Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl
When I’m in a book slump, I immediately take a break from this hobby as even the slightest expectation of reading only prolongs and deepens those feelings for me.
What I need to do instead is get out of the house and exercise, attend non-bookish events like festivals or parades, spend a lot of time in nature, visit museums, socialize in person, try a new food, get a new hairstyle, go on a day trip or full vacation, or whatever else it is I have the money, time, and energy to do to shake up my routines.
In no way do I expect this to be the solution for everyone, but I wanted to mention it as a possible option for anyone who is currently in a terrible book slump. You can be a voracious and enthusiastic reader and still take breaks of any duration when necessary. Hobbies are supposed to be fun and relaxing, after all!
Okay, now I will buckle down and try to answer this question without going off on a tangent.
If someone is in a book slump and finds that reading is actually helpful in that moment, I’d suggest ideas like:
1) Rereading your all-time favourites
2) Poetry
3) Children’s picture books
4) Exploring genres you rarely or never visit
5) Watching film or TV adaptations of books you’ve read
6) Listening to audiobooks (say, while you’re taking a walk in the park if that’s a safe thing to do in your community!)
7) Stories that are much longer or much shorter than what you typically read
8) Books from cultures or places in the world you do not know much about
Why do I suggest these things?
Well, it’s about getting exposed to tropes, methods of storytelling, and styles that you are not used to. All of these things vary widely from one corner of the library or bookstore to the next.
As much as I love science fiction and fantasy, I’ve read so much of them that sometimes it’s really nice to pick up a mystery or piece of historical fiction instead and enjoy something that has a different flow to it.
In my experience, sometimes a book slump is actually about feeling deeply tired of reading the same types of plots over and over again. If you can shake things up and try something new, reading can be become a joy again.
I am grateful for all of the Top Ten Tuesday participants who blog about nonfiction and enjoy talking about it. One of my quiet hopes for the future for this blog hop is that we’ll get even more nonfiction readers to join in on the fun.
My answers are going to be for older books this week, and I’m trying to pick titles that I have not discussed in previous WWBC or Top Ten Tuesday posts as well. (Or at least haven’t discussed very much).
I’ve been participating in Top Ten Tuesday for years now, but I’m still a little confused by the concept of a beach read. Being at the beach is no different than being in a library, coffee shop, waiting room, train car, or at home when it comes to what I read.
I generally do not binge-watch shows due to my spouse’s preference for programs that involve war, pandemics, alternate history (and not the cheerful sort that imagines a better world), various sorts of apocalypses, fascist governments, etc.
I have a couple of relatives who were adopted as a sibling group after living in an orphanage in the 1940s or 1950s, but it would be quite rare for that to happen these days as most children in the foster system are now either being looked after through kinship care or traditional foster care.
I’ve done a lot of quote posts for various blog hops over the years, so I’m going to make it a little more challenging for myself this week by narrowing it down to quotes about summer.
Thank you to 
I believe we had this topic for a previous WWBC post, and my answers are probably going to be pretty similar this time around.