Swapping books for audiobooks has reignited my love of literature | Verity Babbs | The Guardian

I have a library of self-help books on the shelf in my living room. Dozens of books that promise to solve any personal issue, earn me millions and declutter my life. None of them have been read beyond the first five pages, but it's nice to know the answers are there, I guess.

Each book I have ever bought has received the same treatment. I read the introduction as part of a new "no screens after 9pm" routine that I am going to commit to for life, I smugly put it down on my bedside table, and then a month later I put it back on the shelf after it has served its purpose as a coaster.

I've spent a lifetime struggling with reading - not the ability to read, but the activity of reading. I always felt as if I ought to have read all of the "classics" first before reading anything modern. Nonfiction didn't come with that same pressure, but whether fiction or nonfiction, knowing quite how much of a book was left to read felt like a suffocating burden.