Category: Discussions

Discussions, Let's Talk Bookish

Let’s Talk Bookish: How Reading Affects Mental Health

by wren @ wingsandfables4 Comments on Let’s Talk Bookish: How Reading Affects Mental Health

Let’s Talk Bookish is a weekly meme hosted by Rukky @ Eternity Books and Dani @ Literary Lion. This week’s topic was suggested by Kristin @ Lukten Av Trykksverte and is How Reading Affects Mental Health.

In what ways does reading affect your mental health? Does it affect your mental health positively or negatively at certain times, and why?

For me, reading positively affects my mental health. It gives me a place to escape to when I need a break from the world and I love being able to make connections with characters. It can be so powerful to find pieces of yourself in a character and to be able to relate to their struggles. It helps you feel like you’re not so alone in the darkness sometimes. And watching your favorite character grow through the book or series can be an encouragement to work on yourself too in your own struggles or give you the courage to speak out about things you need to or things you know need more attention by the public. I also love being able to lose myself in characters’ romances. Living vicariously through them can bring such a huge smile to my face or even make me cry. The only time reading affects my mental health negatively is when I have too many review books to read. I’ve definitely gotten myself into trouble on NetGalley before and over-requested only to be granted more books than I had anticipated. The deadlines got to be very stressful for me and I had terrible FOMO (fear of missing out) when I saw friends reading new releases and I had commitments I needed to fulfill before being able to join them. I’m much more careful now about requesting books!

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Discussions, Let's Talk Bookish

Let’s Talk Bookish: What Makes You Pick Up a Book

by wren @ wingsandfables4 Comments on Let’s Talk Bookish: What Makes You Pick Up a Book

Let’s Talk Bookish is a weekly meme hosted by Rukky @ Eternity Books and Dani @ Literary Lion. This week’s topic was suggested by Rafaela @ The Portuguese Bibliophile and is What Makes You Pick Up a Book.

What makes you pick up certain books? Is a pretty cover enough?

Word-of-mouth is the most powerful influence for me as a reader. If I see a lot of hype, positive reviews, or a friend recommends it, I’m almost guaranteed to pick the book up. As far as browsing on my own goes, covers are the very first thing I notice about a book, before the title and the author’s name even. And I am fully guilty of purchasing books based on their pretty covers and nothing else. Sometimes this turns out great and I fall in love with the book. And sometimes I wish I had actually read the summary or a Goodreads review or two so I’d realize the subject matter wasn’t something I was actually interested in. But since I am a frequent shopper of discount bookstores, I don’t usually count it as such a loss since I didn’t spend much money on the book to start with.

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Discussions, Let's Talk Bookish

Let’s Talk Bookish: Book Boyfriend Qualifications

by wren @ wingsandfables9 Comments on Let’s Talk Bookish: Book Boyfriend Qualifications

Let’s Talk Bookish is a weekly series hosted by Rukky @ Eternity Books and Dani @ Literary Lion. This week’s topic is Qualifications for a Book Boyfriend/Girlfriend.

I always see LTB posts on my dash every week and always enjoy reading everyone’s thoughts on the weekly topics but I’ve yet to be organized enough to participate. This week I’ve finally managed to be able to write my thoughts down on a topic so I’m really excited to be able to join. April’s topics look amazing and I can’t wait to read everyone’s posts!

Do you have any book boyfriends/girlfriends?

Yes! Isn’t one of the best parts of reading books falling in love with a character? It always amazes me when I take a step back to look at a book objectively just how much work some authors put into creating their characters. You can tell how much thought and backstory they’ve poured into them even if it doesn’t always make it onto the page. They often spawn fanfiction even because readers love the characters so much and want to continue their stories in some way or place them in an alternate setting and explore their reactions to it. Some of my favorite book boyfriends are:

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Discussions, Reviews

5 Things I Liked About The Folk of the Air Series by Holly Black; And 5 Things I Didn’t

by wren @ wingsandfables1 Comment on 5 Things I Liked About The Folk of the Air Series by Holly Black; And 5 Things I Didn’t

once upon a time, there was a human girl stolen away by faeries, and because of that, she swore to destroy them.

the wicked king, holly black

I’ve finally rectified one series from my list of series I wanted to start! Unfortunately, I didn’t care for these books as much as others have and don’t have enough to say about each installment to warrant a full review of them. So instead I’m going to hit the highlights of things I liked about the series, and things I disliked. This list will contain spoilers! Let’s get started.

Things I Liked:

1. It stuck to fae legend.

Although the A Court of Thorns and Roses series owns a special chunk of my heart when it comes to both fantasy and faeries, I liked that this series held closer to the traditional legends of the Fae comparatively. The innate terrifying quality of the Fae was kept in this series along with the legends that they cannot lie, are incapable of breaking their promises, and are able to enchant a mortal into anything they want. It brought a unique depth to the series that I haven’t read in others yet.

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