The Dreaded Book Slump

I am the first person to admit that I have been in a terrible book slump. I was so optimistic at the beginning of the year, with my ambitious goal set to 250 books. At the time I'm writing this, I am at 16 books so far this year. That actually feels really hard to admit given that I read 180 books in 2024 and 186 books in 2023. My TBR is HUGE but it has felt so hard to sit down and enjoy a good book. I have at least four books that I've started and haven't finished, despite my best efforts. I even bought physical copies of books rather than reading online, hoping it would help, but now they're sitting on my shelf collecting dust. So how does one even get over a book slump? Let's go over a few of the things that have been really helpful to me when I need to pull myself out of a book slump.

1. Do NOT force yourself to read. Speaking from experience, this just makes it worse and less enjoyable. I've had to come to terms with the fact that I may not reach my book goal this year and that is okay!

2. Lower your expectations. If you're anything like me, you treat your annual TBR like a marathon and that number goal is the finish line. But I realized that it was starting to stress me out, knowing that I was too far behind for me to realistically read 250 books this year. So I lowered my goal to 100 books, knowing that I still might not reach it and that is okay!

3. Find book friends! I have gotten very lucky that one of my coworkers, now one of my bff's, is also a book girly. Being able to talk about our current reads, recommend books, and discuss books that we've both read is such an incredible thing. It's like a two person book club!

4. Read something familiar. This can mean so many different things. I will reread my favorites sometimes just to get the ball rolling. I will read new work from my favorite authors. Recently I've been choosing books in my favorite sub genres. I've also been keeping my books on the lighter, low angst side since the world is such a hectic place right now. I love a dark mafia romance but I've been opting for fluffy, cozy, spicy, omega-verse books or cute rom-coms for my mental health.

5. Be kind to yourself. You are allowed to take a break. Sometimes you don't feel like reading and that's okay. Books will still be there when you're ready for them.