Reviews & Musings

From this blog in 2011 to Barnes and Noble website, my reviewing journey has been full of surprises.  I am working on an essay tracing it and realized that I started reviewing books in 2001 (Yes! I am old) for a small library next to my house. Needless to add, my payment was in the books. The library owner also happened to be the first person who taught me how to write a book review and what to focus on. And that is where I learned why reviews matter.  Cut to 2016 when my book review was taught in a Literary Criticism class held by British Library. A relative happened to attend that class and the news spread like wildfire in the family. That is the moment when my family knew this much more than just a hobby. 

  This blog was started in 2011. and is currently in its 10th year. It has been through many changes, many alterations and it has also witnessed the changes in the publishing industry. Including the changes in Indian Writing along with the changing trends in the readers too.

This blog has been a witness to my journey as a reader, writer and most importantly, as a book lover. I have shared my editing woes, of clients leaving me in despair, of books I have loved and lived and of course all the milestones that have adorned my nine year journey till here. Yes, this is the 9th year of the blog and I don't know how it all happened. I just know - I want this blog to be the epigraph for the book of my life. This is what life meant to me and this is what I created. Image Source All I know is this blog was the beginning of a dream in 2011 and I don't know what the end destination is going to be like. As the image above says, I started with absolutely no vision. I started this blog purely out of love for books and the written word. I loved listening to authors and their journeys. It felt magical to hold a book in my hand every single time and it still does. Given that I read my first book when I was 4, it has been a long way!  The goal might no...

How do you define happiness?

"I am not sure that I exist, actually. I am all the writers that I have read, all the people that I have met, all the women that I have loved; all the cities I have visited. " - Jorge Luis Borges Source Every time I start reading a new book I embark on a new journey. Page after page as the magic of words begins too unveil I am transported to a different world. Slowly the characters of the story began to take shape before my eyes. I actually witness them coming alive. Their pain becomes my pain, their smiles begin to appear on my lips and somewhere along with them I fall in love too maybe with them, maybe with all that they love, maybe with the story or maybe simply with the author. 

Since I started this blog 7.5 years ago, it has undergone so many changes. And yet there is not a single day when I am not feeling proud of having been at it. Throughout all the changes my life has been through in these years, books are one of the many things that kept me sane and this blog continues to be a testimony of my love for it.  So it was extremely overwhelming to see my blog featured in the top 25 literary blogs of India . From being among the top 50 for 6 consecutive years (out of 7.5!) this one is a huge leap for me. Especially since last year when I have consciously started making changes in my review style and trying to lean more towards literary criticism.