bookish-prompts-with-sonali
BLOG,  BOOKISH,  BOOKISH PROMPTS

BOOKISH PROMPTS WITH @TheMelodramaticBookworm

Bookish Prompts is my version of a fun interview with fellow book obsessed people on the internet. Today’s episode of Bookish Prompts is with fellow Indian book blogger/booktuber/bookstagrammer Sonali better known as The Melodramatic Bookworm on all of her socials. Sonali is very well known in the Indian Booktube scene and has wonderful content across all of her platforms. She is an eclectic reader and has lot of book recommendations, book vlogs and book discussions on her book tube channel. Her Coffee Talk episode on Youtube is quite interesting. Make sure to check her content. I hope you enjoy this interview..

Here is my Q & A with her. Hope you enjoy!!

Let’s get into the questions –

1. Tell us a little about yourself and your bookish habits. 

I’m Sonali and I go by the pseudonym, The Melodramatic Bookworm, because books inspire a kind of an emotional upheaval within me, bordering onmelodrama. I channel this into making book-related content on the Internet, be it on my book blog (themelodramaticbookworm.com), my YouTube channel (The Melodramatic Bookworm), or my Instagram page (@melodramaticbookworm).

When it comes to bookish habits, I’d say I have three.
One – I write down quotes that I like from the books that I read.
Two – I maintain notebooks where I write down my thoughts about a book as I’m reading it. I’ve also recently started annotating and tabbing my books, too.
Three – I make it a point to put up my reading wrap ups on the Internet, be it on my blog or on my channel, or both.

2. What’s your reading ritual like? 

I don’t have a set reading ritual, really. All I need is my mood to be in place, some quiet, and a comfortable chair/position to read in. But I also love reading in cafes. The ambiance there kind of turns into very agreeable white noise for me.

3. How has your reading journey been like? 

To describe it in one word, I’d say: wild. It’s not because I read books that are so off the road or something. Some months, all you’ll find on my channel are books you’ve already seen elsewhere.
And I don’t mind that one bit, because in the end, I’m reading what I want to read. What I really mean is that at this point in my journey, I’m reading books that I never thought I’d be reading even about 5 years ago. I’m aware of books that I didn’t know existed back then. And it has made me more knowledgeable in that way. Remembering all that stuff is a different matter altogether because my memory is horrible, but yeah.

4. Your ideal reading place? 

Every bookworm will stumble over this question I’m sure! But my problem is that with my rheumatoid arthritis, sitting in one position for too long becomes unbearable many times. What seems comfortable this minute, will turn uncomfortable just five minutes later. Basically, my ideal reading place has to allow for shifts in positions without torturing my bones in the process. So any sofa or cushy chair that allows for this, will unconditionally become my favorite. Despite all that, like I mentioned before, I love café reading. Books + coffee = bliss!

5. What does your dream personal library look like? 

Ooooh, this sent me daydreaming for a good few minutes! My dream personal library is set in a room with bookshelves on all walls. But in the middle of the biggest wall is a space with a bed/comfortable couch beside a window, multiple pillows, throws, and basically a setting where my bones are singing thanks to me for having set it up. There’s another window in the room beside which there’s a plush reading chair with a side table which I can sink into and curl up in as I read. As for the books, I want to have read everything on the shelves and have curated my collection according to what I loved, what I think is important, and what I didn’t love but I think is important. Did that make sense? XD

6. 5 books you wish you could read for the first time again? 

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
Fierce Fairytales by Nikita Gill
In Other Words by Jhumpa Lahiri
Loveless by Alice Oseman
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and
Annie Barrows

7. Books you would love to say no to? 

I’m interpreting this as 5 books I would love to have said no to and wished I
hadn’t read:

The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck by Mark Manson – I’ve talked about this book so many times on my channel, I feel like I give it unnecessary traction. But then again, argh!

Wetlands by Charlotte Roche – Friendship made me read this and I couldn’t say no, good God.

