[TSS] Breaking Out of My Reading Slump

I’m so happy to report I’ve broken out of my reading slump!

I tried a variety of things suggested in the comments to my Reading Slump post, including reading short stories and graphic novels. And no, not even Nimona, which I both loved but still haven’t finished, helped.

So I kind of let it go. Stopped fretting about the fact that I couldn’t find any book that could engage me for longer than half an hour.

And then? Book club!

I’m a newbie member of a sci-fi and fantasy book club, the result of me making a bookish friend IRL. The first meeting I’ll be attending is this coming Wednesday. And the book we’ll be discussing?

Brandon Sanderson’s Elantris.

elantris

This is one of those whopping big fantasy books, a good 600 plus pages. And on Friday I realized my husband, the former book-reading demon, had already started the book (he’s coming to book club with me) and if I didn’t start reading I might be the only one to show up with the book unread.

So I put aside my upcoming work deadlines yesterday, and plunged in.

I keep forgetting how the best fantasy novels are always page turners, even though they’re often large chunky books with tons of world-building thrown in. Brandon Sanderson’s Elantris is good. I mean, really, really good. I knew this by the end of the second chapter.

I devoured the novel. Last night, at 2:30 a.m. I reluctantly put it down—I’ve been waking up earlier and 2:30 a.m. is now rather late for me. But first thing in the morning? Forget e-mail. Forget all the links and news I like to read on my phone. Forget meditation. I reached for my e-reader and picked up where I’d left off the night before.

I finished the book this afternoon with a deep, satisfied sigh. I’ve heard about Sanderson’s fans asking when he’ll be writing the sequel, and now I know why. I’d LOVE another Elantris novel!

And I’ve now officially busted out of my reading slump. It happened in an unexpected way—I honestly thought I’d be dragging myself through Elantris, trying to get through it before Wednesday night rolled around. Hah! Little did I know.

I’m now on a quest to read more of Brandon Sanderson’s work. And more fantasy, too. The past two years, I’ve mostly been reading mysteries, thrillers and urban fantasies, with the bigger, chunkier fantasies languishing in my TBR, even though I love fantasy novels.

It definitely feels good to be out of that reading slump. And I’ll probably finish Nimona soon, too.

And there’s also the #AtlasRAL over at Book Chatter. I’ve been doing terribly with readalongs the past couple of months, but now that my reading slump is over, I have very high hopes when it comes to my reading!

12 thoughts on “[TSS] Breaking Out of My Reading Slump

  1. james b chester

    I come to see the occasional reading slump as a vacation not as a bad thing. But the thing about vacations is that no matter how great a vacation is, I always feel glad to be home.

    I’m jealous of people who read books like the one here. They always look like so much fun, but I always find them much, much longer than they need to be. I think it’s the world building that weighs them down for me, and I know world building is a major part of the fun for people who read these books.

    Reply
  2. Athira

    So glad that you are out of your slump!! Yay! Elantris sounds fabulous – I need to go check it out. I don’t think I’ve heard of it.

    Reply
  3. Jenni Elyse

    I’m so glad that you were able to break out of your reading slump. I’ve been there and it’s hard to do. I’m also glad you liked Elantris. I really liked it too.

    Reply
  4. Ti

    So glad that the reading slump is officially over! I know you’ve been troubled by it for awhile now.

    Atlas Shrugged! Much easier to get into than I thought. I think you will fly through it once you start.

    Reply
  5. Care

    You are just TOO. CUTE. And I am going to read this book even if it is 600 pages long because you have read more of the books I have read and I have barely read any of the books you have read!!!!

    Reply
  6. Tif

    Yay!!! I have not yet read any Sanderson, but I’ve heard such good things about his work.

    I’m attempting to read Atlas Shrugged too. I started it, set it aside, and picked it up again a few days ago. In fact, I decided to start from the beginning again. I still haven’t gotten far, so we will see how far I get with it this time around.

    Reply

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