We’ve all been there – our eyes glazing over pages, an acute inability to concentrate, getting distracted with every new book thinking this is the one you’ll finally finish. As a reader, I know no enemy like ye good olde reading slump. It gets to the best of us sometimes and sends our reading challenges hurtling out the window. I put together a list of some of the fabulous books that get me out of a reading slump and hope it will help you get out of one too!
- Dracula
This one’s a no-brainer, and I honestly wish I had bothered to read it sooner. Suffice it to say I’m obsessed with this book and every movie and TV adaptation thereof (especially the 1992 film by Francis Ford Coppola which I’m certain he wanted bordering on a vampire orgy). The prose flows, you piece the events together, there are perspectives, and you have this mysterious evil OG vampire presence that we must all defeat together.
- 84, Charing Cross Road
I don’t remember how I found this book, I’m just glad that I did. 84, Charing Cross Road features a set of letters to and from a bookshop, Marks & Co, at exactly that address in London. Hanff, who corresponded with them from New York and requested books be mailed to her halfway around the world, is a writer after my own heart. Over twenty years, Hanff and the owners and staff at Marks & Co write to each other, become friends and very invested in each other’s lives. If you’re looking for a short, wholesome cozy-day-indoors read – this is it.
- House of Leaves
House of Leaves is a horror. It’s also an unreliable, messy narrative. The words are in letters, diagonal, written in little notes, typed pages and scribbles in the margins that all help you piece together how the haunting started and how it ended. (Also, the house is bigger on the inside. Remind you of anything? Yell geronimo if you’re a fellow Doctor Who fan!)
- The Dark Interval
The Dark Interval features a collection of letters that the German poet Rainer Maria Rilke wrote to heartbroken and grieving friends over the course of his life. This book, particularly Rilke’s words of comfort, brought me tremendous solace during a particularly difficult time in my life. I hope it does the same for you. - This Is How You Lose The Time War
This is #5 in my list of favourite epistolary books and also a segue into what I read this month. This is my second read of Time War thanks to – you guessed it – Bigolas Dickolas Wolfwood on Twitter. I am so glad I picked this up for a second time, because I wasn’t a fan of it the first time around. I suppose there’s a time and a place for yearning. This isn’t your simple enemies to lovers trope, or your usual time travel trope. It’s so much more, and packed with so much heart that it’ll leave you feeling both full and empty. Pick this up as soon as you can. - Troy
I will read any Greek mythology re-telling by Stephen Fry and also listen to the audiobook. I had been waiting for the right weekend to pick this up after finishing Mythos and Heroes in a single sitting each. This wasn’t any different. Fry has a way of building entire battles, cities and key characters before your very eyes. So I did what any sane person would do. I closed my eyes and sat back while Fry expertly retold the story of the Trojan War. - Aria Vol 1
This was my second ever manga (the first being Yotsubato!). What is there to say about Aria? In the distant future, the Mars Colony is flooded because we underestimate the amount of water on Mars and melt the glaciers excessively. And here you have our main characters who work in Mars’ tourism industry, steering gondolas. Imaginative, wholesome, no notes. - The Wall
A woman wakes up in the woods to find that an invisible wall has surrounded the cabin she’s living in. The world outside is seemingly still. She gathers a cat, a dog and a cow and wonders what to do next. Then some wild shit happens. This was a what is happening and also wtf why read for me. - The Sisters Brothers
I picked this up by complete accident at a books-by-the-kilo sale because I saw it was published by Granta and you will never go wrong picking up a book published by Granta. I didn’t have too many expectations going in, but my god this book blew my mind. I never thought I’d enjoy a Western, yet here I was, completely invested in the protagonists. One of the brothers gruff and impulsive, the other brooding but averse to taking action. Then you have the Wild West, the ravenous hunt for gold and near constant danger, all of which play the role of both setting and character. I ate this book UP. One of my top reads this year and one I keep going back to every time I find myself in a reading slump. - Spy x Family Vol 1
My third ever manga. This is a blind recommendation. Don’t think too much. Just pick it up. Read the whole series. Then watch the anime. Thank me later. - The Miracles of the Namiya General Store
The Miracles of the Namiya General Store is one of those books you think about long after you’ve finished reading it. There are interconnecting threads, stories that overlap, paths that cross, time that travels and so on and so forth. You will come away from this book feeling refreshed, heartbroken and hopeful all at the same time. This book requires an extra level of suspension of disbelief to fully enjoy it. So leave some of your questions behind and let the book just carry you. - In Ascension
In Ascension is a cheat on this list. I began reading it in March and had to take a break because I didn’t know if the book was doing anything for me. I finished the second half of it in one go. This is a slow burn literary science fiction that transports you from the ocean, into space and back into another ocean. But more than anything else, this is a book about emotions, ambition, curiosity and ultimately family. My rating for this book has changed four times since last night. And the longer I sit with what Martin MacInnes has done with this story, despite how slowly it moves, the more I recognize his genius.
Trying to figure out how to get more reading done? Here’s a handy guide.