Fate of Eight by Dhiraj Singh – This was a review copy but it was so bad I actually ended up DNFing it. But not before making a few reaction videos. XD

It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover – A shame because her ‘All Your Perfects’ is one of my favorite romances ever. I wish I had said no and I could have. But in a way, my commitment made me do it.

Think With Me by Subrata Roy Sahara – Big nope to this narcissist, classist autobiography.

8. Books that changed your mindset or life drastically. 

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak made me look at life and death from a different perspective.

A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman showed me how one person can have different layers to them.

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig showed me the mirror.

And there are so many more that I learn from every day. I feel like every book has the capability of shifting your perspective and changing your life. It’s an ongoing process because I have so much to learn. I’ll never be perfect, but my mindset undergoes changes every day.

9. Bookish worlds you would love to live in? 

Ketterdam, perhaps. But also, Camp Half-Blood.
Both would be so action-packed, it fills me with anxiety, but they would be SO INTERESTING!

10. If you could start a new reading or bookish tradition, what would it be? 

I’m not sure, really, because reading or bookish traditions seem pretty personal to me. But if I had to, it would probably be something related to books and coffee. Something like, reading a book while having coffee/tea/beverage of your choice on your birth date every month or something. It sounds super strange, I know, because this sort of came off the top of my head because I’ve never thought about this. But yeah… This does sound good, I think.

11. You are preparing a book bouquet for your family member, partner and friend. Which books would you add to each bouquet and why? 

Family member: I’d choose my Dad because he was the one who introduced me to reading. I’d add any Alistair Maclean book because he’s a fan.

Partner: I keep recommending him books and I keep saying, “You HAVE to read this! It’s so GOOD!” So the most recent book I read and loved at any given point in time. 😛

To a friend: Depends on the friend. If I know that they love an author/genre, I’ll try to find out a book they haven’t read that I think they’ll love and add that book to the bouquet.

12. If you were having a bookish getaway at a beachside cottage, who would
your companions be (characters, authors, fellow booktubers
/bookstagrammers) and which books would you be interested in reading?

This would be one crowded bookish getaway, really, because there are SO MANY! But right off the top of my head, here:

CharactersNora Seed (The Midnight Library), Ove (A Man Called Ove), Graham (All Your Perfects), Hercule Poirot and Sherlock Holmes – what a battle that will be, Edward Cullen from Twilight so that he can light up the party (:P), Georgia (Loveless), the Crows, Nick and Charlie (Heartstopper), Chloe Brown and Red (Get a Life, Chloe Brown), Evelyn Hugo.

AuthorsJhumpa Lahiri, Matt Haig, Nikita Gill, Neil Gaiman, Sabaa Tahir, Fredrik Backman, Aanchal Malhotra, Taylor Jenkins Reid are just some.

Booktubers/Bookstagrammers – EVERYONE! I haven’t met many, apart from 2 (Chaitra from miss.bibliotaph and Swetha from booksqueaks), but I’d love to have all of them on the getaway. Just imagine the discussions that would happen.

13. A standalone, series, and author you can’t stop recommending. 

Oh, I think this is pretty standard for me by now, really, because I keep shouting about some books from the roofs. But I’ll try to recommend something other than what you’ve seen me recommend.

Standalone: For standalone nonfiction, I’ll recommend In Other Words by Jhumpa Lahiri. But for fiction, I’ll say Book Lovers by Emily Henry and Sadie by Courtney Summers.

Series: The Flawed duology by Cecelia Ahern and the All for the Game trilogy by Nora Sakavic.

Author: Alice Oseman – they are just amazing!

14. Favorite characters you would want in your inner circle and why? 

Kaz Brekker by Six of Crows – The kid is ruthless and you’d be better off andsafer if he were on your side.

Emma Morley from One Day – Strong and compassionate.

Annabeth Chase from the Percy Jackson series – Sassy, badass kid.

