I’ve been having a terrible book hangover ever since I finished reading the Realm of the Elderlings series, about which I extensively blogged. It was such a great series and a deeply emotional reading experience, that I struggled really hard with most books I’ve tried to read ever since. I’ve probably had the worst reading slump I ever had in my time of actively reading books.

My first attempt was The Immortal Investigation by Michael Cronk – a very lighthearted, humorous book, and debut novel of an indie author. I realized pretty fast that this is neither my style nor my vibe, I don’t really enjoy humorous books. I read 202 out of 410 pages before I gave up on this series.

My second attempt was a full success, and probably the only one (until yesterday) – The Jewish Dog by Asher Kravitz. I’ve had this on my shelf for quite a while, and all I knew was that it was told from the perspective of a dog. I devoured this book! I loved the narrative, the fast-paced storytelling, and all the things that are so very much like a dog in this book. The story takes us right through World War II, and I assume you can imagine roughly where it goes. Still it was interesting to read all of this seen through the innocent eyes of a dog. It was a really fun and quick read (despite some of its darker themes), and exactly what I was craving after I experienced animals-as-characters in RotE.

Unfortunately, after that, my reading slump returned with a vengeance. After The Jewish Dog, I tried a book that was recommend a lot by RotE fans, The Spear Cuts Through Water by Simon Jiminez. I think I managed to wade through about 2 chapters of this extremely convoluted mess of frames within frames of narratives, but I just couldn’t stand it. Only 27 out of 522 pages until I quit.

After that experience, I thought a beloved classic can surely get me back into reading, and I tried A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. LeGuin. Well, I don’t know what it was about the book, maybe my mind was just not in it or something, but after 43 out of 264 pages I realized that I read but I have no clue what I’m reading, and I gave up. I feel sad, because LeGuin is supposed to be such a prolific author.

From that, I went on to the next immensely beloved series, and tried The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin. I tried, I tried really, really hard to like this book. But to be honest, I was mainly annoyed at a) the author being way more mysterious than necessary and b) second-person perspective. I already didn’t enjoy the second-person perspective in The Spear Cuts Through Water, and I think this was just the final nail in the coffin for second-person perspective books for me. When I finally I reached the plot twist, I found it so corny that I was just angry I wasted 348 out of 498 pages reading this book, speed-hate-read finished it, and sold all 3 books.

Well, how about something completely different maybe? Not a hyped series? I tried The Man Who Spoke Snakish by Andrus Kivirähk next. Since I visited Estonia (and the Baltics) recently, this book came on my radar, and the concept of it sounded really cool. It’s about how people used to live before Christianization, in unison with nature. Cool concept, but somewhat boring execution. I was just bored, and gave up 95 out of 442 pages into the book.

Perhaps I might have more success with famous series after all. So I entered the world of Joe Abercrombie with The Blade Itself. That book was actually somewhat interesting, and had especially very compelling characters. I finished reading it, albeit at a somewhat slow pace, and it took me about a month to finish it. Next up I read the second book in this series, Before They Are Hanged. With this one, my struggle became more real. It took me another month to wade through it, and I almost gave up on it a few times. I somehow finished it, but mostly by speed-reading the last 100 or so pages. The characters are interesting, yes, but I feel like this book sends all those interesting characters on an utterly boring and anti-climatic journey. I was so frustrated that in the middle of it I tried to start re-reading Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice, but that also didn’t spark.

Well then, guess I need to read the third and final book, Last Argument of Kings, right? Sunk cost fallacy and all. I read about 20 pages of that book, and for days and days and days I just couldn’t bring myself to pick up this book to continue reading. I don’t know if I ever will. Joe Abercrombie’s work is so beloved by many, but I think his style is just not for me.

Yesterday, as I was running some errands at the mall, I also walked through the book store. Presented there was the new release Katabasis by R.F. Kuang, luring you with a 20% discount. I usually don’t like to buy hardcover books, or hyped books, but I had heard a lot about this book from within The Magicians fandom (probably my favorite TV show). So I just figured, why not read the first couple of pages to check out what the hype (at least within The Magicians fandom) is about? Well, what can I say, I was pretty much hooked! Dark, urban academia with a scientific approach to hell, and exposing all the struggles of being a PhD student? I can relate, and I unlike ALL those books I tried, as chronicled in this post, where it took me weeks to get 50 pages into a book, I already read 80 pages of this within 2 days. I hope it will hold up, as I have never read anything from this author before, and heard some divisive opinions on some of her other books (e.g. Babel).

So what did I learn from my reading slump? If you don’t vibe with a book, just give up on it and try something else. I’m still struggling with that due to sunk cost fallacy, and because I hate that feeling of not finishing what I started, but it’s so much more fun if you enjoy what you read.