All reading is reading. Fanfiction counts (and I too have read fanfictions that put published books to shame). Reading tastes shift over time and your reading life will almost certainly evolve and look different. And reading what brings you actual joy is the point. If reading fanfiction is enjoyable for you, don't stop.

If you still want to try to read traditional books more, I'd suggest the following:

1. A time goal per day. As little as 10 minutes in bed with a physical book before you pick up your phone might be enough to hook you. I find time goals easiest to stick to because then I'm not skimming absently through pages to reach a page count goal so I can turn to the thing I'm more excited about.

2. Experiment with alternate formats - audiobooks, physical library copies, Libby/Kindle/etc. Change it up if it's not working. Some books have been great for me on audio and boring AF in print or vice versa.

try out the YA or romance sections at the book store. half of what’s being published today is glorified fan fiction anyway lol

When I'm trying to change behaviors I set very specific goals.

If you want to read more, but reading fan fiction is your obstacle, here are a few approaches to consider:

Put a time limit on your reading of fan fiction, or a limit on how many outlets you browse. Turn off notifications and email alerts/newsletters.

Another approach is to reward yourself with fan fiction for reading books.

Read books on the same device you would normally read fan fiction, you can borrow ebooks from the library or purchase them online, so you can read on your phone, tablet, or computer.

Set a goal of how many books you want to read per year, then break it down by month, then by week. Set time aside to read. I find it easier to pair a habit with another activity. Maybe read on your lunch break, or read before bed. Consistency will increase your chances of success.

Celebrate or reward yourself for reaching your goal, any goal, it can be a weekly goal or each book you read.

Many people find having accountability increases the chances of them reaching a goal, so make your goal public, or share with a friend, then check in often with your progress.

Maybe you should try to sort of experiment with genres to find the one you enjoy? If you like enemies to lovers trope, you might like "Pride and Prejudice" by Jane Austen. It's not omegaverse, but it's classical example of enemies to lovers. This book is considered to be classic literature, and i promise, it's not the same as fanfiction. Could you specify what tropes (except for the one you mentioned) and maybe genres you would enjoy reading (even fanfiction)? I could give some advice what book would be similar to that

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Go to a book store, buy a book that seems interesting to you and start reading it. You don't have to read less fanfiction if that's what you like to read...you can just read both

Wish it was that simple. I want to read more books, I just can't. I like reading fanfictions but they don't give me anything in terms of personal growth. Not like books do

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I read a description of LOTR a long time ago that stuck with me: "British tourists in a Norse fairy tale." I thought that summed it up pretty well - but of course there's so much more to say because the books are, as you say, wonderful. It just kinda hops over that part.

How is it "over" simplified? It sums it up well.

I tried buying an ebook on Bookshop.org and the experience was awful. They required downloading a third-party app which was a hassle in itself. And the reading experience was horrible. It took 3-4 taps to open a book and there was no highlighting or note taking ability. I couldn’t find an option to download an epub to manually load onto my Kindle. Then I discovered their purchase agreement doesn’t allow returns on ebooks, even though this is not disclosed during checkout. Fortunately, they did give me a refund.

Unfortunately, this is why I stick to Kindle.

I’d love to find another option, but I also have similar trouble finding what I’m looking for on Libby. And when they do have it, I usually have to wait weeks to check it out.

I actually didn't like it either.

"The clue to the book's [MYORAR] essential falsity is the fact that it IS powerfully engaging. The ending was quite a letdown - if I'd been a bit more alert I would have seen it coming 150 pages off - but even if I'd known, I might have read the whole thing anyway. The author is trying to simulate someone who can't take it anymore, this world of ours, but she describes that same world so well that it's clear she loves it well. Which makes the book nothing but a bad update of Catcher in the Rye, a book I've hated ever since I discovered that it's about a guy who spent three days in New York City and had NO FUN while he was there. I'm sorry, I've lived in NYC and it's WONDERFUL. There are people there who have no fun, but they are creatures without imagination. They don't read; they don't go to shows; they don't notice what goes on around them; it would be senseless to make one the protagonist of a novel. "

Stealing this from a post I saw on r/suggestmeabook, but I want to read at least one book a month by authors from different countries! Looking back at my 2022 books, I counted 16 different author countries of origin so I’m aiming for new countries in 2023. Hoping for my January read to be Jose Saramago’s Blindness.

As an author I agree :) I'd be happy you wanted to read my books badly enough to find a way

Thank you. I knew most of that, but the genital mutilation and a few other things were extra special. The book seems deeply and widely sourced and I appreciated the perspective of the colonized. Another recent book that provides an often unseen perspective is the Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen. It's now in my top five books ever.

"Research shows that meditation can reduce insomnia in lab rats." - priceless

(Not a precise quote, it's just how I remember it.)

I think the direct inspiration for the Masquerade policies is closer than you might think. In its origins the author draws from the French Revolution that swept aside a decadent and cruel nobility, was quickly at war with all of Europe, and sought to rationalize society (that's where we get things like the metric system). The bureaucratic exam system is drawn from imperial China. But the Masquerade's actions are drawn more from British imperialism. The US, Britain, Australia, Canada had very influential eugenics movements that included migration controls, forced sterilization of convicts and under slavery forced breeding. They used boarding schools to "civilize" indigenous populations that included horrendous abuse and the calculated destruction of local culture.

This is part of the underlying tension of both real history and the book. On the one hand there's technological progress, the universalizing impact of imperialism. All of a sudden, disparate people are united with a common language, their horizons are expanded to all corners of the globe, but it's brought about through the brutal destruction of everything they once cherished, against their wishes, and done for someone else's profit.

Baru Cormorant isn't so much about a possible dystopia but the actual foundations of the modern world. Putting it in a fantasy setting just let's us explore the ideas with less of the raw pain history can carry.

To feed my never ending quest for random knowledge. Recent favorites are: Hurricane lizards and plastic squid, girly drinks, seek you: a journey through American loneliness, and Butts!

+1 and I think they could both be associated with political philosophy though Hainish is more sociology/psychology oriented.

Non fiction covers a huge variety of genres and sub genres. Sure, a book on tort law is non fiction, but so is a book on making cakes. They're not all boring or fuddy duddy and highbrow

Fiction can be very formulaic, you read one book by some authors and you've read them all. Even certain genres are along those lines, and I find it a little dull. I tend to find more that entertains me in non fiction than in fiction tbh, precisely because it has such a broad range. It's not that I don't read fiction, but I definitely favour non fiction for the scope.

Go to the library or use your library card with the Libby App.

I mix fiction and non fiction, but I mostly read fiction.

The reason I read non-fiction is that I'll think about something and realize I don't ACTUALLY know much about it, so I'll buy a book about it. This year I've read a lot about ancient Rome, but also tamerlane and Richard graves' autobiography, and other books about subjects that I find interesting. It helps make me (hopefully) a well rounded person.

I love an old saying I might have made up; good non fiction tell the truth, good fiction tells universal truth.

In short, I read fiction about subjects I like to understand the world around me more better.

This is the correct answer, but the inception of Alice was to entertain the Liddell sisters, most affectionately, Alice Liddell. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_Liddell

It sort of grossed me out that such an impacting text in children’s literature was created with the likely intention of grooming a child. Yet Carroll’s quirky and nonsensical methods worked and the imagination of Wonderland has lasted a century and a half.

you got all that from 7 words?

No that's apparently normal for wild bananas to have seeds. There's a Himalayan variety that has seeds that "crack teeth"