Imagine this: it’s late in the evening and you finally step foot into your room after a long, hard day of classes and studying. You breathe a sigh of relief and say to yourself, “I finally have the time to read my book!” As you hold your current read in your hands and plop down on your bed, you open your book to the page you left off on. You stare at the page for what feels like forever, only to find that the words aren’t forming images in your head, you can’t stop spacing out as you continue staring, and you suddenly find it much more enticing to scroll on your phone, even though you were looking forward to this very moment the entire day. You try to deny the feeling by trudging on, attempting to read your book even though you can’t seem to get into it. But it’s no use. You are now in a reading slump. If this sounds like you, welcome to the club.Â
As you’re sitting here reading this article, you’re probably wondering to yourself, “When will I finally get out of this slump so that I can enjoy reading again and forget reality exists?” I know that feeling all too well, trust me. I often go through periods of reading non-stop for many weeks, then find myself unable to concentrate on my book one day, which would lead me to not open up my book for another few weeks. As I’ve gone through this cycle many times throughout my life, I’ve learned a few tips and tricks that have helped me get out of this phase in the past. However, the first step into getting out of that reading slump is to ask yourself this: “Why am I even in this slump in the first place?” Maybe you’re reading a book that you’re simply not enjoying, or maybe you’re reading too many books at once. Or maybe you’ve been assigned a lot of outside reading for your classes, so much so that you’re simply no longer enjoying the feeling of reading for fun anymore. Well, if that’s the case, then you’ve come to the right place! Here are five helpful tips for you to (hopefully) get out of that reading slump of yours!
- Find a book that’s similar to one of your favorite books
There are numerous ways you can find books that align with your tastes, and one of my favorite ways is through Goodreads. The app and website has a feature that lets you look up any published book, and if you scroll down, there’s a list of books that readers of that book have also enjoyed. For example, let’s say you want to find a similar book to The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang (a.k.a. my favorite book of all time). If you scroll down on goodreads, you can see books that other readers of The Poppy War have enjoyed, and you can also see what other books the author has published. Then you can click on any of the books listed and read their synopsis. Another app that has a similar feature is Storygraph. This app has a feature that generates recommendations for you based on your previous reads, and in my opinion, the recommendations are pretty damn accurate. You can click on any of the recommendations and read the book’s synopsis, and If it interests you, then try it out!
- Don’t force yourself to read a book that you aren’t enjoying!
Of course, this doesn’t apply to books you have to read for your classes or for book clubs. However, reading for pure enjoyment is an entirely different story. You have the freedom to choose whatever book you read, so why waste your time reading a book that doesn’t interest you? Maybe you heard that your book “gets interesting in 200 pages”, I’ve tried reading a few books in the past that had that reputation. The problem is that it takes a while to get to those good parts, and in my opinion, it’s sometimes just not worth it in the end. Remember, if you’re not enjoying your book, it’s 100% okay to DNF it! It’s perfectly fine to stop reading your current book and start reading another; there are millions of other books to choose from.Â
- Try reading books that are on the easier/shorter side (but also enjoyable)!
This tends to work for me whenever I have a lot of reading to do for my classes. If you’ve been reading a lot of classics or harder material lately, then I highly recommend trying to read books that are on the easier and shorter side. Not only will you fly through the pages, but if you manage to find a book that you enjoy, then you can use that as leverage to get out of your reading slump. One of my favorite book series that’s on the “easier side” to read is the Percy Jackson series by Rick Riordan. If you haven’t read those books yet, then trust me, you are missing out!
- Don’t worry about reading “for the sake of reading”.Â
A problem I’ve been seeing surfacing a lot lately, with the rise of Booktok and Bookstagram, is that some people set really high reading goals for themselves (myself included). Since I am currently in that boat, let me tell you, I am wayyyy behind on my goal of reading 100 books this year. Every time I open Goodreads and look at the goal I set for myself, I get the urge to start reading a short book just to check off another book for my goal. This led me to read a lot of manga this year, and while I had a lot of fun doing so, I also wanted to read different books that were on the lengthier side. This, of course, would lead me to developing reading slumps because I wasn’t enjoying the shorter books I was reading.Â
Remember, it’s okay to have a low reading goal or to not have one at all. When we set high reading goals for ourselves, we have a tendency to worry more so about the quantity of books we’re reading, and most times, we don’t even remember much of what we read when we finish said books. Recently, I’ve been trying to focus less on my reading goal and instead focusing on reading what’s enjoyable for me, and it’s been working out so far. So, if you’re someone in the same boat as me, I suggest setting that “impending” reading goal aside and quit putting off that lengthy book you’ve been wanting to read!
As fellow bookworms, I think you and I can both agree on the fact that reading slumps suck. As someone who mainly spends her free time getting lost in different fictional worlds, I despise reading slumps more than I despise most other things. Thankfully, this horrible period of time doesn’t last forever. With a bit of time and patience, the feeling goes away, and before you know it, you’re back to reading for fun again! Anyways, I hope these tips will help you get out of that reading slump of yours!