The Reading Slump

Hey everyone, thanks for finding your way over to our blog. Today we are addressing our worst nightmare…

Laura: I’ll start, as I'm currently the one going through a reading slump. If you’re wondering what this looks like, a reading slump for me is when I’m either stuck on a book, not excited to read, or choosing Ru Paul’s Drag Race UK over my beloved books. Now listen, it's absolutely fine to be in this position, I’m just stuck on the end of a book that I easily could have finished a long time ago. I’m not bored of it, I just am in a bit of a slump.

Nat: Well, I feel like we have all indeed been there before. At the end of 2020 I was in a BIG reading slump that probably lasted a few months if I’m being honest. I was not enjoying the books I was reading, I did not want to pick up a new book - I even struggled to finish the book I had chosen for my book club to read. When I did sit down to read, my concentration just was not there! I’d often find myself re-reading the same paragraph or sentence multiple times without understanding it. So we thought this would be a good opportunity to talk about why reading slumps happen and ways that we have found help us get out of them.

Laura: So I've been thinking about why. As I am sure you are all aware we are currently in a lockdown, I have therefore been living with my family, rather than in London. I definitely think this change has played a big part. For a start, I am missing out on my commute to work, which used to provide me with a decent amount of reading time before and after work, and on my lunch break. I am also spending more time around my family and sometime’s feel rude if I take myself off for an hour to sit and read, so for the past few months I have been saving my reading time for bed, but I end up being too tired and lose concentration.

Nat: Yes, I totally understand! I think my reading slump happened for similar reasons. I moved to my home country, got legally married, was living with my new husband in my family home, was then planning a wedding, starting a new business and looking for a new place to live. I had no energy left to read. It seems that, for both of us, we struggle to read when life is stressful. Which is funny because we always make time for TV. Probably because TV is easy!

Laura: Life sometimes takes over. It also comes down to routine, when I have more structure to my life, my reading improves. Lately that's what I've been lacking. Here is what I'm going to do to tackle my reading slump. I am going to dedicate an hour, to sit down and read with my morning coffee, to allow myself a decent amount of time to invest in the book instead of what i've been doing lately which is picking a book up and reading in 5 minute slots.

We also have a short story to read for our book club, which is hopefully going to help me get back into the swing of things.

Nat: I think those are really great ideas! What helped me out the most was knowing that the reading slum would pass. I love reading and as long as I love it, it will always be a part of my life. I had to just wait for my life to calm down, and for the right book to come along. For me that was The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern. I also had to make reading a habit again. I read every morning with my coffee and every night until my eyes can no longer stay open! I hope that this year I can stay more consistent with my reading - because that would mean my life would be more consistent. Which is what we want!

Thank you for taking the time to read our thoughts and musings. This post was a little bit more personal but hopefully you enjoy that! We believe that talking about books and reading is a great way to get to know someone which is why we love to do it!