Let’s Talk Bookish is a weekly bookish meme created by Rukky @ Eternity Books and is hosted by Aria @BookNookBits. Each Friday, there is a discussion topic for bloggers to write about, this week we will be discussing…

Well this week it’s a free choice on what to discuss, so I found a topic in the archives I’d not discussed before.

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Have you ever considered quitting blogging? 
asked by Kristin @ Lukten Av Trykksverte

PROMPTS: Have your reasons for blogging changed since you started? If so, what changes have you noticed? Have you ever taken a break from blogging, or thought about it? Have you ever thought about quitting blogging entirely? What stops you? What gives you motivation to keep blogging?

Have your reasons for blogging changed since you started? If so, what changes have you noticed?
The answer to this is very much a “yes”. I began book blogging as a way to get arc books and it involved lots of posting of cover reveals, blog tours and follow up promotion. About two years ago I realised that not only did those posts get very little attention, but I also didn’t get any joy out posting them either.

My first blog was a scrapbooking/paper crafting blog so there has very definitely been a change since then!

Have you ever taken a break from blogging, or thought about it?
There was a gap of several months between my crafting blog and its metamorphosis into a book blog. Does that count? I’m saying it does!

Have you ever thought about quitting blogging entirely? What stops you? What gives you the motivation to keep blogging?
I have been considering taking a break only these last few weeks. It doesn’t bother me if I only post a couple of times a week, but I do hate not being able to visit my blogging friends as frequently as I would like. I’m worried any hiatus may actually end up being permanent, we all know what it’s like when we have every intention of doing a job, but it just keeps getting put off until another day. I don’t want to permanently quit for two reasons. The first is that I do enjoy interacting with other bloggers and the second is that I like having this record of my journey as a reader/blogger.


Have you considered quitting, or have you taken blogging breaks? Share your answers in the comments below.

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Let’s Talk Bookish is a weekly bookish meme created by Rukky @ Eternity Books and is hosted by Aria @BookNookBits. Each Friday, there is a discussion topic for bloggers to write about, this week we will be discussing…

Well this week it’s a free choice on what to discuss, so I found a topic in the archives I’d not discussed before.

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WHAT MAKES YOU CONTINUE PICKING UP YA/MIDDLE GRADE? OR WHY DON’T YOU?  by SAM @ RIVER MOOSE BOOKS

Prompts: As adults some of us leave YA/Middle Grade behind and some of us continue to revel in it…but what separates us as readers? If you still pick up YA/Middle Grade, what draws you to them instead of Adult Fiction? If you’ve “grown out” of those genres, why do they no longer spark joy in you?

This is a fascinating topic and I’m looking forward to seeing the answers – I’m expecting them to be quite varied this week.

In general, I’m not a YA/Middle-Grade book reader. In fact, I’m definitely not someone who normally reads MG books, not since my children outgrew them. That said I am currently reading Carrie’s War by Nina Bawden at work. The students where I work are expected to read for 5 minutes after lunch and staff join in. I have a vague recollection of reading the book as a child I decided it would be a nice chance for a trip down memory lane. However, my kindle has no middle-grade reading material on it and easily less than 10% of the books would count as Young Adult. The YA books that do feature are those read by a wide age range, such as Harry Potter.


My gut instinct is that the difference between readers lies in whether they enjoy the dark and dirty side of life, if they seek gritty, challenging and occasionally boundary-pushing reads or if instead, they want to escape the grim reality of life. Personally, I find YA a little bland, situations are overcome too easily, any romance far too frequently involves a love triangle and too many heroines are “not like other girls” and/or are chosen ones.


Perhaps it’s because my children are now all adults. Maybe I had to read too many of these books to them and, whilst I love all three of my offspring dearly, reading is my pleasurable escape so I don’t really want a book I’m reading to remind me of parental responsibility and my everyday life. I also like to read about content that, if the protagonist was still a child or teen would make the book either distasteful or disturbing.

Are you yay, nay or somewhere in between about YA books?

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Let’s Talk Bookish is a weekly bookish meme created by Rukky @ Eternity Books and is hosted by Aria @BookNookBits. Each Friday, there is a discussion topic for bloggers to write about, this week we will be discussing…

Well this week it’s a free choice on what to discuss, so I found a topic in the archives I’d not discussed before.

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Bookish Memes and Games – Fun Filler or Worthless Waste of Time? suggested by Davida @ The Chocolate Lady’s Book Review Blog

I think it goes without saying that I enjoy participating in memes, bookish or otherwise! I’ve met some great book bloggers online, we don’t all enjoy the same genres but we do all love books. Memes allow us to find common ground and get to know one another a little more.

Over the last few years I’ve participated in quite a few popular memes, some have worked better for me than others. I did take part in Top Ten Tuesday for quite a few months, however it was quite a lot of work to produce the post and I never much enjoyed blog hopping for it as I’d never heard of most of the books featured by others. I used to to Can’t Wait Wednesday, but it became a casualty in the work-life balance war.

