Misc

Month in Review: October 2023

Hello friends! It’s been a while since we had a month-in-review post, since I was overseas at the start of October and well… I’ve actually been overseas too. So this is late but thankfully not so late that I lose all momentum to write this.

October in Books

After reading only nine books in September (which is less than most months this year), I thought I bounced back by reading twelve books in October! Of course, it helps that I read much more fiction this much – two Agatha Christie novels (both of which I enjoyed) and the final book in the Dark is Rising series. I really enjoyed revisiting Susan Cooper’s fantasy series after more than a decade!

I gotta say, though, as we approach the end of the year, I’ve been re-evaluating my approach to reading. Reading for fun and reading a lot is very relaxing for me, but I’m wondering if I should lower my reading goals and focus a bit more on challenging books so that I have a good mix of relaxation and learning.

I’ve also received my belated birthday present from my boyfriend! He says I tend to finish books rather quickly so he decided to get me Cain’s Jawbone, which will take me ages. It’s basically a literary puzzle – you have to put the pages together in order and I’m sure I’m never going to solve it (good chance I’ll lose a page at some point). But I’m sure it will be fun!

October in Tea

It has been another quiet month for tea drinking, though not for tea accumulation! Perhaps because I thought I was making good progress drinking down both the Lupicia and the Chinese teas (see: all tea reviews for the past few months) but I ended up buying a tea advent calendar! I’m quite excited for it – it’ll be from Palais des Thes and I hope it arrives in time.

Fun fact: I wanted to buy this while I was in France but was informed that the tea advent would only be available the week after we left. If only the timings matched – I would have saved on shipping!

I was also super fortunate to have met some tea-loving people during my trip to China, so even though I had absolutely no plans to buy tea, I came home with quite a bit. One of them is an aged Liu Bao Cha, a fermented tea. The one I got has been around since 1991, so I’m very intrigued as to how it will taste!

In other news

I feel like lots of things have happened but now that I’m at this section, I don’t know what to say!

I had two pretty good trips – one to France for my graduation and one business trip to China. It was honestly so great to be able to see my friends in France, and I was also very impressed by the manufacturing plants I visited so I learnt quite a bit on both visits.

Since it’s November, I should also talk about NaNoWriMo. I was planning to enter and work on writing some nonfiction, but I find that I’ve got absolutely no urge to write at the moment! It’s probably because I’m still pretty tired but if anyone has any book recommendations on how to restart writing, please let me know! I think this month, I will just focus on learning more about writing – through lectures and courses that I’ve already bought.

Oh yes, and I managed to buy a really cute Totoro cookie tin! In terms of taste, it wasn’t as outstanding as I hoped (especially given the price) but it’s very cute and I was actually momentarily tempted to get back to Instagram and share the photos. But I have been enjoying staying off the platform (except for when I need to check out restaurants) and I ended up not posting anything.

That’s it for now, I think. I hope to be able to write/remember a bit more for the next month in review!

6 thoughts on “Month in Review: October 2023

  1. Always love an Agatha Christie book. Just read one myself.

    It’s totally understandable that you don’t feel like writing at the moment. Sometimes it’s worth it to force it and just try to write. Most of the time though, it’s just better to fully enjoy the break from it to recharge your batteries. Best ways to motivate yourself again would be to read some books that are in the same genre as the books you write. The best books to read are those that are popular but that you don’t think are any good at all. Because you’ll get angry and say things like: “this is popular? Even I can do better than this!” And then a little voice starts creeping in your thoughts saying things like: “prove it.” The voice will get louder over time, impossible to ignore. And before you know it, you’re writing another book again. That might just be me though 😀

    1. Christie is great! Haha I think my writing muse has been veryyyy quiet for a couple of years – not sure if it’s work related. But I suppose it’s best to let it rest and see when it comes back!

  2. That’s very thoughtful of your boyfriend, to give you something a bit more challenging. I’d be curious to know how you get on with Cain’s Jawbone.

  3. I can’t say I know of anything about restarting writing, but if you want to learn more about writing in general, I have to shill Le Guin’s Steering the Craft, which might reignite your passion anyway with how she talks about prose.

What do you think?