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!

July 15: What’s your favorite reading format? Hardback, paperback, audiobook, ebook? (Mikaela @ Mikaela Reads)

Prompts:  What’s your favorite reading format? Hardback? Paperback? Audiobook? Ebook? What makes you prefer one over the other? Which do you read the most? What are the pros and cons of these different formats?

Welcome back to another week of LTB here at DTRH, everyone! Today’s topic is all about book formats, and I think there was a recent similar discussion but nevertheless I’d love to hear what you all prefer. For me, I think there’s a time and place for everything, and I’ve never been a diehard fan of just any one format.

Hardcovers are the most beautiful on the shelf, and to be honest, just visually. It is almost always stunning, and with the added layer of protection (practicality!) there’s nothing I would usually ever complain about hardcovers. My only knock on them is that I actually personally don’t find the experience of reading hardcovers the best. It’s a little bit difficult to pry the book open, and it also feels even worse if I’m bending or cracking the spine. This is just my personal little thing though, can anyone else relate?

Paperbacks (softcovers), on the other hand, are like my pride and joy when it comes to reading. The way it just slightly bends (though I try not to bend it too much), and its lighter weight in comparison makes it just my overall preferred version of a book. The biggest drawback is that it is extremely fragile and susceptible to damage. The corners getting slightly bent, the spine starts wrinkling, pages get warped, the whole book doesn’t lay flat anymore when closed…the list goes on after only one reading of the book! That being said, I still enjoy the reading experience the most.

Audiobooks take up your listening sensory. Sometimes this may not be preferable, although if your other tasks are visual, it may make sense to multitask using two different senses. Some drawbacks of audiobooks is that going back and forth (“flipping pages”) may be more difficult, and sometimes you don’t realize how names are spelled, or other visual cues that might be present in the book are lost on you. On the other hand, I have heard that it helps readers get through more books, and I think that is always a plus.

Ahhh, e-books. I am a huge fan, and especially when my shelves get ever fuller and my wallet tighter, it just makes sense to have e-books. I enjoy reading on my Kindle as it is super portable and easy to read, but also quite safe from regular wear and tear. It is still fragile as a device though, so there is that drawback. But being able to bring many books all on one device to have at your fingertips during a trip or a longer commute is just a blessing of technology. I admit it’s not quite as enjoyable as reading a paperback book but for all the pros that it offers it’s great!

What are your favourite medias and what do you think the pros and cons are? Let me know in the comments below!

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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!

July 8: Should all Romances have Happily Ever Afters (HEAs)? (Dedra @ A Book Wanderer)

Prompts: Do you like romances with happy endings? Do you think that all romances should have happy endings? Why or why not? What are some of your favorite romances with Happily Ever Afters?

Welcome to another wonderful week of LTB here at DTRH everyone! Actually, crazy problem around the country here, as one of the major phone/internet providers is down this morning and it is causing major chaos! Nevertheless, I am here for the discussion and today’s topic is certainly something that I’ve thought of cursorily, but never sat down to actually consider. Would love to hear what you all think about this topic!

I think generally I would say that I do like romances with happy endings. I mean, there’s only so many sad (or bittersweet) endings that I can take before just wanting to see something work out. It does have a lot to do with our expectations of how an ending should be, but especially if you get attached to the characters it’s hard to ignore that you want the happiest ending for them.

Do I think all romances should have happy endings? Certainly not. I think playing with people’s expectations is one of the clever things that authors can do to really make a book exciting. And while it doesn’t have to be the opposite of happily ever after, it is precisely our fairytale expectations being unwound that can lead to a very exciting or heartbreaking ending! Sometimes I really wonder what it would be like if we didn’t grow up on fairytales (especially Disney) that all have that cheesy-kissy happy endings. Of course I liked them as a child but I bet it shapes our expectations a lot. For those of you out there who didn’t grow up with these classic HEAs, do you also expect happy endings to romances?

I think if there’s ever romances with toxic characters or perhaps just a toxic relationship, I think I’d prefer that not to be the ending, in order not to encourage or glorify the behaviour. But I don’t think in general there’s a reason as to whether or not there must be a happy ending. This is best left as a literary and artistic choice by the author. It could be a message they want to send, but I mean it could also just be the story they imagined in their heads and I think I’d respect them for that.

Rom Coms often have some manner of happy endings, so I think those are generally quite fun! Though I don’t want to give the endings away to any of these books just in case people are still looking to read them. Certainly in both books and movies, I enjoy the occasional rom coms just for its lighthearted nature.

What do you all expect from romances? HEAs all the way? Or only in moderation? Let me know in the comments below!

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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!

July 1: How are you doing on your reading goals so far this year? (Amber @ Escape Life in the Pages)

Prompts: Did you set any reading goals for yourself at the beginning of the year? If so, how are you doing with them? Any you’ve already met? Are there any goals you want to add? Did you set any blogging goals? If so, how are you doing with those?

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Welcome to July everyone! The latter half of the year has officially started (where did the time go?) and Happy Canada Day to those of you in Canada! Appropriately, today’s topic is about our reading goals to see where we’re all at at this point in time.

I did set a reading goal this year, which happens to be the same as last year, at least on Goodreads. I just set the number to 50 again, though I believe I promised myself to read even more this year. I can barely remember all the lofty goals I set at the beginning of the year but I honestly didn’t anticipate how busy school would be and how that would affect my energy and drive to read. I already read enough for school; if I counted that, I think I would have read the equivalent of another 20 books.

In terms of leisure reading, I’m about at the halfway point (slightly under) so I’m definitely behind schedule. However, I believe I have been reading more Asian authors, which I was striving to do a bit more of this year, which is nice. I feel like I can almost always tell when the author is Asian American, there is some sort of…vibe or style to the book that often resonates with me. But maybe that’s just all a placebo effect; I will revisit this conclusion again in the new year.

I wouldn’t add any goals at this point except to try and make sure I reach the ones I already have. The same goes for my blogging goals. My schedule has just kind of taken me by storm and it’s a bit of a mess, honestly! In spite of all that though, I haven’t given up on the blog, and I’m already fairly proud of myself for that one.

How are you all doing with your reading goals this year? On track, behind, or even ahead? And is that your usual pace? Let me know in the comments below!

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