Books - Reading Slump and Random Stuffs Stuck in my Mind

 

I've been stuck in a reading slump. After 'A Little Life', I haven't been able to enjoy reading. Sure, I finished 'The City of Mist' by Carlos Ruiz Zafon and 'After the Quake' by Haruki Murakami soon after, but I didn't enjoyed it. I'm also trying to continue my current books : 'Less' by Andrew Sean Greer and 'Love from A to Z' by S. K. Ali. But I can't seem to enjoy them.

I hate reading slump.

This usually happens after a great book. I feel like there is nothing else worth my time.

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Random - 

• It's raining heavily since 4 pm (right now it's almost 10 pm)
• I'm tired every day due to the fasting month. I don't do well with less food intake. I'm exhausted, I'm tired, and I'm cranky. My blood pressure is low, and I feel like blacking out every time I stand up. Sure, I didn't lose that much weight, maybe just 1-2 kg. But if I lose more weight than that then I'll be underweight and I'm trying to avoid that.  
• But my skin is clear, and there is almost no acne. Actually, it was since February. Since I decided to change my skincare to Aiken Prebiotic, everything went smoothly. I stopped having random acne, and I'm happy. I don't really wear make-up so having clear skin is my dream (or maybe I'm just older now so I suddenly stopped having adult acne?). 
• I've been watching the 'This Is Us' new season on Hotstar+. It is so amazing. I always tell Af that I want to write stories about normal life and normal people, and this is the exact representation of what I imagined it should be. Complicated stories and daily dramas of normal people. I can't really share with anyone that I know about the series because I don't really know anyone that watches this. But man, I really love the series. The story and character developments are just amazing. 
• And yes, I enjoyed Bridgerton Season 2 for the pure love of love-tension between those two. I enjoyed it so much too. I giggled like a school girl, I can't remember when was the last time I felt so excited about romance series (I bet it was in my school years). It's been a while and I'm happy that I felt so entertained by Shonda Rhimes' creation again. 
• I think I had 5 interviews and 2 design tests this month. I hate trying to prove that I can work, I hate selling, and I hate having to explain. I'm not sure whether I should start working full-time again. I seriously don't want to prove anything to anyone. 
• Well, it's 10 pm now. I'm sleepy and I am so tired. I'm glad we had this random chat. Good night.

Books - Slow Reading Month in March

I think this blog soon to be a blog dedicated to my reading habit :F 

I have nothing else new in my life except for these books.

1. Letters to a Young Poet by Rainer Maria Rilke (letter collection)
2. Hunt, Gather, Parent by Michealeen Doucleff (parenting, non-fiction)
3. The Hard Tomorrow by Eleanor Davis (graphic novel)
4. The Deal of a Lifetime by Fredrick Backman (novella)
5. Magic Lessons by Alice Hoffman (novel #1/4)
6. The Museum of Extraordinary Things by Alice Hoffman (novel)

Image by Mikolaj

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Journey with 'A Little Life' :

When I first started to write this post, I just entered the second chapter (The Postman) of A Little Life, roughly just finished the first 10% of the thick book. I realized that I might not be able to finish the book this month because reading physical book while taking care of Sofi is a challenge. But I promised that this month would be my slow month, so I'll try to enjoy the process. 

Here is the only paragraph that I underlined in the first chapter :

But these were days of self-fulfillment, where settling for something that was not quite your first choice of a like seemed weak-willed and ignoble. Somewhere, surrendering to what seemed to be your fate had changed from being dignified to being a sign of your own cowardice. There were times when the pressure to achieve happiness felt almost oppressive, as if happiness were something that everyone should and could attain, and that any sort of compromise in its pursuit was somehow your fault. (page 41)

It is so beautiful !  This is the reason I wanted the physical copy and bought a preloved one, I wanted to underline, make marks, write notes and make the story mine.

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Update on Journey with 'A Little Life' (in early April): 

Like I've predicted, I will need more time to finish this book. I've been slow reading this almost every day now. Imagine me sitting on my bed, usually I read for 1-2 hours. This is the life. This is what I missed the most from my younger years, the time when I stayed on bed reading. 

Anyway, I'm already on chapter 4, almost halfway through the book. I haven't cried yet, but I felt the pain. I wish I can beg the writer to stop hurting the character. The past 3 chapters felt like a slow introduction to Jude and his friendships with Willem, Malcolm and JB, to get readers invested in them. I can imagine the back story, but I don't know how painful or complicated it is yet. 

I've been recording progress video since April, where I share my progress, updates and just reading scenes. I'll edit it once I finish the book, which is taking longer now since the night to read is much shorter during Ramadhan and I've been too distracted in the day.