Best Books to Read in a Reading Slump

A reading slump is not a character flaw. It is usually a mismatch between the book you picked and the brain you currently have.

First, work out which slump it is

Tired slump — you read the same paragraph four times. You need short chapters and momentum.

Bored slump — you are 200 pages in and nothing has happened. You need to abandon the book, not push through.

Overwhelmed slump — too many choices, so you choose nothing. You need someone to hand you one book.

Post-book slump — nothing measures up to the last one. You need a completely different genre.

Six kinds of book that break slumps

1. A short thriller. Under 350 pages, chapters of three or four pages, a hook on page one.
2. A comfort reread. No pressure, no risk, guaranteed payoff. Rereading counts.
3. A hockey or sports romance. Banter-heavy, low angst, easy to fall into.
4. A graphic novel. A full story in an evening resets the sense of finishing something.
5. An audiobook of a book you already own. Same story, different route in.
6. Something you were not supposed to like. Nothing revives reading like being surprised.

What not to do

Do not start a 900-page epic fantasy to prove you are still a reader. Do not buy five new books. Do not set a target.

A slightly unfair trick

Give someone else the job of choosing. Every blind date with a book starts with a short questionnaire — moods you want, tropes you love, things you never want to read again — and the decision stops being yours. For a lot of people that alone ends the slump.

If you want to browse instead, the shelf is sorted by genre and author, with a star rating on everything I have finished.