Getting out of a reading slump

[Adanys Wynterwulf]

I love books I can just fall into but it takes time to find the right one sometimes...

I know what you mean, it's hit or miss with me most of the times.
It can be a genre I love, but if I'm not in the mood, I just won't be able to get into it

 

[Stephen Lightheart]

I usually kind of hop from interest to interest. I do one thing passionately for a few months and then move on to the next thing I spend all my time on. I'm pretty sure for me it's an ADHD thing, but alas. I always like books to be exempt from this, but my reading still suffers. I don't really call it slumps, but there are just times when I have no urge to read, even though there are so many books I want to read and I want to develop the urge.

For me, personally, I have a short list of authors who can recover my period of non-reading. Brandon Sanderson. N.K. Jemisin. John Scalzi. Brent Weeks. Jim Hines is getting there. That's about it. Usually, when trying to recover from non-reading, I look for a book by one of them. If none have a new book out, I just reread. That's nearly guaranteed to get me back to reading.

 

[Winterdawn Lightheart]

Sometimes rereading a favorite will do the trick for me. (Brandon Sanderson, Becky Chambers.) Sometimes, I get a bunch of ebooks of many different genres from the library on Overdrive and just really fill my Kindle with various titles that I've been meaning to read. Occasionally one of them will click and I'll get into reading. Often they all go back to the library unread, or started but unfinished. If I'm in the middle of a book when a slump feeling starts, I evaluate whether I'm really interested in it at that time, if I should keep reading, read in a different way (such as skimming sections, if it's non-fiction), move it back to my to-read list and try again later, or, very rarely, move it to my did-not-finish list and not plan to try again later.

 

[Leala ni al'Dareis t'al'Caleum]

I think I may have figured out why I'm in a reading slump.

I think looking at the book, instead of thinking, "OMG, this will be so fun to get lost in!" I think, "Holy crap, that's too much!" I think somewhere along the way, subconsciously, I started thinking of reading as a chore, which makes me sad. I'm working on getting back to reading to relax, though. It's...been difficult. :/

 

[Winterdawn Lightheart]

Aww that is sad! Maybe read short books to rediscover the joy?

 

[Adanys Wynterwulf]

Aww that is sad! Maybe read short books to rediscover the joy?

This is actually a very good idea and I do it myself from time to time

I love reading short books, especially those aimed at middle schoolers. Reminds of when I first fell in love with reading

 

[Leala ni al'Dareis t'al'Caleum]

Even the short books are making me shy away... I'm trying to get caught up with the Dresden Files, which are much shorter than the usual books I read. I got a good way into one of them, and now I can't seem to pick it back up, like I've given up on it. :/

 

[Winterdawn Lightheart]

Maybe a stand alone would work better than something in a huge series. :scratch

 

[Leala ni al'Dareis t'al'Caleum]

Hmmm... I'll give it a shot. I have been meaning to re-read Good Omens again, since they're making it a show.

 

[Stephen Lightheart]

Dresden doesn't seem like too joyful a start. You could look into the Murderbot Diaries. They're around 150 pages each and absolutely delightful.

 

[Leala ni al'Dareis t'al'Caleum]

What are they about? Please tell me it's something more imaginative then murdering robots.

 

[Stephen Lightheart]

It's a security robot who hacked his own governer module and now has to pretend to have no free will, while narrating everything the humans do with amazing snark and spending nearly all of his free time secretly watching TV dramas. Also, it's surprisingly emotional, has wonderful and rich world building, and really good action.

 

[Leala ni al'Dareis t'al'Caleum]

I've been thinking about it...I've gotten to the point where I've even dropped my favorite manga series. Maybe I can pick up some small momentum by reading some manga. I used to read whole volumes in one sitting, and now I have to take breaks. Maybe I can use it meditatively, like I used to.

 

[Adanys Wynterwulf]

Definitely don't read just for the sake of getting your numbers in That never works for me, and it makes reading seem like an item on your to-do list.

Read something that you know will draw you in and excite you. Something you want to read and get lost in. That might help

 

[Leala ni al'Dareis t'al'Caleum]

Yeah, it's hard to compartmentalize things like that, I'm finding. Hmmmm...I'm not sure if that's something I should bring up with my therapist, or if it's just part of being and adult.

 

[Alor Sionn]

Maybe being so anxious about being in a reading slump is making the slump worse. Think about it, look at how much the lack of desire to read is bothering you, the pressure is on to start reading read something read something!!!!! That's making it feel like work even more. Give yourself permission to take a break from reading and try out different other hobbies for awhile, that helped me start reading again after a bit of a hiatus

 

[Juliya Karisu]

I've been thinking about it...I've gotten to the point where I've even dropped my favorite manga series. Maybe I can pick up some small momentum by reading some manga. I used to read whole volumes in one sitting, and now I have to take breaks. Maybe I can use it meditatively, like I used to.

I have this right now as well, not sure if it's because I don't love manga as much or if I just don't feel like reading it.

But I totally agree with this:

Give yourself permission to take a break from reading and try out different other hobbies for awhile, that helped me start reading again after a bit of a hiatus

My husband quite often takes very long breaks, half a year or more, but eventually he goes back to it when he has the desire to read again. Try not to worry about the feeling of not wanting to read not going away (too tired to word this properly so hopefully that makes sense). I think it will, one day, when you're ready. I'm a list-maker so crossing things off makes me feel accomplished, but it's also a lot of pressure and can make me feel anxious if I'm not crossing things off as quickly as I think I should.

 

[Leala ni al'Dareis t'al'Caleum]

Maybe being so anxious about being in a reading slump is making the slump worse. Think about it, look at how much the lack of desire to read is bothering you, the pressure is on to start reading read something read something!!!!! That's making it feel like work even more. Give yourself permission to take a break from reading and try out different other hobbies for awhile, that helped me start reading again after a bit of a hiatus

Hm. Yeah. Anxiety likes to put me in vicious cycles. Just trying to find what works. :scratch I'm beginning to think it's going to take a different frame of mind for every book I read...which makes sense.

I discovered over the weekend that my manga slump seems to be that I dropped one series I love on volume 9, and could never pick it back up. I think because it had a filler arc coming that I wasn't looking forward to. So, I started a re-read, to remind myself why I love the series so much and read half the first volume in one sitting.

And, while I'm not reading the physical form of this book, this next bit of news is a big move forward for me....

I read Eragon I think like...12 or 13 years ago. I started in on the second book, then ADD'd away from it, and then my best friend's mom died, and I just...never was able to pick it back up. My credits for Audible came in, and I chose Devil in the White City and Eldest. A re-read would probably be advised, but my brain is just eager to move forward. It took me a while to remember the details of the world and the characters, but I'm picking things up again, and I'm getting back into the swing of the story. So excited to have momentum on this series again! :ha

 

[Adanys Wynterwulf]

Oooh The Devil in the White City is an interesting book. I only read the chapters focused on H. H. Holmes and they fascinated me!

 

[Leala ni al'Dareis t'al'Caleum]

That was my plan while reading the actual book. But half the book was the detailed history of how the fair was set up, and I got invested in it too along the way, but not near as much as the H.H. Holmes chapters. I also found out just how much the World's Fair shaped our culture today. It's interesting! Just...not...serial killer interesting.

Oh, but there is a really interesting assassination story buried in that part!