A Reading Slump (Discussion/Question)

Do you have reading (and or blogging) slumps?

If you haven't noticed from my blogging I'm in a reading/blogging slump.

When do you get reading slumps? ... What causes them?

I've been in full-on avoidance of pressure mode and that (unfortunately) means vegging in front of the TV and little else (oh, and sleeping, but I'm blaming the nasty cold I got for that).

I read one book this past week (The Tale of Despereaux: being the story of a mouse, a princess, some soup, and a spool of thread by Kate DiCamillo, Illustrated by Timothy Basil Ering). That isn't normal for me.

Please pardon me while I make a brief detour. The discussion will eventually get back on track...

Now to update on my last discussion/question (THANKS for all the advice/responses!), I ended up going back to B&N on Tuesday (following my post). That was sooner than I planned and meant I didn't get the opportunity to research. While there, I remembered one book I do still need by a favorite author of mine (Robin D. Owens). Unfortunately, they didn't have anything by her in stock. I'll be buying Heart Change online. But I've been waiting until I can get the rest of the series (currently boxed up at my brother's house).

Which brings me back to the question on hand. I'm sure I can get out of this reading slump once I have a series I know and love on hand (and I may sneak some other comfort reading books while I'm at it). Comfort reading can pretty much always get me out of a slump.

How do you get past reading slumps?
(And doesn't that sound like some horrible disease?)

Sacrifices Made for Reading

I've been thinking about posting for some time now.  I've missed 2 "What are you reading on Monday?" memes and 2 "Teaser Tuesday" memes that I fully intended to do.  I've been extremely poor about commenting on other blogs (I think I've maybe posted once in 2 weeks)... I think about getting on here and I don't.  Why? 

Well it's a combination of things.  Mostly with the time school and family are taking out of my schedule, I need to make room for my continued reading.  Books are my escape and "rescue," of course, but also, I've been in the middle of a series and I hate stopping in a series.  Even a re-read series (maybe even more in a re-read one bc I'm anxious to get to the parts I remember especially enjoying). 

Anyway, I've been slacking on blogging and blog reading - as well as missing out on sleep - in order to fit in the amount of reading I'm accustomed to.  So for anyone still reading this...what do you sacrifice to make time for reading?  Or is it the other way around?  Do you sacrifice reading for other activities or commitments?

To Read or To... [Fill in the Blank]

Sleep?
Study?
Write a paper?
Take an exam?
Clean?
Deal with finances?
...

The list goes on. I've been very busy this week. Which means I've been struggling to balance the reading that I need so much and the various obligations I have. So the question I have is simple (or not).

What are your priorities? How do you find balance between reading and life?

My Non-Fiction Issues

I'm not much of a non-fiction* reader. I admit it. And I usually have better intentions than results. I have stages in which I express interest in reading and enjoying non-fiction book. It goes like this...

• Stage 1: A non-fiction book sounds interesting. Something about the topic covered strikes my interest.
• Stage 2: I look into finding details about the book. I look it up on line or check out the table of contents and prologue or author's note, etc.
• Stage 3: I acquire (sometimes even purchasing new, though usually only at bargain prices) said book, fully intending to read it.
• Stage 4: I read some of it, either the first chapter or two, or I may even skim around it and read certain parts in more depth.
• Stage 5: I read it in it's entirety—over a lengthy (at least compared to fiction books) period of time.
• Stage 6: I read it in it's entirety and within a short amount of time.

I had one book actually enter that 6th stage last year—What Is My Cat Thinking?: The Essential Guide to Understanding Pet Behavior by Gwen Bailey.

Plus, I only had one non-fiction book even make it to Stage 5 last year—The Dilbert Principle: A Cubicle's-Eye View of Bosses, Meetings, Management Fads & Other Workplace Afflictions by Scott Adams (which, to be quite frank, I'm not even sure it can be entirely considered non-fiction, due to the comics and outright lies written throughout).

If you are wondering what brought this discussion on...

One of the books I mentioned in the last Teaser Tuesday I participated in is falling into Stage 5. It has been well over 2 weeks. I'm approaching the end, and I'm still interested in it, but I'm not quite there yet. In the meantime, I've read several fiction books (I'm sure I'd have a lot more Stage 6 books if I didn't pick up any other books until I finished the current non-fiction).

* Note: This is discussion is in reference to adult non-fiction—not children's.

