Tag: Book Blogging

Meet the Book Blogger Tag!

Dini @ dinipandareads38 Comments

Hello, lovely people! How is everyone doing? I hope you’re all doing okay 💜

A few months ago and also just the other day I was tagged by Kerri @Kerri McBookNerd, Leslie @Books Are the New Black and Jordyn @ Jordyn Reads to do the Meet the Book Blogger Tag! If you’re not following them yet then what are you waiting for? They always post great content, have awesome blogs and are super fun to interact with. Thank you Kerri, Leslie and Jordyn for tagging me to do this cos it looks super fun!

The Rules

  • Thank the blogger who tagged you ☝🏽
  • Mention the creator: Lauren @Lala’s Book Reviews
  • Tag as many (or as few) people as you’d like
  • Have fun and get to know one another!

INTRODUCTION

Introduce yourself

I’m so awkies with these intro things but… Hi, fellow readers. I’m Dini, I love to read, I love pandas and that’s how this blog name was born! I’m from Indonesia and have lived here for the last 8 years but I spent the first 25 years of my life moving around and I’ve lived in six countries that I considered home while growing up. In the real world, I work at a Dutch NGO as the regional communication officer for Southeast Asia! 😊

Something most everyone wants to know…do you have any pets?

I do! Tripper and Cookie have been with us since we adopted them off the streets of Cambodia in 2010. They’re pretty well-travelled doggos and maybe slightly spoiled but I just can’t help it—I love them so floofing much! We aren’t sure what breed they are but think that Tripper is part Lhasa Apso and Cookie part Terrier?

Tripper
Cookie

What is your favourite thing to drink?

Um, I guess it depends? Living somewhere perpetually hot, I always like to have a cold drink. Usually, it’s ice-cold water or a cold brew with extra ice! If I’m treating myself, I go for an iced caramel macchiato with an extra shot of espresso! 😍

What is your favourite thing to drink?

I miss the days when I used to live somewhere with four seasons cos now it’s just hot and hotter. I miss AUTUMN because sweater weather! I really miss wearing jumpers and other cool-weather clothing cos I love to bundle up and be comfy but I literally sweat looking at jumpers these days cos it’s SO HOT! 🫠

Do you have any special talents?

Um… Not really anymore? Lol. I used to play the viola in the school orchestra and I was also a soprano in the chamber choir at several of the schools I went to, which was fun because we got to travel to different countries in the region for international school competitions! Don’t know what I’d be like now 😂

BLOGGING

When and why did you start your blog?

I set up my blog in January 2019 but I didn’t post anything until a few months after in March 2019. I was so nervous! 😂 No lies, I started this blog so I could gain access to more ARCs when I first discovered them, without realising the limits that international readers face, but I have no regrets because I discovered this amazing community!

What is something that you wish you knew about blogging when you first started?

I mean, I should’ve known really but I guess I wished I knew how much work it actually took and how many hours a week I’d have to spend to create a presence in the community. I’m still a small fish in this ocean of amazing creators but I didn’t realise just how much time I’d spend doing all of it. Don’t get me wrong—I loved it and still do but it was very time consuming especially when I was working full time.

What has been the hardest part about blogging?

I think this is very much a “me” thing as I simply excel at procrastination but… Finding enough time to create posts, respond to comments, and blog hop every day! I’ve tried preparing posts in advance but it’s just no, so I end up doing things on a whim (such as this post)! This leaves very little time and brain juice for me to blog hop and engage with others every day after I finish posting and it does bum me out cos I know I miss out on a lot but I try my best! 😅

What has been the most rewarding part of blogging?

The friends. I didn’t come into this community expecting anything and it amazes me that I’ve found people who want to engage with me and it just makes me SO happy having these new friends in my life. I’ve really met some amazing people through the book blogging community who make me so thankful that I started this journey. 🥰

Do you write your posts ahead of time or write them the day of posting?

Haha, see the answer above where I mention that I excel at procrastinating. I’ve successfully prepared a few posts in advance but most of the time it’s the day of (like now)! 😂

READING

Who are your top 5 favourite authors?

Oof, this is a tough one!

