Behind the Blog # 1!

A new weekly feature!!!

Behind the Blog is a meme to help bloggers connect their life and interests to the content showcased on their blog. The feature hosts, Faye, Kathe, and Melissa will provide a different topic, idea, or question every week that bloggers can relate to themselves and the books, films, or other media they find interesting!

In honor of the meme’s launch, this week’s theme is beginnings. When did you start your blog? Who or what inspired or motivated you to do so? If you want to connect this to books, which book’s first line or paragraph hooked you and made sure you kept reading the whole way?

That's an interesting beginning for a new feature that's bound to bring up really interesting posts! 

Well, I've been into blogging since May 2010 (that makes it two years, in case you didn't feel like counting) but the idea for a book blog came around eight months back! Till then, I was rambling about how unfair life is, what I see around me and totally random thoughts on my first (and yes, still running) blog. The frequency of posts over there is low, about two-three posts a month and I've decided to heat things up a little, beginning with a makeover and adding new topics (goes without saying I'll do that after exams, it takes up time, you know)! 

Then one day I was on the Indian bloggers' site, Blogadda, looking up new blogs and things when I came across the blogger interviews section. The recent ones showed the blogger behind Books, Life and More, Smita, a respectable lady whose posts now I enjoy reading so much! (She was also among the very first members of this blog)! Being naturally attracted to anything with a hint of books, I explored her blog and found out a great way to share this love for books! Needless to say, I was truly inspired. I thought about the books I had read, about how sometimes I had tried to made a list of 'books read', but I had always stopped after a while or the list got misplaced. The idea that I could put it all somewhere, somewhere safe, and maybe find more people who might be interested in books, totally caught my attention. Being a midst exams and other useless things all the time, I took my time thinking about the new book blog I could create, where the initial idea was to record summaries of the books, so that when many months had passed since I had read a book and I wanted to revisit it, I could simply read my post and know what it was all about, in detail! So I began with it. 

Initially I mostly focused on summaries and less of the 'review' part, but then I came across the weekly meme, TGIF at GReads that had so many bloggers participating! That's when I actually came to know about so many book bloggers, some of whose blogs I took a fancy to, almost immediately! I gradually learned many things I ought to know as a book blogger, picking up things from others, learning, experimenting (and I realized I had been so stupid to write down whole summaries of books when I had started, endings included)! It just didn't occur to me that such a big community already exists and what things a review should, or should not have. Citing the thoughts of some very good friends and blog readers, I think I write better reviews now. ;) I always feel grateful to all those whose blogs I have followed, learning so much from them and towards those who provided well defined criticisms to help me create a better, and useful blog! I owe you all! :)

So, that's my story. That's how I started Journal of a Bookworm. Don't ask about the blog's name though. I always considered myself a bookworm (but I can assure you I'm cent per cent human and not at all creepy) and I thought this was going to be my online journal, hence, the name. 

Coming to another aspect of the topic, I would like to share how my love for books began! It was really early, my parents tell me it was as soon as I could read. It wasn't books, exactly, but they saw I loved reading. I would pick up the paper and read the name in my tiny voice, breaking up the words to form them whole. I wasn't very interested in socialization or television and passed my time either teasing my younger brother or poring over the story books mom got from school where she's a kindergarten teacher or from the bookstore. There was something in them that I couldn't resist. Once I knew I could read them, I wanted to know more about the world, their worlds and what the heroes did to save themselves from the bad guys. English was the favorite subject in school and I found it hard to resist anything related with books or the little bit of bookish knowledge I had. Not having people around who were interested in books, I sometimes felt sad and as much as I hate to admit, a little bit lonely. Relatives from the US bought some interesting and popular books when I was little and thanks to them, I had the fortune to read some books when they're supposed to be read. Studies caught up with me later on and my time with the books I so loved decreased. 

It wasn't until I was in college, when I was finally free enough to go back to the reading process. Mom accompanied me to a library, I got the best membership available and mmmm, enjoyed every bit of it! Then I explored other options to get books; from the library, finding out bookstores, thrift shops, ebooks. Somehow, borrowing (apart from the library) didn't much appeal to me so I refrained from that! And joining the book blogging community was the best thing that ever happened! Ever since I took up the Goodreads reading challenge, I swear I've never read so much before! It's such a great motivation!!! I mean, when it says, 'you're a book behind', it's as if it's stabbed me and I won't rest until it says 'great work, you're 1/2/3 books ahead!' :D 

If you liked this post and want to participate, head towards the hosts' blogs and submit your link! :)