On 17th March 2020, I published my first post on My Bookish Banter.
That means, it has been a little more than AN ENTIRE YEAR since I started this blog! This small corner I started as a hobby and an outlet for my bookish thoughts is now officially an year old. Its been an amazing year– full of amazing reads, bookish friends, and new learnings. I am proud to have stuck with this for an entire year, even if I haven’t been so regular for the past few months.
How it Started…
When everyone around me was starting their quarantine projects and I was spending every waking minute not spend on office work in reading, I started feeling the need for an outlet for my numerous and rambling bookish thoughts. What started as a humble platform to share book reviews gradually expanded into a place to share my book recommendations, discuss on bookish and non-bookish topics and make new friends on the internet. It is amazing how much my blog has grown in the last one year! On that note…
Are you someone who is absolutely against adaptation of books into movies/shows? Or do you believe that some books are really just waiting to be adapted into an epic show/movie?
Me? I am most definitely books over movies/shows person. Mostly because I am a more character-oriented reader as compared to a plot-oriented one, and thus end up reading more medium to slow paced books. BUT…I really think a good adaptation can do wonders for a book. While nothing can beat a book when it comes to delving into the inner turmoil of characters, a visual adaptation no doubt ups the entertainment and atmosphere quotient of a book.
Here is a list of 5 books I recently read that I would love to see a visual adaptation of!
I finally read the first book of the duology this year, after feeling like I am the only person on the damn planet who hasn’t read this book, and I was a bit…underwhelmed? Mostly because I was a bit confused throughout the book, and could not for the life of me, visualize the heist in my mind. I absolutely love movies and shows with heists (don’t we all?) and Six of Crows has full potential to be adapted into a movie. The characters and dialogues are sassy and memorable, and I for one would love to see the complicated character of Kaz on screen.
Can you imagine how spell-binding a good visual adaption of this series can be? Shades of Magic has all the elements of an epic fantasy series. I would especially love to see the Element Games on screen – the glamour, the duels, the pompous show-offs by magicians, all of which could look amazing in a Netflix series. The plot is equal parts action-oriented and atmospheric – perfect for a visual adaptation.
All the while reading the Winternight Trilogy, I could think just one thing – how cool would it look in a movie! While Katherine Arden’s prose did complete justice to the Russian mythology and folklore woven in the story, I would be delighted to see the scenic ambiance of Russian wilderness and the glory of Mexico on screen. Since the plot of the first book is slightly slow, it would be more suited to a movie rather than a show.
Mexican Gothic would make for a perfect haunted in a mind-bending way kind of movie, complete with a headstrong female protagonist and a gothic and forlorn mansion. I was also quite taken with Silvia’s descriptions of Neomi’s amazing dressing sense, which sounded glamorous in an understated, classy manner, and would absolutely love to see those dresses on screen!
My single biggest reason for choosing this book would be one with which almost everyone who has read it would agree – THE SONGS! I was amazed to see the lyrics to each and every one of the songs the (completely fictional) band created in the book. This book is most definitely a musical waiting to be made!
Do you agree with my choices? What other books do you think should be converted to movies/shows?
As an ardent booklover who had wondered for a long long time if book blogging is for me and finally took the plunge this year, I’m here to unequivocally announce to everyone – YES BOOK BLOGGING IS FOR YOU! What’s more, I’ll even give you a list of reasons why you absolutely should start a book blog!
Here are 10 reasons why you should absolutely start a book blog!
#1: You have an outlet to talk (read rant) about your bookish thoughts, obsessions and fantasies
If you are like me, your friends and family would have already been fed up of your near-constant talking about books you are reading, books you love, books you detest, books on your TBR, books you are anticipating….and so on.
Well then, welcome to the club! The book blogosphere is full of weird bookish people like you (and me), who want to scream from the rooftops about their undying love for that fictional character and that another book that tore them apart. You will never run out of space to talk about your thoughts and feelings, and what’s more, you will definitely have people who might be sitting a world away but exactly get what you are saying. Isn’t that just amazing?
#2: You own a piece of internet and have a voice that carries across the oceans
I think this applies to blogging in general. There is something so satisfying in owning a platform and being its ultimate ruler. You decide how it looks and what you want to convey. You are actually shaping opinions with your words!
