Reddit reviews The Transall Saga

I loved to read. I started reading the BoxCar Children on the bus every day. Then I found the Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, and some other obscure mystery books in the basement of the same caliber (e.g. bad). I kept reading everything I could find, until Highschool.

I too went to a "demanding" school. I stopped reading for fun, and would occasionally skip books for english class, too. Luckily, only one of my teachers in 4 years was a very pro-feminist (she was actually bi) , and then off to college... I pretty much stopped reading entirely, but unlike you I wasn't dissuaded by feminist nazi's.

Then I got a concussion. Let me tell you about concussions: They manage to turn the most basic thing like telling time into a chore, while other more complex things like driving remain unaffected. Anyway, I got a concussion, and the mental effort to read an hour for class would send me to bed exhausted.

The best books would take me a week or more to read through, and this is without school or work to slow me down.

What I found worked for me was to find something simple that I remember liking, and I would try to get through that. My goal was to re-teach my brain how to read.

• Pick up something on an elementary school reading level
  
• Find something you remember liking (so you'll be re-reading it)
  
• Try to find something short
  
  Your goal is to sit down and enjoy it in 1, maybe 2 settings. Find a free weekend, ask your girlfriend not to disturb you, and start reading. When I tried to start reading again, my routine included an energy drink to keep me awake and focused.
  
  Your goals are 3-fold:
  
  
• Re-experience the joy of discovering a story. TV feeds the story to you, re-learn how exciting it is when you become that character
  
• Make it easy: Think psychologically, you don't want to re-enforce your behavior (reading) by making it difficult, that'll never work.
  
• Instant gratification. By finishing the book in 1-2 sittings, you receive instant gratification for starting to read, as opposed to starting it and waiting a month or more to receive the gratification of finishing it.
  
  If you can read a news article about your favorite video game, you can read, and this is probably more mental than anything else. If that's the case, remember it can take up to 3 months to break a habit because it takes 3 months for your brain to "re-arrange itself" (lets not get into neuroscience right now!). Likewise, even if you start reading now, it may take 3 months before you notice any change, because it'll take your brain that long to "re-arrange itself" to enjoy reading. So try to read a book a week, for 3 months, until you can get somewhere.
  
  Also, it doesn't matter if you miss a sentence, or even an entire paragraph. You're not trying to read everything, you just want to have fun!
  
  It's back to school season. Go into your local Barnes & Noble, and ask for someone that works in the kids department. They can recommend good books, or just see what the local schools have for required reading. Generally, there's some good books on their lists (Gary Paulsen, Louis Sachar, etc)
  
  Lastly, some good books I would look at reading, in order of difficulty:
  
  
• Invitation to The Game
  
• The Transall Saga
  
• Hatchet
  
• Holes
  
• The Boxcar Children or Hardy Boys
  
• Sabriel (female protagonist, but one of my favorite books of all time)
  
• Enders game
  

Gary Paulsen's book The Schernoff Discoveries has a part about laxatives in cake; his book The Transall Saga involves a boy being transported (seemingly) to another world. Maybe you got these two books squashed up? The other details don't really match, though.

https://www.amazon.com/Schernoff-Discoveries-Gary-Paulsen/dp/0440414636

https://www.amazon.com/Transall-Saga-Gary-Paulsen/dp/0375873236

A couple fiction books by Gary Paulsen that might interest you. The Hatchet was a particularly memorable read from my childhood.

https://www.amazon.com/Hatchet-Gary-Paulsen/dp/1416936475

https://www.amazon.com/Transall-Saga-Gary-Paulsen/dp/0375873236

The Transall Saga

The Transall Saga https://www.amazon.ca/dp/0375873236/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_wycLBb7CQ52KN

Good for those that enjoyed the hatchet.

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/transall-saga-gary-paulsen/1100619239?ean=9780375873232

OR

http://www.amazon.com/The-Transall-Saga-Gary-Paulsen/dp/0375873236/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1370244571&sr=8-1&keywords=the+transall+saga

Try reading The Transall Saga for inspiration. It's a fast read and you'll love it.