I haven't read a book in almost 2 years, I read Carmilla recently and I struggled and it definitely did NOT help. I like character driven stories, I want to love the characters more than the plot and I don't like books that are mostly focused on romance. Please suggest me books🙏
by Obvious_Aside_3018
24 Comments
Speaks The Nightbird kicked me out of a reading slump that lasted six months, and it was so damn good I’ve ordered the entire series. It works as a standalone though, so no worries there.
My recommendation is Beautyland if you’re good with a slightly quirky premise! I think it’s quite character driven, a lovely read, and not a romance story
Have you read Gideon the Ninth?
*The House in the Cerulean Sea* by TJ Klune. Heartwarming, cozy, slightly fantasy story.
The Hobbit – Loveable characters and a very easy, fast and fun read
Anne of Green Gables – Same as the above, very character driven
Wizard of Earthsea – It’s a bit longer than the two above, and the read is also a tiny bit slower. But I find Ursula’s writing incredibly beautiful and the character development throughout the book really got to me.
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde – It’s a classic that I read very fast and enjoyed every moment of it when I myself was also getting out of a reading slump. Very short book, if you considered Carmilla I think you could give this a go as well.
I would say all of them are light reads, with Wizard of Earthsea being a bit slower and also longer, but I would still consider it.
The Children of Men came to mind for some reason, have you read that yet?
Anything by Fredrik Backman! I recommend Anxious People, Beartown, A Man Called Ove
Dungeon Crawler Carl
I’ll always rec A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking as an excellent slump-buster
Murder Your Employer by Rupert Holmes
Best for me for a truly tough reading slump is listening to the audiobook of a novel I’ve already read with my eyes and loved. I don’t need to focus as much as audio usually requires since I know the story, but I always pick up nuances I missed the first time through.
I turn towards irreverence and the comedy/thriller/suspense genre when I am in a slump, or more often get burned out on the fantasy/sci-fi genre (where 70%-75% of my reading takes place).
I found that authors like Carl Hiaasen, Tim Dorsey, Dave Barry, Christopher Moore, Chuck Palanhnuk scratch an itch for both humor and suspense with their plots, characters, and dialog. Its a complete change of genre for me that also helps.
Most of the stuff by Hiaasen are not romance by any stretch, even if there are occasional love interests with the various MC’s, its never part of the main plot. All of Hiaasen’s stuff takes place in the Great State of Florida with plots and characters so outrageous, that until you apply the “Made in Florida” tag they would just be idiotic. As it is, his decades of being a journalist for the Miami Herald makes every one of his stories completely believable and possible in the Florida setting.
Also most of his books are stand-alone so you can read one and move on to something else with complete closure. Of his 25+ books, he has one 8 book series (Titles Skink) and a 2 book with the same MC, a private Investigator named Mick Stranahan. the rest are stand-alones.
I actually read book 2 in the Skink series titles **Native Tongue** without knowing that it was book 2 and you dont need to know anything from book 1. Its still one of my favorite Hiaasen books. Other are **Tourist Season, Fever Beach, Double Whammy** (truly the funniest murder/thriller you will ever read about competitive bass fishing)
The ones that have helped me out of slumps have been:
The Blue Castle
Gideon the Ninth
The Monk & Robot novellas
I Capture the Castle
Red Rabbit or The Poisonwood Bible were good
Project Hail Mary.
Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine
Convenience Store Woman
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo
Never Let Me Go
Memoir, I’m Glad my Mom Died
Memoir, Crying in HMart
Flight Behavior
The Frozen River
Rebecca
The Guncle and sequel
Hamnet, written by Maggie O’Farrell. Read perfectly by Ell Potter.
Amor Towles – [*A Gentleman in Moscow*](https://www.amortowles.com/a-gentleman-in-moscow-about-the-book/#:~:text=A%20transporting%20novel%20about%20a%20man%20who,of%20his%20life%20inside%20a%20luxury%20hotel.)
“A Gentleman in Moscow immerses us in another elegantly drawn era with the story of Count Alexander Rostov. When, in 1922, he is deemed an unrepentant aristocrat by a Bolshevik tribunal, the count is sentenced to house arrest in the Metropol, a grand hotel across the street from the Kremlin. Rostov, an indomitable man of erudition and wit, has never worked a day in his life, and must now live in an attic room while some of the most tumultuous decades in Russian history are unfolding outside the hotel’s doors. Unexpectedly, his reduced circumstances provide him a doorway into a much larger world of emotional discovery.”
Joseph Mitchell – [*Up in the Old Hotel*](https://books.google.com/books?id=fne1LZ4iZxwC&pg=PA3&source=kp_read_button&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&gboemv=1&ovdme=1)
“Saloon-keepers and street preachers, gypsies and steel-walking Mohawks, a bearded lady and a 93-year-old “seafoodetarian” who believes his specialized diet will keep him alive for another two decades. These are among the people that Joseph Mitchell immortalized in his reportage for The New Yorker and in four books—McSorley’s Wonderful Saloon, Old Mr. Flood, The Bottom of the Harbor, and Joe Gould’s Secret—that are still renowned for their precise, respectful observation, their graveyard humor, and their offhand perfection of style.”
A gentleman in Moscow
If you want characters and like a little Henry VIII, I’d suggest the wolf hall series, starting with wolf hall. Hilary Mantel does a great job turning Thomas Cromwell into a real flesh and blood person and all of the friends, lovers, and family of both he and the king are so well written. It’s funny, shocking, and sad at times. But a great read!
Red Rising (Hail Reaper)
*True Grit* by Charles Portis. Even if you don’t like western novels (I don’t have a great love of the genre, myself), you’ll be charmed by the characters and narration. And it’s a short, breezy read. It’s gotten me out of many a slump.
If you like short stories and crime there is a book with all the collected short stories with Miss Marple and also one with Poirot by Agatha Christie
Sometimes my brain really needs a break from my series and just need the short ones
What worked recently is I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy. I never even watched her when she was on TV. I don’t typically read biographies. It was just fascinating.