Today, the guys in the Goodreads Top 5 Wednesday group have an interesting topic: BOOKS TO GET YOU OUT OF A READING SLUMP! Winter is a hard season for a lot of people and many of us are falling into reading slumps. Let’s talk about some books that are great for getting you out of a slump!
Hard topic. Well, maybe, not hard, but certainly difficult. I mean, everyone has such different tastes it is almost impossible to know if a novel that I find easy to enjoy will be the same for you. But I will give this one a try, hoping something I pick will be to a person’s reading tastes.
CLASSIC FANTASY LOVERS — THE HOBBIT
Filled with action, adventure, enough world building to keep you interested, and loads of fun, this tale of Bilbo Baggins and his dwarf companions is a fun-filled tale which never fails to bring a smile to my face.
SPACE OPERA SCIENCE FICTION — DUNE
The cover says it all, right? “Greatest Science Fiction Book of All Time.” Can’t get much better than that. Okay, I know other scifi writers might have great arguments to make regarding the throne for scifi best of all time, but Herbert’s masterpiece is definitely among those handful. And I personally consider it one of my favorites of all time. Amazing stuff, so it should come as no surprise I’d recommend it to anyone bored with the current crop of science fiction.
GRIMDARK FANTASY — THE BLACK COMPANY
Certainly, there are newer, flashier grimdarks out there. (Prince of Thorns by Mark Lawrence is a personally favorite of mine.) But for sheer grittiness and fantasy flavor, I can’t recommend this easily digested, immediately enthralling story by Glen Cook. I’ve reread it more times than I can count, and it is always amazing every single time.
HARD SCIENCE FICTION — FOUNDATION
Asimov writes a book which brings science down to a level where even I could grasp some of the concepts and also told a fascinating story filled with politics, intrigue, and real people. Plus these novels are almost effortless to get into, something which isn’t always true with other novels in the genre.
FANTASY NOVELLA — THE BUILDERS
Daniel Polansky had a herculean task of turning this tale of vengeance by anthromorphic animals into a compelling fantasy novella. Not only did he accomplish this, he also turned The Builders into one of the most engrossing, exciting tales I have read in years. (Yeah, I loved it.) Plus it was short and fast-paced. So I would encourage everyone who hasn’t already to give this one a try.
So what do you think? Agree? Disagree? Have some other books to list? Please tell us all about it.
bookwraiths.com 
That’s gotta be my favorite Hobbit cover.
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Mine too!
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Good choices!
And I think that Dune deserves the title. We’ll have to see what happens in another generation though, as most of its current popularity is because our generation is spreading the love. Or it’s “retro” to watch the Lynch movie version…
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I often reach for The Hobbit when I am in a slump of mood and/or reading. The perfect pick me up 🙂
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I have read the first Black Company book several times when nothing else jumps out at me. I have never reread the hobbit or LoTR though; a rare series I enjoyed but only read once.
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You can never go wrong with Dune… 😉
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I could not get into Foundation at all, I think that one would send me into a slump more than anything 😛 Agreed with The Hobbit though, I just started reading it to my oldest recently, and it’s such a nice detour from some of my other heavier reads.
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I complitely agree with The Hobbit! I haven’t read any of the other books mentionned so… (Yeah I should really read Dune, I started it a few years ago and I liked the beginning a lot but I put in down for an unknown reason)
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