What Are The Best Ways To Get Over Reading Slumps? // Let’s Talk Bookish

Let’s Talk Bookish is a weekly meme hosted by Rukky @ Eternity Books and Dani @ Literary Lion where we discuss certain topics based on prompts allocated for each Friday of the week. You basically share your opinions and get into the conversation by visiting each other’s posts. You can find the July schedule here or here.

Today’s Let’s Talk Bookish topic is What Are The Best Ways To Get Over Reading Slumps?, which was suggested by Rafaela @ The Portuguese Bibliophile.

I thought really hard about how I should write this post before I actually started typing it out. Should I do a round-up of ideas I’ve read online? Should I discuss my own methods? My problem with reading slumps is that it is different for everyone. Not everyone does reading slumps the same way: some of us do not read at all, some of us struggle through books, some of us just read with no real feelings… It’s like an umbrella term.

Finally, I decided on staying super personal. I usually make my discussion posts not-so-personal by pulling in all this research and facts, so this time I am gonna get some me!

First, what does a reading slump look like for me? Well, I don’t usually stop reading, but I struggle through books. I am the sort of person who can read at least 100 pages of a book despite how much I like or do not like a book, so if I am struggling with even that bit, then I consider that a ‘slump’.

What precipitates a reading slump for me? Hmm, usually it is a really good book, like when I finished reading A Kingdom of Flesh and Fire or The Crown of Gilded Bones. Sometimes it is when life gets particularly hard or stressful, so maybe job applications or exams or travelling. Obviously, anything that makes me sad can put me in a reading slump too, so I have noticed that last year when I got lonely at times, I would really struggle to make it through my reading list.

Now we get to the good and best bit of this post! WHAT ARE MY WAYS OUT OF A READING SLUMP? I want to point out that these are all my personal tactics, so these are not methods that will always work out for you. Keeping that caveat in mind, let’s get on with it!

HASINI’S TIP #1: TAKE A BREAK!

This is the simplest advice and tactic I can give/follow. I always allow myself a day or two when the going gets really tough, or if life is just getting in the way somehow. The only barrier I see to this method is if you have a deadline coming up, like an exam, but otherwise, even with advance readers’ copies, it is okay to take a little break to recharge and come back full steam! Sometimes, the toxic idea that readers need to read at least a little bit every day can be frustrating to break from, but the investment you make from that break, no matter how small, is worth a lot more than hanging on to the stress or the toxic bookish traits that run rampant in media.

HASINI’S TIP #2: SWITCH GENRES

I don’t know about you, but I always end up going through way too many fantasy books in one go and that leads me right into a slump. The best way I know how to work around this is to switch up your genres a little. I usually switch between fantasy and contemporary, or romance and thriller/mystery or sci-fi. You can have your go-to switches, like me, or just be completely random and pick something off your shelves!

HASINI’S TIP #3: GROUND YOURSELF

I considered making this a part of TIP #2 but I felt like this deserved its own spot. One of my go-to methods of battling a reading slump is to read non-fiction. The number one reason why I am in a slump is usually that I am still entrenched in a fantasy world that I have become completely obsessed with, so I give my brain time to marinate in that world by reading some of the non-fiction titles on my shelves!

HASINI’S TIP #4: RE-READ A FAVOURITE

This is a tactic that I got recently invested in: re-read an old favourite! You don’t have to make space for a new world or new characters. You just have to revisit people and places you already know and it’s pleasant for everyone! There is something about all those warm feelings that come with re-reading a favourite that can right a reading slump quite naturally.

HASINI’S TIP #5: STRUGGLE THROUGH THAT SLUDGE

The hardest method I have ever resorted to is to keep reading anyway. This sometimes works but usually at the expense of me not liking my current read as much I would have, so I don’t know how I feel about that one sacrificial lamb getting tossed in to save all the others.

HASINI’S TIP #6: A BLIND DATE… WITH A BOOK!

This concept has become very popular now, so I don’t think I really need to explain how this works. Unfortunately, I usually resort to a simpler version of this by going on to the hundreds of unread Kindle books I own and randomly choosing a book with no context other than the title sometimes. It’s fun, so give it a try! I have also seen bookshops where they wrap the book and display a small not describing the book in a few words, so those blind date ideas are pretty fun too! With this method, it’s is the constant questions that really work for me: once I go in completely blind, sometimes the story just makes me really inquisitive about it and that pulls me right out of my slump!

HASINI’S TIP #7: SET A SCHEDULE

I used to be against this idea since I thought it would suck the enjoyment out of reading but then I tried it and it did wonders! I planned an hour of reading before bedtime and stuck to it every night. I used to do an hour in the morning too until life got in the way. Sometimes I do an afternoon reading session too. The point is that I try to plan it, time it, and keep it a distraction-free session so that I get my maximum reading done.

HASINI TIP #8: BOOKTUBE INSPIRATION

Call this peer pressure if you want to, but watching others do something I wanna do can really ramp up my motivation, which is why reading vlogs really get my reading juices flowing. I guess it is the same logic as studying in a library as opposed to studying on your own. Haha! I have yet to see anyone recommend reading vlogs as a way to work through your reading slumps, so let me know if you do this too?

And that is all I have got to say on reading slumps! I have to say that was quite fun to just squeeze all that material from my brain and not depend on facts and numbers for a change. Also, quick side-note that it is perfectly okay to embrace your reading slump and just spend your time and efforts elsewhere till you really feel like picking up a book for the sake of reading rather than anything else. Maybe you will end up writing instead or crocheting a giant throw blanket!

Here are a few interesting posts on reading slumps I came across while writing my own post:

• Joshua @ Book Riot uses neuroscience to understand reading slumps
• Olivia @ Book Riot on why she is beginning to embrace reading slumps

I had loads of fun writing this post and I’m so curious about what everyone else contributed to this week’s Let’s Talk Bookish! Feel free to start a conversation below and let’s have some fun!

My previous Let’s Talk Bookish posts:

• July 9: Should Books Have Content Ratings?
• July 2: Prologues & Epilogues: Are They Necessary?
• June 25: Good Covers Versus Good Content
• June 18: Appreciation for Book Bloggers
• April 23: How Reading Affects My Mental Health