Books I Want to Read...Now NOT Later

I just (a couple days ago actually) read The Perfect Poison by Amanda Quick, and now I have to wait until AUGUST for her (well, Jayne Castle, but same diff) next book. =( I don't like waiting. ::sniffs::

Ah, well. In the meantime, I have plenty of other books to get to. Of course, those can be difficult to come across. I'm loving Simon R. Green's Nightside books. I just (in the same sense as the Amanda Quick book) read The Unnatural Inquirer, and I'm trying to figure out how I can get to Just Another Judgement Day soon. I can't afford to purchase it (it's hardback and I'm just not ready for that financial commitment), and the local library isn't really buying anything new these days. ::sigh:: I think I'm going to have to work out a free day and read it at the bookstore (sorry bookstores, for your loss of a purchase). I also need to get ahold of Killer Cuts by Elaine Viets from her Dead-End-Jobs mystery series. Don't know how I'm gonna manage that either, but I'm determined.

And man alive, you'd think I didn't have an enormous number of TBR books already at hand and waiting to be read...

Is Reading in My Future?

I'm about to start school again. I had the ceremony for my MLS Sunday, and start classes to (presumably) earn a post-baccalaureate certificate in CIS this coming Monday. Already I'm worrying about what is to happen to my reading schedule.

One of the classes I'm taking this first summer session is a business writing class (a pre-req) and supposed to require intensive writing. Uh-oh...there goes a chunk of my time. The other class sounds simple enough. A basic computer class. But I have to admit, computers are not my forte.

So here I am, hoping that 1) this further education will help me in the financial/employment arena, 2) that I'm ready for this (by the time I finished my MLS courses I was totally burned out), and 3) that I still have time to read...because I'm going to really need that escape...again.

What Kind of Reader Are You? Part 2

The questions to my answers can be found here: What Kind of Reader Are You? Part 1.

Sometimes I'll mentally list what books I need to read soon (within the next week or so), sometimes I'll decide while reading the current book that I want to read such and such book. And of course with series I have an idea of what I'll be reading soon.

I usually read one book at a time. Sometimes, I'll set one aside, read another, and then return to the first... if that counts as reading more than one.

I am a book hoarder and therefore, definitely have keepers. I don't understand people who don't re-read or keep at least some favorites on hand.

I usually finish the books I start. Sometimes I'll set them aside for a while and a few months later I'll restart and finish them. I do, rarely, not finish a book. Usually if it's school related or if it's very depressing. (I never finished A Thousand Splendid Suns, for instance.)

I do prefer to read series in order. If I can, I'll usually read them one after the other. For various reasons, this isn't always possible.

I'm an "average" reader, but I have trouble leaving a book before it's finished so I usually finish a book the same day I start reading it. I'll lose sleep to manage this time-wise.

I pick up a book whenever I have time available and usually, but not always, have a book on hand.

What Kind of Reader Are You? Part 1

Some common reader questions. My answers can be found at: What Kind of Reader Are You? Part 2.

Are you the type that plans what your reading ahead of time? Or are you more the spontaneous type?

Do you read more than one book at a time? If you do, are they all different genres and types?

Are you a hoarder, do you have keepers, or are you a one-time-only reader?

Do you finish every book you read, do you set aside books you just aren't getting into or enjoying, or will you only have a DNF (Did Not Finish) on rare occasion?

Do you read series books in order? Do you read series book one after the other? Or do you break them up? If you break them up - after how many and with what? A different author, a different genre....?

Are you a slow reader? Or fast? Or "average"?

Do you read a book in one sitting, or spread it out?

Do you plan when you'll read? Or pick up a book whenever you have time available? Do you always have a book on hand?

Book Overload...

and no, I'm not talking about the massive number of TBR books awaitin' me. (Though there are an overwhelming amount of those.)

No... I'm talking about the books that I am obligated to send on to others (with deadlines!)—some of which I haven't even purchased yet and hardly any of which I've read. So I'm left hustling to read these books by their deadlines. While being distracted by what books I really feel like reading.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm still enjoying them, once I get into them. For instance, I just read the host even though I really wasn't in the mood for it and had seen a review by someone with similar interests that said it drags a little toward the middle. I was very pleasantly surprised to find I liked it (I'm not sure why... she's obviously a huge author considering her Twilight series). But that doesn't change the fact that 1) I didn't feel like starting it when I did and 2) I timed it so I could go to bed when it got slow, and instead found myself finishing it @ a quarter to 7am. I got maybe 3 hrs of sleep; it threw off my whole day.

So now I'm just starting another book (Trust Me by Brenda Novak). It looks interesting, but at the same time, I have some other books I'd like to try and can't. After this I have a line of others to read including: The Devil You Know by Jenna Black (this is one of the books I'll be purchasing...I just finished the first The Devil Inside today and really got into it, but still...), and Dead Girls Are Easy by Terri Garey and the 2nd in that series (still TBB), and The Lipstick Chronicles Book One (an anthology w/ 4 stories... chick lit), and a couple of Intrigue books I'm supposed to review for TellHarlequin (see my last post for my reviewing issues) ... the list goes on, it doesn't stop for nearly the whole of Feb.

Much as I like these books, I can't wait to read on a whim again...