book blogging

2022: My Worst Year in Books

/ Srishty / 2 Comments

At least, since the past 8 years or so. It was a year of all time lows when it comes to reading. Remember how i mentioned here that this was the year of not growing? I think that is also reflected in my reading.

The primary reason for reading less is obviously phone addiction but I think it was stimulated majorly by entering a reading slump sometime around October because of a book I wasn’t enjoying. I might have mentioned this before, but I have a hard time DNF-ing books. I understand life is too short to read books you are not enjoying etc etc, but when I have picked a book, there’s usually some reason associated to it and I can’t let go. Funnily, that book is now getting interesting for me.

So, in what terms was the year bad for reading?

  1. I read less. I finished only 13 books this year, I know my last book opinion mentions 14 but that’s because I didn’t realise until now that I had left my 10th book midway. I only realised while randomly passing time on Goodreads.
  2. Also, Goodreads tells me that I only read an average of 143 pages per book. Honestly, since the past few years, I haven’t read huge books but this is specifically low I guess and it brings me to my next point.
  3. 3 out of the 13 books were essentially short stories. I have talked about them here.

What am i essentially doing to change things this year?

I purposely stay away from annual book challenges because i have participated a couple of times and I get too caught up without actually enjoying the book. Therefore, i am going to take certain approaches that work for me:

I am a slow reader and a forgetful one, so I am going to give my books enough time to savor them. Things that motivate me to read more are not going to be numbers but something else:

1. first of all, I’ll try to read at least 5 physical books that I have purchased since 2018. So, I have bought a lot of physical copies since 2018 (because I remember a particular book bought at that time). i hardly have read any of them since i mostly read on my Kindle, so this is one challenge that i am giving myself.

2. as last year and last-to-last one, I am going to read more books out of my comfort zone. I don’t want to put a count to this and get intimidated but this would be my number one goal books wise.

3. I’ll read with more intention. If you scroll through my book opinions from 2022, you will realise that I picked a lot of books randomly while browsing Kindle or Netgalley. While there’s nothing wrong with that and spontaneity in this department is good, I’ll intentionally do less of that this year. The reason is very basic actually – I want to read a lot of things and do not end up reading them. So, i shall plan a bit. Of course, spontaneity will be welcome when I pick up pace.

4. Most needed and most difficult – Spend less time on phone.

Book 14 of 2022 | Why is my hair curly?

/ Srishty / 2 Comments

For the first time on this blog, I have caught up to write about just as many books as I have read. It is obviously sad because that means i have managed to read pretty less. The reasons for that are: a) my current read which sent me in a reading slump of more than 2 months, b) being obsessed with reading Reddit threads at night instead of reading or phone addiction in general.

A short note on reading habit before the actual review: Remember this post? A lot of you appreciated it and while I barely continued this practice, at least it initiated me into reading articles more mindfully. As for books, I already used to savor what I read but I mostly forget what I read. Hence, going forward, you will see a structure to my book opinions. I also maintain a book journal for my notes now and I love doing that. You’ll also see me writing why I chose to read a book. It will sort of help me take a mental picture of the time I was reading that book in. I want to clarify here that I don’t read for ROI (not that that’s a bad thing) but the note-taking may sound like tedious to some of you and that’s totally understandable, but I do it to savor the book reading experience. Goes without saying that I only do it when I like to.

Moving on to the 14th read of this year:

Why I chose this book?

I got this in one of those Westland sales when they were giving away one free eBook a day, really long ago. Westland has since shut shop. 😦

What I liked?

It is a children’s book and a really enjoyable one. The book is about a little, curly haired girl and her daily struggles at school and home. Later on, the book followed to involve a family mystery that the girl helps solve. What I liked most about the book was that its writing style was similar to an old childhood favorite of mine – When Amma Went Away. Basically, if you have read any children’s book by Devika Rangachari, it’s in the same tone.

What did I not like?

I think if (and when) I had kids, I would have been extra judgy towards kids books. for now, i was pretty much happy with it. Just one complaint – I wish the story had a mystery that was more related to the kid’s own life, rather than one focused on overall family drama.

Here’s the link to the book and you can give it a go as a cosy read!

Book 9 of 2022 | Gunahon ka Devta by Dharamvir Bharati (Hindi Novel) | Diwablog 2

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Okay, you may have noticed that I am trying to do a Diwablog series for Diwali, just like loads end up doing Blogmas for Christmas (including me). I thought why not use this opportunity to also work in some long pending book opinions!

