Author Archives: Sonali Dabade

The Perils of Being a Book ‘Influencer’ on Social Media and the Changes It Effects…

The advantages and disadvantages of social media have probably been talked about a million times before and cautioned for and against even more than that. But we’ve usually seen that in a wider context. What happens to people like me who are on the Internet, shouting from the proverbial rooftops about books? What impact does it have on us? How does it change us? How do we navigate the double whammy that is social media and our love for books?

Of course, when I say this, I’m only talking about my own experiences, something that seems fitting enough given that the day this goes up is my birthday. If you happen to relate to it, we’re two of a kind. If you don’t, then take it with a grain of salt because there are as many opinions in the world, if not more, as there are people.

15 Bookish Places On My Travel Bucket List | Travel Tuesday

For as long as I can remember, there have been two constants in my life: books and the dream of traveling. I’m living my bookish dream right now, being able to read the books that I feel like reading. My dream of traveling, while it breathed and lived for a while, taking me to places like the USA, Greece, and Indonesia, came to a grinding halt because of two reasons: lack of funds and my arthritis. I can’t walk for long and any strain makes sure I’m groaning in pain for a good few days after. This has filled me with longing as I watch people I know have adventure after adventure as I sit snuggled up at home.

So I made a little list of my own that will allow me some relief as I go about fulfilling the dreams that both my constants have been filling my mind with.

Last, Current, Next Reads | Quick Reading Update

It’s been a while since I posted something here because things have been crazy hectic on my side. But I’m trying to get back on track and for that, I’m working to get a bunch of posts ready to upload. To ease back in, I’m here with a short blog post, a quick reading update in which I’ll tell you a little about the books I’ve been reading, those I am reading, and those I will read soon.

Carrie Soto is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid | Book Review

Sometimes there comes along a book, like Carrie Soto is Back, that addresses such a specific set of issues and questions, that it makes you wonder why you’d never thought of it in detail before. Questions like: Why is it okay for a man in the public eye to be aggressive but not for a woman? Why is it okay for a man to be unsmiling and intense but when a woman does it, she’s labeled a b*tch? Why is it that an ambitious man is seen as just that but an ambitious woman becomes callous and unfeeling in the eyes of the public? And this sexism is turned around and slapped back onto the woman’s shoulders, calling it her overreaction, that she can’t take a joke.

Carrie Soto is Back is a smack in all these faces. Taylor Jenkins Reid, through Carrie Soto’s story, takes us through the unfairness that the world pulls out every time a woman takes center stage. And it is proof, yet again, that even though things have gotten a lot better, we still have a long way to go.

Can You Say You Enjoyed Reading Sad, Grim, or Unsettling Books? | Monday Melodramatic Musings

If I look back upon the past few years and my modern reading, I see books that made me cry become my favorites more than those that made me laugh. I see books that talked about unsettling topics become my favorites. I see books that dig up some long-buried emotions and reactions from deep within me. How can I say that I “enjoyed” reading them? And if I said that, does that make me some kind of a sociopath? Do I thrive on sadness? On the dark? Surely not!

Heresy by Yashesh Rathod | Book Review

Yashesh Rathod, in his short, aptly titled nonfiction book called Heresy shares his opinions on a range of topics. I say ‘aptly titled’ not because I think what he’s saying is heresy, but because these are thoughts that to some will be nothing but heresy.

Cosmos to Consciousness by Sekar Manickam Retd IPS | Book Review

One thing that leaves everyone in awe is the utter vastness and versatility of the universe. Questions of where everything came from aren’t unanswered, but those of how it works are – at least some of them. Different cultures and religions across the world have their own explanations about why certain things like eclipses happen and how life came into being. In this new book called Cosmos to Consciousness by Sekar Manickam retd. IPS, he aims to explore many of these cosmic level topics, including quantum physics and mechanics, with a generous mix of opinion and fact.

This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone | Book Review / Thoughts

If you’ve been on Book Twitter over the past few weeks, you’ll know that an account called Bigolas Dickolas Wolfwood tweeted about a book called This is How You Lose the Time War. The tweet blew up, so much that there are now cosplays involving people holding up huge mockups of the book. This became, for me, a case of wanting to jump on the bandwagon, especially since I’d seen this book on a few lists by this point and made a mental note to get to it someday. The tweet came as a final push.

My Panicky Reading Habit & Truth of Being a Bookworm… And Eventual Resignation

It would be a cliched, self-important, tone-deaf thing to say if I said that being a bookworm isn’t easy. Quite contrarily, it is one of the easiest things in the world. All you have to do is have a reading habit, no matter the genre or the frequency of the books you read, and you can be called a bookworm. Over the past 1.5 years or so, however, I’ve discovered a new dimension to my reading, to my existence as a bookworm, which probably says more about me as a person than about me as a bookworm. But since both are intricately linked and interwoven… That’s a whole conundrum in itself.

Life, Living & Livelihood: Short Poems on Life by Santosh Nair | Book Review

I’ve always been entranced with words and the way they come together to make rhythmic sense. When I wasn’t reading them, I was bringing them together, even as a child. My writing journey started when I was around 10 or 11, when I decided to start writing poems. I didn’t know Frost or Dickinson or Gill at the time. All I knew about poetry was that the lines had to rhyme. So it began, with me maintaining notebook upon notebook of these poems. And then came a time when I stopped. Maybe because I grew up.

Santosh Nair’s poetry collection, Life, Living & Livelihood: Short Poems on Life, took me right back to that time, to that corner, to the pages of that notebook.