Today’s Top Ten Tuesday Topic (hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl) is Books to Get You Out of a Reading Slump. I don’t know if I’m the best person to write about this topic, since I don’t really think that I experience reading slumps, but I’ll try to take on this topic anyway. More than specific books, I’ll recommend some ways to get out of reading slumps.
Listen to an audiobook: most of your favorite books have been made into audiobooks, and a lot of them are available at your library (okay available might not be the right word for it, because there’s usually a waiting list for most popular YA books at my library, but you know what I mean). Caraval is available in audiobook, as an example.
I’m not big into audiobooks myself, but I was thinking about checking one out from my library to listen to while I’m at the gym… but then I realized that there’s a waiting list for almost all the books, so maybe not today, at least. Maybe in six months.
Read a graphic novel. I’m not really a graphic novel person either, but if you’re in a reading slump, then maybe a graphic novel might help. Doesn’t this Legend graphic novel look cute? And can you believe that I don’t have these yet? I might have to go out and buy them now… or maybe I’ll just ask for these as a Christmas present. Otherwise they might have to excommunicate me from the Marie Lu fan club.
Read a magazine. One magazine article might only take a few minutes to read, and doesn’t take a ton of your attention span. There are tons of good magazines; Wired is one of the magazines I subscribe to via Zinio.
Read Short Stories. So I realize that summer is quickly fading away (where I am it feels like it’s been fall for weeks already) but I haven’t read too many short story books, so Summer Days and Summer Nights it is. At least if you want a short story recommendation from me. Short stories might be able to break you out of a reading slump because you don’t have to get too invested in any one particular storyline.
Read Something Useful. Maybe you’re in a reading slump because you’ve just gotten bored by stories that are meant to entertain. Perhaps you can read something useful instead. A book like Friction can help you learn more about attracting customers (which is useful if you have a blog, run a small business, or are in some sort of management position). If, perhaps, you don’t have a business, surely there’s something else you can learn that would be useful to your life. You can keep on reading, yet not feel the expectation of being entertained.
Read Something Light. A few months ago, I had just finished reading the first three books of the Ember Quartet, then I read a book about the Holocaust. Those definitely weren’t light reads! Plus, none of the couples were together at the end of the book! So I needed to read something a little lighter. That’s why I downloaded The Kiss Quotient. So if you’re in a situation where everybody that you’re reading about seems to be dying or getting injured, perhaps you might want to try something a little lighter.
Take a Short Break. Maybe you just need a break from reading in general. It’s okay to take a short break, for an hour or two, at least. I mean, let’s not go crazy and leave our collection of books at home when we go on vacation (or to the doctor’s office, or to work) or anything silly like that, but the books will still be there when you’re done taking a break. Sometimes you need to do something other than reading for a while, right?
Learn Something New. Maybe you’re just bored with fiction in general for the moment. If you still want to read, you could always learn something new. Like why the Apple logo was designed the way that it was. Or what was Thomas Edison like? Dreamers and Deceivers was a pretty interesting book that talks a little bit about those two subjects and more (I particularly found the story about Alan Turing to be interesting, but maybe that’s because I majored in computer science and love my Apple products).
Read Something Popular. A few weeks ago, we had a Top Ten Tuesday post about books that were hyped up a lot. I wrote about Popular YA Books That I Loved instead. I found out that week that some people are afraid to read popular books because they’re afraid that they might not be as good as some people say they are. A lot of times though, books might be popular because they’re good. If you’ve been afraid of reading a popular book and you’re in a reading slump, maybe you should try one out instead. The Red Queen series is pretty popular.
Try a New Genre. Maybe you just need to read something completely different for a change. If you’re always reading young adult, or fantasy, or whatever you normally read, maybe you just need to try something different. I really liked the story of Louie Zamporini, Unbroken. Maybe I’m just biased because he went to the University of Southern California (I don’t think so, but I do like the fact that he’s a Trojan like I am) but this is a really good story about a runner who was captured during World War II and eventually ended up forgiving his captors that tormented him.
So these are my ten ideas of how you might break out of a reading slump. Do you get into reading slumps? What are your ideas of how to get out of them? Next week’s Top Ten Tuesday topic is “Back to School”, so I’ll be posting ten of my favorite nonfiction books.