Seems like these days, many of us have been trying to find our new normal, and part of it is dealing with a reading slump. To get out of a reading slump, first you must be careful to best identify what kind of slump it is. Are you in a slump because you are just tired of reading? Are you tired of reading your favorite genre? Do you feel guilty you are not prioritizing things on your to do list? Here are a few tips to help get out of the slumps.
Don’t touch those books
This may seem like it wouldn’t help, but sometimes you just need to get away from reading, just like you need to get away from the office. Time to try new things. Try a painting class, or pick up knitting. Take walks with your pet, or with friends, or family. Spend time with real people (says the introvert). Yes, sometimes just letting the books sit for a few weeks or more will help.
Try Audiobooks
Feeling guilty when you read, but feel guilty when your not? Like you are neglecting a good friend? Try an some audiobooks. Audiobooks give freedom to read while taking a walk, picking those pesky weeds from the garden, cleaning the house, or redoing parts of the house. You can work on that to do list while reading a book, or rather having someone seriously talented, read a book to you. I recommend anything narrated by Susan Erikson. Some examples are the In Death series by J.D. Robb, The Obsidian Trilogy by Mercedes Lackey and James Mallory, and she also narrated a copy of Jane Eyre. I also recommend the Kings Dark Tidings series by Kel Kade, I am currently eagerly awaiting book 5 of the series.
A different kind of book
Perhaps the slump is from over exposure. Hitting the same genre over and over and while you may want to continue reading, you just don’t. Try reading from a different genre. Your favorite genre is fantasy? Try a Mystery. Enjoy Science Fiction? Try contemporary, or romance. Sometimes, taking some time away from your favorite genre you’ve been reading all the time is all you need to re-energize your drive to read.
Join a Readathon or Buddy Read
Sometimes the joy of reading with others is all you need. Read the same book with your buddy and talk about it with them as you read. All those questions you may have while reading, or hypothesize what you think will happen with your buddy, can make reading fun again. Join a readathon, or a past readathon’s live sprints. Sometimes it helps to feel like you are doing something with others. I’ve saved a few live reading sprints to my watch later list in YouTube so I can feel like I’m reading with others whenever I want.
Play a TBR Game
I’ve recently found this one to help me more than I thought it could. I’ve been secretly making myself TBRs since whateverathon and Becca’s Bookopoly worked so well for the months those readathons happened. I continued it, secretly in October, and November. Take someone else’s game, or make your own. Or take someone’s and put your own twist on it. Somehow, I found this to help, and made a game out of reading.
I hope some of these tips will help if you ever find yourself in a slump. I know a few have helped me over the past few months and I feel I’m getting back to reading. Still not at the level I was, but that is more because of the change in my job and it’s a bit difficult to listen to audiobooks like I used to and understand and think through what I’m doing. But I’m definitely back to wanting to read more, and enjoying it.
