Reading 101: How to Fit Reading Into Your Daily Schedule

Off Tangent Thoughts (OTT) is a bi-monthly meme that has a basic list-based format wherein bloggers express their points in the form of a short or long list with the points under the list being merely a couple lines or even complete paragraphs. Prompts will be up on every 1st and 3rd Saturday based on which everyone can write their own posts. For prompts that will be released on the 1st Saturday, bloggers can write and publish their posts over the next two weeks, that is, until the 3rd Saturday from when posting for a fresh prompt will begin and continue up until the 1st Saturday of the next month and so on. On the rare occasions when we have a 5th Saturday, there will be an open prompt where everyone can generate a topic of their own or catch up on previous OTT prompts they may have missed. Everyone is encouraged to interpret the prompt however they like and be innovative with their posts. The topic for May 18th, 2019 is: Thoughts You Have When Someone Interrupts Your Reading.

I have been a reader since I was a smol child, so I have a lot of experience in dealing with situations where my reading gets interrupted. After becoming an adult with a job and responsibilities, every minute of reading time that I can get out of my schedule is precious to me and I guard it like a mother dragon guards her eggs. Today, I want to make a quick list of what goes on in my mind when my reading gets interrupted and will then move on to give some practical tips on how to make time for reading despite having a packed schedule.

10 Books That Changed My Life

One of the reasons I started this blog was because I wanted to talk about books and hope that the habit of reading would someday change another person’s life as it did mine. Today being World Book Day, I wanted to take a moment to reflect on the books that have made me who I am today to illustrate the power of literature. This isn’t a recommendations post as such, but if there’s one thing that I want you to take away from this is that stories have the potential to be the catalyst people need to make their lives better. I would urge you all to pick up a book today – any book – and give it a chance. Maybe it could be the one to improve your life the way the books mentioned below helped me.

The Secret Tip to Organising Your Bookshelves Perfectly

Off Tangent Thoughts is the brainchild of Charvi @ Not Just Fiction, my blogging soul sister, that I helped out with in a small capacity, so it was mandatory for me to participate in the first prompt. Here’s what the creator has to say about this meme:

Off Tangent Thoughts (OTT) is a bi-monthly meme that has a basic list-based format wherein bloggers express their points in the form of a short or long list with the points under the list being merely a couple lines or even complete paragraphs. Every 1st and 3rd Saturday I will be putting up prompts based on which everyone can write their own posts. For prompts that will be released on the 1st Saturday, bloggers can write and publish their posts over the next two weeks, that is, until the 3rd Saturday from when posting for a fresh prompt will begin and continue up until the 1st Saturday of the next month and so on. On the rare occasions when we have a 5th Saturday, I will keep an open prompt where everyone can generate a topic of their own or catch up on previous OTT prompts they may have missed. Everyone is encouraged to interpret the prompt however they like and be innovative with their posts. I myself will be uploading my posts for every prompt at 12am IST each 1st and 3rd Saturday so that everyone participating can link their posts back to my post for that prompt. I am also putting up a schedule of prompts that will be regularly updated so that everyone can get a glimpse into the future prompts and plan their posts accordingly.

The topic for April 20th, 2019 is: Thoughts You Have While Organising Your Bookshelf. I thought I’d give you a sneak peek into what goes on in my head while organising bookshelves and also give you one secret tip to get it perfect each time! Read on to find out more.

2019 Readathons That Should Be on Your Radar

Looking to add some fun into your reading routine? Readathons are just the thing for you! They usually take place online on one or across several social media platforms so you can connect with fellow readers and share your progress. They can be as short as 24-hour ones to elaborate month-long readathons. Some are low-key and don’t demand too much but some are quite challenging with a set of rules, points systems, progress trackers and giveaways too. Today I want to highlight some of my favourite readathons that I think everyone should take part in!

March Wrap-Up + April Reading Month (2019)

It has been a mixed month for me with some good and some bad. Personally and reading-wise, I had the best month so far this year. However, work has become quite difficult to manage and I even had to skip a posting day. I’m feeling burnt out and I’m finding it hard to get the motivation to get up every day. I don’t see this pace slowing down any time soon as my family commitments will increase and work pressure as well in the coming months. However, I’m going to strive to put my health first despite everything, which hopefully will translate to more reading time! Anyway, let me put away my grand plans for the future and talk about how March went for me.

5 Essential Bookish Podcasts for Every Book Lover

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together. How it works is that each Tuesday the host assigns a topic and then posts their top ten list that fits the topic. Every blogger can create their own top ten (or 2, 5, 20, etc.) list as well and link to the host’s. The topic for March 26th, 2019 is: Audio Freebie, so I’m going to talk about My Favourite Bookish Podcasts.

24 Book Recommendations for Read Harder Challenge 2019

I started falling in love with the wonderful bookish site called Book Riot from the time I started listening to their podcasts. It was an inevitable thing that I found myself taking up the Read Harder challenge by them this year when I was planning my reading. I also mentioned it in my post on the 5 best reading challenges to help you take your reading to the next level in 2019. In that post, I’d promised a recommendations post, so here I am today with 24 books that you can add to your TBR that will count towards Book Riot’s Read Harder Challenge 2019. I must warn you that I’ve unfortunately not read every book on the list because some of the prompts are way outside my comfort zone, so I will indicate those with an asterisk.

US vs UK Book Covers (Part 1)

I think 50% of bookworm culture is staring at and drooling over dazzling book covers. The packaging of a book has gotten so much better in recent years. The industry is also warming up to the representation of POC, different body types and other marginalised groups front and centre. Personally, I’m always a sucker for beautiful books. I go out of my way to get a pretty edition if one is available, even if that means shelling out a few books. Today I wanted to compare US and UK covers of books – something I’ve seen a lot on BookTube and thought it’ll be fun to bring to the blog.

The Bookish Academy Awards Tag (2019)

The award season fever is back and so am I with this fun and creative tag, thanks to Sahitya @ My World of Books, who kindly tagged me. I haven’t been secretive about my love for her or her blog, so do check it out already if you haven’t! This tag was introduced to the bookish community by the Booktuber Bookadoodles and I can’t thank her enough for coming up with this wonderful idea. I had done the same tag last year, although much later than the Oscar season, as Charvi @ Not Just Fiction had tagged me only in April! If you weren’t around back then, this tag simply asks you to pick your favourite books as winners for Oscar award categories. If that sounds like fun to you, read on to find who I deemed worthy from my 2018 reads!

5 Diverse Books That Deserve More Praise

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together. How it works is that each Tuesday the host assigns a topic and then posts their top ten list that fits the topic. Every blogger can create their own top ten (or 2, 5, 20, etc.) list as well and link to the host’s. The topic for February 19th, 2019 is: Books I LOVED with Fewer than 2,000 Ratings on Goodreads.