Reading Slumps Are Tough, So Don’t Read

After finishing A Place for Us by Fatima Farheen Mirza, I’ve been having the worst book slump ever. It might be because I’ve spent the last month and a half trying to read all the books I have for various projects this summer. Usually, I like to spread these out throughout the months to come so that I’m not bogged down with required reading.

However, I wanted to read what I wanted to read this summer. I wanted to enjoy my days reading hard hitting diverse fiction and then some lighter romance novels. I wanted to change it up and keep with my TBR and not make any sacrifices to it for the sake of a project.

And now that I’m finally down to two books, I feel like I’m finally free. Granted these books will eventually make their way to me and I’ll have to read them, I’m having a good time with the little break.

But now I’m in a slump. At first, I thought it was just a book hangover from reading A Place for Us (which I highly recommend), but after starting a new book and reading about 50 pages into it I’m losing interest.

Honestly, I don’t even think it’s the book’s fault. I think that I’m just at this reading slump.

This always happens to me right around the 30th book I read in a year. I’m already pretty close to finishing my reading challenge on Goodreads and I’m way ahead of all the projects I’ve got for the summer. I could continue reading more books (because it’s my job), but right now I’m just not in the mood.

So I’ve decided to watch TV.

I think many of us feel the pressure to read. You want to keep up with all the great novels coming out that you sort of sacrifice your brain and mental health in order to do it. So you read and you don’t absorb. Maybe you give a book an unfair review because you just couldn’t get into it. If all the signs that you’re just in a slump, then I recommend one cure: STOP READING.

I’m not saying stop reading forever. I’m just saying stop reading for now. Forget about that reading challenge. Forget about what your friends are doing and saying on Instagram. It’s super important that you can feel the freedom to read, so forcing yourself to read will eventually lead to hating to read.

If all the signs that you’re just in a slump, then I recommend one cure: STOP READING.

Give yourself time to recuperate. Let the proverbial herbal tea of life comfort you for a few days, or a week, or a year before you get back into it. Don’t let the pressures of reading something everyone else reading get a hold of you.

I always give this advice, but this life is short. Reading is a great way to relax, but if you’re pressuring yourself to read, don’t read. You’ll be better off not reading and coming back refreshed than reading and hating reading. Don’t let the bastards grind you down.

Now that a few days have gone by, I feel so much better. I’m already restarting my current read and enjoying every minute of it. I think this is why TV shows take the summer off. Sometimes it’s better not to binge and savor those interesting stories.

What do you do when you’re in a reading slump?