Tag: Book Blog

Sundays in Bed With… #MyWeeklyWrapUp [254]

Dini @ dinipandareads9 Comments

We’re back with another Sundays in Bed With… meme! This meme dares to ask you what book has been in your bed this morning and is hosted by Midnight Book Girl. Come share what book you’ve spent your time reading in bed or wish you had time to read today.

I’ve found myself in a suddenly very fickle reading mood. I haven’t continued my buddy read since putting it aside last week, and I haven’t continued the romance fantasy I started either. I’ve picked up multiple books too including titles I started months ago and am so close to finishing. I’ve already finished some titles this weekend and others I’m wondering whether I’m really in the mood for. Not sure what’s going on in my tired brain but my mood has left me with this ongoing pile:

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#FirstLinesFriday: 25 October 2024

Dini @ dinipandareads6 Comments

Happy Friday book lovers! We’re back with another First Lines Friday, a weekly feature for book lovers hosted by Wandering Words. What if instead of judging a book by its cover, its author or its prestige, we judged it by its opening lines? Here are the rules:

  • Pick a book off your shelf (it could be your current read or on your TBR) and open to the first page
  • Copy the first few lines, but don’t give anything else about the book away just yet – you need to hook the reader first
  • Finally… reveal the book!

First lines:

“I dream sometimes about a house I’ve never seen.
I mean, pretty much nobody has. Logan Caldwell claims he ding-dong-ditched the place last summer break, but he’s an even bigger liar than me. The truth is you can’t really see the house from the road. Just the iron teeth of the front gate and the long red lick of the drive, maybe a glimpse of limestone walls crosshatched by honeysuckle and greenbriers.”

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The All Hallows Book Tag

Dini @ dinipandareads17 Comments

We’re back with another Tag Thursday post and today I’m answering a tag that I was just tagged in earlier this week. I think this might be the fastest I’ve answered a tag but there’s no better time to do The All Hallows Book Tag! Thanks to Ashlee @Books Are 42 for tagging me and if you haven’t already, go check out and support her blog!

This tag was originally created by QuirinusReads (Twitter/Instagram).

Even though I’m a total wimp and don’t touch traditionally spooky genres—whether it be books, movies or anything else—I’m still hoping that I’ll have answers for all these prompts! Let’s kick it off with the This or That portion:

You can save the blank version (right) for when you do this tag!

Now it’s on to the questions:

What are your favourite spooky season genres?

While I might not be a spooky book girlie, I enjoy my share of books set during the spooky season, especially if it’s a paranormal romance! I love a romance with a witchy twist or with other paranormal creatures, monster romance… You get the gist! Other than that, I’ve enjoyed reading mysteries in the spooky season and have even stepped further outside my comfort zone to read a spooky horror/paranormal. I ended up enjoying them too despite worrying someone would snatch me feet-first the whole time! 😂

Which titles do you recommend for Halloween reading?

There are so many but here are a few off the top of my head that I’ve loved or enjoyed a lot. Most are, unsurprisingly, paranormal romances! 😉

Witches Get Stitches (Stay a Spell series), The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches, These Witches Don’t Burn, A Discovery of Witches, Magic Burns
Forged by Magic, Rules for Vanishing, The Only One Left, Last Time I Lied, Dark and Shallow Lies

What are your most anticipated reads this month?

Even though October is almost halfway over I’m still feeling overly optimistic and have these books on my possibility pile to fit the mood of the spooky season. To be fair, I’ll probably consider the end of November the end of my “spooky season”! 😂

Bride, Black Sister Water, Good Girls Don’t Die, Don’t Fear the Reaper, Foxglove

Have you had a paranormal experience or spooky coincidence?

I don’t know if this is common knowledge but (Southeast) Asians are a superstitious lot and the paranormal is a big part of our society. That feels like a sweeping generalisation, right? But many Southeast Asian countries I know and have been to generally have a healthy fear of and respect for the paranormal. I admit that I’ve had my share of paranormal experiences growing up and after the worst of them, was even taken to a Cambodian Buddhist monastery to be bathed in holy water (a circle of monks literally dumped many buckets of holy water over my head, lol). That’s a story for another time but I guess whether I believe it or not—although it’s admittedly hard to say I don’t believe it with the things I’ve experienced—what I can say is that I have respect for spirits and the spiritual world and all those who believe in it. 😅

What are your spooky season film and TV favourites?

