Quote:
Originally Posted by alansplace
I'd never thought of it in those terms before but I suppose 'slump' is as good as any descriptive term. Yeah, me too, I'm also experiencing a slump. That's why I'm doing the Harry Potter re-readings and now, as well, I've begun reading the Agatha Christie books that I've never read. I've only read And Then There Were None, and that was because it's one of my all-time favorite movies -- the 1945 movie. I'm starting with the Agatha Christie books I've seen movies of first. Anyway they're, to me, what you're calling 'a cozy mystery'. I believe that my slump is related to the release date of Dresden #15 being announced as way off in the last week of May! 
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Aww! Don't let the date get you down. Absence makes the heart grow fonder. besides, this gives you time to do exactly what you're doing...
Quote:
Originally Posted by VictoriaP
Cozies, in the very broadest terms, are murder mysteries where the violence is low key or "offstage" for the most part. I tend to prefer historical ones over contemporaries for the most part, so any Agatha Christie, Dorothy Sayers' Lord Peter Wimsey, Peter Tremayne's Sister Fidelma, and Ellis Peters' Brother Cadfael are all favorites of mine. But there are a number of contemporary-set ones I've enjoyed too.
I do read stuff that's a lot darker/grittier/bloodier, but a good deal depends on mood and what's going on in my life. Right now, I can only take that sort of thing in small doses, which probably explains why both urban and epic fantasy aren't much on my plate.
I actually had a slump after reading the first 11 Dresden books in a row.  And reading something like 30 of J. D. Robb's In Death series in a span of six weeks did me in for months! Sometimes, you just get so caught up in a book universe that nothing else will do.
Currently reading: A Covent Garden Mystery, Ashley Gardner (Captain Lacey Regency mysteries, #6). I've quite enjoyed these, but this is the last one I have in my collection, so it's probably a good stopping point so I don't get too burnt out. |
The Honorverse (Honor Harrington) series is the only one that has caused me truly burn out. I've tried reading it twice - once without the hundreds of short stories, and once with all of them in chronological order - and I burned out in the exact same place both times - book #10.
I'm not sure if, much less when, I'll try again.
I have learned that my natural limit seems to be about 8 books, from a single series, in a row. I have ignored that limit, however, usually to the detriment of my reading enjoyment.
Last year I had one of the worst reading slumps; it lasted 6 months!