What to do during a "Reading Slump"

Yep, I've hit it.  I have three books I'm reading at the same time and none of them (despite not being bad books) are getting read.

Part of this is a lack of time.  I haven't been able to read with my students this week because I needed to conference with quite a few of them during our silent reading time, and then I had to check in book totals for our school wide Read-A-Thon. It was fantastic, by the way, and we had popcorn parties to celebrate reaching and exceeding our goal of 1000 books as a school.

At home I'm either crawling into bed as soon as I put my daughter to bed, or staying up and grading or planning.  And it's only just now November.

I've come up with some plans for the next few days/weeks to get me out of this slump.

1) Forge my way through my PD book (which is actually quite good, and funny for a PD book, so why am I having a difficult time here?).  Steven Layne is a great writer and his books on reading are not stuffy and sleep-inducing.  I am really enjoying In Defense of Read Aloud and I will finish it.

2) Abandon all other books. I am finding nothing wrong with either of the books I'm reading in addition to Steven L. Layne's but I just can't find myself wanting to read.  Sad day.  So even though I've barely made it through Next Stop Nina by Robin Raven and Book Scavenger by Jennifer Chambliss Bertman, I need to put these to the side and revisit them when I'm in a better book place.  I feel like I could enjoy them much more if I attempt to do so in the future.

3) Forget my TBR pile.  It's there and it will never get smaller.  Just accept it.  I will jump around and find another book to read. Even if it isn't on my list! Here is my fall 2015 list (I already know it'll never be finished by the end of 2015).

Meghan's fall-2015 book montage

Meghan's fall TBR books »

4) Choose something easy and fun.  No deeply moving titles that will have me sobbing into spine.  I need fun and exciting and possibly uplifting.  I just got this book in my Scholastic Order for the classroom.  Maybe I need to read it before I put it out for my students.  Star Wars Jedi Academy by Jeffery Brown is a quick read and I'll enjoy it.  Or I could jump into The Son of Neptune.  Rick Riordan is great about creating an exciting story that builds and builds and then he slips in something new just at the right time.  A great story teller.

  

5) Re-evaluate my order of books.  Just a week or so ago I posted about the books I'm looking forward to reading by the end of the year (check out that post here).  Maybe I should try one of those after I read one of the above mentioned books.  I WILL be reading Winter as soon as it arrives at school.  I've got a reading day planned for my kids! :)

 

Hopefully my slump will not last long.  Before I even attempt any of this, I have to finish up my work for a class I'm taking and then get some grading done too!  One more hour of nap time left.