The Melodramatic Bookworm

My Favorite Authors of All Time | 7 Authors I’d Do Anything For!

There are many authors I love that I’ve discovered over the years I’ve been reading. They are on the list for various reasons, with new ones emerging every single day and others shifting to make place for them. But there are some authors who have made a permanent place for themselves in my heart and have remained there. They, through their writing and the stories they tell, have impacted me so much that were they to ask me of anything in the whole, wide world, I’d do it with my eyes closed.

I’ve already spoken about this and the extent to which I can go in a video. If you’d like to go check that out instead, here’s the link: 7 Authors I’d Do Anything For.

Reading Popular BookTok Romances To Find Out If They Are Worth the Hype!

TikTok is banned in India, for whatever reason and because of this, we’re missing out on a lot of content – BookTok especially. However, I’ve also been seeing everywhere (on book Twitter especially) the discourse that BookTok can be really limiting in some ways, in the sense that they either recommend the same books over and over again or that some of the books coming out as recommendations are toxic AF and are being glorified unnecessarily while turning a blind eye to the toxicity. While I think the first isn’t that bad, it was the second that caught my eye, because there were a couple of books that I was really looking forward to on that list. So I thought, ‘Okay, we might not have BookTok in India, but we have the books, so why not make a video out of it?’

As a result I decided to read 6 of the most popular romance books BookTok kept hyping up in a bid to decide whether or not they were worth the hype for me. And I made a vlog out of it. Here’s the link if you’d like to watch it: Reading Popular BookTok Romances.

10 Tips on How to Get Out of a Reading Slump!

More than a year ago, I made a video in which I spoke about how to get out of a reading slump. The video wasn’t a big hit, really. It’s gotten fewer than 400 views so far, although the comments told me that it helped a few people. And that’s what matters to me. This isn’t an ‘I’m looking at the silver lining’ kinda thing, though, because YouTube is more sweat than earnings. But I really do feel that at least one of these tips will help if you’re in a reading slump. All of these are tried and tested – as I always do with my book recommendations and book reviews.

Before anything, however… What exactly is a reading slump?

A reading slump is a reader’s worst nightmare (figuratively) and a period of time in which no book seems to hold their attention. They can’t seem to be able to focus on any book. They don’t seem to find any book interesting and move from book to book trying to find that one book that will break this traffic jam of sorts. In this period, giving up on a book happens every other day – if one has picked up a book, that is. This can be annoying because the reader might want to read a lot, to get through their TBR, but their brain is constantly going, “SLUMP SLUMP SLUMP!”

10 Beaches in the World on my Bucket-List | Must-Visit List – 2022 Edition

Beaches. Waters. Sands. I’m not a great fan of water. Maybe because I feel vulnerable when I’m bombarded by it. So when it rains, you’ll find me staring at it in annoyance. When I pass by a puddle, I skirt it and curse anyone who splashes. When I’m near a pool or the beach, I make sure I’m careful enough not to be around people who can dunk me into the water.

Nevertheless, there is something about beaches that pulls me to them. There is a sense of calm that comes with sitting on the beachside, watching the waters, or walking through their shallower parts, just enough so that your ankles get a taste of the blues. And because of this, you can find me staring at pictures of beautiful beaches, of waterfalls and of large hotels with glistening pools. Especially Santorini, my dream destination that I had the absolute pleasure of visiting in 2017. I can’t seem to help myself as I gaze dreamily at the white and blue walls as well as the blue waters that ripple in the backdrop, occasionally cut through by boats and ships and yachts and what not. It’s a delight is what I’m saying.

My Favorite Book Quotes of All Time – Part 1

I want to start off this blog post by saying something profound. Something like how reading has always been a huge part of my life and how I am nothing without it. And although that’s true to a large extent, I’ve come to learn that I am something without reading, but reading is what makes me a better person. It makes me realize the wrongs I’ve done and to acknowledge them. It makes me look at perspectives especially because acknowledging that there are so many of them in the world helps me understand the world and the people around me better. So there. That was my profound introduction to a blog post that has been in the works for a long time.

