You should also read Crooked House! The ending really shocked me.

The Winter of Frankie Machine is also a great read of his.

If you usually do more short-form reading, you may just have to build up your attention span and reading comprehension to get used to long-form reading like novels! Start with shorter simpler books and work your way up :)

What kinds of things are you really interested in, what really captures your attention? You might still have yet to find your favorite genre, the one that makes you unable to stop turning the pages!

I agree with another comment that suggested just pausing more frequently when you read. There's also nothing stopping you from rereading the same passage over and over so you can process it better before you continue on.

It doesn't work for everyone, but I do recommend trying to read aloud and really listening to yourself talk. Especially for dialogue- I always try to read dialogue as I imagine the character would, in order to help me understand what's being said.

Paraphrasing is another strategy- if the book has complex/flowery language that makes the plot hard to follow, perhaps try taking each paragraph one at a time, figuring out what is happening, and reword it in your own words?

Online resources are good for understanding what's happening in the book, but don't let that be the only thing you do. If anything, maybe find a plot summary online and then read the book, so you'll at least have an understanding of what's happening story-wise to help you figure out other things like themes, characterization, etc.

I know this can feel discouraging if these strategies (or any others that've been suggested) make this work so much harder for you. I do recommend talking with your teacher(s) about this, if only to communicate to them how difficult assignments like these are for you and the steps you're taking to try to accomplish this. Most, I imagine, will be very understanding; the may not be able to change any assignment guidelines for you, but they will appreciate the fact that you're communicating with them about your struggles.

And you're not dumb, friend <3

I recently read this one but had a difficult time with the language. I have trouble reading/enjoying books that weren’t written in the 21st century, to be totally honest.

The Power of the Dog series by Don Winslow. It was a tough read for me because it felt more like nonfiction than fiction, and the violence in it was extraordinary. I didn’t finish the third book.

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That one was written after she had bizarrely faked her death and (according to some people) had tried to frame her ex-husband for her murder. She basically lost it and became a murder mystery character. It’s believed that her brother-in-law (or son-in-law? Something like that) actually wrote most of The Big Four as it was really nothing like her style.

Awesome book!

Literally said this moments ago. Unfortunately, my tweens have zero idea who Fleetwood Mac is.

I love it. I’m 26 and it moved me deeply. Some of us didn’t get to experience or successfully develop emotional regularity as a child. It resonates with childhood trauma that still affects me and my entire life as an adult.

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“The keys to life are running and reading. When you're running, there's a little person that talks to you and says, "Oh I'm tired. My lung's about to pop. I'm so hurt. There's no way I can possibly continue." You want to quit. If you learn how to defeat that person when you're running. You will how to not quit when things get hard in your life.

For reading: there have been gazillions of people that have lived before all of us. There's no new problem you could have--with your parents, with school, with a bully. There's no new problem that someone hasn't already had and written about it in a book.”

― Will Smith

Seth Meyer and the Thorn Birds! And other celebrities curated bookshelves...

It is a great book and not only as a murder mystery but also the way she subtly made it a cautionary tale about different ways of love and relationships.

wow thank you so much for your comprehensive reply, your perspective really helped in understanding their motives, especially Alicia’s. you’re right she tried to test him and get the upper hand, as i believe she told Theo a different story of not fully remembering the person who broke into their house when in reality she did recognize him!

also i totally see your explanations; and maybe if Theo hadn’t come across to me as such a callous psychopath, it would’ve been plausible that he felt guilt/remorse in causing Gabriel’s death so that could explain his involvement in a more wholesome way lol. tysm!

I didn't much care for The Big Four

It depends on who you are watching. Most of the pundits on my favourite news channel have books related to their area of study, sometimes with a few non-work related novels thrown in (which is always illuminating).

All of the Poirot mysteries are super good. Evil Under the Sun, Murder on the Orient Express, the ABC murders... Just make sure to read Curtain last (or after the good ones anyway). Good conclusion to the series.

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To be fair, when I've episode binged, it wasn't completely due to attention span. It had more to do with my life being so freaking busy that if I didn't watch the whole season of "Breaking Bad" NOW, I wouldn't remember to watch the next episode next week. Yeah. That's just sad.

And pro tip -- never watch a whole season of "Breaking Bad" in one sitting.

Bonus pro tip -- don't watch more than two Harry Potter movies in a row. You'll see how they really are basically all the same movie, and it kinda ruins it.

Then read the book…it’s been out for a couple years

Seconded. I’m only 2 chapters in and I had to put it away (coincidentally to read nonfiction books for class), and it’s sitting on my shelf and I can’t wait to pick it back up again. I understand almost nothing about the dearth of naval descriptions, but I already adore the prose and the two men.

Forget you ever watched TV, saw a movie, or surfed the Web. .... Now you're a 19th century person. Try him again

I read a ton of her books at a teenager and have since forgotten most of the plot details, lols.So, I recently listened to a bunch in a wonderful audio book - it's called 'Poirot's Finest Cases' and it's recordings of Full-Cast BBC Radio dramatisations of these 8 books:

• The ABC Murders
• After the Funeral
• Death on the Nile
• Peril at End House
• The Murder of Roger Ackroyd
• Murder on the Orient Express
• Three act Tragedy
• The Mysterious Affair at Styles

Highly recommend! There's a 2nd, 'More of Poirot's Finest Cases' with another 7 books. they're not as 'fine' as the first list, but I enjoyed Five Little Pigs, Evil Under the Sun and Halloween Party