#3: The loving and supportive community of crazy and weird book nerds
If you think you are weirdly crazy about books, wait till you enter the bookish community. We are one weird bunch.
For every book you are fangirling about, you will find tens of others who are even more weirdly obsessed than you. You can have friends across the globe to discuss, laugh, cry and obsess about the same things. The bookish community is a wonderfully supportive and there can never be a dearth of people to connect with.
Well…this is an obvious one! True to blogging in general, but even more true for book blogging.
Let me explain.
It is not easy to dissect and analyse a book you gushed, cried, agonized and grieved over. It is absolutely not easy to give words to exactly why you want to die for those characters. Even when you don’t like a book, you can’t just sign-off with “hey, this book was atrocious..don’t read it!“, right? Giving words to those roller-coaster of emotions you went through is definitely going to challenge your articulation and grammar.
#5: Free Books! Did I say it loud enough? Free Books!
There! I said it. I know that one shouldn’t start a book blog for free books. But that doesn’t mean it is a not an irrefutable perk of being a book blogger!
OK they are not actually free – you get free books in return for the service you do. You review them, spread the word about new releases and support the sales of those amazing books. And of course, it will take some time before you build enough following to be able to get your hands on the books you actually want to read pre-release.
That being said, there is so much happiness in being one of the few people who are able to read a book before its release, especially if it is one you are highly anticipating !
Do you ever wonder how do book bloggers stay updated with the latest new releases or how do they just know which books to read? They surely couldn’t have read that many books, right?
The answer is, once you are a book blogger and are constantly interacting with other people in the bookish community, you are bound to read tonnes of recommendation posts, come across the buzz and excitement surrounding a new release, receive newsletters from publishers about their planned releases and lots more. In short, you will be able to talk about books you have and haven’t read.
And you will have a TBR pile to last you seven lifetimes ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
How cool is this! You have a hobby you can actually brag about. Oh, you know, I just blog about books in my free time. Yeah, I actually talk to authors and publishers send me free books before release to review them.
This might sound counter-intuitive, right? You might spend less time reading and more time blogging…how in the world are you going to read more??
But the matter of fact is, it just happens. Once you start getting all those book recommendations and ARCs, your reading just shoots through the roof. I was reading 3-4 books every month before I started blogging, and have been reading a whopping 16 books a month for the past 3 months! And its not just me. Almost every book blogger has experienced this.
So even if you are a newbie bookworm looking for motivation to read more and a place to record your thoughts, book blogging is for you! Which brings me to my next point.
A lot of book bloggers started out merely to have a space to critically analyse their reads and have a platform for keep a track of their reading. Writing book reviews is an amazing way to really think about why you liked or disliked a book. As you continue reviewing books, you will notice how the different components of a book such as writing, world-building, characters and pacing come together in way that makes or breaks the book.
#10: It can serve as a launching pad for a future career
Whether you are an aspiring author, or you are planning to start a blog tour company of your own – book blogging provides the perfect launching pad for your career. You get to build a solid network, practice your writing skills, and interact with a wide variety of audience including authors, publishers, blog tour organizers and readers. Even if all you want to do is gradually turn into a lifestyle blogger and make a steady income from blogging, book blogging provides you with enough hands-on experience to see if it is your cup of tea!
Have I convinced you to take the plunge and start your own book blog? I hope so, because I am soon coming out with a series of book blogging resources and a few expert tips and tricks I have learnt over time!
Make sure you don’t miss out by subscribing to my email list below!
If you are an ardent booklover, chances are that you love to feast your eyes on pictures of gorgeous pictures of book covers, book spines, bookshelves, libraries, bookstores, books with cats, people with books….you get my drift.
No wonder bookstagram i.e. Instagram accounts dedicated to bookish photography, is a delight for any booklover. Its a magical land full of beautiful bookish images and never-ending book recommendations. What’s more, it provides a community for bibliophiles to rave about their favorite reads. Whats not to love about it? (It does end up eating a significant amount of my time, but its worth it :P)
Here’s a list of my favourite bookstagram accounts with some snippets of their gorgeous feeds!
Being a book blogger has its long list of advantages, but a rather big one for me has been my swelling TBR pile.
To those of who foreign to the bookish lingo, TBR stands for To Be Read, and refers to the long long list of books that I absolutely want to read. It includes some which I already have a copy of, and others which I am interested in reading including those which are not yet released. Anytime I find a book I wish to read, I simply add it to my Goodreads TBR shelf.
