Today we come to Bloggers Who Are Readers Part 3 – the final instalment in the #ReadersSpeak posts for now. Today, I’m happy to feature three lovely bloggers who love to read.
Bloggers Who Are Readers Part 3
Shinjini – The Modern Gypsy
Artist, tarot reader, writer, and seeker of soul, Shinjini blogs at Modern Gypsy.
On average, how many books do you read in a year?
About 20.
Do you think it helps to take part in reading challenges and/or to have a reading target for the year?
For me, personally, it’s debatable. I do set reading targets for myself, but I don’t always reach them, and that’s fine with me.
Do you take part in reading challenges? Which has been your favourite one so far? or Are you taking part in any reading challenges? Which ones?
Funnily enough, I wasn’t a fan of reading challenges until I started my own Book Bingo challenge last year. I tend to find some of them pretentious, some don’t really match my reading interests, some have too few or too many targets and prompts and rules. I enjoy reading a range of genres and also challenging myself to expanding my reading horizons. I also don’t like too many rules or jumping through hoops to take part in a challenge. I kept all of that in mind when creating the Book Bingo challenge as an experiment in 2020. I found it to be a very interesting way of ensuring I read consistently and also widely, so I decided to do it again this year. So that’s the challenge I’m taking part in this year, along with Blogchatter’s TBR challenge since it just requires me to set my own reading goal.
Tell me something about your reading history. When did you start enjoying reading? How do books help you, etc?
I’ve been a reader all my life! When I was young, unlike my other friends who wanted different toys and board games, I would give my mom a wish list of books I wanted for my birthday!
What is your favourite genre?
Can I just say I love most genres? My interests also change according to my mood. Some of the ones I gravitate to include literary fiction, crime and thrillers, fantasy and a bit of YA, historical fiction.
Any favourite author? If so, why?
Quite a few! I love Joanne Harris for her writing style and world building; Wilbur Smith’s African novels; and Joe Nesbo’s crime fiction among many, many others!
Favourite book? What makes it so?
Oh, this is such a difficult one to answer! Erin Morgenstern’s The Night Circus for the wonderous and magical world building; Margaret Mitchell’s Gone with the Wind has been a long-time favorite for its scope and sweep and for Scarlett O’Hara, who you can’t help falling in love with; What I Loved by Siri Hustvedt for the sheer beauty of her writing.
Reading quotes. Please share your favourites.
A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies, said Jojen. The man who never reads lives only one. ― George R.R. Martin, A Dance with Dragons
“I find television very educating. Every time somebody turns on the set, I go into the other room and read a book.”
― Groucho Marx
“Books are a uniquely portable magic.” ― Stephen King
Do you review books?
I do, indeed! Here are a few links:
Anything else you’d like to share with regard to reading, books etc.
I hope people read more widely, about different cultures and societies, about love and war and the human tragedies that are playing around us on a global scale. And I hope that all of that reading helps us see that ultimately, in the ways it matters, we are more similar than different. I hope it helps to bring more tolerance for people we may not understand or maybe even agree with.
Sunita Saldhana and her Quill of Phoenix
Sunita Saldhana is a writer and novelist besides being a trainer. Her book review blog is Quill of The Phoenix.
On average, how many books do you read in a year?
50 to a 100.
Do you think it helps to take part in reading challenges and/or to have a reading target for the year?
Not for me. They don’t.
Which has been your favourite reading challenge so far? or Are you taking part in any reading challenges this year? If so, which ones?
I did try one a couple of years ago but it was too difficult to keep track of all the books I read.
Tell me something about your reading history. When did you start enjoying reading? How do books help you, etc?
I got my first book on my 4th birthday. I read it on my own and fell in love with the magic of different worlds and the power of words. I read everything I get my hands on. My friends call me a book eater and I can finish a book a day. Books help me escape; they help me visualise new worlds and keep me happy. They stop me from being lonely.
What is your favourite genre?
Fantasy and romance though there was a time when I devoured self help books.
