How I'm Escaping the Dreaded Reading Slump This Summer
The reading slump is a rite of passage that turns the casual reader into a full-blown literary athlete - a graduation of sorts! -, but that doesn’t make it any more desirable. Slumps suck. They suck the fun out of reading and the life out of you, if you’re not careful. They tend to come for me in the summer months, mostly because I feel inclined to be more adventurous with my reading choices when the heat reaches uncomfortable heights. High risks, high rewards, occasional slumps. It’s the nature of the game.
This year, however, I’ve managed to remain unscathed, at least until now. We still have about two months to go, but I’m confident I’ve found some tricks that can help me avoid the dreaded slump and stay on track with my reading routine. Here’s what I’ve been doing and why it’s been working.
Detect & DNF
For the first time in my life, I picked up a book by Emily Henry last month. Those who know me know I’m not the biggest fan of romance, so I only gave Beach Read a chance because a couple of fellow romance skeptics had raved about it, and I’m nothing if not easily influenced. I borrowed a copy from a friend, got through the first 50 pages, and suddenly felt the reading slump creeping in. She was right there, waiting for me around the corner.
Now, most of the time, you know when a slump is creeping up on you. You do! It’s not like all of a sudden, you don’t feel like reading; usually, it begins when your current read falls, in some way, short. In my case, if a book is too slow-paced (I can do slow-paced if it’s exquisitely written) or too boring, I find myself slowly beginning to avoid it. If I read every evening, I’ll start telling myself “well, I’ll watch a show tonight instead”, and just look for ways to keep the book out of my sight.
The detect & DNF method is simple: as soon as you find yourself beginning to avoid your book (and this is way before you would even consider DNFing it! This is not when you’re so done with it, you’re ready to burn it. It’s in the early stages, when the writing irks you a little, when the characters make you feel nothing, when you tell yourself “well I guess this will be a 2 or 3-star read at the very best”!), you stop reading it. Stop stop stop. You guys? Are done. Finito. Never ever ever getting back together.
This is hard because we want to give books a fair chance. Maybe a friend really loved the book and urges you to keep going, and yeah, sometimes they do get better. You just have to make a choice and decide if the potential of the book becoming better after a couple of pages is worth risking a slump (most times, it isn’t).
The poly reader
Reading more than one book at once can be help you fight slumps, especially if DNFing is simply not in the cards for you. If Book One turns out to be slump-inducing, it’s easier to convince yourself to just focus on Book Two instead of dropping Book One immediately.
I’m usually someone who reads only one book at a time, but if I know I’m about to start something I might not like, I’ll probably pick up a book that is more of a safe bet at the same time. I read early in the mornings and before going to bed, so I’ll just read one book in the mornings, and the other one in the evenings. Don’t ask me how to juggle more than two books, though - I don’t know how people do it, either.
Keep it short
This isn’t always true, but shorter books tend to be less prone to causing reading slumps, and less daunting to begin if you’re already going through one. Looking for recommendations? I have a long list of short books here.
Embrace the mood reader lifestyle
Don’t force yourself to read something you’re not in the mood to, even if you made a really pretty TBR stack just a week ago and have suddenly changed your mind (if you also photographed it and posted it on Instagram, I promise your followers will forgive you). Our brains are unpredictable, it’s fine. Reading a book you’re not 100% feeling is the easiest way to fall into a reading slump, so come over to the dark side and embrace the mood reader lifestyle. We’re a wild bunch 🤓
Keep things interesting
I would certainly get bored if I read the same genre/author/trope all the time, so changing it up is a nice way to keep things fun (plus, reading outside of your comfort zone comes highly recommended by this board certified book doctor).
This is a two-edged sword, though, because trying out new things can also cause a reading slump, so trust your judgement here. If you read historical fiction all the time, maybe there’s an adjacent genre you can try out, like biographies set in a specific place/time period you’re interested in, historical romance, historical mysteries, and so on.
Other things that might help…
Listening to the audiobook as you read the physical/digital copy can help you get through denser paragraphs, keeps you focused and will probably help you finish a book faster, if you’re not ready to DNF it yet.
Re-reading books you already know you love!
Doing a readalong with a friend or your book club.
If you’re not ready to DNF but need a break, give yourself one for as long as you need. You can always pick it back up later.
Yes to the short books! I only read ~100 page books last month and it was so much fun! I wrote a post about if you’re interested in checking it out :)))