9 Ways to Get Out of a Reading Slump

In a perfect world, reading slumps wouldn’t exist.

You’d always have just the right book, feel like snuggling up with a new title, and never feel bored with the books on your bedside table.

Tragically, we don’t live in a perfect world and every reader knows the blahs of being in a reading slump.

If you’re in the middle of a reading slump, here are nine ways to get out of it!

9 Ways to Get Out of a Reading Slump

  1. Give yourself a break. Sometimes, the best way to get out of a reading slump is to just ride out it out instead of trying to force yourself to read. Watch a show, call a friend, do something new – and then try again in a week or two. Books aren’t going anywhere.
  2. Reread a favorite. This is one of my favorite tactics – my go-to books when I’m in a reading slump are the To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before series or one of Sophie Kinsella’s books. Revisiting a favorite is sometimes just the little bump you need to get your brain to remember how great reading can be.
  3. Try an audiobook. This is another one that works like a charm for me – I turn on an audiobook and go for a walk or organize a drawer or work on a jigsaw puzzle while a professional reader tells me a great story.
  4. Branch out into a new format or genre. Sometimes, it’s really hard to go from a great fantasy novel to another fantasy novel. Or from one romance to another. Switching it up – fiction to non-fiction, fantasy to realistic fiction, prose to graphic novel – can make a big difference because it’s so different!
  5. Put your phone in a different room. For me, the biggest cause of a reading slump is usually that I’m too distracted by my phone. I’ll read a page, then check Instagram. Then read two pages and look at my inbox. And so on. It’s hard to ever really get INTO a book if you keep stopping. Moving my phone far away makes a huge difference in me being able to really settle into a new book.
  6. Pick 5 books and read the first few pages of each one. Grab five interesting looking books from your bookshelves or library stack or go to a bookstore and then read a few pages of each one to see if any of them grab you. And if it doesn’t, put it aside for another time (or a never time).
  7. Try a children’s or young adult book. One thing I love about a good middle grade novel or many young adult novels is that they’re shorter and quicker to get into – they know they can’t waste 50 pages setting the stage before anything happens. Plus, finishing a book is such a boost to your reading life instead of feeling like you’ve been slogging through the same book for months.
  8. Ditch your TBR. Maybe you have a huge TBR list and nothing on it looks good. Let go of the stress of what you “should” read and pick up something on a whim. Maybe it’s from the new releases shelf at your library or a book your friend recommended last week. Read it just because you want to, not because it’s on a list you’re trying to work your way through.
  9. Schedule time to read. Sometimes a reading slump is because you’re just busy or have so many things competing for your attention. Put a time on your calendar to read – maybe 30 minutes in bed before you turn off the lights or 15 minutes while you eat your breakfast or before you start making dinner. Having a planned time makes it easier to actually do it.

Any other tried and true methods for breaking out of a reading slump? I’d love to hear!

If you liked this post about how to get out of a reading slump, you might like these posts too:

Photos by Christie Knight

Similar Posts

2 Comments

  1. Reading slumps are the worst! Sometimes just reading something easy and different (like a magazine) is enough to do the trick for me. Once I’ve given my brain a break, I’m ready to dive into a good book. Thanks for the tips! 🙂

  2. Sophie Kinsella is always my go to as well when I get in a slump! I find that reading some “fluffy” easy to read books gets me back in the rhythm every time. Oh and yeah, not being on my phone all the time! Haha!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *