn things. Stuff that can benefit anyone. :)