Being a voracious reader prior to the mission, I had a very hard time adapting to basically two books, the BOM and the Bible. After a few months and having read the book of mormon 2 or 3 times I couldnt bring myself to reread it and almost exclusively read from the bible from that point on. This happen to anyone else? Why do you think that is

I read Jesus the Christ a couple of times. For whatever reason so many mormons are in awe of that book. Its not that deep, not that great, not that insightful...

"Jesus the Christ" and "The Articles of Faith" were the only two books I was allowed to bring (other than the scriptures) on my mission. (1970's)

I know exactly what you mean. I read a couple thousand pages a week, and have since a child. In my family, you got grounded from books, not TV or video games. The reading restriction on my mission was hands down the hardest part (other than the only rule I broke funny that it dealt with something hard in my hands). I had read the bom more than a dozen times pre mission, the bible several times per, and whatever I could get my hands on. On the mission I amused myself by reading the bom and bible in Portuguese English, Spanish, French, and Italian. That still only took about a month. I had read Jesus the Christ(I still like many of the things in that book), miracle of forgiveness (I never felt the massive guilt trip from it, I didn't think it was that good of a book) but I read them again and again. I got my hands on the 2009 bishops and stake president's manual. That was some great reading! If only I had gotten my hands on that years earlier! Did you know that anything you do sexually before 14 if you wait a year to confess nothing happens to you? Including gay stuff. Before 16 same thing but with straight activities only. After 16 it can affect mission eligibility. I read every old liahona I could find.... And concluded that there was a lot the church didn't want to remember. It still took me another 6 years to open up and say I don't believe the bull anymore

My main motivation though was simple..I was in a very christian mission....Caribbean to be exact..and we ran into alot of people who loved to bash, and try and trash us. Putting together a good argument in defense of most of the major issues was a huge priority for me. Especially on one island where we had a christian missionary staying on the island, from the US specifically going around teaching against us. He ruined our teaching pool at one point. I wanted to be on top of my game when I met him. (Never did meet him ironically).

I read both straight through, cover to cover. After finishing the Bible, I felt that I had been on a real journey through time and the attempts of successive generations to make sense of God and themselves. The Book of Mormon came across as a shallow, sensationalist story that oddly addressed the major religious topics of concern of early 18th century America.

I couldn't afford any other books, but was given a few along the way. I read a book on the first battle of the Somme, Albert Speer's "Inside the Third Reich," and some Heinlein and Philip Jose Farmer. I recall these books much clearer and their impact has been much longer lasting than the BoM.

Quote from a missionary blog I just read today:

" its kind of weird but im loving studying the bible. i sort of look forward to it every day. i havent read the book of mormon for like 2 weeks haha every morning i just open up the bible and next thing you know study time is over! "

This was from his last blog entry, in which he describes his homesickness and depression just 5-6 weeks into his mission.
http://eldertannerrigbysmith.blogspot.com/

I've always been a voracious reader. My parents didn't get that. They had almost no books in the house. They did have a set of encyclopedias that I read from A-Z more than once.

Ironically they never had a BoM PoGP or D&C. They had a big old Bible that someone had given them. I read that several times over because there was nothing else to read.

As soon as I discovered the local library I was there constantly. I checked out as many books as they would allow. I would read all of them before they were due, and then check out some more. I couldn't get enough of reading. Honestly, it was an escape from the real world. I'll save that for another day.

Once I was an adult I read the BoM from cover to cover a couple of times. I found it incredibly boring. I preferred to read the Bible. I had evangelical christian friends who like to talk about the Bible. We had some very interesting conversations. In comparison, BoM talk with mormons was a big yawn. Very few had actually read it. End of conversation. I preferred reading the D&C. I don't think I ever met a mormon who had read it. Even fewer (zero) had read the PoGP. If I asked questions about it I would get a blank look, then a shame faced confession of not having ever read that book.

So, yes. The Bible was the only book that seemed interesting to me. As a mormon, I was shocked at how few knew so little about it. My Christian friends put the mormons to shame in that area. I knew for sure that the mormon misheys would crash and burn if they had to depend on the Bible for discussion.