How to Get out of a Reading Slump

What exactly is a reading slump?

Basically, it’s a period of time when it feels like total reading “burn out.” Reading one sentence feels like it takes forever to get through, and looking at the entire book seems pretty daunting. You feel unmotivated to read anything, or you feel like you’re never in the right mood to read what you want. How often do you get into reading slumps? I sometimes get into them, and let me tell you, it isn’t fun. However, over the years of my experience as an avid reader, I’ve developed some interesting tricks to get myself out of a reading slump.

1. Get Motivated!

Step 1: Getting Motivated

There are many ways a person can motivate themselves to read again. My personal favorite is watching a show or YouTube video where someone else is looking like they’re having fun reading. For example, if you’re a fan of the show Gilmore Girls on Netflix, you know that the character, Rory Gilmore, is an avid bookworm. She reads constantly, and as she does, it puts you in the mood to copy her. Grab a nice book, sit in bed, and maybe drink some coffee whilst you’re at it. Other characters on the big screen I’d recommend watching to help you get back into the reading mood are Jess, from the same show, Hermione Granger, Belle, and my personal favorite, Meave Wiley.

If you don’t have any access to streaming services, have no fear, for there are many other Booktubers on the YouTube platform that have countless reading videos that do the trick! Jack Edwards does many reading challenges based on celebrity reading lists, and it comes with a lot of funny puns and commentary in each and every video. Another great “Booktuber” I'd recommend goes under the channel name fictionalfates on Youtube, and Joel, the content creator, does a lot of reading challenges as well. Most of his videos consist of wacky challenges where he puts himself up to any reading task, whether it’s reading a book trilogy in 24 hours or pulling out book titles from a jar and reading them; all of his content is highly motivating and it inspires all of us to read at least ten pages a day.

Here are some other YouTubers to check out for reading motivation:

• Uncarley

• Withcindy

• Mika Auguste

• A Dash of Ash

• Ciara Foster

• A Clockwork Reader

2. Set Goals

Step 2: Set A Goal For Yourself

After you’ve finally gotten yourself motivated to read again, it’s important not to overdo it. You might’ve been able to read an entire book before, but just coming out of a slump, you have to take it easy so you won’t get yourself into yet another reading slump. Setting a goal is helpful, and I’d highly recommend doing so. Something reasonable, maybe around 10-25 pages a day or so, will help you get back into the swing of things. Then, as you continue to read, you’ll be able to read more and more pages for a longer period of time. Remember to pace yourself, too.

Step 3: Choose your book!

Now, here’s the fun part. You’ve gotten motivated again, and maybe you also set a goal for yourself. But what book should you choose? There are so many out there, it’s hard to pick just one! Here are some of my recommendations:

• The Girl Who Drank The Moon by Kelly Barnhill: A lovely modern fairytale about a witch named Xan who accidentally feeds a baby girl she rescued moonlight. The baby girl inherits cool powers because she drank the moonlight, and it’s an entertaining story about family as Xan now has to figure out how to raise this little girl who now has magic. There are elements of adventure as well, as we also follow a young man who wants to change the ways of his village, he’s tired of having to sacrifice a baby each year. Read the book to see how these two stories converge.

• The Maze Runner by James Dashner: A boy named Thomas wakes up in an elevator shaft. The only thing he can remember, his name. As he gets out of the shaft, he finds out that he and a lot of other boys are trapped in a large area called the glade. What surrounds them is a complicated and enormous maze that they’ve been trying to solve for a long time. They’ve tried everything, and everytime most of them die. The only way out, it seems, is by finding a way out through the maze. However, Thomas has a few secrets of his own that he keeps from the group. Will they ever find a way out?

• Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell: Cath is an awkward, dorky college girl. She likes fanfictions: reading them and writing them. She loves the Simon Snow series, and that’s about all. Besides her sister and her dad, she mainly just keeps to herself at college. Navigating life and growing up is pretty difficult, but when you’ve got fanfictions, and pretty cool new friends like Levi and Reagan, life doesn’t seem so scary now does it?

There is never a shortage of books to choose from!

These are just my recommendations, but feel free to read whatever you like! One of the best parts about reading is that there is a sea of genres. Whether you’re a fan of mystery, fantasy, romance, or horror, there is always something for you. All you have to do is take a look!