Here's how you can get out of your reading slump this summer

Therersquos something about summer that makes me romanticise reading again Maybe itrsquos the slower afternoons the holiday mood or the idea of sitting by a window with a book and an iced coffee like wersquore in a comingofage movie But if yoursquove been stuck in a readerrsquos slump for months even opening a book can feel overwhelmingIrsquove been there too Irsquove stared at the same page for days carried the same unfinished book around for months and felt guilty every time someone asked ldquoSo what are you reading these daysrdquo The good news is that getting out of that drudgery doesnrsquot require forcing yourself through a 500page classic I did it too and you know what it was quite easyRomanticise reading againOne thing that genuinely helped me was creating tiny visual reminders of the kind of reader I wanted to become again I made Pinterest boards filled with annotated books cosy libraries dogeared paperbacks and people reading on trains It sounds silly but surrounding myself with literary imagery made reading feel exciting again instead of intimidating Suddenly books stopped feeling like unfinished chores and started looking comforting I also started leaving books around my room instead of stacking them away mdash one on the bedside table One near my bag One on the desk Being visually surrounded by literature subtly nudged me back toward reading without pressureUse your travel timeThis genuinely changed everything for me Instead of scrolling through social media during travel time I started carrying a smaller book with me everywhere Local trains cabs waiting rooms coffee shops mdash all those inbetween moments became reading moments Audiobooks helped too especially on days when my attention span felt completely broken Listening to stories during walks or commutes reminded me that consuming literature doesnrsquot always have to look traditionalChoose easy fun reads firstOne mistake people make while trying to get out of a slump is picking ldquoseriousrdquo books to prove theyrsquore reading again This is something I did and learnt my mistake the hard way Read books that are fun Dramatic Fastpaced Read thrillers romance novels mdash anything that keeps you turning pages I started with Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky WellOne chapter a dayOne of the easiest tricks I tried was telling myself to read just one chapter a day Thatrsquos it Not fifty pages Most of the time once I started I ended up reading more anyway But on days when I didnrsquot one chapter still felt manageable enough to maintain the habit In reality consistency matters more than intensity Even ten minutes before sleeping countsItrsquos not homeworkYoursquore not going to be graded on it You read slowly and then feel bad about reading slowly You abandon a book halfway and convince yourself yoursquove failed somehow Soon opening a book comes with pressure attached to it I had to consciously stop measuring my reading productivity Not every book has to be finished immediately Not every reading session needs to last hours Sometimes reading five pages is enough The thing that helped most was giving myself permission to read casually again No goals No Goodreads pressure Ironically the moment I stopped forcing myself I started reading moreLet it be personalAt some point reading became performative online People track how many books they read in a month curate aesthetic shelves and post perfectly highlighted pages While that can be inspiring it can also make reading feel competitive What helped me was making reading private again I stopped worrying about whether the book was impressive enough I stopped tracking every title I just focused on how a book made me feel And honestly thatrsquos what summer reading should feel You donrsquot need to become a ldquoreaderrdquo overnightBooks we recommend1 Verity by Colleen HooverRecommended by Aastha Atray Banan Editor Sunday middayItrsquos a racy saucy trashy thriller which will catch you off guard Itrsquos so bad that itrsquos actually quite good You will be hooked and reading it late into the night and wondering ldquoHey Verity what the hell are you doingrdquo The movie starring Anne Hathaway is coming out soon so itrsquos a good time to catch up2 Yellowface by RF KuangRecommended by Akshita Maheshwari Features writer Sunday middayNo one can take you out of a reading rut better than Korean writers Yellowface by RF Kuang is about competition obsession and the race to success The plot revolves around a white author June Hayward who steals and publishes the unpublished manuscript of her deceased AsianAmerican rival Athena Liu The novel tracks Junersquos mental breakdown as she gets possessed by the ghost of Athena This writer finished the book in the span of two days as it is unputdownable3 The Many Lives of Syeda X by Neha DixitRecommended by Arpika Bhosale Deputy Assistant Editor Sunday middayI love that this book from the humanises a labourer The story follows Syeda who does multiple odd jobs from shelling almonds to making tea strainers I was reading a very heavy book and it got a bit overwhelming So I picked up this one I like this one for telling a serious story like this with a good pace and a certain lightness