I’ve mentioned in the past that I have reading mood swings, where my brain suddenly switches from devouring one kind of book to craving an entirely different kind. In late 2014/early 2015, I switched out of a three-year fantasy kick to what ended up being the longest nonfiction swing I’d ever had. I craved nonfiction for almost a full year. Over the last two months, however, I’ve felt a definite shift happening, and still have no idea what kinds of books it will lead me to.
The transition has been long, much longer than normal. During the transition, I’ve found that I really don’t want to read anything new. Mostly, I just want to listen to the same audiobook(s) over and over again. I’ve listened to Words of Radiance three times now, and am beginning a fourth after a short break to listen to Howl’s Moving Castle and The Host (three times). All I want to read and listen to are rereads, in fact. More than just rereads, but multi-reads. I want to read/listen to the same book on repeat…and I’m not sure how long that will last.
Multi-reads often mark the beginning of a transition for me. Sometimes that’s in life, sometimes that’s a reading mood swing. The longest transition I’ve ever had was in 2005/2006, when I spent nine months reading nothing but the Harry Potter series on repeat. I read those six books – the seventh wasn’t out yet – two dozen times apiece in that nine months. When I was done, I wrote my first novel (as opposed to the short stories I’d been writing for a decade at that point).
Maybe this transition, too, is unrelated to reading. Certainly, I feel no particular urge toward books right now, beyond the multi-reads. Instead, I’ve started writing again this week, just tiny bits, a couple hundred words at a time. It’s the first time in months that writing hasn’t felt forced for me. I’ve also started listening to music regularly again for the first time in two years. And of course, there are life-changes going on, as usual, trying to deal with a new job (Jason’s), a new blood tests and diagnostics (yay doctors!), a new medication (yay depression!), etc. Then there are the vivid semi-nightmares I’ve been having on a nightly basis for the last two months, which often mark the period right before a huge internal change for me. So I don’t know what will come next.
In the meantime, though, don’t be surprised if no books pop up on my blog for a bit. I’m not going to force my brain to read through anything else while it wants to multi-read. It wouldn’t do those books justice, and I couldn’t give them the attention they deserve. So if the blog is quiet for the next little while, that’s why. I’m still here. I’m just…transitioning.
The Zen Leaf 