A short note on reading habit before the actual review: Remember this post? A lot of you appreciated it and while I barely continued this practice, at least it initiated me into reading articles more mindfully. As for books, I already used to savor what I read but I mostly forget what I read. Hence, going forward, you will see a structure to my book opinions. I also maintain a book journal for my notes now and I love doing that. You’ll also see me writing why I chose to read a book. It will sort of help me take a mental picture of the time I was reading that book in. I want to clarify here that I don’t read for ROI (not that that’s a bad thing) but the note-taking may sound like tedious to some of you and that’s totally understandable, but I do it to savor the book reading experience. Goes without saying that I only do it when I like to.

And now, here are my thoughts on Dharamvir Bharati’s famed novel, Gunahon ka Devta, which also recently got its English translation as Chander & Sudha (I’ll link all books at the end).

Why I chose this book?

Dharamvir Bharati had been an extremely revered Hindi novelist of his time, i.e. the 60s and the 70s. His romantic novel – Gunahon ka Devta – turned out to be a cult classic and I have been meaning to read something from him. So, i thought i’ll start with his most famed.

What I liked:

To be honest, I didn’t like most of it. I wanted to like it so badly because most of the Hindi literature that I like is from this period or slightly before. Not really from today. And i wanted to be known as someone who has read his stuff and loves it. Vain, I know. Still, if I had to pick a few things that I liked, they would be:

1. The old world charm of the Hindi hinterland since it’s based in that part of India.

2. I liked how all the women characters in the book had something strong and unique going on for them. I know many people think that the women characters were stereotypical but I don’t agree with this completely. They may be stereotypical but they all had a characteristic that stood out. Be it Binti, the side-kick cousin or her bitter & orthodox mom or even the super stereotypical Pammi, who is shown as the vamp character by showing her Anglo Indian and ‘easy’. Even the protagonist, she was unique in her own ways.

Oh wait, i should have mentioned what the book is about. It’s essentially a friendship turned love story turned sacrificial love between Chander and Sudha. Chander is a student prodigy of Sudha’s father who is a college professor. He trusts Chander blindly with anything in life and family matters (and that’s how Chander and his daughter are ‘allowed to’ be friends) but there’s not even a possibility of considering him as a perspective groom because of caste differences which was a pretty big deal back then and continues to be in many parts still, especially that area where this is based.

What I didn’t like:

A lot. First of all, I am not a big fan of the sacrificial kind of love stories. Most of the ones that I have read never seem to have a good enough reason for it, so I basically find it difficult to relate to protagonists’ problems. To top it off, I felt that both the protagonists, i.e. Chander and Sudha, had very annoying personalities. Chander is kind of self centred and despite being someone older and well-read in the equation, he exhibits really toxic man-child behavior around Sudha and when not ‘catered to’, he exhibits self-harming behavior. It’s really annoying and I could hardly garner any sympathy. If i was supposed to look for a deeper meaning in Chander’s personality, I failed. Sudha, while definitely seemed a better character than Chander, was just not good enough for me. I cannot place a finger on why I found her annoying, since I may have liked her character in another novel setting. I just didn’t like the fact that she caved in too quickly to Chander’s whims.

That’s really it. I actually really wanted to like it but i didn’t . Below are the links even though I haven’t made a good case for it:

Actual Book

English Translation

If you liked this, check out more of my latest posts:

Book 11 of 2022 | The Mountain View Murder: A Wintergreen Mystery by Patrick Kelly

/ Srishty / 2 Comments

Another day, another book post! Continuing with my streak of posting my views on all the books I read, here’s my 10th 11th one from this year. You can find more of such posts from me here.

A short note on reading habit before the actual review: Remember this post? A lot of you appreciated it and while I barely continued this practice, at least it initiated me into reading articles more mindfully. As for books, I already used to savor what I read but I mostly forget what I read. Hence, going forward, you will see a structure to my book opinions. I also maintain a book journal for my notes now and I love doing that. You’ll also see me writing why I chose to read a book. It will sort of help me take a mental picture of the time I was reading that book in. I want to clarify here that I don’t read for ROI (not that that’s a bad thing) but the note-taking may sound like tedious to some of you and that’s totally understandable, but I do it to savor the book reading experience. Goes without saying that I only do it when I like to.

And now, here are my thoughts on The Mountain View Murder:

Why I chose this book?

