10 books I’d give to someone in a reading slump
Reading slumps are the worst. But they don’t mean you’ve fallen out of love with books forever. You just need the right spark, the kind of story that grabs you straight away and reminds you how good it feels to be hooked. For me, slump-busters are usually short, voicey, or so addictive I forget to check my phone.
Every book on this list does at least one of those things. Hopefully one of them will be the one that snaps you out of it.
1. Funny Story by Emily Henry
Emily Henry is basically slump-proof. This rom com is witty and heartfelt, with
dialogue so sharp you’ll find yourself grinning at the page. Daphne’s ex runs
off, and she ends up sharing a flat with her ex’s new girlfriend’s ex. Awkward
at first, it turns into something warm, funny, and unexpectedly hopeful, the
kind of book you start at 9 p.m. and realise you’ve finished at 2 a.m.
2. Evenings and weekends by Oisin McKenna
Set in London, it follows four friends in London trying to keep their lives
together while everything feels a bit too much. It’s sharp and often very funny,
but what stuck with me was how gently it treats friendship. Parts of it feel like
eavesdropping on real conversations, I kept thinking, “I know people like this.”
3. Open Water By Caleb Azumah Nelson
A short, lyrical love story about two young Black artists in London. The prose
is rhythmic, almost like poetry, and there are lines you’ll want to reread just to
hear them again. I knocked this out in an afternoon and found myself mulling
it over all week.
4. Boy Parts by Eliza Clarke
Disturbing, funny, and impossible to look away from. It follows an artist with a
taste for pushing people to their limits, and past them. There were moments
that made me laugh out loud, then immediately feel unsettled about what I
was laughing at. If every other book feels bland, this one is a jolt to the
system.
5. Just for the Summer by Abby Jimenez
What starts as a light, temporary fling turns into something deeper and more
heartfelt. Jimenez has a knack for mixing laugh-out-loud moments with
emotional gut-punches, and this is one of her best. It feels like the book
equivalent of your favourite rom com, comforting but not shallow.
6. Foster by Claire Keegan
A slim but powerful novella about a young girl spending a summer with foster
parents. Claire Keegan’s prose is spare, but it absolutely guts you. You can
finish it in one sitting, but it’ll stay with you much longer.
7. Mr Salary by Sally Rooney
One of Rooney’s shortest works, but it’s her boiled down: clipped dialogue,
messy feelings, and so much tension packed into 40 pages. At under 40
pages, you can read it in a single sitting, maybe even on your lunch break,
and it’ll stay with you for much longer.
8. The Rachel incident by Caroline O’Donoghue
Set in Cork during the recession, this one follows Rachel and her best friend
James as they stumble through love, friendship, and adulthood. It’s chaotic,
hilarious, sometimes painful, just like your twenties.
9. Yellowface by RF Kuang
A struggling writer steals her dead friend’s manuscript and rides it to fame and
watching her try to keep the lie going is both horrifying and darkly funny. It’s
clever, biting, and full of “did they really just do that?” moments. I couldn’t look
away.
10. Cleopatra and Frankenstein by Coco Mellors
A love story set in New York, Cleo and Frank’s whirlwind marriage throws them and
their friends into a tangle of passion, chaos, and heartbreak. Devastatingly written, it’s
addictive in the way only a good relationship drama can be.
And that’s my stack of slump-busters. Some will make you laugh, some might break your heart a little, but all of them reminded me why I love reading. If you’ve been stuck in a rut, pick one up, I bet you’ll end up texting a friend about it before you’re even done.