— AtoZ, Blog Challenge, Books —

[Theme Reveal] My love affair with books #AtoZchallenge

March 19, 2018
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Hola folks! AtoZ is back and I am ecstatic to be a part of it once again! Yes it’s my second time here! I truly loved the amazing buzz of this challenge that propels you to write daily and read too. It had been a revelation of sorts to connect with some really awesome blogs last time around and hope to grow that list more this year too.

Last year I had concentrated on the Travel part of my blog as my theme for this challenge. You can read my Theme Reveal post from last year here

I think I started to plan my 2018 challenge since July of last year; yup I am a pretty eager beaver 😉

But it was only when January rolled in that I could firm up on a theme close to my heart which I am confident to write 26 posts on in a continuity that will excite the reader’s interest in coming back for more.

Without much ado, my theme for this year is Books that have made a lasting impression on me. Books are the second important category which I love to blog about and it made sense to pick it as this years theme.

Simply put I am going to take you through my book shelves and pick out the gems there which I love to read again and again, which resonate in their message to me and which thrill me every time without fail.

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My mother tells me that as a 2-3 year old I loved to crawl on newspaper sheets and would peruse them with interest (or so it seemed to her). She decided to get me interested in reading and boy did I soak it all up. I am very grateful to my mom for this incredible habit/hobby and thank her for using her ghar kharch money to buy books for me – books are damn expensive to buy! And I know that back then, we were hard up for money. Hats off to my mom to manage to buy books for me and encourage my habit and she has bought me some rare gems.

I turned out to be a sickly child after a while with many restrictions on outdoor activities; I ended up cooped up in the house and guess what I turned to for company? As I got better, the bond only grew thicker. So much so that my cousins turned up their noses on me as I would have mine buried in a book and have no time for them. I am still teased for it; I am still the only one who reads books to date.

The world within a book is myriad in imagination, rife with unfathomable twists and turns that leave one stunned long after a book is over. Well, not every book has this effect on me. So I will share the ones that made a lasting impressions and find a real place of honour on my bookshelf.

Oh and yes there will be a post on books that bombed as they didn’t live up to the hype or my expectations.

You know what I am looking forward to now? – My readers sharing their likes and dislikes after each post; I am going to have a ball going through the comments and learn about some terrific new books to add to my ever-growing TBR.

P.S: 

I am on a no-book-buying pact as I am pretty much broke; not to mention that I am running out of space as well!! But incase anyone wants to trade their books or send me gifts, please do check out my Wishlist on Amazon & Want to read on Goodreads.

For the uninitiated, AtoZ challenge is a blogging challenge wherein one has to write on every alphabet from A to Z and post on all days of April, except Sundays. Usually its better to devise a theme as it makes it easy to write the posts. Plus readers have a reason to stay hooked too.

The A to Z Challenge is created by  Arlee Bird of Tossing it Out
and co-hosted by

Alex J. Cavanaugh of Alex J. Cavanaugh

Jeremy Hawkins of Hollywood Nuts

Heather M. Gardner of  The Waiting is the Hardest Part
Zalka Csenge Virág of The Multicolored Diary

John Holton of The Sound of One Hand Typing

J Lenni Dorner of  Blog of J. Lenni Dorner

You can catch my #WisdomWednesday post on Decoding AtoZ challenge

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56 thoughts on “[Theme Reveal] My love affair with books #AtoZchallenge”

    1. Yesssss!! I am hoping this year too I am able to put up a good line up of posts for readers to enjoy. Last year was just sensational from my blog and I am so nervous becuase of that! The bar is pretty high 🙂
      Thank you for your encouragement – I agree lets rock and roll it this year too! So happy to have you by my sice Shalzz!!

  6. You know, this is just the kind of blog I need to visit on a regular basis, as despite being a book lover, I haven’t been reading as much as I should. So, hoping to get the much needed encouragement to pick up my first love and begin reading!
    Wish you the best, Shalz! I know it will be a terrific 26 days!

    1. How sweet of you to say that Shilpa – I am looking for all the support and encouragement as this theme is very personal. Some of these books shaped me up; my ideology my thinking and its like baring my soul out there. I hope this is liked – fingers crossed. If I inspire peeps with my choices to read- wow that will be THE accomplishment of my theme!!! I hope you will share that honestly with me – I need a few Mirrors in my corner who will show me the true picture – always 🙂

    1. Hey thanks so much for the vote of confidence. I am a little apprehensive about my theme and hoping to make t a success. Looking forward to checking out your posts too.

    2. Hey thanks so much Jazz – great to see you this year in the challenge as well! All the best with your theme too; will drop in a bit to check on it! 🙂

  9. Your theme totally speaks to the booklover in me. Excellent idea for the challenge I am not taking part this year but will for sure drop by to check out the books

    1. Thanks Raj.. Going to miss you in the challenge this year and look forward to some.cheering on from the sides

    1. oh wow that would make for an interesting read. I must check out your posts and see if I have some favorite there too.

    1. Gosh I love reading too and I seem to have fallen off the bandwagon too! Hoping to get back onto it with this challenge as I am reviewing all the books for it and its just great to peruse them again. I somehow havent warmed up to the e version of reading. Many miles to go before I get hooked to that! 🙂

  13. Hari OM
    Shallini – thanks for your response to email – I came back and got adventurous; the FB comments then you minibio and all the icons had me tricked into thinking that was your choice of commenting avenue. I’ve not come across a double commenting situation before – forgive this lady of a certain age!!! Now on to the challenge…. YAM xx

    1. Hi Yamini – Thank you for taking the trouble again to go over my post. I hadnt realised that this is looking confusing to the readers – the FB comment box is a recent add at the suggestion of a fellow blogger whom I admire a lot. Apparently this double commenting is good for the blog traffic – I am also experimenting with it as of now! Cheers xoxo

    1. Wow Laura that sure does sound neat and I think I will go and have a look at them. Thanks for the vote of confidence 🙂

    1. Wow… that’s great to hear. All the best to you too.
      I haven’t warmed up to the concept of e books yet….

    1. Thanks so much Morgan; yes the list is open to my friends only on Goodreads. I have amended it now to include all Goodreads member and hope you could see it now.

    1. Thanks so much Namy- yeah space is a huge huge constraint, especially since I move houses too 🙂 Look forward to having you drop over this April!

  24. All the best, Shalini! This is a great theme and I am sure would be so fun to follow. I am sitting back after 3 years of A to Z but I am going to cheer for you all 🙂
    Have fun!

  25. A theme after my own heart. <3 This ensures that I'll be stalking your AToZ challenge this year. 😀 Though I am on a book-buying ban too, so it's going to be challenging, but hey, when it comes to books, I love to torture myself. 😛

    P.S. Incidentally, when I was planning to do the AtoZ this year, this was the theme I had picked. 😀

    1. Hey thanks for the vote of confidence Shantala – this feels good to hear. Geniuses think alike I guess 😉 I look forward to seeing your thoughts in April and am a bit nervous about sharing my favourites. I have some really weird ones too 🙂
      Book Ban – bday coming up and have asked for Amazon vouchers 😉

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