Since I entered the wonderful world of book blogging, I follow other book bloggers even more religiously. Thanks to this, every day I come across atleast 2-3 reviews so great that I have to add those books to my TBR. Add to this the upcoming releases I keep a track of on Netgalley and Edelweiss, and what we have is books enough to be read over nine lifetimes.
Anyways, these are some of my ten most recent additions to my TBR. I hope that those reading this will end up finding some good reads and adding them to their own shelves.
The Court of Miracles by Kester Grant
This was released just last week and I’ve heard so many good things about it!
Les Misérables meets Six of Crows in this page-turning adventure as a young thief finds herself going head to head with leaders of Paris’s criminal underground in the wake of the French Revolution.
In the violent urban jungle of an alternate 1828 Paris, the French Revolution has failed and the city is divided between merciless royalty and nine underworld criminal guilds, known as the Court of Miracles. Eponine (Nina) Thénardier is a talented cat burglar and member of the Thieves Guild. Nina’s life is midnight robberies, avoiding her father’s fists, and watching over her naïve adopted sister, Cosette (Ettie). When Ettie attracts the eye of the Tiger–the ruthless lord of the Guild of Flesh–Nina is caught in a desperate race to keep the younger girl safe. Her vow takes her from the city’s dark underbelly to the glittering court of Louis XVII. And it also forces Nina to make a terrible choice–protect Ettie and set off a brutal war between the guilds, or forever lose her sister to the Tiger.
The Fictional 100: Ranking the Most Influential Characters in World Literature and Legend by Lucy Pollard-Gott
I was introduced to this very interesting and sorely underestimated (just 16 ratings and reviews on Goodreads!) book on a book blog recently.
Some of the most influential and interesting people in the world are fictional. Sherlock Holmes, Huck Finn, Pinocchio, Anna Karenina, Genji, and Superman, to name a few, may not have walked the Earth (or flown, in Superman’s case), but they certainly stride through our lives. They influence us personally: as childhood friends, catalysts to our dreams, or even fantasy lovers. Peruvian author and presidential candidate Mario Vargas Llosa, for one, confessed to a lifelong passion for Flaubert’s Madame Bovary. Characters can change the world. Witness the impact of Solzhenitsyn’s Ivan Denisovich, in exposing the conditions of the Soviet Gulag, or Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom, in arousing anti-slavery feeling in America. Words such as quixotic, oedipal, and herculean show how fictional characters permeate our language. This list of the Fictional 100 ranks the most influential fictional persons in world literature and legend, from all time periods and from all over the world, ranging from Shakespeare’s Hamlet [1] to Toni Morrison’s Beloved [100]. By tracing characters’ varied incarnations in literature, art, music, and film, we gain a sense of their shape-shifting potential in the culture at large. Although not of flesh and blood, fictional characters have a life and history of their own. Meet these diverse and fascinating people. From the brash Hercules to the troubled Holden Caulfield, from the menacing plots of Medea to the misguided schemes of Don Quixote, The Fictional 100 runs the gamut of heroes and villains, young and old, saints and sinners. Ponder them, fall in love with them, learn from their stories the varieties of human experience–let them live in you.
I’ve seen this one recommended by many fellow bloggers, and the premise sounds really intriguing.
Humans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population. From space, a ruthless lunar people watch, waiting to make their move. No one knows that Earth’s fate hinges on one girl. . . .
Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg. She’s a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister’s illness. But when her life becomes intertwined with the handsome Prince Kai’s, she suddenly finds herself at the center of an intergalactic struggle, and a forbidden attraction. Caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal, she must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect her world’s future.
With high-stakes action and a smart, resourceful heroine, Cinder is a Cinderella retelling that is at once classic and strikingly original.
I seem to be the only one who hasn’t read even a single book by SJM. Though YA is not really my preferred genre, I intend on giving this one a try..
After serving out a year of hard labor in the salt mines of Endovier for her crimes, 18-year-old assassin Celaena Sardothien is dragged before the Crown Prince. Prince Dorian offers her her freedom on one condition: she must act as his champion in a competition to find a new royal assassin.
