I've not been able to read for a while. I've missed it but it's not been as painful as in the past. Maybe I'm learning that I eventually return to it, somehow.
I'm now entering that phase of gradually returning to it. It's a slow careful task. I can only try little by little or else brain fog descends and words begin to blur.
@allysseriordan The first time this happened to me, it was excruciating.
I dropped all the way back to picture books and gradually worked my way up through children's books and young adult to fantasy, Georgette Heyer, and cozy mysteries. With setbacks, I eventually regained hard science fiction and even Dorothy Sayers mysteries.
New material is still something I approach with caution (the better rhe writing, the more effort it takes), and I still can't do sustained technical reading (technical papers require careful titration).
But after six years with long covid, just this week I reached a new milestone: I've been able to handle multiple novels at once - one familiar novel in progress at bedtime, and another in progress being read with breakfast and lunch.
Progress is slow and unpredictable, but it happens!
@Robotistry that's so lovely to hear :)
I'm not being helped by the fact I'm reading George Eliot. It's not always the easiest writing for my brain to parse. Like you, the better the writing is, the harder it can be. Though in this case it's more about turn of phrase. It's not her best writing the one I'm on.
For me, the difficulty comes also from other activities. Fibre arts are relaxing but they do use brain power too, and sometimes that means reading is parked for a bit.
Allysse Riordan
Robotistry