Like The Tomato
just me, my books, and my journals
I’ve said this so many times, I am a mood reader and I consider that as my own personal curse. My next read will always be dictated by my mood…and it could really be a hell of a challenge.
So what does it really like to be one?
I often struggle with finding the next book to read. Just because my mood changes so abruptly sometimes, I often had difficulty finding the next book to pick up. I can pick up an X number amount of books in a day and still not find the right book. The struggle will always be real.
I don’t have a “To Be Read” schedule. I’ve always had a problem with sticking to a TBR list. And this one hurts because I love crossing out something off a list. I am often jealous of people who can just pick the books that they would read for the rest of the month and successfully stick to it. But because my mood at the beginning of the month won’t be consistent for the rest of it, I always end up scrapping the whole list. The “To Be Read” pile is there, I just don’t have a list.
I have a lot of unread books. I have a lot of partially read books too. I learned early on that I can’t really force myself to read a book. Not that I haven’t done that in the past, I have, and it never ends up good. So I am not scared of putting a book down and setting it aside for a later time. I don’t see the point of forcing myself to finish a book. It’s unfair for me and the book. Hence, my pile of to be read books is forever growing.
I don’t really follow the list of new releases or anticipated releases. I don’t find myself getting overly excited for it. Or I can be excited but still won’t pick that book up until maybe a few months after or even a year after. The only exception to this one was Harry Potter of course.
I can’t join a read-a-long or a book club. These group readings could be fun and I often find myself wanting to join one. But since the books being read in these group settings are often predetermined, it’s difficult for me to join or engage at all. I definitely struggled with the required readings for school.
I struggle with reading slumps as much as I hate to admit it. It could be days, weeks, or months before I’m able to find a book that I am in the mood for. A book hangover definitely has been a contributing factor to some of these. But most often than not, it was because I couldn’t find the right book.
My reading count is definitely not consistent every year. Like I said, I could be in an extreme reading slump and not able to read for a long periods of time. Or it could be like last year and I found the topic and genre that I was in the mood for and just fly through the books.
I can’t participate in a yearly reading challenge, or any reading challenges to be honest. May it be just saying I will read an X amount of books for a year or following a reading prompt for that year or just picking a book from a TBR jar. I would definitely fail. Trust me, I tried so many times.
I go through different genres. I have my favorite of course. But being a mood reader definitely gave me the chance to explore different genres. I love it. Although, I still have to find myself picking up more non fictions. If my mood decide to shift me there, that would be great.
I can also fly through books once I find the right genre or topic I’m in the mood for. Since my mood can fluctuate a lot, I try to read as much books as I can in a short amount of time under that specific topic/genre. This was not often the case, last year was definitely lucky. From September until the present really, my mood apparently hasn’t changed. So I have been flying through books in one genre/topic. Since then, I often finish a book a day or two.
Bottom line, being a mood reader can be crippling at times and I do get frustrated once in a while, but I have learned to just go with it. Sure the downside is there, but I like the advantages too. The past year has definitely been a game changer. Since I am stuck in a genre right now, I have a choice to stop reading for a while and pick up a different genre at a later time. Or just go with it and embrace it. And that’s what I did. I am on book 14 for the month of January, so I can’t complain.
One fact about me. I have not eaten alone in a restaurant. Nothing against it for sure. I admired people who can just go inside a restaurant and ask for a table for one. Yeah. Never done that. I always felt like all eyeballs will be on me. Intellectually, I knew that this was not the case. Of course, this was just my social anxiety talking.
But being the loner that I am, I thought what is the harm on eating alone anyway. So during my last trip to San Francisco, I decided to take the plunge and try it. I was staying at Union Square at that time and there were restaurants all over the place. From popular ones to smaller businesses.
I chose a little Japanese restaurant along Geary St in Union Square, Katana Ya. I decided for an early dinner just so I could still get the experience of eating alone without the dinner crowd. It was little quaint restaurant, with dim lighting, music playing softly in the background. The restaurant was not loud, always good in my books. I opted to sit at the bar. This way my back was to the crowd, which thinking about it now might not have been the smartest move on my part. But seeing as this was my first time venturing out on my own in a restaurant, I wanted to blind myself of the crowd.
I ordered the Tonkatsu Don because why not? I skipped on putting my headphones on. Since I was already vulnerable with my back to the crowd, I wanted to at least be alert enough to hear what was going on. I decided to read. And I did just that throughout dinner. I read while I slowly ate my dinner, once in a while getting distracted by the crowd chattering behind me.
The next stop, I decided, should be a busier chain. Cheesecake Factory. Lo and behold – it was crowded for an early dinner time. It was LOUD. The only thing that I really appreciated with this specific location was the fact that it was on the top floor of the Macy’s Building – so it was bright. Considering that there was already a line when I went, I only waited about 15 minutes before being directed to a table. I laughed silently as I realized where I was being lead to – the “table for one” section.
I started with a mojito, they did offer more variations of this with different flavors like pineapple, but I opted for the classic. It was definitely refreshing. Ordered Tex Mex for appetizer, and the Hibachi Steak as the main course. And yes, I realized that it as a lot food but I didn’t care. My excuse? I was starving. Ri-ight. Just like the previous restaurant, I opted to read instead of listening to anything through headphones.
For a tiny Asian woman, I finished the food. I was proud of myself for this one. I was so lost in my own world, well more like the world of the book I was reading, that I didn’t realize that I finished all the food I ordered. I even ordered a second glass of mojito for good measure.
So my verdict? I liked it. To be honest, the experience was quite nice. I was able to enjoy the food more. I always ate fast but with me being alone, I was just savoring it more. Most likely because I wasn’t lost in the chatter. I knew it took longer for me to finish the dishes that I ordered compared to when I eat with someone. I was able to just enjoy my own company, or should I say the company of my book at that time. I loved the combo – me, book and food.
I finally unpacked all our books. A little over a year here in Washington and all our books are now on bookshelves. Organized as well – the books are definitely arranged alphabetically by author, then alphabetically by title for authors we own multiple books of, and obviously the series in order of release.
The reorganization of our book collection was definitely not planned. Well, a little bit planned – since we needed to get extra shelves, I knew I wanted to do it but I just didn’t know when. But with my anxiety on high lately, I needed something to focus on. And the process did help to pull myself out of my head.
So…the process took a few hours. I started around 3 am – I know, crazy but my anxiety doesn’t really pick a time and when it’s on high, I definitely can’t sleep. So I knew the timing was perfect. I was done by about 11 am. Not too bad. I moved the little furniture we have in the living area to make room for the floor sorting. We had a number of books from authors whose last names start with the letters B, S, M and T, which I found weirdly interesting for some unknown reason.
We currently have 5 tall-ish bookshelves against the wall. We got these ones from Ikea to line the wall of the living area. We agreed on not shedding too much money on sturdier bookshelves at this time because we know that this apartment living is something temporary. And I wanted to build a customized bookshelf once we have a permanent living situation. We also decided to get a smaller 12 cube shelf which we got from Amazon to house our smaller paperbacks and mangas.
We do own a number of graphic novels and hardbound books, which are not photographed here. I still yet to organize those. They have shelves of their own, just not organized. That would be for a later time since organizing our paperbacks, fun as it was for me, was very tedious.
One thing I didn’t do though, and I should have, was tally the books. The last count we did was almost 3 years ago, and the total was a little over 5oo books. Our collection definitely grew from that number. I will definitely do the count once I organize the rest of the books. I am also planning on creating a spreadsheet just to catalog the books. So this organizing business is definitely not done.