Discussion Post. How do you combat reading fatigue?

Hi all!

This is a topic that I’ve been mulling over for awhile now. How do bloggers continue to read book after book without getting burned out?

Here are some of my strategies in sort of order of importance:

1: Routine. I do practically the same thing every night. I take my Kindle to the garage and ride my stationary bike for an hour, and then I go inside and get a bowl of dry cereal as my reward. I know. Boring. But it acts as a stress reliever and keeps me going.

2: SFF. These are my go-to genres. I have been going back to dragons and aliens since I was about 12. The Sword of Shannara and The Dragonlance Chronicles were my first series. My escape!

3: Graphic Novels. These give me a good break while I’m reading a larger novel. I’ve just started to really get into them in the last 3-4 months, and I hope my county library doesn’t run out. Right now, I’ve got 3-4 scheduled on my blog every week.  I have also been using the library app Hoopla to get these books.

4: Novellas. These are great to switch things up, but they don’t take too long to read. I just picked up the second Murderbot and Every Heart a Doorway. And Bennett’s Vigilance was on the blog yesterday.

5: Nonfiction/ Lit Fiction/ Historical Fiction/ Thrillers: I usually throw in one of these types of books between my SFF reads to keep it fresh. Cleanse the palate. I like true crime, outdoors, and sports books. Sometimes I’ll pick up a period piece from WW2 or one from another setting. I also have been reading several different thriller series over in the past couple years (Orphan X, Department Q, Peter Ash, Jane Hawk).

How do you Combat Reading Fatigue? What are your strategies?

43 thoughts on “Discussion Post. How do you combat reading fatigue?”

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  1. I wanted to add something, but you already listed my tricks… switching between genres, throwing in some non-fiction or graphic novels… I do not force myself, I choose my next reading according to my mood, not some rigid plan – and it, somehow, works 🙂
    I get sub-genre fatigue sometimes, I’ve abstained from epic door-stoppers for a year or two after the Red Wedding, and more recently, after several of my favourite urban fantasy authors published weaker books, I’ve given up on that genre for some time – and I don’t plan to go back until Butcher publishes his next Harry Dresden book 😉 But there’s always sth I want to read!

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  2. I don’t usually have a reading problem. I’m always reading something. I tend to have writing fatigue. I generally don’t have the energy to write reviews except on the weekends and that’s when I have family home obligations too. I can write some for the blog during the week but I don’t usually have bandwidth for reviews. And thus I get behind because i read more books than I have time to review.

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    1. I’m the opposite with my time right now, especially having two under 6. They go to bed early, so I have a good deal of time during the week, but I get so exhausted chasing them on the weekends!
      I know what you mean about writing. It takes a lot more out of me than reading.

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  3. It doesn’t happen to me often, but if I do get to the point where I’m burnt out, I’ll take a night off – watch a film where I’d normally read, for example. I also like to vary my reading by swapping genres and trying not to read too many similar books back to back 🙂

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  5. Reviewing fatigue.👍 Reading fatigue, the PS4 is my go to. Sometimes I just don’t feel like reading and want a break. Other times, I used to read fantasy mosr of the time, very rare dabble into another genre but when I got burnt out on fantasy last year I found a love for thrillers and swapping between the two seems to combat reading fatigue for me though I still suffer from never knowing what I want to read next after I’ve finished a book.😂😂😂

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  6. Oh yeah, reviewing fatigue is something that gets me much more often than reading fatigue 😉 Swapping genres helps when I’ve had enough of certain tropes and storytelling techniques and structures, but I hope I’ll never get to a moment when reading becomes a chore 🙂

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  8. Great post! I am just getting out of a reading slump myself. Novellas are great, i can get all the satisfaction (oh hi Murderbot!) of a long read in a hundred pages. Going back to a comfort read helps too, everytime I reread something I notice something I didn’t see the previous time.

    Reviewing fatigue is a big problem. My biggest issue is when I’ve read a bunch of stuff and I have zero desire to review it. In those cases, I’ll do a few non-review blog posts that are just talking about books and reading in general, discussion posts, or I’ll talk about cooking or a tv show I’m watching. LOL, those posts tend to get more comments and discussion than my reviews anyway!

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    1. Thanks so much for stopping by.
      I just picked up the second MB, and plan to read it next!
      Comfort reading is a must. I need to do more of that. I have Dragonlance Chronicles and I haven’t read it for 25 years. I need see how those years have changed the story in my eyes.
      Agreed, I think this post has gotten the most, or close to, comments for me.

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  9. Your #5 is one of my methods. I mix up the types of books I read so I don’t get tired of reading one type of thing constantly. And giving up on what doesn’t interests me helps as well. Sometimes when I power through a book I dislike/am struggling with I get burned out.

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    1. Audiobooks is something that I’ve honestly never done, but I need to. I’m not the best at focusing while listening. But I need to try. The last thing I listened to is the podcast Serial. I’ll either pick up an AB or a story podcast. I have some good recs.

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  11. I definitely switch up genres now and then. I read mostly SFF but I break that up with Romance, and the occasional Historical Fiction or Mystery.

    Also, since I started audiobooks that’s helped me keep reading when I would have been in a total slump. It took me a while to get used to audio because I’m so used to tuning out sounds to concentrate on reading, and this is the opposite! But it helps if the narrator is especially engaging. 🙂

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      1. Well I don’t know about old timey radio shows but I can recommend anything narrated by Tim Gerard Reynolds (he does Michael J Sullivan’s books iirc and he did Red Rising). Also anything by Vikas Adam who I am convinced is some kind of voice wizard. James Marsters does a great job with Dresden but it took a couple of books to his his stride. If you’re looking for something full cast then World War Z full cast was pretty good and probably close to old timey radio shows.
        BBC has actually done some radio plays (including one of Good Omens) but I haven’t listened to any of those yet.

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      2. Yes, full cast is exactly what I meant by “old time radio shows.” I know there’s some podcasts out there like that. My family used to listen to them when I was growing up. Lone Ranger/ Fibber McGee and Moly- type stuff.

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    1. I like that idea on limited tech. Before I started blogging, I was just clicking through Netflixs every night, and then reading for about 1/2 hour. I haven’t watching in a long, long time. I feel much better:)

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  15. Reading fatigue is not something I ever remember experiencing, since I always need to have a book with me – and I often joke about being the book equivalent of a chain smoker, since I start a new one as soon as I finish my current read. What might happen, though, is that after a particularly good book I find it difficult to find another that gives me the same level of commitment, and so I tend to begin and discard a couple of titles before settling on one I can enjoy.

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      2. I’m lucky to commute less than 10 min, sometimes I wish I had a little more. I remember my dad missed his stop a couple times while reading books on his way home when he used to take the bus home! Ha!

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  17. Wonderful strategies to beat that good ol’ reading fatigue. I particularly resort to reading graphic novels/comic books and find that there couldn’t have been a better way to beat reading fatigue than that. I also vary my personal activities with sports, gaming, hanging out, etc. Everyone should just make sure that they never force themselves to read and that they pick up their books/kindle when they WANT to read too! 😀 Great post, sir!

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