For those who don't know what this is, reader's block is when you just can't finish a book, or when you do finish a book, but get nothing out of it. I mean NOTHING. As in, you don't even know who did what when where why or how. Being a book lover myself, this was a little difficult to understand... Or was it?
Recently, I have tried reading a book way beyond my reading level. I literally forced myself to sit down and read it. About that. I didn't soak in anything that I read. It felt like I was dumb or something of the sort, and personally, I don't like being dumb. So I kept pushing through the tiny fonts and the huge pages, which, to be honest, was completely exhausting. I ended up just letting the book go, for now. I promise that in the future, I will read past page 20 of that book (which has over 1000 pages) and brag all about it. But that's for later.
I have had this problem multiple times in the past, like when I was trying to read Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling (I totally recommend this book if you haven't read it by the way) in first grade. At that time, I thought that the beginning was "sooo boring" and I didn't have the endurance to push myself on. Until everyone started talking about it.
Soon enough (in third grade), I found myself in a library looking for the first book of Harry Potter again. I wasn't exactly excited to read it again. But I checked out the book, sat down, and forced myself to read.
Page after page, I read on. In the beginning, the page turning rate was rather slow, because I wasn't really hooked into the book, never mind the series, yet. But as I read on, the pages seemed to be flipping themselves. Then, I was done. Done with the first book of Harry Potter. That was pretty intense.
Reader's block is pretty hard to get over. That book you left is sometimes hovering in the corner of your mind, and your next reading experience may be altered. Don't worry.
What to do if you have reader's block
1. Just chill out for a while. Whether "a while" means a day, a week, a year, or your whole lifetime, just CHILL OUT. Don't worry about that book. You'll get around to it eventually.
2. Pretend that you liked that book. If you keep pretending that to be true, the next time you read that book, your brain will be tricked into enjoying the beginning, if not the whole book.
3. Go read other books. Don't let this experience get to you! Read and enjoy other books!
4. Read that book when you are ready to. Don't just pick up that book "because you are bored" and read it. That's just going to worsen your experience. Read the book that you got reader's block on when you think you are mature enough or interested enough in it. Unless if you are really, really, really bored.
And that, my dear friends, is how you get past reader's block!