Any favourite author? If so, why?
Not one in particular because each one has a different way of writing. I enjoy J.K. Rowling as much as I enjoy Nora Roberts or Sundari Venkatraman. I love reading mythology by Usha Narayan and Kavita Kane. I enjoyed all of Ayn Rand’s book and I loved the Little Women and the sequels.
Favourite book? What makes it so?
Little Women because I could relate to Jo. I wanted to be a writer like her and she had three sisters just like me. Both of us had terrible tempers and it was nice to fantasize that I was really her.
Reading quotes. Please share your favourites.
“You really can’t teach reading as a science. Love gets mixed up in it.”
Dr Seuss
Do you review books?
Anything else you’d like to share with regard to reading, books etc.
Give me a book and I can let the rest of the world go by.
Tulika Singh Beats About The Book
Tulika Singh is a SAHM to teenage twins who feature often in her blog Obsessive Mom. She reviews books at Beat About The Book.
On average, how many books do you read in a year?
Around 30-40
Do you think it helps to take part in reading challenges and/or to have a reading target for the year?
Yes, they do. They’re a reminder to keep reading. No matter how much you love books, life tends to get in the way. Reading challenges help you regain focus.
Do you take part in reading challenges? Which has been your favourite one so far? or Are you taking part in any reading challenges? Which ones?
I do. I’ve done all kinds. The one constant has been the Goodreads Challenge which I love for its simplicity and flexibility because it lets me read whatever I want. Another one I really like is the Read Your Own Damn Books Challenge 🙂 because it helps me get through my TBR. I have so many unread books on my shelves that getting through them remains my major aim.
Tell me something about your reading history. When did you start enjoying reading? How do books help you, etc?
I started reading long long ago when I was in class 2, I think. My teacher said I needed to improve my English and my father got me this abridged version of Shakespeare’s plays. That’s where it started. I started off with Russian fairy tales and Enid Blyton’s Noddy, moved onto Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys and then later Georgette Heyer and Victoria Holt. Having very little of any other kind of entertainment and also a bunch of very grown up books left behind by my aunt (when she got married) I read them all pretty early in life too (without understanding a lot of them). I read Pearl S Buck and Hemingway and Orwell while still in my early teens.
Books are my go to place when I want to relax. Also, they’re my window to the world. I firmly believe that weaving in a personal story can make subjects like History and Geography so much more interesting.
What is your favourite genre?
This is a tough one because my choice is pretty eclectic. As long as it is fiction I can read most genres.
Any favourite author? If so, why?
Nope, no favourites. I love Divakaruni and Amish as also Chimamanda Ngozi and Fredrik Backman.
Favourite book? What makes it so?
Don’t do this to me, please. I have too many favourites. Usually in answer to this question I end up talking about my most recent read. So I’ll go with Anxious People by Fredrik Backman. Also, I’ve read and re-read Orwell’s 1984 multiple times. I also loved Girl, Woman, Other. Among the lighter reads Bridget Jones is a favourite, Big Little Lies, My Sister’s Keeper. Those are just some of the books I’ve enjoyed.
Reading quotes. Please share your favourites.
Here’s a recent one. I love it for the hope it gives:
from Anxious People by Backman
“They say that a person’s personality is the sum of their experiences. But that isn’t true, at least not entirely, because if our past was all that defined us, we’d never be able to put up with ourselves. We need to be allowed to convince ourselves that we’re more than the mistakes we made yesterday. That we are all of our next choices, too, all of our tomorrows.”
Do you review books?
Anything else you’d like to share with regard to reading, books etc.
Just a few things: Read what you like, read at your own pace but read consistently. It is easy to get sucked up by life (and Netflix) and to forget the pleasure of reading. Nothing lives up to the experience of a really good book.
So grateful to these three ladies for sharing their thoughts and suggestions. If you’d like to be featured on this send an email to contact@thefrangipanicreative.com with the heading : I want to be featured on Bloggers Who Read.
