September Slump

Man, I have had a terrible reading slump this month.  I can’t even remember the last time I had this much trouble being able to finish a book.  I normally just have what I call a “mini-slump” which really just means I can’t pick which book I want to read next out of a group of books so I take a few days to figure it out.

But this month.  It’s different.  On September 6th my father-in-law passed away unexpectedly.  Totally out of the blue.  We were very close and it was a huge shock.  I’ve had a hard time reading since finding out.  It was 9 whole days before I even felt like picking up a book.  That never happens to me! Outside of being physically ill and germy, I’ve never had anything stop me from reading or has made reading a struggle to get through.  Not saying I read every day, no… Of course there are days when I’m too tired or no focus.  Maybe I’m too busy or in a bad mood.  But that never lasts for more then a day or two, and then it is back to reading as much as I can.  It is very rare for me to go over two days without reading.

After those first 9 days,  I started picking up the book I had been reading and just carrying it around with me, with the intent of reading it.  Sometimes I’d open the book just to close it again.  Or maybe read a few paragraphs then stop.  It was a weird feeling.  The feeling of NOT wanting to read something but at the same time wanting to read something.

Slowly over the month I started to read a little bit more and a little bit more each day.  Still nothing like normal.  But a page here or an hour there.  Then I ran in to other problems.  The book I was already reading ended up being about a guy who was struggling with his father’s death.  Agh!  So I just closed that book and returned it to the library.  I felt bad because it was the September book club pick and I was the one who picked it out.   I’d like to read it some time in the future, but this month it was too difficult.   Then I picked up a Kindle book that was one I needed to read and review for Netgalley.  I didn’t know much about it other then it was a horror book by a horror master.  Well it turned out to be a vampire book all about this old man who was struggling with health problems and  with his old wife who was dying and about not wanting to let go of her when she dies.  AGH!  What the hell!  Another book that is a little too close for comfort at the moment.  It’s really good but just a little bit on the difficult side right now.

There is something that has been helping me out with my reading slump this month.   Audible.   I am having trouble physically reading, but I do ok listening to audiobooks.  Still not burning through it like normal, but it’s faster then if I were reading it myself this month.  I check out audiobooks from the library from time to time and I have several I own physical copies of, but this year I have found lots of love at Audible.   I really enjoy being able to take my audiobook with me wherever I go and not have to lug around CDs or a CD player.   Super easy to just load up my book on my phone app and ta-DA! I can go outside in my backyard or a coffee shop or wherever!  Now I’ve been slowly working my way through a new audiobook I bought earlier this month.   For some reason right now it is easier for me to just listen to the story being read to me then it is for me to read it myself.  I wonder why that is?

Even with Audible, my reading pace has slowed down to a snail’s pace.  I had a lot I wanted to read this month and my TBR pile is stacking up and over flowing.  I really hope I can get out of this slump when October rolls around.  I don’t understand why I’m having so much trouble.  Books are one of the best ways to escape from something upsetting or difficult.  So why can’t I seem to do it now?