WWW Wednesday // 21st July 2020

I almost fell into a reading slump.

Lately I’ve been trying real hard to push myself out of my comfort zone and try new books and genres. Above that, I’ve also been actively trying to do good at reading challenges.

Because of that, for a while in between I wasn’t reading any book for fun. Reading started to feel like a chore and I felt like a reading slump was coming up. But I saved myself by ditching a book that wasn’t making me happy and replacing it with a fun read.

Let’s get to the actual books.

WWW Wednesday is a weekly blogging meme hosted by Taking On a World of Words.

The Three Ws are:

• What are you currently reading?
• What did you recently finish reading?
• What do you think you’ll read next?

What are you currently reading?

I’m currently listening to Take a Hint, Dani Brown by Talia Hibbert which is the fun book that is saving me from falling into a slump. The book is fun in itself and it gets even better with the narration. I LOVE the narration and the accents, especially Zafir’s.

The other book I’m reading is Meet Cute: Destined to Meet by Jannifer L. Armetrout and other authors which is an anthology. While it’s good, I’m not someone who likes short stories and because of the many gaps I find it too easy to stop reading the book. Which is why I haven’t finished it yet.

What did you recently finish reading?

I finished 3 books this week and Did Not Finish another.

#1

The book that I gave up on was 101 Essays That Will Change the Way You Think by Brianna West. If you’ve been following my updates for a while, you’d have seen the book under “currently reading” for a long time because I was reading at about 1 essay a day.

I read until 43 essays before I gave up on it. It was honestly good in the beginning and I really liked it. But after 30%, points started to repeat and the essays were more philosophical than actionable. Another thing that I didn’t like was how the book assumed that you had the basic things in life sorted like job, home, debt etc.

It assumes your problems are only to do with emotions, dreams, goals, habits etc. and that irked me because not everyone is so priviledged.

2/5 stars.

#2

The first book that I actually finished was Boyfriend Material by Alexis Hall which I picked up as this month’s book of the month for Romancetheque book club.

I absolutely LOVED the characters. The main couple were charming and witty. It’s also an opposites-attract love story so it was very fun to read. One of the highlights of the book was the friends group. I LOVED ALL THE FRIENDS.

The book got me laughing, had me tear up, and also made me smile like a loon.

4/5 stars.

#3

The next book that I finished was a really short one. The Strange Library by Haruki Murakami is one that I’ve wanted to read for a long time. I first saw the hardcover in my regular bookstore for a whopping 700 rupees. Considering that it’s a thin book, I couldn’t understand why it was so expensive and became curious about the story.

Thankfully, the book was available through my audiobook subscription and since it’s duration was only half an hour (I listen at 2x speed), I gave it go as a quick evening read.

The story was definitely strange. I did not clearly understand the point of it though. I think I understand the point that the author wanted to make but the plot was so.. strange.

2/5 stars.

#4

The last book that I finished was Seeing Like A Feminist by Niveditha Menon. I had been reading the book for over two weeks and finally finished it yesterday.

It’s a really good book which explores multiple facets and conversations about feminism through a neutral lens. The author remains unbiased and includes many quotations or real life examples in order to point out why something is important to feminism.

And through it all, the book is a conversation on what “seeing like a feminist” means, and what we actually SEE.

My favourite part about the book was when she gave detailed info on topics and also admitted that there is probably no concrete solution except to maybe completely shake up current practices and way of thinking. Menon doesn’t side with a side. Instead she puts forth arguments for both and explains why the popularly suggested solutions may not help.

The book taught me a lot and gave me tons of new info. I’m excited to further explore the vast area of thoughts and opinions that we call feminism.

My only complaint was that because sections were so short and didn’t flow together well many times, I often didn’t want to pick the book back up after a pause.

4/5 stars.

What do you think you’ll read next?

The next paperback that I’ll pick up is Room by Emma Donoghue. I’m saying it to make it happen. I almost started it yesterday but it was late so I decided to pick it up the next time.

Other than that, I’d like to pick up a book for fun. Maybe a romcom or a rivals-to-lovers romance book. A young adult contemporary also sounds good though, as a chill read. Let’s see.

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What are you currently reading? Have you read the books that I mentioned today?