Let’s Talk Bookish – October 2020

Hey everyone! I hope you’re doing well. Today, Dani and I are sharing the topics for October, which I am very excited about. As always, Let’s Talk Bookish is a weekly meme, hosted by me & Dani @ Literary Lion, where we discuss certain topics, share our opinions, and spread the love by visiting each other’s posts.

Many thanks to Rafaela and Lydia for suggesting topics! If you’d like to suggest topics, you can do so in the comments, or in the form below!

Let’s get started.

October 2nd: Should You Review a Sequel, Without Reading the First Book? (Dani)

Examples: When selecting ARCs do you ever choose sequels where you haven’t read the first book in a series? Do you think it’s fair to review a sequel without the context of the first entry in a series? Do you take someone’s review seriously if they mention they haven’t read the preceding books? Should reviewers even be allowed to do this?

October 9th: What Makes You DNF a Book? (suggested by Rafaela @ The Portuguese Bibliophile)

Examples: Is there a specific trope you can’t stand? A plot twist that will make you drop instantly? How many pages do you usually give a book to capture your attention? How many books do you give a series before deciding if it’s worth your time? Do you count books as read on Goodreads if you DNF them?

October 16th: The Care and Keeping of a TBR (suggested by Lydia @ Lydia Schoch)

Examples: Do you maintain a TBR physically, online or both? How do you decide which books get to go on your TBR? Do you ever “prune” your TBR to remove old books, how do you decide who stays and who goes? How big is your TBR currently?

October 23rd: What is the meaning of diverse books? (Rukky)

Examples: We talk a lot about diverse books and reads, but what really makes a book diverse? Are books written by authors or about characters from Eastern Europe (Lithuania, Ukraine, Hungary, etc) considered diverse? Would you consider a book set in Spain about a Spanish main character diverse? Why or why not? Does diverse mean characters or authors from South America, Asia, and Africa, or from different religious, sexual, ability, etc backgrounds only?

October 30th: What Makes a Good “Coming of Age” Story?

Examples: Fall is a season of change and growing, so we wanted to discuss coming of age stories! Did any coming of age story have a profound impact on you? What do you think the ingredients for a good coming of age story are? How important is it to have diverse coming of age stories?

As always, you don’t have to answer every question under the examples. You don’t even have to answer any of them if you don’t want to, but I’ve decided to include them as a guideline if you are unsure what to post regarding the topic.

Is there something about books or the book blogging community that you want to discuss? Do you know any controversies going in the community right now? Is there something you don’t want to discuss personally, but would love to see other’s opinions about? Please share your ideas in this form, or you can use my Contact page!!

We appreciate each and every suggestion!

rain is falling
it's simply dropping
spilling out into
every place

fires are raging
ash is making
everything a dangerous
murky grey

hurricanes are pushing
sweeping and wiping
every little thing
in their monstrous way

but time is moving
planting and growing
a seed of hope that
everything'll be okay

I know you guys won’t, but here’s the warning anyway for that one person who might: please do not plagiarize or claim it as your own because that would make me really sad (and mad). If you’d like to share it, you can, but do credit me!

I just made this up; I’m not sure why and it’s kind of eh, but I like it, so I decided to share it. It has no name, so y’all can share in the comments any name ideas that you have!

The funny thing about me and my poems (or whatever you want to call them) is that when I write them, I write them in a song format in my head, so I have a tune to go with it and a way to sing/say it. But it’s written more like a poem than an actual song. So yeah, that’s a weird tidbit for your day 🙂

If you’re in an area that’s near fires or the hurricane, or any other thing, I hope you’re all staying safe! Also, here’s a post by Aditi about the fires with links to how you can help! Please go check it out; it’s really heartbreaking, but I love her writing at the same time.

Are you excited for October’s topics? Do you write poetry/songs? Any name suggestions for that little poemy song that I wrote? Would you like to see more writing and poetry on the blog? Am I the only one who wouldn’t mind having 25 hours in a day at this point? Share your thoughts in the comments below!