I was browsing Netgalley for the first time when I came across this book. Yes, it has been more than a year since Netgalley let me take this book. I think its fairly obvious why I chose this book, its name screams cozy, mountain murder mystery. That was it, then. That itself was the reason.

What I liked:

Everything. There, I completed the opinion before even saying anything! This book is about a retired detective Bill O’Shea who moves to Wintergreen, a mountain resort in North Carolina, to spend his life post retirement. The police chief there, Alex, is a temporary chief who doesn’t have a lot of experience with this sort of work when someone dies. So, he ropes in Bill to help him solve the case. Alex, rest of the team and almost everyone in the story believes that its an accident, but Bill wants to track every clue to figure out what it actually is – murder or accident. What then ensues is your typical whodunnit and all the characters are very enjoyable in the story. The suspects, of course, with their motives keep giving the book fun dimensions with every flashback into their lives. However, the main character, i.e., our detective Bill and his supporting characters add a lot to the experience. There’s Bill’s new love interest, Cindy, who approaches Bill right when he moves to his condo, Mitch, the young policeman who works with Bill, Krista, the policewoman who has a very fun, outgoing and charming side to her while being amazing at her job, Kim, the Wintergreen gossip journal who also adds to the whodunnit once giving it a fun twist!

To top it all, the setting of the book, i.e. a mountain resort from where multiple hiking trails pass through, make for a fun ride. I enjoyed reading this so much and after this I downloaded so many mystery books on my Kindle!

What I didn’t like:

I really don’t have anything, except I wish the book went on for longer! 😀

A huge thanks to Netgalley for giving me the chance to read this book!

2,3,4,5th reads of 2022

/ Srishty / 2 Comments

Hello! I am bringing back book opinions it seems. Let’s see how that goes. 😀

If you are thinking why I didn’t mention book 1, that’s because I had some notes for it which are at my home and i am visiting my dad in Raipur (where he is posted currently). So, more on book 1 later.

Now all these 4 books are special as these are written by one of my favorite instagrammers, Pooja – thewhimsybookworm. I am linking her blog but you can find her on Instagram by the same name. I always knew I would love whatever she writes because of two reasons – 1) i relate to the books she likes, as in i know I’ll like them too, 2) she posts a lot of tiny stories (more like day to day events explained as stories) on Instagram and they are total page turners! My only gripe with these was that I am scared to read horror stories even though I enjoy them, but since it’s by Pooja, there was no way i won’t read them. I was just waiting for the right opportunity. All of these are short stories, so i read them one after the other pretty quickly and, needless to say, loved them to bits! Pooja’s tales, whether these or on Instagram, always engross me in their funny, scary, sarcastic and sometimes even toxic mesh! Below are some highlights from the 4 books for you to savor!

2nd of 2022, The Stranger in the Hotel Room: This is one of her finest works. Before you diss me for writing something like this for an author who has just about 4 short story books published, I’ll tell you why I said this. This book has a very vintage Bengal vibes, where there’s a colonial hotel in which a woman gets stuck, in times when it wasn’t common for women in India to travel alone. Also, the book is narrated from the pov of the author herself as she recalls her mom’s friends’ hangouts with such gossips. Despite being a scary story, it has a light hearted humourous vibe. This vibe stays through the book thus making it a scary but light hearted story. Hence, the tag of being a fine work.

3rd of 2022, A Girl Possessed: the story telling is great but once you know that a story about getting possessed is based on real life events, it always leaves you feeling sad. Especially so when it’s about a young school going girl who had her whole life in front of her.

4th of 2022, The Night of the Flood: this was the creepiest of all, as it was a mix of spookiness & something tangible at play. Totally motion picture material spanning across eras and generations and unrelated characters getting connected.

5th of 2022, Stree – Collection of 3 short stories: all good, endearing tales with woman protagonists. I only didn’t like the last one as i prefer more solid kind of endings rather than open ended ones. It also ended a bit abruptly.

This was it! A women’s day relevant post afterall 😀 do share what you are reading

When to find time to read?

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Read in metro queues

Read in passport renewal lines

Read on your way to work (if you aren’t driving or else listen to an audio book 😀)

Read while on solo dates in cozy cafes

Read while waiting for someone

Read when you are out on a lunch date with self

Read in book fairs in stalls that have chairs

Read before napping in afternoons

Read right after napping

Read before sleeping

Read in parks sitting on cute benches

Read on weekends

Read when soaking sun on the weekends

Read when you can, as that is what matters. Not how much or what you read.