As I’ve already mentioned, the spooky stuff just isn’t my jam and even if I get a sniff that something is spooky, I tend to immediately turn away from it. If I have to think about it though, there are two movies that I enjoy immensely and that fit the spooky season vibe: Corpse Bride and The Nightmare Before Christmas (but I also watch this during the holiday season at least twice every year, lol)! Tim Burton gets me. 😆

How do you celebrate Halloween?

I actually don’t celebrate Halloween anymore only because, as a solitary homebody, I don’t do much of anything these days, lol. 😆 I introduced seasonally themed jewellery into my daily-wear collection last year and bought an adorable pumpkin spice latte pumpkin-shaped mug set and a set of a ghost wearing a purple flower crown. It’s too cute and I’ve been eagerly anticipating getting to wear them again ever since the season ended last year!

That’s it for The All Hallows Book Tag! I won’t be tagging anyone today but I’d love to see your answers if you decide to do this one!

Blog signature that reads: Let's Chat! xoxo, Dini

#TopTenTuesday: Changed Reading Habits

Dini @ dinipandareads50 Comments

We’re back with another Top Ten Tuesday, a weekly meme hosted by Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl.

This week’s topic is How My Reading Habits Have Changed Over Time (submitted by Lydia @ https://lydiaschoch.com)

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Monthly Wrap-Up: September 2024

Dini @ dinipandareads29 Comments

I’m well aware that there are a little less than two weeks left in October and I’m just now posting my September wrap-up. Better late than never though, right? 🫣

Going into September, I knew it would be a hectic month but I couldn’t have predicted the amount of stress I would endure or the impact it would have on me physically and mentally. It was a lot and I spent the tail end of the month coping with illness as the stress and adrenaline that kept me going throughout was let go all at once. It wasn’t all bad though! I got to watch Wicked on Broadway and I did a whole lot of retail therapy to get things that aren’t available or would cost 2-3 times as much in Indonesia. I know it’s not much but sometimes it is those things that make me feel better when I’m feeling overwhelmed, lol.

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Sundays in Bed With… #MyWeeklyWrapUp [253]

Dini @ dinipandareads2 Comments

We’re back with another Sundays in Bed With… meme! This meme dares to ask you what book has been in your bed this morning and is hosted by Midnight Book Girl. Come share what book you’ve spent your time reading in bed or wish you had time to read today!

I’ll be spending the rest of my Sunday in bed with Anatomy. This is my buddy read with Leslie and we’ve been making slow progress because life. Despite the slightly gruesome scenes that have made me feel surprisingly queasy (I’m usually ok with/indifferent to them), my curiosity to see the story unfold is still high. We love a curious FMC and I feel for Hazel. I’m also curious about Jack!

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#FirstLinesFriday: 18 October 2024

Dini @ dinipandareads10 Comments

Happy Friday book lovers! We’re back with another First Lines Friday, a weekly feature for book lovers hosted by Wandering Words. What if instead of judging a book by its cover, its author or its prestige, we judged it by its opening lines? Here are the rules:

  • Pick a book off your shelf (it could be your current read or on your TBR) and open to the first page
  • Copy the first few lines, but don’t give anything else about the book away just yet – you need to hook the reader first
  • Finally… reveal the book!

First lines:

“The frog was dead, there was no doubt about that. It had been dead already when Hazel Sinnett found it. She was taking her daily stroll after breakfast, and the frog had just been there, lying on the garden path, on its back as though it had been trying to sunbathe.”

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Book Blogger Insider Tag

Dini @ dinipandareads15 Comments

Hello, friends! Tag Thursday is a thing, right? I haven’t done a fun tag in a while because I’ve been so picky with the ones I do (I want easy and fun since I’m too lazy and tired to do more recently) but the Book Blogger Insider Tag didn’t look too difficult so I’m glad I remembered to bookmark it after discovering it on Ashlee’s blog Books Are 42 …last year. 😂 So let’s get straight to it!

Rules:

Where Do You Typically Write Your Blog Posts?

As with most things I do at home, at my desk. It’s where I feel most comfortable and I love using my keyboard to type (the sound keeps me going!) so that’s where I always end up doing the most. And yes, I’ll use this as an opportunity to share my most recent desk set-up—it’s only missing my latest Panda keyboard though!

How Long Does It Generally Take You To Write A Book Review?

