Oh, hello! Yes, it’s been a week since I’ve been here. I’ve seemed to have run into a little reading slump, well, more like a malaise. I don’t have the inclination to read right now, but I try to out of habit and end up abandoning every book I pick up. This week I’ve tossed aside Howard’s End, the new Michael Ondaatje novel, The Hare with Amber Eyes, and a few other books. I’m not sure when I will recover from this lethargy and it always scares me when I enter these phases. Will I ever want to read again? So I ask you as this week’s Pryday question:
Do you ever lose interest in reading? And, if so, what secures your ticket back into the land of literature?
Frederick Carl Frieseke, 'Blue Girl Reading"
A Certain Fondness 
Oh, far too often! I hate it when it happens but sometime I get all read-out. Only 2 weeks ago I cast aside about 10 books in a rown because I couldn’t seem to get into any of them. Business seems to be resuming as normal but I’m still pretty slow going at the moment.
It will pass! Try something palate cleansing (my comfort reads are chicklit usually or crime fiction). 🙂
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Glad to hear that I’m not the only one! Hope we both get back on course soon…
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Oh well I don’t cast aside books but I usually take a day away from books a week but if want something to get me reading more usually go for Wodehouse he is greatakes me laugh and remember times I ve read him before then start reading again all the best stu
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I think taking a break is not a bad idea. It’s better to have a day without reading then to get frustrated.
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My fiance has just tossed aside The Hare With The Amber Eyes too! It’s rare for me not to find a book to pull me in, but when times get tough I do tend to retreat into classic crime and old-fashioned storytelling.
Maybe if you do something else for a while and a book will call – certain housework generally steers me towards reading, telling myself that if i read a book that I won’t be keeping that counts as tidying up!
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Haha! I like your thinking, Jane! I do have a few books that really need to be organized and what better way to do that than by reading them?
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I don’t often find myself in a reading slump but when I do then it’s vintage crime which gets me out of it too. I’m also drawn to slim volumes then and like Fleur/Jane, I sometimes read books to tidy them away esp. if I know it’s one I probably won’t be keeping.
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You’re so lucky not to slip into reading slumps very often!
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I do know this feeling, and I don’t like it! I feel an unease at not being connected to a book. Sometimes I go back to books from my childhood (Laura Ingalls Wilder or Louisa May Alcott) or I try to find something completely different from what I last read (fiction/non-fiction, 19th/21st century) – or I just keep trying books til one sticks.
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I think your last strategy is the one that works the best for me. I just have to pick up book after book until something takes.
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And having such a huge TRBR pile pays off here – because eventually I’m sure to find something 😉
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