Book Suggestions For Breaking Out Of Reading Slumps
Posted 22nd September 2014
Category: Chit-Chat Genres: N/A
9 Comments
Last week I asked you all for your suggestions of books to help a reader out of a slump. I thought it might be an idea to compile them all into one post because not only are the suggestions good, that they come from many different readers should mean that there’s something here for everyone. I’ve listed the books by suggestor (suggestee?) and linked accordingly. Obviously some of the content is paraphrased from the comments as I’ve tried to pull them all together into one post.
As for my own reading slump, I’m happy to say I have finally broken it. Interestingly the book that broke it wasn’t one I enjoyed. Lisa Jewell’s Before I Met You had many issues, but I reckon what ‘did’ it was that there was a lot to discuss and think about. Maybe for my slumps that’s most important, the thinking, I don’t know, but I do know it worked.
Jennifer of Books, Personally recommends Anthony Doerr’s All The Light We Cannot See for the writing, enchanting elements and history. Sounds like a bit of everything.
Christine of Buckling Bookshelves suggests re-reading an absolute favourite. (I think ‘absolute’ is a very good thing to keep in mind.) Jessica of The Bookworm Chronicles suggests favourites you haven’t picked up in a while. A good point about not having read them recently; it would feel quite new. And as for Jenny of Reading The End‘s re-read suggestion, the point of it being a mix of novelty and comfort is very good.
Jamie suggests Erin Morgenstern’s The Night Circus, Stieg Larsson’s Millenium series, and Tayari Jones’s Silver Sparrow. I have to second the Morgenstern.
Laurie of Bay State Reader’s Advisory suggests Alan Bennett’s An Uncommon Reader for its shortness, humour, and because it’s about reading. If reading doesn’t work, maybe reading about reading itself will?
Fiona’s last reading slump was broken by reading Mira Grant’s Parasite. She said the premise is intriguing and the story moves along well, which I’d say is just what you need, so if you like eerie reads you might want to try Grant’s work.
I reckon Blodeuedd of Book Girl Of Mur-y-Castell’s statement that she doesn’t find herself in serious slumps because she reads a lot of genres is something to think about. Literary Feline agrees, recommending mixing genres.
Here are Scott of Some Smart’s suggestions: Garth Nix’s Sabriel, Jonathan Stroud’s The Screaming Staircase, Maggie Stiefvater’s The Raven Boys, Shannon Hale’s Goose Girl, Brandon Sanderson’s Mistborn: The Final Empire, and Patrick Rothfuss’s The Name Of The Wind. Some excellent names there.
Alice of OfBooks reckons on Donna Tartt’s The Secret History or something short, for example J D Salinger’s Franny And Zooey. Chunkster or novella?
For the classics and/or literary fiction lover, Violet of Still Life With Books has a fair-sized list: I Capture The Castle, The Prime Of Miss Jean Brodie, We Have Always Lived In The Castle, Cold Comfort Farm. She also recommends anything written by Barbara Pym or Beryl Bainbridge.
Whether you commented on the previous post or not, have you any (other) suggestions for slumps?
September 22, 2014, 11:56 am
Pleased to learn you’ve broken the drought — and how interesting that it was via a book that that wasn’t necessarily ‘perfect’ for you, but obviously tapped into what you’d been missing in other reads.
September 22, 2014, 12:24 pm
The variety of titles goes to show that there’s probably no book 100% guaranteed to be a slump buster for every reader, but it was fun to see all the suggestions put together like that!
September 22, 2014, 2:44 pm
Great compliation. I agree with the Millennium series. I’ve found that a great trilogy is a wonderful slump-buster, because if the books are truly engaging, you’ve got not one, but three books to pull you out of that hole!
September 22, 2014, 3:55 pm
Loved The Uncommon Reader, hated The Night Circus both of which I read for my readers group. The Uncommon Reader is only one of two books I’ve read for this and then gone on to buy.
Out of all the books you feature it is We Have Always Lived in The Castle that really, really appeals to me.
September 22, 2014, 5:33 pm
Charlie I am really pleased to hear you’ve broken out of your reading slump! There are also some lovely suggestions in this post thank you for compiling it.
September 23, 2014, 10:09 am
I’ll have to bookmark this page for when I’m paid. A few I’ve read on here and they gave me a lovely feeling when I remembered them (I Capture the Castle especially).
September 23, 2014, 5:24 pm
I am glad to hear you finally broke through your reading slump, Charlie. Great news!
September 24, 2014, 7:18 pm
Glad you’ve broken out of your reading slump! And I love this compilation of slump-busting recommendations. I’ll definitely refer back to it next time I’m in a slump.
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September 22, 2014, 6:56 am
I always wanted to try a Hale book :)