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Photo by Marc-Olivier Jodoin on Unsplash
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Wandering Thoughts is where I let my mind stray, think and talk about non-routine things. This is an avenue for bookish personal stories, fun posts, musings and discussions.
The Slytherin in me loves to win in blogging by having interaction in the comments so I am going to link up this post in both the Book Blogger Hop and Discussion Challenge.
The Book Blogger Hop question for this week (June 1 to June 7), which is submitted by Cathy @ What Cathy Read Next, is “What do you think your blog says about you?”
So I attempted to directly ask my blog this week’s question:
Me: *cheery voice* Hi blog! Help, I need answers! What can you say about me?
Blog: *triggered and salty* Don’t go throwing that philosophical crap here! I feel personally attacked! *runs to the mountains to hide existential breakdown*
Me: *confused* Hmmmkay???
In all fairness to my blog’s feelings, although the question is a very good question to ask, it is also very hard to answer. It is the equivalent of asking a person “Who are you?” in which that person (probably THIS book blogger right here) will start drowning into a quagmire of identity crisis and end up with fists shaking at the universe crying, “Who am I?” And I’m afraid the answer is not as simple as belting out “I AM JEAN VALJEAN!”
My lazy ass answer would probably be: Eh, just go and read the About Me page. But I want to delve deeper, so I tried my best to develop a methodical way to answer this. First, I calmed down my freaked out blog and eventually we went together over three years long of previous posts to see what we can discover about ourselves. Let’s just say that some serious introspection happened and I am a bit surprised of what came out of this knowing thyself exercise.
I don’t do life updates in periodic recaps like other bloggers do so I thought that I was putting as little as possible about me here. But whadyaknow, through the years I am inadvertently revealing a lot about me, scattered in bits and pieces among my book reviews and other posts! So here are some of the things that my book blog can say about my book blogging self:
As a reader:
- I am a slow, easily distracted reader. (as I've mentioned here, here, and here)
- I am a re-reader, especially if the book is addicting. (Some books that I've re-read immediately after I've read them: Jellicoe Road, Neanderthal Opens The Door To The Universe, The Fine Art of Holding Your Breath)
- I have books (and films) that I liked even though they are problematic. (e.g. Breakfast at Tiffany’s, A Short History of the Girl Next Door, Me Before You)
- I love sibling stories. I am a sucker for books with huge helpings of sibling dynamics: the love and affection, the rivalry. (Words in Deep Blue, Vanishing Girls, Am I Normal Yet, One of Us Is Lying)
- I love romantic fluff. (#romanceclass, It Only Happens in the Movies, Playing the Player)
- I love learning life lessons or gaining insights from the books that I read. (More Happy Than Not, What We Saw, Fatal Throne)
As a reviewer:
- I noticed that I am a comparer. I love to put a book side by side with other books that I think are somewhat alike. (as I did in my reviews for A List of Cages, Little Monsters, Shtum)
- I read excerpts before requesting a book for review.
- My motto in writing reviews is “honest but kind”. And I try my best to live by it.
- My review style is ever-evolving. Before, I am adamant with writing walls of words but now I am trying to incorporate “creative” stuff like memes, quote graphics, and own book photos. I have also tried doing unconventional format of reviews: pros and cons list, bulletpoint of bookworm blabber list, and GIF reviews.
- I have had virtual relationships before that did not translate well into real-life relationships, haha.
- My dream first date is in an amusement park.
- I have my fair share of kdrama and anime binge-watching. Throw me some recs?
- I was not accepted on the uni that I wanted to go with my 3 HS bestfriends.
- I am an extremely insecure book blogger. It shows in some of my discussion posts how I compare and belittle myself with other book bloggers. It's bad but I guess it's okay to feel insecure as long as it does not eat me up or if my insecurity pushes me to do better.
- I am predisposed to suffering an existential crisis from time to time. Or is it all the time? Ssshh.
- I have an addictive personality. Mostly that means I obsess and overthink about things I am currently addicted to. Basically this book blog is a manifestation of my addiction to books and reading.
- Sometimes, I am hard on myself and make things hard for myself. (sigh)
Quick update: I am currently doing the rounds in the Book Blogger Hop link-up and everyone else is answering the question based on the physical appearances of their blogs. So clearly, I overthought the question. (That's me, an overthinker!) In that case my answer would be: My blog layout and design says that I like this color of mint green!
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I’d love to hear from you! Who are you as a reader? As a reviewer? As a person? Do you also feel personally attacked by questions like these? Are you a conscious life update sharer in your blog? Or are you like me who is an accidental sharer of personal stuff in scattered posts? Have you ever gone through your blog posts and discover something you did not know about yourself before?