Um… Ages? I always tell myself to just throw out a quick and dirty review but I can’t do it (which is why my mini-reviews are rare and also not always very mini, lol). It’s not that I tend to go back and forth gathering my thoughts, writing and deleting, rinse and repeat. It’s more that I also do a million things at once while writing and continuously take breaks to come back more refreshed to continue writing.

When Did You Start Your Book Blog?

I published my first blog post in March 2019 but I remember starting to set this blog up in January 2019. I was really nervous about starting it and wasn’t sure what to write! It took me two additional months to gain the courage to finally post something! It’ll be 6 years of this blog in 2025 and in all that time I don’t think I’ve celebrated once because I keep missing the anniversary date (so sad)! 😂

What Is The Worst Thing About Having A Book Blog In Your Opinion?

Probably the time that it takes to properly keep the blog going (often it’s just time that I don’t have anymore)! Writing, engaging, and blog hopping all take up a considerable amount of time. It’s also time that you need to dedicate if you’re serious about growing your blog. As work and general fatigue take over my life, I know I don’t do half as much as I used to and it often doesn’t feel like enough. Running a blog takes a lot!

What Is The Best Thing About Having A Book Blog In Your Opinion?

You folks, of course! *cheesy but true* 🤭

Seriously, the community is the best thing about having a book blog. Borders aren’t a thing and getting to connect with so many readers from around the world has been such an amazing experience. I hope one day I get to attend a book bloggers meet-up or something cos that would be amazing (I think, lol)! 😍

What Blog Post Have You Had The Most Fun Writing So Far?

Is it a cop-out to say that I can’t think of any off the top of my head? 😅 I honestly can’t say that there’s just one. Here are a few from my Bookish Thoughts category that I really enjoyed writing:

What Is Your Favourite Type Of Blog Post To Write?

As much as I love writing reviews and discussion posts, my favourite type of post to write (and also read!) are the weekly/monthly memes: IMWAYR, Top Ten Tuesday, #WWWWednesday, Weekly Wrap-Ups, Monthly Wrap-Ups—I love them all! 😍

When Do You Typically Write?

As a PR of Procrastination nation, I generally don’t schedule posts in advance. This means that I write most of my posts at night after work (like right now it’s 9:30PM, lol). The main exception is the weekend when I write my Sunday posts in the late afternoon after spending the day relaxing!

Do You Review Every Book You Read?

This is something I’ve tried to do ever since I started seriously book blogging. There were pros and cons about doing this—pros being that I keep track of all my thoughts of the books I read; cons being that I didn’t pick up a new book until I finished writing my review because that’d risk me forgetting details in the book I just read. I’ve become more lax about it in the last two years since life has been stressful enough without me adding more for myself. I still try to review as many books as I can, if not on the blog then at least on my Goodreads!

How Do You Write Your Book Reviews? With A Cup Of Coffee Or Tea? With Netflix? Cuddled With Your Fur Baby?

If I’m writing a review in the morning then I usually have a cup of coffee on hand. Most of the time though it’s just me and my phone either in bed (especially if I finish late at night/in the morning and need to immediate thoughts down before sleeping, lol) or on the way to work. If I’m writing my review at my desk I need zero distractions so that means no music, Netflix, YouTube, etc. Just plain silence as I get started!

When Do You Write Your Book Reviews? Right After Finishing The Book? Two Weeks After Finishing The Book?

I’ve learned over the years that immediately or 1-2 days after finishing a book is the best time for me to write my review. I can still easily and clearly capture the thoughts and emotions I experienced while reading but I’ve had time to process everything that happened too. I feel like when I wait too long it becomes obvious since the review becomes less detailed and is generally more restrained (at least, I think so)!

Ngl, it’s mostly to do with the memory thing though cos I tend to forget important things very quickly (even with books I love, lol)! *shakes fist* Damn you, memory!

How Often Do You Post?

I used to post once or sometimes even twice a day (at my most ambitious and free). Now, I still try to post daily but I end up missing 1-2 days every week. I’m teaching myself to not feel guilty about it and I’m slowly learning to be kinder to myself and not self-pressure to do more than I can.

And that’s it for the Book Blogger Insider Tag! I’ll tag Leslie, Anna and Yolanda but even if you’re not tagged, feel free to do it anyway and link back cos I’d love to see your answers!

Blog signature that reads: Let's Chat! xoxo, Dini