I ask this as someone who’s currently in a bit of a slump :,).
The last book I vividly remember getting me out of a reading slump was Master And The Margarita by Bulgakov. God, it was just so much fun. So witty, great writing, great characters. It’s now become something that I automatically recommend to everyone haha.
A book that got me into a reading slump? My most recent read (from over a month ago), Annihilation by Jeff Vandermeer. I haven’t read something so emotionally dead since.. well I can’t remember. This book’s writing made me feel nothing, it just felt so incredibly hollow. Such an interesting premise, some really unique ideas, some even well written depictions… but the characters. Why is this book so popular? I’ve probably felt more strongly about rocks than I have about the traumatic death of the MC’s husband. A very nothing book, that’s now left me with nothing. Currently looking for something to resurrect my love of reading again.
by According_Bat_8150
8 Comments
Jeff VanderMeer [did an AMA here](https://www.reddit.com/r/books/comments/3es2af/im_jeff_vandermeer_the_author_of_the_southern/) you might want to take a look. [Here’s a full list of our upcoming AMAs](http://www.reddit.com/r/books/wiki/amafullschedule)
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Gravity’s rainbow got me into a reading slump, and Spring Snow by Mishima got me out of it.
The book that most recently put me into a reading slump was The Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro. I just could not stop thinking about it.
Usually, if I’m in a reading slump, I’ll pull out a random Discworld book and that will fix the issue.
The First Law by Joe Abercrombie put me in a slump that the Bound and the Broken by Ryan Cahill got me out of.
Age of Madness trilogy by Joe Abercrombie, loved it, but it put me in a slump.
Picked Nettle and Bone by T. Kingfisher and it took me right out.
I went through a period of around 10 years where I only read a few books. I was feeling like everything I picked up was unoriginal and it was just going to be different version of the same old tropes from now on. The books I recall trying to read during this period that just reinforced this feeling were by Patrick Rothfuss, Robin Hobb, Peter Brett, etc.
The book that pulled me out of this was A Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge. The ideas and originality in that book were a breath of fresh air and made me realize there was still so much good truly original material out there.
Rhythm of War, which is book 4 of the Stormlight Archive. I enjoyed the first 2 of the series a lot but I remember book 3 was a slog, but got much better in the last 1/3 of the book. Book 4 was even more of a slog. I almost dreaded having to read it so it took me months to finish. I don’t like to start a new book until I finish the one I was on so I was stuck with it, just waiting for it to get good. The ending was okay, but I am likely done with the series.
My next book was The Dutch House, which was an excellent book. I have started including more traditional novels in my reading instead of being so heavily fantasy/science fiction and have been way more selective about which fantasy series I start.
This was back in 2021 and was my last real reading slump.
I tried to read some classic literature because… I thought one should. Yeah, not for me. Ended up selling most of my books and concentrating on games for well over a year. It was actually Twin Peaks -series that woke my thirst for books again, bizarre, weird worlds that wait for me in the pages and in my mind.