Category: discussion

Aria @ Book Nook Bits will be the new host for Let’s Talk Bookish! If you aren’t following her yet, good check out her blog and give her a follow!

November 25: Books That You’re Grateful For

Prompts: What are some books that you’re grateful for? What books have had the biggest impact on your life?  How did you discover them?

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Welcome everyone to the last LTB of November! Today’s topic is great, and I believe it is either suggested by Aria herself or perhaps someone anonymous? I have never thought about what books I am “grateful” for, so this ought to be interesting.

I think books that I am grateful for often have a huge impact on me and end up becoming some of my favourite books. It may not change how I necessarily act or think, but most of the time it does give me perspective or at least affect a little bit my opinion of similar books.

When I was young, I really enjoyed a book called The Supernaturalist and honestly I hardly remember what it was even about or why I liked it. But I definitely remember that I liked it. Later I read Memoirs of a Geisha, and I think that really changed the way of how books affected me. Is a pattern starting to appear? Finally, in this new age, my new favourite impactful book has been The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo.

I think the pattern are these big melodramas, with realistic scenarios with heartbreaking choices and decisions no one could make. Something about the way that even as a third person omniscient, there was just almost no right answer, and everything is just a choice and a path you take, and you can’t look back. I really admired the persistence of all the characters as well, despite whatever obstacles life threw at them (and there were many).

I think all of these books were really just randomly discovered. Two were suggested by friends, and I believe one was given (donated) to me! I really don’t know if there’s any rhyme or reason as to why I ended up reading these books, but I think that’s the beauty of it too. When you are looking for a book to change your mind, that already alters your perception of the book. I think it’s impossible to try and do that intentionally; rather it just happens when you read books that resonate with you.

Which books changed your lives or perspectives? Let me know in the comments below!

Aria @ Book Nook Bits will be the new host for Let’s Talk Bookish! If you aren’t following her yet, good check out her blog and give her a follow!

November 18: Gatekeeping in the Book Community (Nicole @ Thoughts Stained With Ink)

Prompts: Are there times where you have noticed gatekeeping in the book blogging community? What about in the publishing industry as a whole? What does this gatekeeping look like? How can we combat this?

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Welcome to another week of LTB here at DTRH everyone! Today’s topic is very interesting, as I haven’t really thought about it. I’ll try and parse out some of my ideas here, but I’m certainly no expert. I’d love to see what you guys have to say on this!

I haven’t really noticed any gatekeeping in particular in the blogging community. People do tend to read the books mainly that are hyped or popular within the community and provide their own thoughts on it. I certainly wouldn’t call that gatekeeping though, as I have seen people express their real opinions on books despite their popularity (and I have done the same here as well). I do wonder if there are books that bloggers don’t mention though, because they’re not as well-known in the community. I just post about whatever I read, but I can definitely tell when books are popular or not even by the responses.

The public industry as a whole definitely gatekeeps. I don’t have specific examples and I don’t really see it, but I just know that it happens. There are certainly ideas and perhaps types of tropes, etc., that never make it past the editors/publishers, and there is some sort of censorship or gatekeeping happening here. They do have the monopoly on everything, so it does make sense that this would happen.

Gatekeeping can look like a lot of things. But it’s usually an individual or a group of individuals (a community) expressing the same opinion to keep something suppressed. So an obvious example would be people who call audiobooks not real reading. These kinds of sentiments are generally unproductive and tend to alienate another class of people. I haven’t seen this too much in our community actually, I feel like we are generally a welcoming bunch, and most “bad” reviews I read always have a hint of optimism or at least include that it may have just been due to personal taste.

Being more open-minded and more careful in how we express our opinions can be a way to make sure this doesn’t happen as easily within the community. As for the publishers and other big corporations doing it, it may be a bit more difficult to challenge. It’s okay to share your opinions, but it should almost never be done in a way to alienate or put down others, when it is really just a pure opinion. A little more compassion can go a long way I think!

Aria @ Book Nook Bits will be the new host for Let’s Talk Bookish! If you aren’t following her yet, good check out her blog and give her a follow!

November 11:Do you use your local library? (Mikaela @ Mikaela Reads)

Prompts: Do you have a local library you go to often? Does your school/did your school have a library? What are your favorite things about libraries? Are there certain books you borrow from your local library more or less often than others?

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Welcome to another week of LTB here at DTRH everyone! Today’s topic is submitted by Mikaela, and it’s all about going to your local library. Libraries are great, as they are a resource that helps keep our shelves just a little bit tidier, but I’m sure there are good and bad things about them too. Can’t wait to see how you all make use (or not) of your local libraries!

Libraries I have recently gone less often, but mainly because of the pressure to read and return a book by a certain time. That is obviously still a viable option, but in terms of library I tend to like using my library app more! However, I do wander into a lot of second-hand bookshops, that’s somewhere where I’ll try and go often just to see if anything perks my interest. I do have a couple of libraries close by though, and I don’t often pass up the chance to go inside if I do happen to be in the area.

My school did used to have a library (both in high school and university), and while I could probably often be found in both, I rarely made use of my library (student) card to really check out books. I was literally there often enough that I could finish books in 2 (maybe 3) sittings if I just go back, so I never really felt the need to check out books. But I did go and read whenever I had the spare time, because why not?

My favourite things about libraries is that they’re quiet, and they’re often just full of possibilities. You can literally go in and read anything you want, from something you were looking forward to, to something you never expected. Either way there’s no expectations on you and you can really go with your heart’s desire. And because it’s so quiet, I find that my own thoughts can be quite loud and really helps to drive my own whims. There’s something nice about not being disturbed by others too just by virtue of being in a library. It just feels…safer? than reading somewhere like a park bench (though that of course has its own advantages too).

Like I said, I don’t often borrow books physically from the library anymore, though I do do a lot of e-borrowing. If the library (or even bookstore, really) is truly local to me and I can access it any time, I almost don’t feel the need to borrow anything; I can really just read it there whenever I want! Or at least that’s how I feel about it. I’ll borrow a book if I need it for a bookclub or something, but other than that I just default to online borrowing or reading on site a lot.

What about you all? How do you all employ your local library? Or are bookstores more your jam? Let me know in the comments below!