Sunday 21 June 2015

FOUR YEAR READING SLUMP?!

Hi guys! Today (or tonight seeing as it's currently 11:19 pm) I want to talk about my unsteady relationship with books throughout my 19 years (and six months) of existence. It's only now that I've somewhat joined the immense book-loving blogosphere that I've become aware of how much I've fallen behind in the book world! I honestly think I was asleep for the past 4/5 years of my life, and have only just woken up. 

Ok. So, like most bookworms I was a shy, introverted kid who always had her head stuck in a book. My mother used to take my siblings and I to the library at least once a month, (thanks mum) and we would happily spend the whole afternoon there, lost in a dozen different worlds, and came home every time with library bags bursting with books. Lemony Snicket, Roald Dahl, JK Rowling (OF COURSE!!), Enid Blyton, Anthony Horowitz, these were just some of my favourite childhood authors. When I arrived at secondary school and realised it had a pretty great library, which was so easily accessible I LITERALLY (metaphorically) DIED. I was like a kid in a toy store.


Between the ages of 11 and 15 I read so. many. books. My school library was stocked with Meg Cabot, Kevin Brooks, Sarah Dessen, Jane Austen, Cathy Hopkins AND ALL THE OTHER AWESOME THINGS GUYS ALL OF THEM. I spent my first year of secondary school happily snuggled up in the library reading a book (I swear I had friends I just preferred to spend more time with books at that age) and would easily get through 4-5 books a week. By the time I was 15 I had read all the Austen's as well as some Bronte's, and by that point the school librarian was cool with me borrowing books from the sixth form section ;)

But then something changed. When I was around 15/16 I stopped going to the library, completely. In fact, between then and about 9 months ago I stopped reading like I used to. I still read of course, but I spent a lot of time simply re-reading some of the books I had read in my early teen years. I can safely say that I've read Pride and Prejudice exactly eleven times. And the Harry Potter Series? Can't even count how many times I've read the whole thing (and will continue to do so every few years for the rest of my life to be honest). By the time I was in sixth form, I only read the books I had to for English Literature, with maybe two or three new books a year for my own pleasure. 

How sad is that. 

As someone who supposedly loves books, I can't believe I read hardly any new material for four years. FOUR YEARS. 


To be completely honest. Those four years were... difficult. To say the least. But just over a year ago, things got so much better for me, and ever since then I've rediscovered a lot about myself. Things I didn't even realise I had lost.

My crazy obsession with books being one of them! 

One of the great things about studying English Literature at university is that for the past year I have always had something to read, and a whole list of things waiting to be read once I was done with that. So after my exams were over, and I no longer had a mandatory reading list, it suddenly felt really strange to not have anything to read! I'm now back in a place where I feel a little lost without a book in my hands. Honestly, I feel like more like myself with every passing day.  

My reading preferences have changed, and matured quite a bit this past year. I now find myself drawn to a lot of non-fiction (particularly post-colonial themes, and text written by people of colour... but that's a whole different blog post) however, it seems my love for a great piece of fiction shall never die.  

SO. Seeing as I'm totally behind on so many of the things my goodreads TBR list has been growing steadily every day, and while I still have the time to read for fun before my reading list for university is confirmed I SHALL BE READING SO MANY BOOKS YAY. Next up is... City of Bones by Cassandra Clare! I've seen The Mortal Instruments series floating around for the past few years but being in the weird repetitive cycle I was in... I couldn't be bothered to read it. Until now of course :D I was actually considering reading Gone Girl first, and getting some of my other single books out of the way but I just couldn't resist the thought of a good gripping fantasy/adventure series *rubs hands with satisfaction*


What about you guys? Have you ever been through reading slumps that lasted for YEARS? Do you often find yourself gravitating back towards books you loved when you were younger? And are there any new releases I should definitely be reading this summer??



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6 comments

  1. Oh my gosh oh my gosh, you're going to read the city of bones series?! It's epic!!!! I'll let you find out. And yas(!) I went through the exact same book slump where after year 11 I just stopped reading for pleasure. Our college library was a dump compared to my secondary school one where I spent every lunch time with my friends surrounded by books. It's only after joining Instagram that I think I've got that spark back and am buying books again.

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    1. OMG same! I moved to a different school for sixth form and yes it was academically better, but the collection of books in the library was actually pitiful compared to my secondary school! I'm sure that didn't exactly help my book slump either -_- ugh but how great is social media for things like this!

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  2. Okay but firstly I LOVE CITY OF BONES I HOPE YOU ENJOY IT BECAUSE AFJDSKLA SO MUCH AWESOME. I don't think the first books are the best (they're still excellent though and the humour/wit is on point) but the last three books absolutely stole my heart and made my whole brain cry. SO YES. ENJOY.

    Ohhh, I have a weird reading story. I grew up reading, most definitely, but I didn't devour books like I do now. I read maybe a book a week? I had a very book-based-homeschooling-system which was epic (so much love for my mum!!) but when I finished school I kind of merged into this non-reading territory. I didn't know WHAT to read. It was only when I started book blogging that -- BOOM -- my reading world exploded. I can't get enough books or stories. SO I basically only started reading crazily from 17.

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    1. omg YAAY I'm so excited eeeekkk!

      Thank the world for book blogging tbh! It has so. much. power.

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  3. this blog is awesome! I love what i've seen so far!! :)

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