I'm practically not reading anymore and my attention span is really going to hell, could you guys lend me a hand...

The reason why I recommended the Welcome to the NHK is because the book sort of deals with a person whom is psychologically lost and detached from the world.

Also check out Crime and Punishment. although you asked for small reads, I highly recommend reading this book once your ready.

that's definitely how I've felt for the last years, in fact an outsider would probably consider me something akin to an hikikomori as well

I started Crime and Punishment when I was still a teenager, probably too soon; I'll definitely come around to it and other great classics that I missed once I've regained some method and settled certain things in my life

I'll definitely try! knowing myself I'm not too optimistic, though

OP you are a skittish-brained fuck.

Go drink your soda you literal child.

(Mostly copied from another similar thread, probably yours as well, haha)

Some examples of delicious, bite-size literary snacks I have used in the way you describe:

>Charles Bukowski, Tales Of Ordinary Madness
Very short stories (usually a couple of pages)

>Damon Runyan, short stories
Guys & Dolls & their endless chasing after scratch

>P.G.Wodehouse
Just about anything will do, once you get into him

>Douglas Adams, The Salmon of Doubt
Non-fiction. Essays on a variety of subjects; super-readable.

>Oliver Sacks, The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat
Non-fiction. Interesting, weird little vignettes about the interesting, weird ways brains can go wrong.

>Roald Dahl, Over to You / Tales of the Unexpected / Switch Bitch / My Uncle Oswald
He didn't just write children's stories. SB & MUO are *very much* not for children, haha

>Orson Welles & Peter Bogdanovich, This is Orson Welles
Taped interviews over a period of years. Obviously you substitute a similar figure you happen to be a big fan of. (Good luck with that; there aren't any figures similar to Welles, hehe)

>Clive James, Cultural Amnesia
Non-fiction. Short essays on a wide variety of 20th-century figures. I'm no fan of James's politics (slobbering liberalism) but he's a first-class writer, really readable and funny. He's also incredibly well-read.

>tartar steppe
Fucking nice, I loved that book. It gave me a feeling that was very similar to the one that The Confusions of Young Torless gave me, so I'd recommend that one very heavily.

However, you do need to push yourself eventually, user. Either accept your situation as it is now or work to move beyond it.

while I love bukowski's novels I usually don't like his short stories, I'll probably give it another try though
I absolutely adore Orson as well! In fact I've read that book and liked it a lot (a similar one I liked is a series of interviews with David Lynch, if you have other good ones fire away!)
The others I haven't read and some I haven't even heard of (maybe not coming from and english speaking country didn't help), they all look promising though, thank you user!

oh yes indeed! that's a book that I wanted to read but had forgotten about

Right now I'm trying to work my way around certain individual problems (such as this one with reading) because it's all part of an intricate bundle of vicious cycles and existential marshes that I'm not sure I'll be able to resolve and/or overcome, certainly not quickly nor in the near future

Have you read Stoner? I was in a similar position as you then after I read that book I fell back in love with reading
Also The Road, the way it's written is different than a normal novel, might be a breath of fresh air instead of just pages full of text

no I haven't! it's been sitting on my shelf for more than a year, now I'm not in that home but I'll definitely give it a chance once I go back there!

The Road by Cormac McCarthy? Thanks!

take a break from reading books by dead old guys from the 19th century

you forget to add "of white race"

Today I Wrote Nothing - Daniil Kharms
Invisible Cities and Cosmicomics - Italo Calvino
Imaginary Lives - Marcel Schwob
Disagreable Tales - Léon Bloy
Zotique - Clark Ashton Smith
From a Swedish Homestead - Selma Lagerlöf
Prospero's Cell - Lawrence Durell
These are some of my go-to comfort books when my puny brain overheats. These, and some poetry.

yeah I'm definitely not the kind of edgy person that only reads classics
while I must admit that I almost exclusively read books from male writers

thank you user! would you mind naming some of the poetry you like as well?

this thread and then a lecture i just had gave me the idea that reading plato's shorter works to build up my attention span would aid in reading his longer works. i think that plato's works are usually entertaining and fulfilling as well.

Maybe try Vonnegut. I know he gets shit on a lot here but his books are good fun.
Also any Salinger or Murakami that interests you.
One of my favorite books for this feeling, and one of my favorites in general, is Inherent Vice, which is really fun and comfy. It's not as difficult as Pynchon's other well regarded books, but that doesn't mean anything. It's still got deep emotion and good prose without sacrificing the fun. Pynchon never sacrifices the fun.

NEUROMANCER