Wed
Dec 8 2010 1:36pm
The Reading Slump...

Stubby on TwitterIt’s something we all dread—that moment when, no matter how many great books fill your shelves, you can’t find anything of interest to read. The weeks where you barely pick up a book. The time during which you’re unable to finish anything you do manage to pick up. Yep, that’s right—I’m talking about the Reading Slump!

So we asked on Facebook and Twitter to find out how other people copy with reading slumps...

Facebook

Elizabeth: God, I hate to admit it, but I LOVE fanfiction when I’ve got nothing else to read.

Rafael: I change language. When nothing in English appeals to me, I go around my Spanish and Italian bookshelves; if still nothing grips me, I dig in the German one.

Ronald: I read several books at one time. That way I tend to maintain interest in something.

 

Twitter

This is easy. I get out of a reading slump by switching to manga for a while. Pretty bishie guys and large moe eyes—fun! @PRationality

What’s this “reading slump” you speak of? @KarenBaskins

I start with something familiar and often re-read @ruthbeingruth

I wish I knew. I’ve been in one for months @scottaylorpgh

Stop reading for work for a week, and just read something for pleasure. Happens to agents and editors all the time @ColleenLindsay

Sit up straighter maybe? ;-) @sfbook

Read something that you normally would not read? @QQwill

 

Do you have any suggestions? Which of the above work best for you?

23 comments
William Uniac
1. Billiac
I am with @KarenBaskins. I don't tend to get reading slumps. I think my reading is varied (SF/F, general fiiction, non-fiction, different genres, magazines, etc) enough that I don't lose interest in the act of reading. That's not to say I don't lose interest in some of the particular things I read, but reading as a whole, never!
rick gregory
2. rickg
I just don't read for a bit. It's fine. I'm not going to never read again, but a break isn't a big deal. I'll go game or watch some movies or go out with friends.
Paul Boyd
3. GoodOldSatan
My goodness. You're about to read - or are, perhaps, reading (hint, hint) - the best Malazan book ever, and you suggest you have nothing "of interest" to read? I'm apoplectic!
Kerwin Miller
4. tamyrlink
i look at my book shelf and try to remember when was the last time i read a particular series. and then if i cant remember i pick up a book in the series and start reading.

or i just reread the Wheel of Time or the Malazan series lol.
Chris Hawks
5. SaltManZ
For me, a "reading slump" is really just a period where I've gotten into an activity that I'll stay up nights doing instead of reading. Often a video game (Super Mario 64 right now) or a project like redesigning my blog.
Dru O'Higgins
6. bellman
Switch to nonfiction and go to a section of the library I know nothing about. Most recently it was sailing.
Alex Brown
7. Milo1313
Haven't had a reading slump in years...just too much out there that I'm dying to read. I've got 4 to-read piles: stuff I can't wait to get my hands on (like my copy of Ghastly Beyond Belief which is mocking me right now), stuff that I want to read but keeps getting beaten back by the squee stuff (yes, I see you Beowulf, I haven't forgotten about you), stuff I should read but just can't get jazzed about (The Help = *sigh*), and stuff I have to read for class but probably won't because I'm too lazy (hello Indexing and Abstracting in Theory and Practice).
Samuel Montgomery-Blinn
8. montsamu
I've had long reading slumps in the past; it's not that there isn't good stuff to read, it's almost that's there's too much, and it causes a sort of choice paralysis. I get out of it by picking up a book I know with absolute certainly needs to be one of the books I read before I die. (Morbid, perhaps.) A Nebula or Hugo winner I've skipped over the years; a friend's novel I keep quiet about lest it is discovered I haven't read it yet; etc. For my worst reading slump, I stopped focusing on genres or critics and just dove into the local author section of the bookstore.
Michelle Morrell
9. Vylotte
I wander around the library, specifically the graphic novel section. Something always catches my eye.
Chuk Goodin
10. Chuk
Pretty much never happens, as I always have 2 or 3 books going. Sometimes I'll notice I haven't made much progress on one and then realize I've been doing something else (writing, gaming, watching things, etc.) instead, but I never actually feel like I don't want to read anything.
Mieneke van der Salm
11. Mieneke
I'll reread an old favourite (or several) that always seems to help!
Fake Name
12. ThePendragon
It's happened to me a few times, and usually I just stopped reading for a few weeks, once almost two months. The last time was years ago though, and I've found that the best way to avoid one altogether is to greatly vary what I read. Change it up a lot and you'll never get "burned out".
Jeff Domer
13. jqueasy
I go to Tor.com or OSCIGMS.com and read short fiction.
Kathleen B
14. stampeyb
Miles Vorkosigan! he cures any reading slump.

Or I switch up the genre. I actually found myself slightly over-literaried this weekend when I was dreading picking up Palimpsest (which is an amazing book, I just needed something ...easier). I switched to urban paramormal romance for a while to shake it off.
RobinM
15. RobinM
My reading slumps usually only last a few days and it's because I'm overwhelmed with to many choices at once. Last week I had 15 library holds ready for pick up. Sometimes I switch to Mystery or comedic Romance(Evanovich). If nothing new grabs my eye I re-read a favorite series title Liaden, Vorkosigan, Dragonriders, Valdemar you get the idea.
RobinM
16. Neville Park
Sadly, my reading slumps are usually precipitated by guilt over/inability to pay library fines owing, so it turns into this awful shame-vortex that makes me increasingly wary of borrowing any more books. It takes a great effort to snap out of it.

Oh yeah, and re-reading books I already own.
René Walling
17. cybernetic_nomad
The weeks where you barely pick up a book. The time during which you’re unable to finish anything you do manage to pick up.

Honestly, I have no clue what you are talking about. I have so many unread books to read and so many books I want to re-read. There's enough variety in those alone for me to find something just about anytime. And should I not have access to them, I will invariably read whatever is available: Newspapers, magazines, documentation for equipment and software I'll never use, the Compendium of Pharmaceuticals and Specialties, notices on bulletin boards etc...
RobinM
18. Kvon
I've been through enough slumps that I know that it's followed by inundation, so I don't worry about it too much. However my book club has been in a slump after eleven years, trying to find paperback stand-alone sf (still in print) by different authors. So far we've tried classics, alternate formats (graphic novels), and other genres (fantasy, alternate history, steampunk) but I still get worried often.
Bill Siegel
19. ubxs113
I seem to take a slightly different route than everyone else. I turn to my DVD collection or Netflix and go on a TV show marathon. A week or two of The Office or The West Wing puts everything right.
john mullen
21. johntheirishmongol
To me a reading slump is less than 100 pages a day. I read all the time, I read in lines at the movies, I read during lunch, I read when I walk, I read when I am camping or fishing , I read before I go to sleep. How do you have a slump reading? I just cant imagine.
RobinM
22. kid_greg
My reading slumps occur when I've just read too many books in a row that are Fantasy. So my cure is to just read something from another genre that I like; usually a Western or a crime noir.
Another obstacle is; since I'm a reviewer for fantasy books my books-to-reveiw can back-up, which makes it harder to read something outside that genre, so I try to open myself up to stuff that isn't the "traditional" fantasy which is normally what I like.
Joe Romano
23. Drunes
Two things work when I get into a reading slump. The first is to just ride it out. If I'm reading for pleasure, I don't have to read anything if I don't want to. Second, I go to a few volumes of short stories I keep on hand (as varied as gothic literature, Lord Dunsany, and Robert E. Howard) or the most recent edition of Asimov's SF Magazine or the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. I prefer short stories to novels anyway.
RobinM
24. Cheri H.
Switch genres, read short stories or poetry, read an old favorite.

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