Mood Reading at its Finest || Where I’ve Been

When this year started, I made a list of my most anticipated book releases of 2019. Knowing myself, I made no promise to actually read those books. But I planned to. The hope was that I’d make no promises so that if I eventually did succeed in reading them all, I’d post a 2019 wrap-up talking about it. Alas, we’re now in the second half of 2019, and I’ve only read one of those books. I have access to quite a few of them; I’ve just not read them.

Because mood reading.

I usually call it a reading slump (because that’s what it feels like) but the truth is, I’ve never had an actual reading slump. I don’t think I can remember a day when I didn’t read anything. Even if it’s just a short passage or a poem or a Quora post, I read something every day.

What I usually experience is what I like to call mood reading at its finest.

It goes something like this:

I want to read something. I have a nice list of kick-ass books with pretty covers to choose from. I’m excited to read all those books, because I finally have all the free time in the world (it being summer and all).

But I’m not in the mood. No, I’m not depressed or melancholy or anything quite as serious as that (serious in the grand scheme of moods, I mean. Otherwise, this is pretty darn serious to me). I’m just not in the mood to read that type of book.

Instead, I keep gravitating towards books I don’t actually want to read. Books that do nothing but cause headaches from excessive eyerolling. Books with too much smut and too little plot. Books I don’t want to have to discuss on this blog. Because there’s really nothing to discuss.

My moods are not just limited to smut. Not long ago, all I felt like reading was fanfic. The time before that, historical romance, and sometime last year, I swear I read a lifetime’s worth of thrillers. All those were tolerable times. This? Not so much. It’s not like I hate smutty romance. But there’s a time for that, and now’s not that time. Besides, it’s just annoying when what you’re in the mood for is not what you planned to read.

So, there you have it. Why I’ve been feeling unproductive this glorious summer, and why I’ve been absent. I’d promise to do better, but my mind is in a weird place right now. Who knows how my mood would change?