Books! They are possibly God's greatest gift and I would give my right foot for my favorite book, no questions asked. They are my rock (unless my family is reading this, in which case my family is totally my rock), and they are always there when I need a distraction or a pick-me-up.

I've used reading as an escape since I was in second grade and boy has it gotten me through some rough times.

When quarantine hit and I realized things were going to be worse than an "extended spring break" I figured that books would be able to get me through the worst of it, but then disaster struck.... the library closed!

Any book lover knows paper is superior to eBooks, but we're in a world in which paper books are no longer an option.

I honestly didn't know what to do with myself. I refused to read eBooks, and I hate rereading old books, so I was stuck with nothing to read. I honestly thought I was going to lose my mind if I didn't find something to read.

I eventually resorted to reading some of the books that I never got around to reading.

You know, the ones you got as a well-meaning birthday present or that you spontaneously bought off of Amazon at 2 a.m. because you thought the cover looked cool, and they're usually on the bottom shelf of your bookcase or stacked in a corner at the bottom of your closet.

In any case, I only made it through about one and a half of those "reserve books" before I gave up.

There was only so much poor writing that I could endure. Instead, I proceeded to fill my time with a plethora of other activities, from binge-watching The X-Files to actually spending time with my family (an activity that lasted about 2.5 seconds), but nothing could compare to sitting outside on my back porch, curled up in the corner of my loveseat, reading a real, physical, paper book.

I soon realized that I could only last so long without reading and so I finally gave in — I downloaded an eBook.

I know, I know, I can't believe I stooped that low either. However, desperate times called for desperate measures, and I sure was desperate. For anyone else who is trying to get through an eBook, below are my three pieces of advice:

Now, if the below tips don't help you with your electronic reading then there might just not be any hope left for you.

However, I didn't think there was any hope left for me, and I've successfully gotten through multiple eBooks, so maybe you'll just need to figure out what works best for you.

Whatever the case may be, I hope you aren't deprived of any great books like I was, so good luck getting through the rest of this pandemic and happy reading!

1. Adjust the background color.

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Your eyes will thank you later.

2. Pick a book you are REALLY interested in.

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Otherwise there is no way in hell that you'll be able to finish it.

3. Remove all distractions.

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I am usually someone who can tune out a whole orchestra while reading, but that just wasn't the case with eBooks. I needed to be in a calm, quiet place in order to get through a chapter, and, yes, that does mean you should turn off your notifications if possible.