Stuck on what to read next?

[MissSusie]

I usually re-listen to an old favorite that make me smile like the Stephanie Plum Series by, Janet Evanovich or the Bloody Jack: Being an Account of the Curious Adventures of Mary "Jacky" Faber, Ship's Boy Series by, LA Meyer. Then it seems I can find something to stick to. I have gotten a couple badges on the Audible App like The Nibbler for listening to 3 titles in a day because none of them grabbed me.

[CatBookMom]

Re-reading favorites usually works for me, and I do mean re-reading, not re-listening, for the most part. I find that it's much more often that a slump hits with audiobooks than print/ebooks.

I hit a slump earlier this year and it was terrible; couldn't find anything that caught my interest, started and dropped a lot of books. I eventually worked out of the slump, but it was awful.

[❆ Crystal ❆]

When I get in a slump, I just have to put the books down for a while.

[Specs]

As a young child and teen, I really suffered from this. Really!

I learned to cope, and with a growing library I tended to turn back to favorites for comfort reading.

With audiobooks, I honestly don't suffer any more. When I really, really can not bring myself to listen to what I have waiting for me, I go back to bunge listen to a favorite series all in a row (Harry Potter e.g.). And then I feel so satisfied I'm up to (almost) anything new.

[Penelope]

Good question! I usually try something completely out of my normal range of listening, sometimes something I pick at random. Since I get a lot of my audio books from the library I can afford to get a few really "out there" choices to try out. I've been pleasantly surprised numerous times.

[Jeanie]

I usually go for the comfort reads... Nero Wolfe series by Rex Stout, Peter Shandy series by Charlotte MacLeod, Frontier Magic by Patricia Wrede, Harry Potter or LotR, or some other random re-read. I once got in a slump so bad I started and abandoned over fifty books before anything caught on. Now I've been working on clearing up that mess in my TBR pile and also picking out unstarted works from it to try to bring the mountain down to a mole hill.

One thing that helped me was to set a specific goal--get the TBR below a certain number (small increments at a time), read a certain number of in-progress books before a new release comes out, read the shortest books in the TBR first, etc. It actually helped that I keep a document that lists my unread books and I get to delete them when done and keep a running total of all my read books at the bottom. Reading a new book increases the number at the bottom, reading a book on the TBR decreases the length of the list... a sense of accomplishment either way. That is, until a big sale comes along and the TBR grows again... Sigh.

[Jim]

Jeanie wrote: "I usually go for the comfort reads... "

Me too for paper. I'll reread a Matt Helm or something by Zelazny. I haven't had the problem yet with audio, though. I generally switch between fiction & nonfiction when that happens.

[Powder River Rose]

MissSusie wrote: "I usually re-listen to an old favorite that make me smile like the Stephanie Plum Series by, Janet Evanovich or the [book:Bloody Jack: Being an Account of the Curious Adventures of Ma..."

Bloody Jack was a good story.

For me I just pick something that's available.

[Dave]

Since I listen to audiobooks on my daily commute (90 minutes each way), I just listen to music when I'm fed up with audiobooks, or heaven forbid, local news radio. It only takes about two commute cycles (i.e. one day) before I can't take it any more and will gladly listen to any audiobook.

If that doesn't work, then I listen to something very short. Either short stories or books that are made up of short chapters, like What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions.

[Natalie]

I alternate so that I do not hit the Reading Slump.

My main go-to is SciFi/Fantasy (yes my library lumps them into the same category).

So if I listen to something from that category (and specifically if it was really immersive or long), the next book I read will be humor or self-help, or something beloved from childhood. But it needs to be short (like three or four hours) and easy to listen to. So a commitment book, followed by easy listening. This way you don't burn yourself out.

Example: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone followed by Bunnicula. OR Eragon followed by If You Ask Me.

[Holly]

When I hit a slump, I switch to something that is the opposite (fiction versus nonfiction). Fiction can be immersive and flowery/literary, so I find that a good memoir, biography, or other nonfiction book cleanses my palate.