What’s a book you never finished but still think about?
Years ago, during the final steps of my wedding preparations, my mother insisted that I should have one of those well- known cooking books in my new home. She had already bought me one before I had even thought about it.
Before getting married, I used to help in the kitchen, but I had never been in charge of making full meals or anything complicated.
So my mother (may God bless her soul) believed that a cooking book would be a good help.
Honestly, I never used it, and I have no idea where I left it.
I might have had a look at it, though, but that was all.
Since then, whenever a booking book, with its colourful, mouth watering pictures and recipes, fell into my hands, I would give it a quick scan and put it back where I found it.
This doesn’t mean I don’t like cooking, because I do.
The thing is, perfection, consistency, exact measurements, are not on every woman’s cooking agenda.
By the way, would you really pause one day to think about a book that you never finished?
If the book was really of any interest to you, then you would have finished it.
Otherwise, you’d ruffle through its pages and quietly set it aside without anyone noticing.
Sometimes thinking too much is not only frustrating but also a kind of torture.
So, for example, when you think too much about writing something, you end up writing nothing at all.
Have you ever felt this way?
I usually don’t think too much before writing. When an idea or a quote or a book or whatever strikes me as inspiration, I grab my iPad and write.
Of course that’s when there are no distractions around.
And I have too many distractions these days.
Now, back to my Thinking Too Much post, the idea simply popped into my head this afternoon as I was reading.
I’ve been reading more of Lisa Wingate’s books. Her writing style is one of the things that won’t bore readers, even when the story itself isn’t that surprising.
For me, a story becomes more interesting when its narrative is captivating.
Anyway, the main character in the book is one of those people who thinks too much, giving both herself and me as a reader a headache.
But this kind of inner turmoil happens in life too. Right.
Some people weave a drama inside their heads that has nothing to do with reality. Or they weave things that do have something to do with reality, but don’t need all this drama.
In both scenarios, the drama doesn’t end until you spill it out. When you finally reveal what’s bothering, what’s annoying, or what’s frightening; all that have been buzzing in your head suddenly quiet down. It feels as if the door was wide open all along, and you were only looking through its magic eye.
The heroine in the story is exactly this type, and she stays that way until truth and reality meet her face to face.
But reading this inner turmoil is not like feeling it. I mean if you ever write your inner overthinking drama down and read it later, you might be surprised by your reaction because you would definitely laugh at yourself.
You would say: why think too much, why not explain things, why not ask about things, can’t you see the open door there, all the time? All you need is to step in, straightaway.
Things may turn out simpler and clearer than what you’ve been weaving into your head. And if they don’t, then at least you can step away but never back behind the door again.
And finally, this post is done and hopefully I’ll finish the book by the end of today.
What’s a conspiracy theory you actually find believable?
I used to believe seagulls were fish eaters.
Really.
And I never imagined they could be that big until I moved to
the UK many years ago
But they’re not only getting bigger, they’re multiplying.
And… they don’t seem interested in fish anymore.
They have changed their diet to human food, any kind of food, even the discarded leftovers in the food waste bins.
Apparently they have changed their own conspiracy theory about food hunting over the years. Everything changes, so why shouldn’t they?
So, according to my humble observation, their updated theory now consists of two components.
First: the secret agents, the ones positioned on the rooftops, cars, buses, and those who walk side by side next to humans along the streets. They try to look cool and cute and well-behaved which is the most important part of the plan to support the second half of the theory.
Then comes the critical part, the job reserved for their professional leaders. When the right moment arrives, the gull commanders launch into one of their marvellous scuba-dive shows. But neither the dive nor the show has anything to do with marine life. Those big commanders plunge from the high sky, straight, strong, committed, towards their target: human hands. They snatch a poor human’s long-awaited meal.
Yes, they snatch, gulp, swallow any kind of food, you, human, might be enjoying at that very moment.
And you, poor human, are totally oblivious to those gulls’ conspiracy theory.
But recently, It seems that humans finally decided to form their own conspiracy theory against the gulls.
Yes, some old men in a public park were joking about having roasted gulls for dinner.
I only wish they would consider the difference between the wild gulls and the trash-eating ones.
Otherwise, their conspiracy theory does them no good.
The gulls will multiply, and those funny old men will be extinguished.
I once read that there’s some uncertainty surrounding Shakespeare’s writings. According to some researchers, he may have been supported by other writers who added much to his literary works.
Now I’m really uncertain about this news.
But I’m certain that Shakespeare was a main, heavy course during my BA studies years ago.
But again, I’m uncertain whether my lecturers and professors back then were aware of this information.
Anyway, even if there’s uncertainty about his works, I’m pretty certain that no one cares much this piece of news.
What’s a moment when you realized you were officially an adult?
I was the youngest of my siblings; my sister was the eldest, my brother was the middle, and the youngest was me.
So I didn’t have to play the adult much.
It wasn’t until I cradled my first baby in my arms that I felt both the beauty of motherhood and the weight of its responsibilities. And since that day, I realised it was time to play the adult.
As a full time mother, I played the adult with its different characters, moods, and shapes.
Yes, I played the kind nurse, the angry doctor, the mad teacher, the patient counsellor, the strict inspector, the loyal lawyer, the secret keeper, the watching owl, and so many others.
But the youngest sibling in me always finds a time and a space, to laugh, to play, and to have fun with family, friends, and even her own-self, with no adult roles to play.
At the beginning of 2026, I set my reading challenge target to sixty books.
A month or two later, I reduced it to thirty.
I thought it was better to achieve the target than to lose track of it.
This wasn’t cheating, was it?
But at least, I’ve been honest with myself.
So over the last two, no three, days, I finished a wonderful book, and it happened to be the thirtieth one.
This means my 2026 reading challenge is officially fulfilled.
Now I can read more, without any pressure.
My best reading challenge score was seventy-eight books in 2023,
and I was so happy with that big harvest.
But honestly, I’m not sure if I had followed the same strategy back then.
I mean if I had started with a target of thirty and ended up finishing seventy-eight books.
Things didn’t work with the same enthusiasm over the last few years, though.
Why? I wonder sometimes.
But, I do know why.
Mainly because of my stubbornness.
Once I set my mind to read a book, I want to finish it; even if I don’t like it, even if it gives me a headache, and even if it bores me to tears.
And I discovered another reason; the high target I set for myself.
Whenever I planned to read more books, I ended up reading far less than expected.
But we do learn from our mistakes.
So, I will stick to my old strategy; start with less and end up reading more.
And perhaps, for stubbornness, I’ll pretend to forget about the books I don’t like until the end of the year. Then I can say, “sorry but your time is out.”
So… well done, me, for achieving my reading target in August.
And I will let you know how many more books I finish by the end of this year.