  • V.E. Schwab
  • Fonda Lee
  • Talia Hibbert
  • Meghan Quinn
  • Taylor Jenkins Reid

What genre do you read the most?

It would definitely be romance now but I still read my share of fantasy (MG/YA/Adult).

What genre surprised you by how much you love it?

I have to pick the historical romance sub-genre. I picked up my first historical romance last year and wow, I did not expect to love it so much! I can’t wait to read more! 😍

Which popular book didn’t live up to the hype for you?

Um, don’t come for me when I say this, alright? The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern. I enjoyed it well enough but I went expecting to fall rapturously in love with it, so I couldn’t have been more disappointed when that never happened! 🥺

Who are some popular authors you haven’t read?

Oh, there are so many and it’s not cos I don’t want to it’s just so many books so little time? Becky Chambers, Seanan McGuire, Rick Riordan, Jasmine Guillory, Olivia Dade, Jhumpa Lahiri, N.K. Jemisin, Tasha Suri, S.A. Chakraborty, Sara Desai, Pierce Brown… The list can go on ∞! 😂

What upcoming release are you excited to read?

Omg, there are so so so so so many!?

book cover: amari and the great game by b.b. alston
book cover: a taste. ofgold and iron by alexandra rowland
book cover: siren queen by nghi vo
book cover: strike the zither by joan he
book cover: two wrongs make a right by chloe liese
book cover: the ones we burn by rebecca mix
book cover: saint by adrienne young
book cover: a botanist's guide to parties and poisons by kate khavari

Do you listen to music while reading?

Not often, no. If I’m in the mood for music + reading, I usually leave a favourite lofi playlist on in the background or my favourite classical music for reading playlist!

Where else can we find you online?

TAGGING

No pressure to do this tag if you’re not feeling it or don’t do tags! 😊

That’s it from me, folks! If I haven’t tagged you but you wanna do this tag anyway, please do and link back so I can check out your post! As always, thanks for reading, engaging with me and hanging around! I appreciate you sm. 😍

Let’s Talk Bookish: The Evolution of Book Blogging

Dini @ dinipandareads21 Comments

Let’s Talk Bookish is a weekly meme, hosted by Rukky @Eternity Books  & Dani @ Literary Lion, where we get to discuss certain topics, share our opinions, and spread the love by visiting each other’s posts! You can check out these pages for March 2022 prompts & a full list of the past prompts!

Now without further ado… The topic asks us about:

THE EVOLUTION OF BOOK BLOGGING

(SUGGESTED BY RUKKY)
Prompts: How long have you been blogging, and how has the book blogging community changed since you started? Do you think it’s been a positive or negative change? What do you think the future of blogging will be? Would you want to keep blogging even if blogging becomes very “old school” and isn’t really done anymore?

Read More »

Let’s Talk Bookish: Buying Secondhand Books

Dini @ dinipandareads23 Comments

Let’s Talk Bookish is a weekly meme, hosted by Rukky @Eternity Books  & Dani @ Literary Lion, where we get to discuss certain topics, share our opinions, and spread the love by visiting each other’s posts! You can check out these pages for March 2022 prompts & a full list of the past prompts!

Now without further ado… The topic asks us about:

BUYING SECONDHAND BOOKS

(SUGGESTED BY HASINI @ BIBLIOSINI)
Prompts: Do you buy secondhand books? Why or why not? What are the benefits of buying secondhand? What are the cons of secondhand books? What do you recommend people do to better support secondhand bookstores?

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Let’s Talk Bookish: Updating Old Content

Dini @ dinipandareads11 Comments

Let’s Talk Bookish is a weekly meme, hosted by Rukky @Eternity Books  & Dani @ Literary Lion, where we get to discuss certain topics, share our opinions, and spread the love by visiting each other’s posts! You can check out these pages for March 2022 prompts & a full list of the past prompts!

Now without further ado… The topic asks us about:

UPDATING OLD CONTENT

(SUGGESTED BY NICOLE @ THOUGHTS STAINED WITH INK)
Prompts: Do you ever go back and update older content on your blog? For instance, after getting new graphics or going self-hosted? Why or why not? Do you sometimes curate/clear out old posts that you no longer want published, or rewrite/update them? Do you think people should periodically clean up their old content and update/delete things that don’t align with their current positions/beliefs?