This segues neatly into what I want to say about quotes. As a reader, writer, introvert, and awkward resident of the world, I have a lot of thoughts. But more often than not – as writers will agree with me – words fail us. Yes, the irony is not lost on us. The reader part of us, however, reads quotes in books and turns to our writer side and mocks it, saying, “See, THAT’S what it is! You couldn’t write that!” And we agree. We couldn’t. Because sometimes, people who you have never met put your feelings into words in a much better manner than you could ever have. And that’s what makes this series of blog posts so special for me.

July 2022 Reading Wrap Up | Books I Read in July 2022!

July 2022 was the month of many changes for me. From getting news of having to move countries to yet again coming down with COVID to packing up in 3 days for the move to having a cracker of a reading month as I went through all of this – this is just a gist of how July 2022 went. There’s so much I want to share with you – videos I have in the works, blog posts I am planning to write, plans I have for my channel, the books I brought with me in the move – but all in good time. They are brewing but meanwhile, I’m here to talk about my July 2022 reading wrap up.

In July 2022, I read 15 books. Of the books I read in July 2022, many of them were ebooks, some were review copies, and yet others physical copies. It might seem like an eclectic mix at first sight, but I’m not satisfied with how diverse they are or how different they are from each other. Here’s hoping things get better in August, and given how it’s going so far, the hope remains because it isn’t becoming reality yet. 😛

Warlord of Ayodhya: Rebellion by Shatrujeet Nath | Book Review

Shatrujeet Nath sent me a copy of his latest book, Warlord of Ayodhya: Rebellion, about 6 months ago and I promised him I’d read and review it as soon as possible. But then, the phase happened and I couldn’t get to it, given how badly the following months went. A few weeks ago, however, I pulled it out of my TBR cart, silently promising myself and the author that I would get to it soon. And then something else happened: the move. But there was progress this time, because while the move was happening, I was reading this book. I brought it with me, and what a wise decision it was!

I’ll talk more about the move in an upcoming blog post, so stay tuned? 😀

The Mid-Year Book Freakout Tag – 2022 Edition!

It’s about a month past the middle of the year and I kept putting off this blog post because I’d already done the video for The Mid-Year Book Freak Out Tag 2022. But then again, I really want to do this here as well. As you might know, this is a tag with 15 questions which we use to check in on our reading progress in the middle of the year, be it talking about the books we loved, the books we didn’t like, the books we are looking forward to, and so much more!

The Mid-Year Book Freak Out Tag is one of my favorite book tags to do because of how much fun the questions are. I get to gush about the books I love – something that can give me hours of footage to edit – and diss on the books I don’t love – well, this too can give me hours of footage to edit. 😛 I make sure to do it every single year on my channel and I intend to keep it every year so that I can track my reading.

15 Places in India On My Bucket List | Must-Visit List – 2022 Edition

In religion, India is the only millionaire – the One land that all men desire to see, and having seen once, by even a glimpse, would not give that glimpse for all the shows of all the rest of the globe combined. – Mark Twain

India is a land of many wonders, languages, scenic landscapes and beautiful people. There are so many things you can do here, that it would not compare to any experiences that you might have as you travel around the world. It holds many surprises: enchanting, exhilarating and energizing! And after a long and difficult period of mulling over the long and seemingly never-ending list of destination options that I had in hand, I finally came up with this list of astoundingly beautiful locations where you can just throw your head back and enjoy the sprinkles of happiness that Nature showers on you.

Steven Johnson and the Mission 2 by Yashesh Rathod | Book Review

Science fiction and everything it holds brings us so many possibilities. When books or movies in the past mentioned an invention that wasn’t present at the time but would be around in the future, it is called an accurate prediction. But is it mere coincidence? Or a mere Nostradamus-like prediction? Or is it that the inventors took inspiration from these mentions and brought it to fruition? I wouldn’t be surprised if it was that last option because art IS inspiring. Yashesh Rathod’s Steven Johnson and the Mission series is one such that made me wonder: will this all be available to us in the future? In a futuristic, a dark Jetsons-like setting, this series follows Steven Johnson on his many adventures, the first of which I’ve already read and reviewed here: Steven Johnson and the Mission 1.