Melting Pages
Book Reviews and Recommendations
Reading Slumps & Pressure to Read|Another Scatterbrained Discussion
Time for another rambling discussion post from yours truly! There are a few reasons why I wanted to talk about reading slumps today, the main reason being I feel like I’m entering into a reading slump, but not really?
So what do I mean by not really? Well, ever since I’ve started blogging I feel like I’ve had a lot more pressure to read more books so I have more content to talk about instead of talking about the same books over and over again. So while I tend to read 7-8 books a month, lately I feel like I haven’t been reading that much. Don’t get me wrong, 7-8 books is still a LOT of reading, but that pressure to get more reviews and more content just makes me feel like I should be reading all the books in one month!
I’ve mentioned it a few times in previous posts that I have a tendency to flip from one book to another, and that isn’t something that I used to do before I started to seriously review and blog about books. I used to stick to one book and read it for a week or two until I’m done with it. But now, I feel like I’m not reading the books fast enough so I start another book and feel frustrated with that so I move on to another and so on and so forth. Just that want and need to have content really pushes me to try to read more, and when it doesn’t happen it makes me feel like I’m not getting in all the reading I need to.
I think that blogging (or doing booktube, bookstagram, etc) puts such a large amount of pressure on all of us to read the newest thing and to read everything that’s out there that it makes us all crazy! I know that for me personally, when I started to blog I thought I didn’t have enough books to read to talk about so I ended up buying a TON of books so that I would have things to talk about and there is NO WAY that I’m going to finish them all or even want to now! Has anyone else done this? I can’t be the only one out there that felt like to be a successful blogger you need to have a ton of books for tags and photos and content in general. Maybe it’s because I started with bookstagram and the same 30 books was just getting boring, but maybe not.
So how does one keep up with blogging and reviewing when they are in a reading slump? It’s definitely something that I haven’t really had to fully deal with yet and I feel really lucky that I haven’t hit an actual reading slump. But that feeling that I’m in a slump when I’m really not just makes me kinda panicky.
So do you feel pressure to read more and read more recent releases to be successful with your blog? I think it’s an important topic to talk about and it’s definitely something that’s been on my mind a lot lately.
*Side Note: It’s actually kind of ironic that I chose this topic to post about today, because while I’m writing this (Tuesday) I’m watching the Bookmarked live show that Hailey from Hailey in Bookland, Hannah from A Clockwork Reader and Zoe from ReadbyZoe and their topic is “real” readers, but they just touched on this topic as well with the pressure to read more and read the newest books to keep up with the times.
Melting Pages 
I’ve definitely felt this pressure before, too! It got to the point where I was ignoring some of my obligations (homework, job stuff, etc) so that I could finish a book, write the review, and have something to put on my blog!
Eventually, I decided that at least once a month, I was gonna read a book without reviewing it. It made me feel a little less pressured (at least for a little while) and let me just enjoy a story. Now I only do two reviews a month for the same reason; it let’s me take my time and really enjoy what I’m reading. As long as you still do other posts (tags, discussions, weekly memes, whatever) most people don’t even notice.
(Also, if you enjoy poetry books, they’re a great option when you feel bogged down by reading pressure because you can usually get through the book and write the review in a day or two)
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Yeah I think I’m reading that point where blogging is taking over my life! But at the same time, I really want to finish blogtober and be able to say I blogged for 31 days straight. 🤷♀️ That balancing act between blogging and reading with home life is tough to find!
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I reread when I feel pressured to pick something on my lunch break or right before bedtime. Those are the worst possible times for me to pick something new because I feel pressured to enjoy them since that’s a half hour usually.
And it ends up not working out I’ve noticed. If I pick one like say the first hour of work when I read I’m ok. I can trade when it is slow sometimes. I think weekends are hard too because everybody else on Instagram is posting about their books they are currently enjoying and I’m like…must find one by Sunday to have that perfect weekend vibe! I’ve been upset at myself for not picking a book all weekend. I remember I started reading The Wicked Deep at 8:00 on a Sunday night and got into it at the wrong time lol.
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One of the worst things is starting a book at the wrong time! I’m the same way, I can’t start a new book too late in the day or it feels like I’m trying to push myself. And it’s tough too when you know everyone around you seems to be constantly picking a new book up every other day that you feel the need to be finishing books faster than you really want to.
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I can sometimes get through books every other day when I actually choose them. And yes, that whole wrong time thing gets to me every time. I’m trying three books at the moment. One has really long chapters and I don’t like that because my e-reader says its an hour each one. But I like the plotline.
One is a reread. One is an ARC that is just meeeeh to me. I had been looking forward to it though so I am trying to push myself further.
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And it gets worse when you say on social media that you’re going to pick up a certain book next then when the time comes it just isn’t the right time!
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Yup! Or when you post it on Goodreads and then a few updates later you put it down for something else but don’t want to DNF it yet. Lol.
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And that’s why my goodreads currently reading is so long! 😅
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Oh, dang! Yours is long! HAHA! I want to add you as a friend! What is your name on there? Mine is the same as this blog name though I have the social media icon for it.
I was reading three books. I finished another reread and I marked two books as not the right time to read yet. I was trying to read multiple books at once but that doesn’t usually work for me.
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Mine is under Katie (Melting Pages)! I’ll see if I can find you there!
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I tried looking for you but I apparently don’t know how to find friends from here on Goodreads. 😦
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I finally found you! I had to go through my computer in order to search people. It’s not the easiest to find people on Goodreads!
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Yay! I usually go to people’s social media icons on their blog and click on G. That’s the easiest for me even on the computer.
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Yeah phones just aren’t good for things like that lol
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When I started bookstagram I felt like I needed to be up to date with the latest books. I’ve since changed my views and reminded myself that I’m doing this because I find it fun and to stop doing things that I don’t enjoy (i.e. put pressure on myself to find pretty books). I’ve since “re-branded” myself as a library queen and now feel almost proud of not buying teh books I feature here on my blog and instagram.
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Yes! Re-branding is a great way to be like “look, these new books are pretty and all, but I can do this just fine without them”. I definitely need to re-brand from crazy book buying lady to something else 😂
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I relate to this soooo much. I always end up putting so much pressure on myself because I feel like I have to talk about the latest books and read them at the same time as everyone else. Reading and blogging stops becoming fun with all the pressure, so I just have to remind myself to take everything at my own pace and talk about the books that I genuinely enjoyed… even if that means the same books keep appearing in every post haha!
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I have to try to work more on reading for more enjoyment than to make content, but it’s a surprisingly hard line to walk between making sure you stay relevant while still staying sane.
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I completely agree! It’s impossible haha!
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