In a reading slump? How to get your groove back.

Don’t miss out on the best sellers, thrillers, psychological suspense and historical novels waiting to fill your dance card.

Maybe you’ve spent too much time in the hammock. Or scrolling through GoodReads, Oprah and Reese’s book club offerings. You’ve browsed the tables of your local book store with the enthusiasm of an accountant and checked your Amazon recommendations obsessively. Turning your nose up at Kindle sample downloads feels like a habit now. And you’ve even thrown a book across the room, burying the shame that comes with a growing DNF pile.

The thrill is gone. The magic lost. Boredom has settled in like a heavy blanket.

And if you’re like me and panic at the thought of not having a book on the go and a few prospects in the wings, what to do? Nobody’s asking you to settle for less, but it is time to get your mojo back, rediscover the passion and find the spark that first attracted you to the lure of the word, the pull of a story and the temptation of unreliable narrators. You know you want to – so, here are a few tips to spice up the hunt and re-stake your claim to the world of books.

Switch genres. Familiarity is the enemy of passion and that means the moment has come to exit your comfort zone. Play the field. Swipe right. Live a little. You’re not being disloyal if you veer from, say, psychological thriller to espionage, because variety can sometimes teach us the value of what we had in the first place. Trade one kind of suspense for the other. The Girl on the Train and The Silent Patient for I Am Pilgrim and The Berlin Letters. If things still feel too predictable, demand a bit more of yourself by tackling a smart, upmarket but still twisty literary novel like Liz Moore’s Long Bright River. And when you’ve played the field enough, you’ll return to your familiar genre with renewed vigor and commitment. Or not.

Author backlists. It doesn’t always have to be about fresh and new, about the latest bestseller, the buzzy mystery or hottest romantasy lighting up TikTok. Splashing in the shallow end with Crayola-coloured plastic ducks and floaties doesn’t necessarily guarantee more fun. Like looking up old friends or old flames, the past can be a storehouse of buried treasure. Think about the one that got away, the crush in high school, the person who was out of your league ten years ago, but maybe not now? Here’s your opportunity to check in with authors you love by trying their books you’ve haven’t read yet. Adored Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall historical trilogy? Her backlist offers a range far past the dark corridors of the Tudor court and into the shadows of the current day. Try Beyond Black (2005). And remember Terry McMillan’s Waiting to Exhale? There’s lots more where that came from.

A change of place and pace. Works every time. Trading out the kitchen counter for a picnic in the sun makes that sandwich taste better. A boring conversation about your day at work across the dining room table – that’s why they invented date night. Reading in bed, curling up in a favourite, lumpy chair with tv in the background – how about fluffing the pillows, getting a new throw, or heading outdoors with a blanket and a cooler. If you read before bed, try waking up an hour earlier to attack that novel. Tired of the written word, there are audio books. Always on your E-reader? Why not a hard-copy edition? Apartment claustrophobic? Find a café. Change your environment and change your life – while finishing that book.

Your attention, please. Maybe you’re taking books for granted, not putting any real effort into the reading relationship, allowing your eyes to wander, if not drift closed after a few paragraphs. Curb those bad habits, the relationship busters like checking your phone every few minutes, listening for alerts, interrupting the flow of a good story to jump up and refill your wine glass and over-scheduling your days so there’s no time left for the important stuff. It doesn’t have to be this way, if you make the decision to re-commit, to exercise that attention muscle, ensuring you get regular, quality alone time with your books.

Expand your playing field. Same old, same old, it feels like. A churn of familiar titles and unremarkable plot twists that has you wondering if you’ve come to the end of the line. Variations on a theme, you’ve read it all and there are no thrills or surprises left, no turns of phrase or lyrical language remaining to light up your world.

Now’s the chance to look up from your smart phone and toward the global writing community available at a bookstore near you. Fiction from another continent, Indian, Caribbean, Australian, Canadian, English, Irish and Scottish authors whose stories you need to read. Trinidad writer, Amanda Smyth’s Fortune or Scotland’s Louise Welsh’s The Cutting Room for a start. Voices that will blow the cobwebs from your brain and you back into the game.

Try a newsletter for hidden gems. For less of the same, look to unusual places like The Real Read, guaranteed to stir you out of your reading slump. You deserve to spend time with the undiscovered, novels that are well crafted, superbly written, thrilling. 

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