Why summer reading is so hard and what I’m doing about it

This summer I had to read two books for my literature class. At the time of writing, I am not even halfway done with one of my books, and I'm halfway into my summer… yikes.

In this discussion I’m going to talk about my experience with summer reading assignments, why I struggle to read them, and possible solutions to this problem.

My experience with summer reading

The first summer reading book I ever had to read would have been in the summer of 5th grade, if I remember correctly. I had to read the book The Westing Game. I hated reading this book, and I never understood why I had to spend my summer break reading a book I didn't want to read, especially with the fact that it was actually an optional read. I hated reading this book because it was too hard. I remember my mom convincing me to read the book despite being extremely opposed to it. Actually, looking back, it was one of the coolest books I’ve ever read in my elementary school. If I ever get really bored one day (likely) and am not avoiding any work (unlikely), then I'll definitely read it again!

And this experience of only appreciating a summer reading book after the summer break has happened many times. It happened with Death of a Salesman, which actually turned into an extremely important book for me in my high school career.

Why I always struggle to read

Now comes the part of why I struggle to read and be motivated to read these books. I will start with the more obvious and then move on to, more specifically, this year’s summer reading books.

During the school year, in my ELA classes I have to read. Then comes that day in class where you are sitting patiently, waiting for the teacher to give her announcements for the class. And she delivers to you and your fellow classmates the most exciting news: we will be starting the last book of the year. Not only is this great because this means you are getting close to the end of the year, and that means that after this book you will be free of reading homework, but, from my experience, this is the most exciting book of the year. I have noticed that ELA teachers, smartly, always put the most engaging and fun reads for the very end of the course. This gets you and the whole class excited, and you actually feel motivated to stay on top of reading this book and not fall behind because you know it’s the last book you have to read for this class. And then you finish the book, you write an essay, and the amount of work you have begins to decrease. You ease into the summer mood and begin to feel relaxed. You begin to think of days spent tanning by the pool, eating ice cream with friends, doing all your hobbies, catching up on all the books you actually want to read, and going to the beach.

Suddenly, the anxiety-inducing, dreadful, boring thought of summer assignments fills your mind. Your dreams of spending time relaxing are shattered. You go to your school's summer assignment page, go to the ELA section, and click on your upcoming class. You pick your books, order them, and in less than a week, the most dreadful thing of your entire summer is at your doorstep.

You work so hard all year to get through all your work, complete it on time, and make insightful connections. And as soon as you thought it was over, here comes another one. And that's my first problem. Summer break is supposed to be free of school stress, but it’s not. And as much as I get irritated with the fact that I have summer assignments, I completely understand their purpose. Actually, I think we should have them. But that doesn’t mean I don’t feel irritated that I have to do them.

Not having motivation to read my summer book doesn't just affect my progress on my summer reading; it also affects my own personal reading. If I want to read my own personal book, I always think to myself, “Well, if I want to read, I might as well read the book that depends on the grade of my future course.” And then I end up not wanting to do that and end up not reading the book I wanted to in the first place. And this is why I haven’t finished a book since the first week of June. Whoops...

And it’s not just the lack of motivation that makes me not read my summer assignment; it’s also procrastination, the biggest enemy of all students. My procrastination, at least reading-wise, is rooted in feeling like I won’t do well. And you might be asking yourself, “Well, how do you think you won’t read well? Reading is just reading?” And while that might be true, when reading a classic, it’s not just reading a story. You have to look for the symbolism and the meaning and interpret all of these hidden messages. My fear is that I will skip over the most obvious literary device and miss a major part of the book. So instead of the possibility of skipping over it, I end up not even reading it.

And now my most recent problem that I’ve been having with my summer reading is the amount that I have to read. This year I have to read two books, which I've done in the past, but they were max 300 pages each. However, this year I have to read a book that is 545 pages long… and that's just one of them. The other one is easy, though, only 250 pages. But the fact that I’m halfway through my summer break and only 45% done with my first book scares me.

What should we do?

Now I've talked about all the problems. And talking about problems only does so much. So what can we actually do to solve them?

Don’t assign big books

Just kidding, the author of “The Elite College Student Who Can’t Read” would have a feast about what I just said. So, realistically, as students, what can we actually do?

Just read it.

My first problem: I talked about how I thought I could relax, but no. I have the looming anxiety of having to read a 545-page book and a 250-page book in two months. So the most simple solution would just be to get it over with. After you get it over with, you don’t have to think about it because it’s over.

Read for pleasure after

My second problem that I talked about was that I didn’t read for pleasure because I felt guilty for not reading for school. Therefore, a solution to this would be to read the summer reading book FIRST and then read the pleasure book later. What I’ve been doing is that in the morning I will read my summer reading book. And then later on in the day, or maybe before I go to bed, I will read my leisure read.

Read the analysis ahead of time

One trick that has really helped me with avoiding the feeling of missing out on the juicy literary messages is to read the LitCharts analysis beforehand. To not spoil the chapter, I will only read the analysis. This gives me a good idea of what to look out for in the chapter and allows me to be able to catch and annotate the literary secrets.

Read multiple books at the same time

Now I’m saying this, yet I haven’t done it myself (at least as of June 25th I haven’t), but reading both books at the same time would be a good idea to not feel overwhelmed by ALL the pages I have to read.

Make it fun

Reading a boring book isn't fun. But you can make it fun for you. For example, when I read my summer book, I try to go outside and tan while reading it. Pairing a boring task with a fun or cool task can make your reading a better experience.

The overall solution

If you were to join all these little solutions into a big solution, what would the big solution be? A schedule. I know, I get it… You’ve had a schedule all school year, and now you’re in summer, and you have to do a schedule yet again? Well, yes and no. It’s not necessarily a schedule, but rather a routine or a to-do list. Allow me to explain.

Before you got your life, or in this case, summer, together, you woke up and you promised yourself that you would read your summer reading book every day. You have breakfast, do your morning routine, and go back in your room. You see your summer reading book just lying at your desk. Teasing you with its complex characters and hidden meanings. You get intimidated and scared, so instead of reading, you go on YouTube and watch a video. You keep avoiding it all day until you realize it’s 10:00 pm and you haven’t read a single page. You realize that if you don’t read now, you will have so much to read tomorrow. So then you quickly read a single chapter and go to sleep.

Now let’s imagine that you did get your summer together. You wake up, have breakfast, and get ready. Then you get that book, and you read that chapter. After you read this chapter, you give yourself a reward. Maybe it’s a dance break, or maybe it’s a random YouTube video. But now you did what you had to do, and instead of avoiding it all day, you got it out of the way. You end up doing all the things you did before you got your summer together: the YouTube video, watching The Office, scrolling on Instagram, crocheting, painting with watercolor, whatever it may be. But you did it without any guilt or that feeling that you're avoiding something when you shouldn't. And all of this because you made a routine and stuck to it. You knew that after getting ready, you would read, and you did.

So this summer, let’s make a routine and stick with it. It will always help us out in the long run. Take care!

P.S. A new thing I've been wanting to implement is a mood board for each article. Let me know if I should keep this up or a way I could improve it!

Sources, Credits & Links

Cover Image Credit: reading is cool by via Taylor Price on Pinterest

Book analyses: LitCharts