# How do you get out of a reading slump? Canonical: https://zestasy.com/wiki/reading-slump/ Section: Zestasy Wiki > Books & ideas · Updated: 2026-10-13 · Publisher: Zestasy *Zestasy Wiki: our reference answers. Checked for facts and sources; less curated than the magazine.* Make the next book as easy to finish as possible. Pick something very short, or reread a book you already love, or switch format to audio, or switch genre entirely, and drop any book that is dragging. Slumps usually end not with a great book but with a finished one, so lower the stakes until reading feels like a pleasure again rather than a task. A reading slump has a particular texture. You want to read. You have books. You open one, read the same paragraph three times, and pick up your phone. A week later the bookmark has not moved and the book has started to feel like a reproach. The good news is that slumps are normal and temporary, and they usually have a simple cause: reading has become effortful, or obligatory, or both. The answer is to make it easy and optional again. ## Start with something very short The fastest way out is a finished book. Choose something you can read in one or two sittings, so that the satisfaction of reaching the end arrives before the slump can reassert itself. A few that work well: - **Silk** by Alessandro Baricco (1996), a love story in very short chapters that most people read in an evening. Our page on [Silk](https://zestasy.com/wiki/baricco-silk/) explains why. - **The Little Prince** by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (1943), short, illustrated and more grown-up than its reputation. - **Small Things Like These** by Claire Keegan (2021), a novella set in a small Irish town at Christmas, often finished in about an hour. Our list of [short novels for a weekend](https://zestasy.com/wiki/short-novels-for-a-weekend/) has more. ## Reread an old favourite Rereading is the comfort food of reading. You know the book will deliver, so there is no risk and no effort in getting into it. It reminds you what reading feels like when it is going well. Daniel Pennac's list in The Rights of the Reader (1992) includes the right to reread, and in a slump it is the most useful one. ## Switch format If your eyes and attention are tired, let your ears do the work. An audiobook on a walk, in the car or while cooking keeps the story going without the effort of sitting down to read. Yes, it counts; see [do audiobooks count as reading](https://zestasy.com/wiki/do-audiobooks-count/). Other switches work too: an e-reader instead of a heavy hardback, a paperback instead of a screen, a graphic novel, a book of short stories, essays you can read one at a time. ## Switch genre Slumps often come after a run of the same kind of book, or after one big, demanding read. Go somewhere completely different: a thriller after literary fiction, a memoir after a novel, a cookbook you read like a book, a travel story after a run of serious non-fiction. Novelty helps. ## Lower the stakes - **Drop the book that is dragging.** Often it is one particular book causing the slump. Put it down. See [is it OK to stop reading a book halfway through](https://zestasy.com/wiki/stopping-a-book-halfway/). - **Pause the reading goal.** If you are behind on a yearly target, the target is now part of the problem. Ignore it for a month. - **Read ten pages, not a chapter.** Small promises are easier to keep. - **Read somewhere pleasant.** A café, a bench, a beach, a bath. Make reading the nice part of the day rather than a duty squeezed in before sleep. - **Leave the phone in another room.** It is the single biggest competitor for reading time, and it always wins if it is within reach. ## When the slump is about something else Sometimes a reading slump is just a signal that life is full: a new job, a move, a baby, a hard season. In that case the kindest thing is to accept it. Books will wait. Most readers find their way back without trying once the season changes. ## FAQ ### How long do reading slumps last? There is no fixed length. Some lift after one good book; some last weeks or months during busy periods. Making reading easier tends to shorten them, while forcing it tends to make them longer. ### Should you force yourself to read during a slump? Gently, at most. Ten pages of something you like beats an hour of something you are dutifully pushing through. Forcing a book you dislike is usually what prolongs the slump. ### Do book clubs help? They can, because a date and some company add a little welcome pressure. But if the club's current choice is the problem, read something else alongside it and go anyway for the conversation. ### Is it a slump or have I just lost interest in reading? If you still want to want to read, it is a slump. Interests do change, and it is fine to have a season of films or long walks instead. Most people find that reading comes back. ## Sources - [Wikipedia: Silk (novel)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silk_(novel)) - [Wikipedia: The Little Prince](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Little_Prince) - [Wikipedia: Small Things Like These](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Small_Things_Like_These) - [Gretchen Rubin: The 10 inalienable rights of the reader](https://gretchenrubin.com/articles/the-10-inalienable-rights-of-the-reader/) - [Wikipedia: Daniel Pennac](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Pennac) ## Related - [Is it OK to stop reading a book halfway through?](https://zestasy.com/wiki/stopping-a-book-halfway/) - [What are great short novels you can read in a weekend?](https://zestasy.com/wiki/short-novels-for-a-weekend/) - [Is it worth rereading books?](https://zestasy.com/wiki/is-rereading-worth-it/) - [Do audiobooks count as reading?](https://zestasy.com/wiki/do-audiobooks-count/) - [How do you choose what to read next?](https://zestasy.com/wiki/choosing-what-to-read-next/) - [All Books & ideas answers in the Wiki](https://zestasy.com/wiki/#books)