Skip to main content

5 Ways to Beat Your Reading Slump

I've been in a bit of a reading slump. And, by extension, a blogging slump. I tend to blog more when I read more, and I haven't finished a book in over a week (which is absolutely horrific for me), so I've been a bit MIA here. But since my reading slump doesn't seem to be going anywhere, I figured that I can't just stay off of my blog for some unknown amount of time! And hopefully, if I blog more, I'll want to read more. (No idea whether it works like that, but...we'll see.)

I can't wait for this reading slump to be over, so I decided to put together a list of my top 5 ways to get rid of a reading slump. Now, keep in mind, I've tried these and my slump is still here...but maybe you'll have better luck! These are all things that have worked for me before. Just not this time, apparently.

 
1. Figure out what you really want to read. I remember when I had a reading slump last summer that it was really just a huge craving for a dark and creepy book to the extent that everything else on my TBR looked bad. So consider some different genres, even if they're not ones you typically read a lot of! You might still want to read, but just want a change.

2. Read the first chapter of a few books on your TBR. If you don't know what you really want to read, you don't need to commit to whatever book you think you might want to read. Keep browsing around until something sparks your interest. Again, interest in a book is the key to getting out of a reading slump painlessly. Don't force it!

3. Go to a bookstore or a library. Being surrounded by books is amazing. Even if I don't get anything (which is rare because I have no self-control with books), just standing in the aisle looking at all of the books is enough to make me smile. Maybe something will catch your eye, and you'll HAVE to read it IMMEDIATELY, and boom! Goodbye reading slump.

4. Read other people's book blog posts or watch Booktube videos. There's something about seeing other people gush about how much they love books that makes me really want to read. Be on the lookout for lists of anticipated books or lists of favorite books, since those are usually BURSTING with excitement and book love.

5. Just wait it out. Reading slumps don't last forever! And sometimes, if you try to force yourself out of it, you'll just end up wanting to read even less. So don't read. Go for a hike. Play Candy Crush. Binge-watch Jane the Virgin on Netflix (at least, that's what I've been doing). Sooner or later, you'll want to pick up a book again, and when you do, you'll really enjoy it.

Right now, I'm going with option 5: wait it out - because none of the others are really working. And I WANT to read! I just...don't really want to read. I think we've all been there.
How long did your last reading slump last? How did you get out of it? Any important tips that I missed? Tell me in the comments! (Please. I want this slump to be OVER.)

Comments

  1. Agh, reading slumps ARE so awful. :( I generally get them when I read a whole string of sucky books and just start to feel super unenthused for reading in general. But I generally just KEEP reading and that's how I push through it.😂 Although like if I'm in a low-star-rating-funk sometimes that's bad because I just automatically am harsher on books haha. But it DOES help me move out of it faster if I push through and read anyway!
    (But taking breaks and like going walking or binge-watching a show is awesome too. <3 Sometimes it's okay to do something different for a while!)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I wish that pushing through by reading worked for me! I've tried it, but I always get distracted so easily by EVERYTHING.

      Delete
  2. Man, I just suffered from one of the worst reading slumps... I started reading ... like... 10 books from my TBR pile, and it didn't work... so I started reading a book I had read already... I think it's working... slowly, but it's somewhat... working... I think. But yeah, usually I just wait it out. But then sometimes the wait gets longer and longer and... well, something needs to happen.

    Ehh... just part of reading life I think.

    Great post, by the way!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh no! Rereading is a good trick (which I completely forgot about in this post), and I'm glad that your reading slump is going away! (Or probably going away. Hopefully.)

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

My Top Ten Books of 2016

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly f eature at The Broke and the Bookish . This week's theme: top ten books of 2016. A little less than a year ago, I started my blog by making a post of my top 10 favorite books of 2015 . And now here we are again! I've come so far in blogging , and it 's really amazing to be creating the same kind of post as my fi rst one again - but I'l l save the nostalgia for my blogo versary post later this week. Last year, all of the books on my list were also on my all-time favorites list. I didn't quite read ten all-time favorites this year, so I added a couple of five-star but not-quite-favorite books to this post. I also didn't include any rereads on this list - I reread quite a few favorite books this year, and that wouldn't be fair to the rest! But anyway, here are my ten favorite books that I read in 2016. 10. THUD! by Terry Pratchett (Discworld #34) I don't think it would really be a list of my favorite books from a ye...

Thoughts on Required Reading

This blog post is brought to you by Pride and Prejudice and my AP Lit class. I've been thinking a lot about required reading, probably because I'm having to do so much of it. School comes with many types of required reading. Today, I won't be talking about reading excerpts from textbooks on various subjects, because I think everyone agrees that unless the subject is of particular interest, those readings are boring at best and painful at worst. Instead, I'm talking about being required to read entire works of literature (or, less often, nonfiction). During winter break this year, I was required to read Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice . I thought that this would be one of my easiest assignments ever. I LOVE that book. I read it for fun two summers ago and could barely put it down! I was expecting wonderful days curled up on the couch with a mug of hot chocolate, enjoying the chance to revisit one of my favorite novels while still being productive. Best of all...

Ten Books I Need More People to Love

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature at The Broke and Bookish. This week's theme: Top Ten Underrated/Hidden Gem Books You've Read in the Past Year or So. One of my favorite things to do is get other people to read books I love. That way, I can discuss the boo ks with them, and if I know their tastes well enough, I know I'm givin g them something that they'll love! Unfortunately, I can't do this with the entire world. And that means that there are books that I've really enjoyed t hat just aren't widely loved. Why ? I don't know. And that's why I spend so much time trying to get other people to read them. Here are ten books I've read some what recently that I think really deserve some m ore lo ve. IRON CAST by Destiny Soria: I'll never get tired of diverse books, I 'll never get tired of historical fiction, and I'll never get tired of positive female friendships. When you pu t those all together, they ma ke a book tha...