Reader Burnout Averted!

Most of the time, I’m a voracious reader. So it’s kind of disturbing when I look at my overflowing bookcases and can’t for the life of me find something to read. I think part of it is that I’m in my last semester of grad school and I’m kind of burnt out on that, but for the past few weeks, I just haven’t been able to read for pleasure. I’ve been reading for class, of course, but academic essays on cult films, while interesting, just aren’t the same as a really good book.

I started a few books (Child of Fire by Harry Connolly, which I am enjoying; and I’m also in the middle of a re-read of Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere, which I’m using for my not-a-thesis paper) but couldn’t keep up the reading. I read a few magazines, which is better than nothing, I suppose. I’ve been reading bits of Before the Fallout by Diana Preston, a history of the development of nuclear and atomic science from the discovery of radiation to the atomic bomb. Honestly, if I were better at math, I would seriously have gone into the sciences. I think they’re so fascinating. But I’ve mostly been reading that one before I fall asleep at night, and I haven’t been doing my usual sort of reading, where I zoom through a novel in a couple of days.

Thank goodness I managed to break that burnout cycle yesterday, when I plowed through Rachel Ward’s Numbers. Next Monday, The Discriminating Fangirl will be hosting a Numbers giveaway, and I wanted to be sure I had a review ready for you. I won’t say much about the book right now–look for the review on Monday, too!–but I can’t begin to tell you how good it felt to sit up in bed until midnight because I couldn’t stand to wait until morning to read the last few chapters.

I need to spend some time today working on my not-a-thesis paper, but I’m going to start Jennifer Estep’s Spider’s Bite this afternoon. Man, it feels good to read again.