Till the end of 2021, every month saw me making a TBR list. For the uninitiated, a TBR or To-Be-Read list is a list of all the books that one wants to read in a particular period of time. And I was a huge fan of making these lists, both for myself and for my channel. I used to get so excited at the prospect of making a new list every month. Fresh books that I could pick! New worlds of possibilities! Oh, the joys of making a TBR every month! It gave me joy and it gave me the views – a combination that is amazing for a creator!
Category Archives: Thoughts
Why Is Getting Paid for Book Reviews Frowned Upon? | #Blogtober22 – Day 3
The world is a weird place to be living in. On one hand, we think of all the possibilities that await us, the people we can be, the change we can bring. But on the other hand, the system in place is one that actively makes sure that a huge percentage of people don’t get the chance to prove themselves. It’s an ableist, capitalistic world that focuses on money. Yet, when it comes to paying people for doing their job, they are met with resistance and derision from the unlikeliest of places. Perhaps because here, too, it has decided to be selective with nobody having any idea about what the criteria are. Book reviewers face the worst of this treatment.
FONTain of Thought: The Importance of Fonts for Readers.
When we pick up a book, excited to read it, we’ve already given part of ourselves to the journey that’s before us. The anticipation makes us want to zoom through the pages, late into the night, giving us the dark circles that we may or may not be proud to flaunt. But then, we open the book. And what do we see there? Ants crawling across the page. Tiny, tiny letters that we must squint at to even make out. By the time we’ve gathered the story and understood what the author is trying to say, we’ve got a raging migraine and the urge to raise the book to the sun in the hope that maybe some divine photosynthesis will make the font grow larger.
Reader Shaming HAS to Stop.
I made a video on reader shaming about 2.5 years ago and I used that script as a reference for this blog post. As I read through it, I realized some of it was outdated, but so much of it was so savage. I don’t remember how the video came out because I can’t bearContinueContinue reading “Reader Shaming HAS to Stop.”
I’m Exhausted…
I’m exhausted, because I’m a woman, and irrespective of where a woman is in terms of privilege, there will always be certain conditions placed on her acceptance. Sure, unconditional acceptance comes, many-a-times, but it seems begrudging. In a ‘what can I do if she desires this?’ manner. If acceptance is begrudging, is it unconditional? And is expecting unconditional acceptance even realistic? But then again, in a world as chaotic as this, is it really a bad thing to want a safe space where you are accepted for who you are and not for what you can offer? Is it really a bad thing to want to do what I want to do instead of fitting myself into a role that society has created for my gender? Who gave society that right anyway? Oh, wait… But let’s not get into that right now because I might combust.
Yet Another Coffeeshop Courtesy Story!
It feels like I write a lot of these stories on my blog, but in my defense, these are stories that happen to me and affect me. In my earlier rants, it was more of a “courtesy is dead” sort of thing. But today’s story, one that happened to me a few years ago, is one in which the guy I talk about lacks common sense, behaved like an absolute spoilt brat (which I think he is in actuality), and was a tad bit sexist, if I think about it in hindsight.
Social Media & Toxic Positivity – The Inevitable.
I’ve been away from social media for more than a month, especially because of how toxic it quickly became. Each day brought new dramas, new levels of insensitivity, but there were particularly two posts that kicked me in my head. While I don’t doubt that these were probably done with the best of intentions, I feel that to say these and accuse people of being unwilling to do things for their own selves as a blanket statement ground my gears to no end. Even now, as I look back at them, I sigh and shake my head because of how insensitively rough they are.
The Intricate Interweaving of Songs and Memories…
I’ve been drowning in floods of memories of late, and as a result, in a ton of related emotions. And while these memories mostly come unsolicited, there are times when a song evokes a memory and I’m instantly transported to a time long ago. I clutch my chest, gasping because of how déjà vu can be so debilitating, even if the memory itself is a happy one. But this is rare, the coming back of happy memories. Most of these remind me of times in which either people have been a-holes to me or when I have been a massive a-hole. And neither of these is a good place to be in, for one makes me sad and the other makes me guilty and angry at myself.
Existential Question: What’s the Point?
What is the point? We are born. We go through the motions. We live. And then we die. Whatever you do between birth and death, you’re going to return to nonexistence, to dust. Then why are we so hell bent on doing what we’re doing? Or doing something in one particular way? Why is it that we punish ourselves? Why is it that we reward ourselves? Why do we think ourselves greater than people who exist alongside us? Why the snobbery? Why the joy? Why the sorrows? Why the anger? Why the rudeness? Why? Why? Why?
Vicarious Living – The Temporary Sense Of Fulfilling One’s Own Dreams
Of all the versions of MasterChef that exist, it can be universally agreed that the Australian version is the best. No yelling, no insulting, no unnecessary drama. Agreed, the way contestants running around in a frenzy to finish their dishes in time is shown is dramatic, but that is what MasterChef Australia does right. It has now completed its 13th season and it gets better every year. But *spoiler alert*: the old judges are no longer here and though I once said that I don’t want to watch it anymore, I must admit that Andy Allen (a previous season winner), Melissa Leong, and Jock Zonfrillo are doing a decent job and making it at least as much fun as before, if not more. Sorry, Gary Mehigan, George Calombaris, and Matt Preston! You know I love y’all!
The Melodramatic Bookworm 