You love books. A lot. In fact, you could spend your whole life in a library and never get bored. Books are your best friends, and the characters you have met and the places you have visited in between the front and back cover of them have influenced you more than you can ever realize. There comes a time in every book lover's life, however, when no book will satisfy. This is more commonly known as the reading rut, and there are five specific signs that distinguish this horrific period of time.
1. You find every excuse not to read.
Housework, homework, classes, errands -- you use all these responsibilities to justify your reading inactivity. These can be valid excuses, but book lovers know that if they're reading something they are really interested in, they will find the time to read it (and maybe even shirk their other responsibilities to do so). In a reading rut, this does not happen.
2. You miss reading but still cannot bring yourself to pick up a book.
It's one of the oddest feelings in the world -- wanting to read and yet just not being able to. All the enjoyment has just seeped out of it, and it seems like nothing will bring that joy back into your life.
3. No new book seems to satisfy you.
Reading new things is exciting and fun, right? Not during a reading rut. New books just don't hold your interest like they used to, and you find yourself placing your book aside and watching it accumulate a thin layer of dust rather than reading it.
4. Even old favorites seem boring.
You have loved these books since childhood, and yet even they cannot perk your interest. You would still rather be doing something else other than reading.
5. You feel like a fraud.
What kind of bibliophile are you? You claim to love books, yet here you are, not reading them. You feel like you should sell all your books, renounce your title, and find something entirely new to invest your time in.
Reading ruts can be frustrating, but they will not last forever. You will find a book that will break the cycle of inactivity, and you will enjoy reading again. It may take some time, but it will happen.
