There are a lot of blog posts that I’ve been wanting to write, but the one I’ve been fixating on for months now is this one: how the world sees women who don’t have or want children. It is a pillar of patriarchy since time immemorial, this pigeonholing of women. And we are treated accordingly depending on how we react to it. If we have children, we’re rewarded for it. But if we say we don’t want children, oh heavens save us, we are looked down upon. Society (even people we know) makes sure to tell us that we are the embodiment of the devil himself. Just go watch the pro-lifers and you’ll see what I’m saying.
November 2023 Reading Wrap Up | Books I Read in November 2023 | Recent Reads
Today’s blog post is my November 2023 reading wrap up. I read 11 books in November and although I wanted to read a bunch of nonfiction books for Nonfiction November, there were only a few that I managed to actually read. I will also be withholding sharing one of the books I read in November because I’m saving them for vlogs that I want to be putting up soon. I mean, I’ve been waiting for a few books to arrive at the library and only 2 of the 3 have become available, so all I can do is continue to wait. But I’m very excited for these vlogs to go up!
Recent Reads – October 2023 Edition | Books I Read Recently | 10 Mini Book Reviews
My previous Recent Reads blog posts were reading wrap ups in which I talked about ALL the books I read in the mentioned months. But today, the content in here, while being a collection of mini book reviews, is also a random collection of books that I’ve read in recent times. I’ve reviewed these books on Instagram, also where these reviews are from. Yeah, I know, I’m a genius, reusing my content across platforms. 😛 The point is, I’m really proud of these reviews and wanted to share them with you here.
Aashiqui Forever by Yashesh Rathod | Book Review
The year 1990 saw the release of Aashiqui, a Bollywood romance starring Rahul Roy and Anu Aggarwal as Rahul and Anu, two lovers trying to live their love while the world tries to bring them down. It was a runaway hit and its music is well-loved to this day. Yashesh Rathod pays tribute to this movie, as the title might suggest, in a new, short romance novella called Aashiqui Forever.
August 2023 Reading Wrap Up | Books I Read in August 2023!
I decided to do a little wrap up and tell you what I read in August 2023. Even though I read only 7 books, there were some solid heavyweights in there that are now my favorite books of all time. I just realized as I wrote this that in my August 2023 reading wrap up video that went up on Wednesday (you can watch it here), I said I’d read 6 books, forgetting the book that disappointed me the most among this lot. You’ll see which. 😛
My Favorite Book Quotes of All Time – Part 3 | Some Great Quotes from Books
The quotes in this post are some that I found to be profoundly relatable as they called to me. I will try to express what they represent for me and my love of reading, which, although not at the ‘I’ll die without books’ level as before, is still quite intense. I’ve spoken about how I note down these quotes in the previous posts but these days, my arthritis is so bad, it’s making me want to curl into a ball and stay there. But hey! Who’d do that when there’s so much work to do and so many books to read? 😀 (send help)
Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers by Jesse Q. Sutanto | Book Review
Books with quirky titles like Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers have always caught my eye. They always have me rooting for them because come on! Who wouldn’t want someone quirky to win the day? I have had some success with this in the past, with books with quirky titles turning out to be some of the best I’ve ever read. And when a book starts with: “Vera Wong Zhuzhu, age sixty, is a pig, but she really should have been born a rooster,” take it from me it’s a sign of ensuing hilarity that remains unparalleled.
Fourth Wing (Empyrean #1) by Rebecca Yarros | Book Review
Every now and again, a book comes around that takes readers by the collar and pulls them in, making them obsessed with it. We see everyone gushing about it and praising it to high heavens. But then that crest begins to plateau and the disappointments start rolling in. The whole ‘Booktok lied to me’ and ‘Finally here’s an honest review’ thing starts, which is a rather questionable stand to take (a discussion for a different day, perhaps). The same thing happened with Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros and I obviously wanted to get in on the action. One, because of it being everywhere and hard to miss. Two, because of that GORGEOUS cover! And I did read it.
10 Reasons Why I Think the Duolingo App is Bringing About Its Own Downfall
If you had asked me a year ago what I think of Duolingo, I’d have probably told you it was the second coming of God. And you know what? It WAS true for a long, long time. The concept of having new languages at our disposal, all for free, was a mind-boggling, game-changing one, even if it was unguided and even if it was just setting a wobbly foundation. I was obsessed with the Duolingo app, religiously doing lessons every single day, maintaining a streak that I was proud of (got up to 818 days), and recommending it to anyone who was looking for a way to get started on the path to learning a new language. It was this enthusiasm, perhaps, that came back to bite me, a weird karma or Uno reverse of sorts, because now, I can’t stand the app.
Love That Story: Observations from a Gorgeously Queer Life by Jonathan Van Ness | Book Gush
Because of how truly fabulous this book is – not just because of Queer Eye or because of my love for JVN – I thought I should come here and tell you/gush about it. A rare 5-star for me this year.
The Melodramatic Bookworm 