I have hinted at this in a few posts throughout the year, but I have been struggling to find the motivation to read. I tried to read two books that I was looking forward to, but couldn’t get past the first fifty pages. I haven’t been in a reading slump this bad since 2012 when I went off to college. It’s sad because I do love to read and I will always love to read, but I just haven’t been feeling it. I find that I have been listening to music late at night and then once I’m tired, I don’t want to read, and instead end up going to bed. I contemplated what to do next and I found a few ways that I think will help encourage me to start reading again on a regular basis. I wanted to share a few things that I will be doing to help break my reading slump.

Keeping Up-to-Date with Booktubers

There are a few booktubers and book bloggers that I follow. However, I noticed that for several months, I hadn’t been keeping up with their content. This is one of the best ways that get book recommendations. I took a few hours to get caught up and it helped spark that interest to read. I added quite a few books to my TBR on Goodreads as a result. I think I need to get back into keeping up with their content because I think it helps to look forward to new books to read.

As far as who I follow, I like Riley Marie and Merrily Kristin. Their book recommendations do occasionally blend together. However, I find that Riley will recommend more smut and darker books while Kristin will recommend more graphic novels, manga, and fantasy. For book blogs, I like Nerdy by Nature. I used to use a blog tracking website, where I could follow blogs and see new posts. I ended up discontinuing this since the site would only work half the time. Therefore, I ended up not reading Nerdy By Nature’s new posts. I have the site bookmarked now, so I can read her new posts every week.

Using my Local Library

I keep forgetting that my local library has an app. It’s neat because I can request a hold on a book and it shows me where I’m at in the queue to be able to pick it up. I have four things on hold right now. The one downside to this is the more popular a book is, the harder it is to get it. For example, I have A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson on hold and I’m 21 in the queue meaning 20 other people are ahead of me before I get to read it. It’s worth putting holds on popular books a few months in advance since it will take a while to get to me.

I’m going to move the library app to the first page on my phone to remind myself to use it more.

Listening to My Mood

In 2022, I did a lot of planning on what books I would read and at what time. This year, I have been letting myself pick books based on what mood I’m in. If I’m in the mood for a thriller then I read a thriller. If I’m in the mood for a romance, then I read romance. I haven’t been doing as much planning which I think will work for the rest of this year.

I do like pre-planning my books, but I think I just need a break on that for now.

Being Strict on Putting Books Down if I’m not Enjoying Them

When I pick up a book to read, sometimes I find that I try to force myself through the book. This has contributed to my reading slump because if I’m not enjoying the book then I don’t read it. I have been trying to be more strict on this where if I’m not enjoying a book or I’m not in the mood to read a book, to simply put it down and move on to something else. This I think will help in finding books that I’m looking forward to reading and donating any books that I didn’t enjoy.

I feel rejuvenated! I think I have a strategy to get back into reading and refocus on books that I am genuinely excited to read. I hope to share more book-related content soon.