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Let’s Talk Bookish: Maintaining Blog Aesthetics

Dini @ dinipandareads26 Comments

Let’s Talk Bookish is a weekly meme, hosted by Rukky @Eternity Books  & Dani @ Literary Lion, where we get to discuss certain topics, share our opinions, and spread the love by visiting each other’s posts! You can check out these pages for March 2022 prompts & a full list of the past prompts!

Now without further ado… The topic asks us about:

MAINTAINING A BLOG AESTHETIC

(SUGGESTED BY HAYLEY @ ON THIS I PONDER)
Prompts: How much time do you spend on making your blog look nice? Is it more about making it functional? Did it take a long time to set it up? Are you still changing it around? Do you ever feel like your blog design is not properly appreciated (for example, are most people reading your posts via the Reader and not actually visiting your blog)? What are the best tools you use to customize the look of your blog?

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Let’s Talk Bookish: Changing Book Ratings/Reviews

Dini @ dinipandareads30 Comments

This was actually the prompt on 18 February and I wrote the post but apparently, I was too emotionally compromised by my current read at the time that I didn’t realise I never scheduled it to post… Oops! 😂 I wasn’t entirely feeling this week’s topic and didn’t want to waste this post that I’d already written, so up this one goes now!

Let’s Talk Bookish is a weekly meme, hosted by Rukky @Eternity Books  & Dani @ Literary Lion, where we get to discuss certain topics, share our opinions, and spread the love by visiting each other’s posts! You can check out these pages for February 2022 prompts & a full list of the past prompts!

Now without further ado… The topic asks us about:

CHANGING BOOK RATINGS/REVIEWS

(SUGGESTED BY NICOLE @ THOUGHTS STAINED WITH INK)
Prompts: Do you ever change your rating/review for a book? When or why would you consider doing so? Do you think people should be allowed to change their ratings/reviews? Is it important to make it known what the previous rating/review was if you’re changing it?

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Let’s Talk Bookish: Re-Reading Books?

Dini @ dinipandareads33 Comments

Let’s Talk Bookish is a weekly meme, hosted by Rukky @Eternity Books  & Dani @ Literary Lion, where we get to discuss certain topics, share our opinions, and spread the love by visiting each other’s posts! You can check out these pages for January 2022 prompts & a full list of the past prompts!

Now without further ado… The topic asks us about:

RE-READING BOOKS?

(SUGGESTED BY FIVES @ DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE)
Prompts: How many times is enough? Why re-read at all? Is re-reading just a comforting pastime? Or is there excitement to be relived? What kind of books do you re-read? Do you ever re-read books you don’t like in hopes that it will be better the second time? Were there any books you didn’t like as a child but liked as an adult, or vice versa?

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Let’s Talk Bookish: Do Bloggers Owe Their Readers and Vice Versa?

Dini @ dinipandareads26 Comments

Let’s Talk Bookish is a weekly meme, hosted by Rukky @Eternity Books  & Dani @ Literary Lion, where we get to discuss certain topics, share our opinions, and spread the love by visiting each other’s posts! You can check out these pages for January 2022 prompts & a full list of the past prompts!

Now without further ado… The topic asks us about:

DO BLOGGERS OWE THEIR READERS AND VICE VERSA?

(SUGGESTED BY RUKKY @ ETERNITY BOOKS)
Prompts: Do bloggers owe their readers anything? Do bloggers deserve anything from their readers? Do you think there’s a specific etiquette that bloggers/readers should follow when interacting? Do you as a blogger pressure yourself to provide certain things to your readers? Do you do certain things when you read a blog post?

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Let’s Talk Bookish: Book Buying Bans – Yea or Nay?

Dini @ dinipandareads35 Comments

Let’s Talk Bookish is a weekly meme, hosted by Rukky @Eternity Books  & Dani @ Literary Lion, where we get to discuss certain topics, share our opinions, and spread the love by visiting each other’s posts! You can check out these pages for January 2022 prompts & a full list of the past prompts!