Her opponents are men-thieves and assassins and warriors from across the empire, each sponsored by a member of the king’s council. If she beats her opponents in a series of eliminations, she’ll serve the kingdom for four years and then be granted her freedom. Celaena finds her training sessions with the captain of the guard, Westfall, challenging and exhilarating. But she’s bored stiff by court life. Things get a little more interesting when the prince starts to show interest in her … but it’s the gruff Captain Westfall who seems to understand her best.
Then one of the other contestants turns up dead … quickly followed by another. Can Celaena figure out who the killer is before she becomes a victim? As the young assassin investigates, her search leads her to discover a greater destiny than she could possibly have imagined.
I recently read South of the Buttonwood Tree by Heather Webber and loved it. So of course, the older and one of her more popular works goes straight to my TBR.
Heather Webber’s Midnight at the Blackbird Cafe is a captivating blend of magical realism, heartwarming romance, and small-town Southern charm.
Nestled in the mountain shadows of Alabama lies the little town of Wicklow. It is here that Anna Kate has returned to bury her beloved Granny Zee, owner of the Blackbird Café.
It was supposed to be a quick trip to close the café and settle her grandmother’s estate, but despite her best intentions to avoid forming ties or even getting to know her father’s side of the family, Anna Kate finds herself inexplicably drawn to the quirky Southern town her mother ran away from so many years ago, and the mysterious blackbird pie everybody can’t stop talking about.
As the truth about her past slowly becomes clear, Anna Kate will need to decide if this lone blackbird will finally be able to take her broken wings and fly.
Magic Lessons: The Prequel to Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman
Another upcoming release. It looks amazing!
In an unforgettable novel that traces a centuries-old curse to its source, beloved author Alice Hoffman unveils the story of Maria Owens, accused of witchcraft in Salem, and matriarch of a line of the amazing Owens women and men featured in Practical Magic and The Rules of Magic.
Where does the story of the Owens bloodline begin? With Maria Owens, in the 1600s, when she’s abandoned in a snowy field in rural England as a baby. Under the care of Hannah Owens, Maria learns about the “Unnamed Arts.” Hannah recognizes that Maria has a gift and she teaches the girl all she knows. It is here that she learns her first important lesson: Always love someone who will love you back.
When Maria is abandoned by the man who has declared his love for her, she follows him to Salem, Massachusetts. Here she invokes the curse that will haunt her family. And it’s is here that she learns the rules of magic and the lesson that she will carry with her for the rest of her life. Love is the only thing that matters.
I read The Night Circus a few weeks back, and it is easily one of my favourite books already! I know that most believe that The Starless Sea does not hold a candle to The Night Circus, but I have to try for myself.
Far beneath the surface of the earth, upon the shores of the Starless Sea, there is a labyrinthine collection of tunnels and rooms filled with stories. The entryways that lead to this sanctuary are often hidden, sometimes on forest floors, sometimes in private homes, sometimes in plain sight. But those who seek will find. Their doors have been waiting for them.
Zachary Ezra Rawlins is searching for his door, though he does not know it. He follows a silent siren song, an inexplicable knowledge that he is meant for another place. When he discovers a mysterious book in the stacks of his campus library he begins to read, entranced by tales of lovelorn prisoners, lost cities, and nameless acolytes. Suddenly a turn of the page brings Zachary to a story from his own childhood impossibly written in this book that is older than he is.
A bee, a key, and a sword emblazoned on the book lead Zachary to two people who will change the course of his life: Mirabel, a fierce, pink-haired painter, and Dorian, a handsome, barefoot man with shifting alliances. These strangers guide Zachary through masquerade party dances and whispered back room stories to the headquarters of a secret society where doorknobs hang from ribbons, and finally through a door conjured from paint to the place he has always yearned for. Amid twisting tunnels filled with books, gilded ballrooms, and wine-dark shores Zachary falls into an intoxicating world soaked in romance and mystery. But a battle is raging over the fate of this place and though there are those who would willingly sacrifice everything to protect it, there are just as many intent on its destruction. As Zachary, Mirabel, and Dorian venture deeper into the space and its histories and myths, searching for answers and each other, a timeless love story unspools, casting a spell of pirates, painters, lovers, liars, and ships that sail upon a Starless Sea.
