On getting yourself out of a reading rut
I went through book purgatory so you don't have to
I found myself in a bit of a reading rut recently while trying to make it through My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante. Having loved everything I’ve ever read by this author before, I’ve no idea why this first instalment of her much-loved Neapolitan novels wasn’t hitting the spot for me. But when I realised I’d spent almost three weeks on this fucker and wasn’t even halfway through it yet—I accepted that it was time to move on.
Having settled into a comfortable and loving cadence of around 1-2 books per week throughout 2024, I just had to admit that the book wasn’t booking, cut my losses, and never look back. I was then reminded of a difficult period last year in which I had a particularly bad spell of four books in a row that I gave less than two stars and had again found myself in a rut of truly shite novels and no desire to read.
Here’s some tried-and-tested things I did to drag myself out of book purgatory, with the hope they may save another sufferer in their time of need:
DNF that fucker w/ no regrets
Some people feel bad about not finishing books. But I typically use the following rule: if you’re not seatbelted up and ready for the trip by page 100—just give it up. Don’t feel bad. Don’t feel guilty. Throw that book in the charity shop bin and carry on with your day. Life is too short. Really.
Admittedly, I soldiered on for longer than normal with My Brilliant Friend owing to my historic love of the author, but do what you need to do. A 100-page quit means you gave it a good shot but the literary stars were not aligning for you this time, and THAT’S OKAY. No-one is going to smite you if you don’t finish a book. And for those OCD types who just can’t deal with an unfinished baby; skip the middle but read the last page. It totally counts.
Try to think seasonally
One of my best book experiences ever was reading The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller in the height of summer. Reading about sun-soaked Greece, ocean swims, and lazy, barmy days while swinging in my garden hammock in 26 degrees—in the UK, no less!—was a feeling verging on orgasmically visceral. I was there. I could feel the sweat on my brow; the warmth of the sunshine on my toes; the unrelenting romance as I fell deeper and deeper in love with the characters who were falling deeper and deeper in love with each other. It was a vibe, let me tell you.
And as I’ve grown older, I’ve found that leaning into the seasons with your reading list can hugely improve your reading. I have no idea how or why I didn’t make this connection earlier. But if it’s cold outside, snuggling up with something cosy and autumnal is a million times more likely to drag you back to book heaven than trying to read about St Tropez in July. I promise that you won’t regret saving that critically acclaimed summer scorcher from last year for…well, the summer.
So if you’re currently stuck in and rut and are looking for some gorgeously seasonal autumn/winter feels, may I recommend:
The Secret History by Donna Tartt – pure perfection in a book; campus-based and full of dark themes and academia vibes.
Descent by Tim Johnston – a literary thriller about a family's struggle to survive and heal after a devastating tragedy. I simply cannot tell you how much I loved this book, one of my all-time favourites.
Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia – a gothic horror set in 1950s Mexico; settle in for dark family secrets, eerie supernatural elements, and weird characters doing creepy things in a creepy house.
My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell – a harrowing novel about the complexities of sexual abuse, memory, and power within a relation between a child and her English teacher. Another book I finished in a weekend because I couldn’t put it down.
Fall back on a well-loved classic
There’s a reason why well-loved books are well-loved. So instead of diving into some obscure title you picked up in Oxfam because you like the cover (guilty), try something loved by the masses instead. A few of my favourite recommendations of culture-loved classics are:
In Cold Blood by Truman Capote – (you don’t need this intro but) a true crime novel about the real-life murder of the Clutter family in Kansas in 1959. The first book that made me appreciate the sheer talent found in truly great writers.
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald – (I know you’ve seen the film so I’m not introing this one at all) but I literally wrote an entire A level essay on why I loved this book so much and got an A*. If that’s not a good enough rec, I don’t know what to say to you.
Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë – a Gothic novel of love, revenge, and obsession. I’m not hugely fond of re-reading novels (there’s too much else out there I wanna read), but I’ve come back to this one three times in my lifetime and each time I’ve enjoyed it more than the last.
Use Google to find similar recs
Like I said, it’s rare to find myself in a rut given that excessive reading makes up 75% of my personality, and that I only truly feel relaxed when picking through some dog-eared pages. However, something I’ve often done (and found great success in) is googling ‘books similar to’. It was in this way, upon googling ‘books similar to Still Life by Sarah Winman’ that I stumbled upon All My Mothers by Joanna Glen….and absolutely fucking loved it.
So, if you know what kinda genre you like, stick with it. Find books in a similar vein—either by the same author or following the same themes. It’s better to read twenty titles in a row about heartbreak than it is to read nothing at all. You can stay in your lane if it racks up those pages, giiiiirl.
Look to people whose opinion you really fancy
There are some people out there who can casually recommend a book and I will have it in my Amazon basket, ordered, and on its way to me within five seconds flat. To build a solid reading list, you need to find your people. For me, these people are Pandora Sykes from Books + Bits (everything she recommends is chef’s kiss) and Michelle and Zara from Shameless Podcast (who often recommend books at the start of their podcast, and I usually follow them down the rabbit hole and am all the more grateful for it). Pretty much anything these guys recommend (bar maybe one or two titles), I have ended up adoring.
You can also find similar people to follow on Goodreads; I like Emily May and elle’s recs the most.
Ps. Hello there
Shall we do a quick intro?! I’m Katie. vibes & voicenotes is a very new publication (aha, this is my first post) for the girlies where I’ll bluntly be discussing culture, life, motherhood, general fuckery, books, content recs, and anything else that tickles my fancy. Consider this the home of sarcastic musings, aggressive pontification, and the kind of voicenotes you’d only send after your sixth glass of wine. 🍷