I want to scream at the top of my lungs: reading slumps are the worst.
PTO in January usually means one of two things: traveling or staying in NYC and hibernating. Thankfully for my pocketbook, we chose to stay in NYC this year. With the freezing temperatures and snow, I’ve been staying inside with my cat, Frodo. As nice as it’s been to chill and alternate between rewatching GBBO and The Legend of Zhen Huan, I’m bored.
What else can I do to combat boredom? Listen to spooky podcasts? I do that on my commute to work. Be on my phone? I feel like I’m always on my phone. Play video games! Honestly, I’m tired of looking at the TV screen.
Then I thought to myself: why not read?
It seems silly, doesn’t it? A self-proclaimed book lover and reader forgetting she can pick up a book and read? The horror! And yet, that’s been the reality for the past year. Picking up a book and reading to chase away the boredom is not my first instinct anymore.
Of course, I’m not the most prolific reader. If we don’t count last year, I averaged about 40 books a year. Not bad, right? However last year was a disaster; I only read 8 books. That’s a steep decline. I’ve had reading slumps before — it’s not unusual for me to fall into the hole around spring or summer. Yes, it’s fun to read outside with a nice cup of iced coffee or matcha. But warm weather means gallivanting with my friends as we enjoy what NYC has to offer. Regardless of the reasons, I climb out of that slump by autumn and bang out a good number of reads.
That didn’t happen in 2025. Once I hit that slump, I stayed in the void, unable to get back on the saddle. After I read “Kiss of the Basilisk”? I struggled.
You know that high you get when you not only read a good book, but also finish it? Well, I chased it to no avail. I ended up trying to chase the high in another way: buying and borrowing more books. I thought, “Maybe one of these books will stick.” While having new books in my possession (even temporarily) gave me joy, that never lasted long. And thus the cycle continued. I didn’t care if I bought or borrowed physical or digital books. As long as I saw a new book on my shelf? I was happy.
But overconsumerism is a bitch.
With every book on my shelf, my TBR and my anxiety grew. Have you ever heard of decision fatigue? Well, thanks to my outrageously large TBR and this weird reading slump, I ended up with a massive case of it. I wanted to read, but couldn’t decide on which book or series to start. When I finally picked a book and I couldn’t get into it, I ended up back in square one: looking for a book to read. The cycle continued until I had 6 or 7 books on my “current reads” list on Goodreads.
The cycle exhausted me. By November, I didn’t even want to pick up a book or my Kindle.
Let me be honest with you: I’ve collected a lot of books over the years. I haven’t had the chance to do a complete count of my physical books since I moved out of my mom’s place. However, according to Amazon, I have purchased about 200 ebooks since 2016. Now, I’m not including the ebooks I borrowed through the library, Kindle Unlimited, and Everand. I don’t even want to talk about the other ebooks I saved over the years.
Am I the problem?
Listen, I’m just a girl who lives in NYC, with easy access to amazing bookstores and three public library systems. There’s a number of little free libraries around me, as well as a book swap. Don’t forget all the amazing indie bookstores I can order from thanks to the internet! And you know what else I have in my arsenal? My Kindle, of course! I only need the internet and money to instantly get a new book. Dangerous temptations all around.
But it’s time for me to admit it: my TBR has become ridiculously unmanageable.
While it’s not the primary factor in my reading slumps, I believe that the unread books on my shelves exacerbate the problem. I spend more time looking for new books to read, than actually reading. This can’t go on. So let’s put on our thinking caps and talk solutions.
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