The Getting Funky Edition
book funk
verb
Pronunciation: /bʊk/fʌŋk/a state when no book satisfies; all offerings appear mediocre and dull. Has been known to result in much wailing and flailing of limbs (the Book Funk Funk) as the reader finds it increasingly difficult to find full literary satisfaction.
Causes
(1) this can be a spontaneous occurrence
(2) been known to be brought on by reading such an excellent book that nothing compares.
Is anyone else familiar with this phenomena? I believe it’s the bane of ever readers life, those few days (weeks?!) when no matter what you try, how many books you start nothing ever quite hits the spot. It’s enough to drive you mad. Or at least it drives me mad.
Mad and a little bad, I have reached the point in my life now that I am not sure what I am supposed to do if I don’t have a book on the go. Do I watch TV? Boring. Call a friend? As if I have a social life. Housework? Hah, never! What does one do when their kindle isn’t surgically attached? As, at this point in the book funk I’ve normally have to place my precious kindle in protective custody, afraid that a little bout of wall throwing may occur.
The only thing I have ever found that pulls me out of this? A little rereading. I find my comfort reads and I let them do their thing. I love these books. My comfort reads. They never let me down, I already know them, I already love all the characters and the story lines. They calm my inner reader (who I admit is a little bit of a crazy bitch), let her know she is in a safe place and that she can open her heart and mind again to something new.
Are there any other solutions to this issue? An issue that I believe has effected every reader at some point. There must be other ways…and I’m betting those ways involve chocolate, or ice cream, or cake, or possibly every item in that holy trinity of sweet delicious delights.
You have any other ideas, you let me know!
Annnnnd I will stop myself there, before I start waxing lyrical about my love of historical romance and fantasy as well; no one needs to know about my elf fantasies. As you can tell, I adore and day dream about most romance genres, and my three big loves are 1) reading about romance 2) writing about romance and 3) talking about romance with my gals. Which, is why I love Under the Covers so much, I get all my bookish needs satisfied and don’t get judged when I talk about my favourite characters like they are real people. Which they are right?
- Battered Hearts series by Kele Moon - January 24, 2023
- Meet the Chase Brothers by Lauren Dane - January 23, 2023
- It’s magical at Friday Harbor by Lisa Kleypas - January 10, 2023
I’m very familiar with this, I do the same thing reread my faves
Luckily I haven’t had this problem for a few years now, but I think that’s because I try to switch frequently between UF and romance and that keeps me from getting bored. I also play a lot of solitaire or do crosswords when I need a break.
I was just suffering from this a few weeks ago!…I remember reading in the thirteenth tale a doctor prescribed someone to read a different genre when suffering from book funk.
Yes, I am familiar with this issue. I’ve done re-reads, but I also go for the approach of grabbing something vastly different and still enjoyable. Nothing is a guarantee, but it usually works. I’ve also discovered the fun of not just going for a re-read, but doing the re-read as an audio to mix things up.
I’m very familiar with this and even experienced it recently when I finished the audio for The Martian. That book was soon good, nothing could compare. I’m now listening to the third book since and I’m still “meh”. I need to find a book to get me out of the funk.
Rereading is my book funk remedy as well.
Yes I’ve gone through the funk. It usually happens to me when I read too many books in the same genre back to back. So I’ll switch it up and it usually helps.