I don’t exactly remember how it landed on my TBR, but I am all for interesting memoirs! That beautiful cover might also have had a role to play though🤷♀️
n her most revealing and powerful book yet, the beloved activist, speaker, and author of the bestselling sensations Love Warrior and Carry On, Warrior explores the joy and peace we discover when we stop striving to meet the expectations of the world, and start trusting the voice deep within us.
This is how you find yourself.
There is a voice of longing inside every woman. We strive so mightily to be good: good mothers, daughters, partners, employees, citizens, and friends. We believe all this striving will make us feel alive. Instead, it leaves us feeling weary, stuck, overwhelmed, and underwhelmed. We look at our lives, relationships, and world, and wonder: Wasn’t it all supposed to be more beautiful than this? We quickly silence that question, telling ourselves to be grateful. We hide our simmering discontent—even from ourselves. Until we reach our boiling point.
Four years ago, Glennon Doyle—bestselling Oprah-endorsed author, renowned activist and humanitarian, wife and mother of three—was speaking at a conference when a woman entered the room. Glennon looked at her and fell instantly in love. Three words flooded her mind: There She Is. At first, Glennon assumed these words came to her from on high. Soon she realized that they came to her from within.
Glennon was finally hearing her own voice—the voice that had been silenced by decades of cultural conditioning, numbing addictions, and institutional allegiances. This was the voice of the girl Glennon had been before the world told her who to be. She vowed to never again abandon herself. She decided to build a life of her own—one based on her individual desire, intuition, and imagination. She would reclaim her true, untamed self.
Soulful and uproarious, forceful and tender, Untamed is both a memoir and a galvanizing wake-up call. It offers a piercing, electrifying examination of the restrictive expectations women are issued from birth; shows how hustling to meet those expectations leaves women feeling dissatisfied and lost; and reveals that when we quit abandoning ourselves and instead abandon the world’s expectations of us, we become women who can finally look at ourselves and recognize: There She Is.
Untamed shows us how to be brave. As Glennon insists: The braver we are, the luckier we get.
After reading The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg, I discovered this more popular and better rated (as per Goodreads) book on a similar topic. It caught my interest instantaneously and I hope to read it soon.
No matter your goals, Atomic Habits offers a proven framework for improving–every day. James Clear, one of the world’s leading experts on habit formation, reveals practical strategies that will teach you exactly how to form good habits, break bad ones, and master the tiny behaviors that lead to remarkable results.
If you’re having trouble changing your habits, the problem isn’t you. The problem is your system. Bad habits repeat themselves again and again not because you don’t want to change, but because you have the wrong system for change. You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems. Here, you’ll get a proven system that can take you to new heights.
Clear is known for his ability to distill complex topics into simple behaviors that can be easily applied to daily life and work. Here, he draws on the most proven ideas from biology, psychology, and neuroscience to create an easy-to-understand guide for making good habits inevitable and bad habits impossible. Along the way, readers will be inspired and entertained with true stories from Olympic gold medalists, award-winning artists, business leaders, life-saving physicians, and star comedians who have used the science of small habits to master their craft and vault to the top of their field.
Learn how to: * make time for new habits (even when life gets crazy); * overcome a lack of motivation and willpower; * design your environment to make success easier; * get back on track when you fall off course; …and much more.
Atomic Habits will reshape the way you think about progress and success, and give you the tools and strategies you need to transform your habits–whether you are a team looking to win a championship, an organization hoping to redefine an industry, or simply an individual who wishes to quit smoking, lose weight, reduce stress, or achieve any other goal.
After loving The Ten Thousand Doors of January and getting to know that this one is expected to release this year in September, I had to add it to my TBR. Also, look at that cover!😍😍
In 1893, there’s no such thing as witches. There used to be, in the wild, dark days before the burnings began, but now witching is nothing but tidy charms and nursery rhymes. If the modern woman wants any measure of power, she must find it at the ballot box.
But when the Eastwood sisters–James Juniper, Agnes Amaranth, and Beatrice Belladonna–join the suffragists of New Salem, they begin to pursue the forgotten words and ways that might turn the women’s movement into the witch’s movement. Stalked by shadows and sickness, hunted by forces who will not suffer a witch to vote-and perhaps not even to live-the sisters will need to delve into the oldest magics, draw new alliances, and heal the bond between them if they want to survive.
There’s no such thing as witches. But there will be.
Lifestyle Whiz 