Real Neat Blog Award II

The award was created by Petrel @ Dear Kitty and I am honoured to be nominated by Carl @Pine scented Chronicles. I have been dormant for so long that my first reaction to the notification was to say its the my first time being tagged for this kind of award but then realised that was absolutely not true and actually had to edit my response. This would teach me to respond to comments on my phone instead of a laptop where I am more coherent. Anyway back to the tag:

The rules are simple:

• Put the award logo on your blog.
• Answer the 7 questions asked by the person who nominated you.
• Thank the person who nominated you and add a link to their blog.
• Nominate any number of people linking to their blogs and let them know you nominated them by commenting on their blogs.
• Come up with 7 questions for the people you nominated.

Carl’s Questions

Tell us more about your blog. What motivated you into starting your own blog?

My most basic information is available in About this Blog and some more at Also about this blog, but I have to change some of that soon! I started this blog almost two years into my stay in Hong Kong. I have always been a voracious reader. It has substituted human contact through most of my childhood and much of my ‘adult life’ as well. My father and husband had for ages been trying to get me to write, thinking I could hone my skills (little did they know about the alarming lack of rules in the writing on the blogosphere, they still keep mentioning the differences in tenses and other such grammar ‘rules’ which I am yet to convince them do not play much of a role in this wild world!). Having access to a well-equipped library is a crucial plus point to the survival of my blog, although Netgalley is warring with its place in my affections.

Finally, I must say that my blog is almost wholly only book reviews based. I do not do separate discussion posts. Sometimes I tag some random conversation at the start of the review but nothing beyond that.

What inspires you to keep on blogging or writing?

I continue to read, and now the blog has become the storehouse of information. I make lists to keep the reading in context and as reference. As long as I read, I think I will keep writing reviews (at least I hope so!). I have come across people who have given me introductions to whole new arenas of books, and I do not see myself completely losing that access. Even if I do get a full-time job soon (fingers crossed), I hope I will keep this running. My inspiration is now clearly drawn from the people all around the world who keep talking about so many books enthusiastically and frequently!

Of the blog pieces you’ve written, what do you like or love the most? 

I write so many reviews that I cannot truthfully choose a favourite so I will bend the rules a bit and say that my last compilation post Mid Year Stats 2020 as well as my monthly ‘mood’ posts: May 2020 Books Vs Moods are things I would draw your attention to, just because I was asked.

What movie or book best depicts your life story?

This is yet another difficult question, so I have to look at the most recent review. American as Paneer Pie by Supriya Kelkar. This is the closest to reflect how quiet I was during school and even later. I befriended people who had lasting impacts on my life, both good and bad. I always felt like an odd person out in any given situation. I am sure if I dig harder I can find a better correlation, but for now, I think this is the best I can come up with. I do like this question though and plan to give it again myself. 😉

How did you cope/how are you coping with the lockdown’s and the restrictions?

We started semi-lockdown restrictions a long time before the rest of the world even registered the oncoming storm. After Chinese new year in January, schools closed down, as did libraries etc. The first month I hung out with my niece, got her hooked on to board games. Then, by March, the world caught up, and my friends all over the world suddenly had a lot of time on their hands. We have since been hanging out more than we ever did in the 10+ years of knowing each other. Our current craze is Codenames on netgames.io, which is beyond excellent for all of us. Psych and UNO had its time. We have family in the same apartment complex, and HK never went into complete lockdown so I must say I have had a better time now than most people, something to be thankful for.

What are three things you’ve learned while in quarantine?

• Family and friends are the most important ‘resource’ to sustain the normalcy of life
• Hobbies and interests should be nurtured to keep the mind active
• Lethargy needs to be stopped before it takes over completely

Give one advise you can give to those who want to start their own blogs.

Anyone who has even the faintest feeling to build a presence in the blogging world should go ahead and do it. There are no restrictions here and many more positive, encouraging people than negative ones. It takes time to build the right type of audience but it is well worth it.

My questions

1. What is your most favourite thing about blogging?
2. Did you have any fears before starting to blog? If yes, did blogging prove you wrong?
3. Which Book or movie depicts your life story? – I did say I liked the question!
4. What is the book that reflects how you are feeling now or have felt the past few months-maybe all the changes depicted by different books?
5. Is there anything you would like to add to your blog in the future/changes you hope to make but are hesitating to?
6. Have you been following the news? Why/Why not?
7. Freebie- Mention anything you want to (Vent if you have to!)

I now tag 7 others to give this a shot:

• Rekha @ The Book Decoder
• Ayunda @ Ayundabhuwana’s Blog
• Kate @Cross Examining Crime
• Laurie @ Bedford Bookshelf
• Shalini @ Shalini’s books and reviews
• ShellyRae @ Bookd’out
• Holly @NutFree Nerd

There is no pressure to participate. I have missed a couple myself in the last year or so when I could not think of responses. If you do I hope you keep the chain going with your own questions as well…