The Summer Slump

Every year, I give myself a healthy, attainable reading goal. Some years it’s easier than others, but I typically can get through fifty to sixty books in a year, so I always hit it.

And every year, like clockwork, I hit a Summer Slump. Like, I can barely get through one or two books a month kind of slump. And not even good ones! We’re nearing the end of August now, and I’m shifting into soup mode, and I am ready, ready, ready to get OUT of this meh reading period! I’m BARELY keeping up with my reading goal. I’m usually a few books ahead by this time, and Storygraph still has me as “on track” or “behind by one book.” It’s an atrocity, I tell you. It might not just be a slumpy summer, it may be the whole damn year.

It doesn’t make any sense to me, I used to CHERISH my summer reading days–you know, when I was avoiding my school summer reading list. Other than those forced, boring reads (except you, Pride and Prejudice, you’re my One), I could finally get into all the books I didn’t have time for in the year. But ever since I graduated and became a “real adult,” when I’m supposed to have ample time (ample being relative, the workload and work/life balance these days is heinous), summer has been the one time of the year I can’t get through anything!

Is it because I have all this time during the rest of the year for my own reading?

Is it that I mentally hype up my summer reads too much?

Wish I knew.

I was feeling pretty good about my summer reading at the beginning, too. When I went on vacation in June, I read almost 4 books! And one of them is tied for my favorite of the year! Another is sooo chef’s kiss. The other two were alright. One was a Bridgerton, so it was fun, but the other was very, very meh. Granted, I went into it skeptical, so I wasn’t really let down by its mediocrity. And I was on vacay! So I didn’t mind a meh book at all.

And then I got back and picked up a somewhat anticipated read: Magnolia Parks. Was I dying to read it? No. But I’d heard it was quite dramatic and soapy, perfect for my easy-breezy summer TBR, and I thought it would be fun. I wanted it so badly to be fun.

Reader, barely made a dent. I was sooo disappointed. I get, in a sense, why some people love this series and why people eat it up. It has several ingredients that should make it  a truly decadent read. But I was bored! There wasn’t anything happening except complaining, I couldn’t keep track of the characters, and there was a bit too much focus on the frilly details. I DNF-ed–and I rarely DNF.

Unfortunately, every book after that has been a big pile of OKAY. I liked them, for the most part. Didn’t outright hate any. I actually quite enjoyed a few, but for some reason couldn’t muster enough energy for them. It’s been a real and true slump.

I’m upset! I love books!

This bothers me every year, this time when I’m supposed to be drowning in fun beach reads, and I can’t seem to get through more than a few. Maybe it’s the heat. Can’t handle it from the sun, so my brain won’t let me enjoy it on the page.

Quite lame if you ask me.

Is it me? Am I just becoming too much of a curmudgeon to enjoy things? Maybe I’m too focused on other tasks. Maybe work is more exhausting when it’s hot out and it’s leading me to want absolutely nothing to do with processing a book. Maybe it’s that I am struggling pretty hard to balance work, reading, writing, seeing my friends, and keeping up some of my little side hobbies (Stardew Valley, I’m finally getting the hang of you!).

And maybe, especially in August, I am just too, too excited for my fall reads. I have a still-growing stack on my credenza at home: cozy spooky romances, mysteries, true crime, horror, some Nancy Drews I want to reread. I’m already reading a Stephen King collection to get me in the mood.

Alas, there is a light at the end of the tunnel, and I do believe some reads come to you in the moments you need them most.

For example, I’ve had Get a Life, Chloe Brown on my TBR for ages (along with its companions), and I finally picked it up at Vroman’s in January-ish. I’ve been waiting for the right moment to read it, saving it for the perfect time, whenever that was supposed to be. Well, reader, I got into it and I am INTO IT. 

I decided that I needed something reliable. I knew it was going to be good, everyone I trust says so. Plus, it’s not my first Talia Hibbert, and I know she is very, very good. But damn, I didn’t know it was going to change my life like this!

Not quite Project Hail Mary or How to End a Love Story-level (the latter of which I will wax poetic about in a blog review soon), but DAMN it is so freaking good. I’m obsessed. I am feeling alive. I remember why books are so incredible!

I’m also trying so hard not to read it too quickly, but I can barely put it down.

Last few days of the month here, and I’m hoping Chloe Brown marks the end of the Summer Slump. I’m hoping that when I pick up my next read–a spooky one, the second Labor Day is over–I’ll be happily sinking into fall. In my head, at least, since it’s still supposed to be in the nineties in LA next week. But my fall reads are not waiting.

I don’t know how this is going to bode for keeping up with my reading goal, but I’m hoping I can pull ahead and give myself a little cushion. I’m really just hoping I’ll get to read books that make me feel something good and are enough to keep me reading.

Lastly, I have to say: thank you, Talia Hibbert, for being you and blessing us with your words. I appreciate you now more than ever.