15. If you could live as a bookish character for a day, who would it be and why? 

Probably Nora Seed from The Midnight Library. I’d love to see what the otherme’s are doing in the other universes, not because I want to feel regret, but because I’m just very, very curious.

16. Genre you cannot live without. 

Fantasy, perhaps. A good fantasy always has the power to inspire me in its own way, and not getting to read it would make me very, very sad. But to be very honest, it’s not life and death. There would be a lot of emotions, but it’s not that I can’t live without it. I just don’t want to. [This, thanks to Chloe Brown. <3]

17. Bookish pet peeves. 

One of my biggest pet peeves is spoilers. Accidental spoilers, I can still live with, but when someone knows that I don’t want to know anything about a book or a show and they still give out spoilers and find joy in it – it grinds my gears to no end. These are the same people who would wait with bated breath for Mondays to come and immediately watch Game of Thrones because they didn’t want spoiler. Ugh.

Also, people thinking I’m hating on them because I didn’t like a book they loved or vice versa and then leaving nasty comments in the comment sections. I’ve had to disable comments on a video because people went, “You’re not intellectual enough to comment on this book. You’re an idiot.” People even
commented on a different video insulting me because I disabled the comments there. I have an issue with the book, not the people who like it.

18. Tropes you would kill to read and tropes you would avoid at any cost.

I love the best friends to lovers trope and the found family trope. They are just so heartwarming to read! I wouldn’t avoid it because I know if done right, it would be good. But the Chosen One trope is something I think is overdone these days.

19. Quotes that live rent free in your head. 

Sometimes, you read a book and it fills you with this weird evangelical
zeal, and you become convinced that the shattered world will never be
put back together unless and until all living humans read the book. And
then there are books like An Imperial Affliction, which you can’t tell
people about, books so special and rare and yours that advertising your
affection feels like a betrayal.

– The Fault in Our Stars

The past is a story we tell ourselves.

– from the movie Her

If you aim to be something you are not, you will always fail. Aim to be
you. Aim to look and act and think like you. Aim to be the truest version
of you. Embrace that you-ness. Endorse it. Love it. Work hard at it. And
don’t give a second thought when people mock it or ridicule it. Most
gossip is envy in disguise.

– The Midnight Library

She wears strength and darkness equally well,
The girl has always been half goddess half hell.

– Fierce Fairytales

Don’t ignore half of me so you can fit me into a box. Don’t do that.

– The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo

20. Most shocking book and an unforgettable book that you have read.

The most shocking book has to be a tie between Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn and My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell. Gone Girl is so out of its own mind with everything that happens and My Dark Vanessa is so triggering that it shocked tears out of me.

Choosing an unforgettable book is a bit tricky because my memory is an imp that plays with me. But I will never forget the way In Other Words, The Midnight Library, and Loveless made me feel.

21. Favorite and unforgettable bookish memory. 

Many of them make me cringe now because of how I was so fixated on them, but one that I always smile at is me going to the nearby library and asking for Tinkle comics.

22. Any strange bookish habits?

I love reading while I eat. People look at me strangely but then again, how is it
any different from watching TV or scrolling on one’s phone? Entertainment is
entertainment.

23. It’s book confession time…

I’ve never read The Lord of the Rings. I started it a couple of times but I couldn’t go more than 10 pages in each time.

24. Your ‘The Book Bucket List’. 

My ultimate book bucket list involves visiting libraries across the world and places from my favorite books. For example, Guernsey. I’d love to go there and just walk around the island, but who knows when that is happening?

25. Recommend 5 books that you could never get tired of recommending.

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

Fierce Fairytales by Nikita Gill

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Karno’s Daughter by Rimli Sengupta

An Ember in the Ashes series by Sabaa Tahir.

Make sure to check out the links below –

Follow Sonali on :

Website | Youtube | Twitter | Instagram

Leave a Reply

%d