Getting back into the reading groove

If you enjoy reading as much as I do then you know the feeling of a reading slump. Reading slumps happen for a myriad of reasons - for instance, my last one was after I had just finished Elif Shafak's amazing The Island of Missing Trees and everything I picked up afterwards just felt flavourless. Another common reason for a slump is simply falling out of the habit due to other areas of your life taking over.

Here are some ideas to help you get back into the reading groove:

1. Join a book club
Thanks to my girls at The Candid Bookclub I get inspired to read all the books they suggest. Half of the battle is finding inspiration so joining a club with other bookworms helps tremendously. I am also a big fan of bookstagrammers (I love so many, it would take me 3 pages to list them all) and I never fail to find at least five new books to try!

2. Change the format
I am a die-hard physical book person but I recently started listening to audiobooks whilst out and about and I am hooked. Many of the books are read by the authors or voice actors which really adds an extra dimension to the text.

3. Change the genre
You might love reading one genre more than others but there is a whole world of amazing books out there. My reading is usually skewed to non-fiction but I love picking something completely random like magical realism to get me back into my reading groove.

Ultimately, if you are not in a reading groove it is probably because you are exhausted after the chaos of the last two years. Putting extra pressure on yourself will not serve you well. Your exhaustion is your mind telling you to rest and trust me, when you eventually pick a good book you will get out of your slump real quick.