diff --git a/lib/damask/asciitable.py b/lib/damask/asciitable.py
index 1644cef22..448c790ef 100644
--- a/lib/damask/asciitable.py
+++ b/lib/damask/asciitable.py
@@ -425,7 +425,7 @@ class ASCIItable():
        read next line (possibly buffered) and parse it into data array
     '''
     self.line = self.__IO__['readBuffer'].pop(0) if len(self.__IO__['readBuffer']) > 0 \
-           else self.__IO__['in'].readline().strip                                                  # take buffered content or get next data row from file
+           else self.__IO__['in'].readline().strip()                                                # take buffered content or get next data row from file
 
     if not advance:
       self.__IO__['readBuffer'].append(self.line)                                                   # keep line just read in buffer