Bookish Questions – What do you do to get through a reading slump?
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What do you do to get through a reading slump?
For me, reading slumps usually occur when I’ve been reading too much of the same type of book- too many memoirs, fantasies, or children’s classics. So for me the easiest way out of a reading slump is to pick up a different type of book. That’s a lot of the reason that I tend to read multiple books at the same time. It keeps me from getting in a slump, because when I need a break from a book or writing style, I can easily switch over to something else.
I recently finished reading Michael Pollan‘s The Omnivore’s Dilemma. It’s a treatise about how we get our food, with a focus on the moral implications of our eating habits and the food industry. And it was a lot to take in. I learned a lot, but I can guarantee that I wouldn’t have been able to get through it if I hadn’t been able to take a break in the fictional world of Welcome to Night Vale when things got too dense.
Do you have a go to solution for getting or staying out of a reading slump?
You’re right…I pick up something completely different from usual, which in my case is often non-fiction. I just finished reading “Nothing to Envy” about the plight of N. Korea since the totalitarian regime came in. Or I do other things, spend less time reading–though that can’t help on sleepless nights! This week I’ve been doing a lot of intensive housecleaning, like treating the wooden cabinets etc. This morning I wiped down the cabinet fronts and the tile walls in my kitchen. I’ve been promising myself I’d do that since about Easter. I got started at about 8.30 AM and was startled that by 10.30 I was done! Now all I have to do is sort the pantry–which with my spice collection etc is a major undertaking! But after all the busyness, flopping with a book is a real treat.
Next up, my office! (thunder, lightning, and ghostly music here please) After that I hope to get started on those unfinished quilts again. I find it helps, instead of making a “things to do” list, to make a “things I got done today” list. Even little stuff counts, like folding the laundry or whatever. Gives you such a sense of satisfaction!