So… this post is a couple days late, you point out. ‘Tuesday is What We’re Reading Day, you moron, not Thursday! Get with the program!’
Well, yeah. Thing is, I’m not reading anything.
Nothing paranormal, anyway. I’m in a bit of a book slump. Bah, humbug, etc.. I have a bunch of paranormal and fantasy books on my TBR and none of them are jumping into my hands yelling ‘READ ME NOW!’
It’s horrible. Woe! Whatever shall I do?
What do *you* do when you’re in a reading funk like this? Is buying more books the solution?
I don’t think it is. Because part of my problem is the quality of my growing e-reader TBR. It’s… well, let’s just say that there’s a bunch of not-so-good books on there. Too many free and cheap downloads. And, let’s be frank – a lot of them suck. I get sad when I can’t find anything good… and next thing you know, I’ve got the sulks and *nothing* will please me.
So what’s your strategy for digging yourself out of a reading hole? Buy new books? Go back to an old favourite? Eat chocolate and watch soap operas?
Paranormal Unbound 
I go back and read favourite books and series. I especially do this after reading things that are a bit disappointing – have to get the bad taste out of my mouth. 🙂
Hmm…maybe show us your list, and we’ll help you pick 🙂
Okay, last time I was in a major slump, I had saved a book to read strictly for that occasion. The book that saved me was Tiffany Reisz’s THE MISTRESS, and it was awesome 🙂
I’ll reread a favorite book or author. Sometimes, I’ll change genre and read something like a cozy mystery instead. I know exactly what you are experiencing. Last weekend, I told my son I have 1000 books on my ereader and I couldn’t find something to read! He laughed.
I’ll watch movies over and over, but I’m not the sort of person to reread books. And when it comes to reading, I’m very much at two extremes. I’ll love a book and devour it, or it will take me forever. There is no happy middle, casual reading. I’m reading a good book right now (Reality Boy) but admittedly I’ve been reading this book for about 2 month. So I’ll just plug along until its done, and in the meantime, I’m getting more walking, crafting and writing done.
I know exactly how you feel. I have so many free books that I feel like I’m drowning under the psychic weight of them. Luckily, I also have a ton of books that I really want to read also, so I pretty much just ignore the others. I change genres often, and that keeps me from getting into a slump.
So sad, Erica. Right now, I have the opposite problem–a full bookshelf of books I’m dying to read, and no time to read them. I have lots of favorite authors, so if I ever get in a slump, I find one of theirs to pull me out of the sucky story ditch. Works like magic!
Oy! I know this feeling too. I tend to switch genres–even within romance. I’ll read a contemporary or an historical to get out of paranormal over-saturation. I’ll also read something I see people talking about on Twitter, that I would never pick for myself. I’m reading a book in “The Baddest Boys In History” series b/c of that, and keep turning the pages b/c she’s doing a lot right (like making a reincarnated Genghis Kahn a character!).
Interestingly, after a few weeks of feeling like the TBR is full of nothing good, I might pick up one of those books and totally love it, which makes me wonder about the alchemy of reading. What gets us in the mood for something (it might be as elusive as what gets us in the mood for sex!)–blurb, cover, recommendations, feelings about the author? And then, what makes us keep reading?
Recently I read a book I thought was pretty bad because the author is a best seller and I wanted to know why. It turned out to be a pleasurable reading experience mostly because I could surrender to the romance arc without analyzing the way I do when I like something. But yikes, does that mean I should read more bad books? I don’t plan on it.
Oh yeah, the TBR pile of free-reads sometimes topples over and buries me, and I don’t even feel like digging out. So I just sulk and watch movies and eat chocolate. But then I realize I miss reading, so I trudge through the pile by reading the first chapters. And if I am not hooked by the first chapter, I let it go and move on, eventually always finding a gem.