I obviously join in this meme – when I feel I have something to say – and if I don’t do Let’s Talk Bookish I join in with the Friday Book Blogger Hop. My two favourite memes are Tell Me Something Tuesday and The Sunday Post, both of which I enjoy because they allow me to talk about more than just books. Don’t get me wrong, I love book chat, but I enjoy getting to know my fellow bloggers just as much. So usually I do 3 memes a week.

I do try to interact with people on memes, after all if I want people to comment on my post it’s only fair to repay the compliment. I do need to be more organised about visiting other blogs
but I AM visiting and commenting more. The interaction from others is rewarding, and it definitely plays a part in my decision to join in memes, but it isn’t the deciding factor on whether I will post or not. That comes down to both my own personal enjoyment of the topic/prompts and whether I have the time or not to create the post.

Are you a “memester”?

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Let’s Talk Bookish is a weekly bookish meme created by Rukky @ Eternity Books and is hosted by Aria @BookNookBits. Each Friday, there is a discussion topic for bloggers to write about, this week we will be discussing…

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TO ANNOTATE OR NOT TO ANNOTATE… asked by ARIA @ BOOK NOOK BITS

Prompts:  Do you like annotating books? If so, how do you annotate them? Is there a difference for you between ebooks, physical books, and audiobooks? If you’ve ever had to annotate books in school, does this affect your willingness to annotate the books you read for fun? What are some downsides to annotating books in your opinion?

I’m glad I read the prompts before passing over this subject, as they made me realise I CAN answer the question posed by Aria!

I can’t really remember being encouraged to annotate books when I was in school. I have very vague recollections of writing notes on a worksheet in O-Level English Literature lessons. For those either too young and/or not from the UK O, or ordinary, Level examinations were taken in the June of your final compulsory year at school (back then it was the school year in which you became 16). Books were an expensive commodity writing in them was always a big no-no – which is a bit rich when you consider I happily dog-eared the corners! However, a crease felt less permanent than a pencil or pen upon the page. Whilst I somehow passed my English Literature exam, it wasn’t something I chose to continue in later studies.

Even at university, I would have made notes on a piece of paper, that I subsequently placed between the pages of the book, as opposed to jotting in the margins. In the UK you take modules linked directly to your degree – some are mandatory and others are picked from a small number of options. My degree was in Genetics, so all my modules were science-based courses.

I never felt a desire to annotate reading books, I guess because I don’t look for a deeper meaning behind the stories or the characters’ motives. I’m here for the same reason you might sit and watch a Die Hard film, pure unadulterated enjoyment and being able to disengage the higher parts of my brain. However, I DO highlight passages on my kindle and occasionally will make a note as a memory prompt when I come to write my review. I use the note-taking feature quite a lot when I’m beta reading. The downside is that stopping to make a note always draws me out of the book and It can take a few pages before I’m “back in the story” so to speak.

Are you a margin scribbler?

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Let’s Talk Bookish is a weekly bookish meme created by Rukky @ Eternity Books and is hosted by Aria @BookNookBits. Each Friday, there is a discussion topic for bloggers to write about, this week we will be discussing…

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EATING & READING: YAY OR NAY? by FIVES @ DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE) @ ON THIS I PONDER

Prompts:  Do you ever (carefully) eat and read at the same time? Or are your books too precious to possibly get dirty? Perhaps eating and an audiobook? Do any books ever make you hungry? Is there a time and place for a nice snack or meal with a good book, or should books be focused on independently?

Great question Fives. As someone who happily dog-ears paperbacks and thinks nothing of bending the pages/cover back on itself, I’m sure you can guess my standpoint on this. I do show the appropriate respect to borrowed books, but once I’m absorbed in the pages of a good book I don’t want to stop reading, basic bodily functions and needs can be seen to whilst clutching the book in one hand, or having it propped up and wedged open!

Audiobooks just don’t seem to do it for me, though I’ve only tried a few and all were narrated by voice actors from the US. Perhaps I need to find a book where the audio is done with a British accent. I only read e-books, so any smears of jam or food crumbs are pretty easy to clean off. I guess spilling a drink on it might cause some issues, but so far I’ve managed to avoid it.

My mind isn’t able to build detailed images from descriptions, so reading about food or cooking doesn’t make me hungry. Smelling food is more likely to have my stomach rumbling, so unless it’s a scratch-and-sniff book it is very unlikely to affect my appetite.

As a person who can breathe, blink, talk and move whilst doing other tasks, I find myself also able to read whilst doing something else. Eating doesn’t take my focus away from the story, I can also brush my teeth, get dressed, do my hair, visit the bathroom and do a wide variety of activities whilst reading. My husband moaning that I’m reading again, or trying to engage me in conversation prevents me from focusing entirely on the story – and it earns him a glare that I keep just for those special moments. That said, I wouldn’t read at a dinner party or during a meal out with someone… I do have some boundaries. But that is more about being polite than any worry about damaging the book.

So, to snack or not to snack? That very much is the question.

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