Tackling my TBR lists and Multiple Reading Slumps

MY… TBR LISTS…ARE HUGE… I HAVE A BIG PROBLEM.

I don’t feel ashamed to have such a long collection of TBR lists on my Goodreads and also written down of books I see in bookstores and in magazines. The category that dominates the most in my TBR lists is YA Fiction which I’m not surprised at all about. YA is my main category that I stick to and will do until I’m 999 (if at some point in the future, people live to that age, I hope that happens…).

If you friend me on Goodreads, you will have witnessed multiple bursts of me adding new books to my lists in such a short amount of time that it leaves you gobsmacked. Please don’t be afraid to friend me on Goodreads. I’m Marriedtobooks44 there, should come up on an internet search. So, I’ve found an easy, practical way to sort out my lists somewhat. For any books that I have to read and review for authors/publishers, they are high priority since I don’t want to get in trouble for not reading and reviewing. Then, any books that I have to read for book clubs and events followed by other stories in general. From doing this, I have managed somewhat to determine what is high and what is low priority when it comes to reading books.

Reading slumps, yuck. I feel like a sloth when that happens. I think sloths are cute by the way…

For me personally, they occur when I read a bad book or two or more bad books in a row and for a spell of time, I lose my faith in Literature. It’s not a pleasant feeling considering that I love reading and reviewing so much. It’s a huge part of my life. I have found three ways to avoid reading slumps and I hope these tips work for you!

First, try to read two books on the go. A book that you’ve read before and absolutely loved and would marry the book if that was a legal thing and a book that you haven’t read before. If the book that you haven’t read before isn’t your cup of tea, instead of brooding about it, revert to the book you want to marry and hurrah! No reading slump. However, be sure that you have other books in the pipeline to read because having nothing new to read sucks.

Try to read at the same time everyday. I know that everyone has busy schedules to stick to like work, school, college, family life. But if you get yourself into some sort of reading routine, and stick to it, reading slumps will be a thing of the past.

And furthermore whilst reading a book if possible, try and get a photo off the internet of a sloth and put that next to you or close by you and everytime you feel like you want to stop reading, look at the sloth and that may put you off from slumping. Don’t make a fuss about how cute a sloth is. That’s a timewaster while reading about various romances and fantasy worlds. That is more important.

Your friendly advice writer, Alice x

(And no, I’ve never been an agony aunt!)