How to get over a reading slump

The first half of this year was perhaps the worst ever in terms of reading. I must have completed 10 to 12 books at the most. Ideally, I would have read double that number in six months. I left the others midway because they didn’t grab my attention, I couldn’t wrap my head around the plots, or it felt like the wrong time to be reading certain books as I was feeling triggered by many things I read.

 Things changed in the second half of the year as I came across some fabulous books that I couldn’t put down. But I feel my reading pace picking up too. I think it was because despite facing a massive reading slump, I hadn’t completely given up on reading. I always had a book with me and a story in my head. 2024 was a bad year of reading for many of my friends as well. Some of them confessed they hadn’t touched a book in months. But I needed some distraction. I function better if there is a fictional character in my head. 

 This week, I thought I would share some tips on how to get over a reading slump as well as recommend some books that helped me stay sane when most fictional worlds weren’t making sense. These are tried and tested methods that worked for me and I really hope you find them helpful too.

 Reread your favorites

There is nothing better than curling up with a cup of tea and your favorite book. You know you won’t be disappointed. I read ‘Matilda’ by Roald Dahl, ‘A Man Called Ove’ by Fredrik Backman, ‘Roar’ by Cecelia Ahern, ‘Intimacy’ by Hanif Kureishi, and ‘The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time’ by Mark Haddon when I didn’t feel like reading a new book. These books are on a separate shelf in my room and just looking at their spines makes me happy. Sometimes, i no t was just about letting familiar words and settings wash over me and soothe me. Rereading stories that I love made it easier to keep the ball rolling in terms of reading.

 Every reader has some absolute favorite books. I think it helps if you keep these by your bedside (if you have a small stack) or on a separate shelf or cupboard (if the stack keeps getting bigger) so that you can pick one up whenever you find that you aren’t reading anything. Rereading your favorite books also helps you reevaluate them and understand why you love them so much—oftentimes you will come to realize that they provide the comfort you crave, have a therapeutic effect or help you see the world in a different light.

 Try short books or stories

Short stories were my savior when I couldn’t read bigger tomes like ‘Tomb of Sand’ by Geetanjali Shree and ‘The Covenant of Water’ by Abraham Verghese. I’ve heard great things about both these books and will definitely be reading them. I guess the time wasn’t right when I picked them up because I just couldn’t concentrate. This was when I picked up short stories. I read ‘Her Body and Other Parties’ by Carmen Maria Machado, ‘The Diving Pool’ by Yoko Ogawa, and ‘Things We Lost in the Fire’ by Mariana Enriquez. All these collections were surreal and had elements of horror in them and had me hooked.

 What I love about short stories is the fact that they are short and it takes very little time and effort to read one. If you are bored, you can read one on your phone right now. When you are done, you feel a sense of accomplishment that’s not very different from having finished a novel. At the end of the day, a story is a story. If you are looking for something short and by short, I mean stories that are a couple pages long then I suggest you read ‘What We Talk About When We Talk About Love’ by Raymond Carver.

 Pick up mangas

Mangas are the new pop culture. Whenever I go to the bookstore, I see teenagers and youngsters checking them out or inquiring about them. There seems to be a manga craze among people who don’t read much as well. I recently heard a couple discuss how reading a manga was like watching a movie or a series. The images came fully formed in your head unlike reading a book when you have to conjure up the scenes yourself, the girl said. I don’t wholly agree with them—there’s a separate pleasure in being able to think up scenes and situations by yourself.

 But I have come to enjoy manga too. My favorite is ‘The Spy Family’ series. The drawings are great. I find myself looking at a page for far longer than it takes me to read what’s on it. ‘The Heartstopper’ series by Alice Oseman is another graphic novel that explores same-sex relationships in a heartwarming, empathetic, and realistic way. The biggest challenge of reading is that if you are new to it, you can’t visualize what is written or what the writer wants to convey. It’s an acquired skill that takes time.

 Mangas can come to your rescue as each scene is elaborately drawn for you. I have realized that mangas have unique storylines, characters, and plots. Also, most mangas read from right to left, the reverse of English, which reads from left to right. It makes for a fun and different experience. 

Read on the kindle or phone

Reading books on your kindle or phone works best when you find you can’t read much in a single sitting. This way you can find little pockets of time, for example during your commute or when you are waiting for a meeting to start, to read a couple of pages. For me, reading on the kindle helps me read at a leisurely pace as I don’t know how long the chapter or how big the book is (I turn the page setting off). That way I’m not overwhelmed by how much more there is to go. Also, being able to adjust the font and the brightness is helpful when the lighting is low.