Now without further ado… The topic asks us about:

DO BOOK BUYING BANS WORK FOR YOU?

(SUGGESTED BY JILLIAN @ JILLIAN THE BOOKISH BUTTERFLY)
Prompts: The book community is full of consumerism. People want to not just read their favourite books, but own them as well. Sometimes this can get…a little out of hand. How do you control your spending/buying books you don’t have time to read? Does setting a book buying ban work for you? How long do you usually ban yourself for?

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Let’s Talk Bookish: 2022 Reading/Blogging Goals

Dini @ dinipandareads32 Comments

Hello, friends! It’s been a while since I did a Let’s Talk Bookish post but I thought what better time to dive back into these posts than at the start of a new year, right?!

Let’s Talk Bookish is a weekly meme, hosted by Rukky @Eternity Books  & Dani @ Literary Lion, where we get to discuss certain topics, share our opinions, and spread the love by visiting each other’s posts! You can check out these pages for January 2022 prompts & a full list of the past prompts!

Now without further ado… The topic asks us about:

2022 READING GOALS

(SUGGESTED BY DANI @ LITERARY LION)
Prompts: As we enter the new year many of us will be setting goals on Goodreads and choosing new year’s resolutions. What are your goals related to your blog or books/reading in general? Are you going to have resolutions this year, and if not why not?

QUICK RECAP of 2021 goals/resolutions

I’m just gonna come out and say it: I didn’t do a great job of achieving my 2021 goals/resolutions. 🙃 I was so convinced at the start of the year that it would be my year and well, a couple of slumps, weird reading moods, and burnouts later, and that wasn’t the case at all. I felt pretty shoddy about it when I realised just how little I accomplished but after a little internal monologuing, I decided that it’s okay. Of course, I’m disappointed that I didn’t achieve what I set out to do, but I had as much of a rough personal year as a lot of others did—but the high point is: we got through it!

I thought I’d share a review of some of my 2021 goals/resolutions before moving on to 2022:

  • Read 150 books (GR challenge) – this is the only goal I achieved as I ended up reading 199 books!
  • Tackle my existing physical shelves (at least 50 books) – yeah, no. this really didn’t end up happening as i participated in a slightly overwhelming number of blog tours last year 😂
  • Catalogue all my physical/digital books – i didn’t even end up making/downloading a library tracker until january 2022 so… 🙈
  • Prioritise reading Asian (South/Southeast Asian) authors – i read 13 books by asian authors and considering i read almost 200 books, i didn’t do well with this one!
  • Read more amazing Middle Grade Fantasy! – i read a few mg fantasies that i really enjoyed but 2021 ended up being the year of romance, and i think 2022 is going to follow suit.
  • Grow my blog to 800 followers – sadly, i didn’t achieve this and have been in 700 followers limbo for the past 8 months but i’m honestly just happy to have a few regular readers who engage with me, especially after posting so erratically in 2021
  • Read more non-fiction (at least 4 books) – nope. non-fiction stood no chance 🥲

IS THERE HOPE FOR MY 2022 READING GOALS?

Oof, that recap was a little more painful than I anticipated (😮‍💨) but I’m not gonna let that stop me from trying again in 2022! I also know myself and I’ve never been very good at sticking to resolutions or slaying goals. I’ve always kind of taken things as they come and just going with whatever flow I’m on, but I also like having a general idea of where I’m heading and what I want to work towards. All that to say, I’ll have these goals but I’ll try not to take them too seriously? It’s chaotic but we’re rolling with it, ok? 🤓

THE 2022 READING/BLOGGING GOALS

I’m gonna keep it pretty simple this year and include one or two ideas that I’ve been thinking about doing for the past year and I’m pretty excited about it, so hopefully, that means it’ll happen! 😂

  • Read 150 books – Goodreads Reading Challenge
  • Read 50 backlist titles – Because I really want to focus on getting the backlist read this year!
  • Complete the 2022 Popsugar Reading Challenge – I’m trying. Again. Maybe 2022 is the year I’ll finally complete it 😂 why not be ambitious, right?
  • Fill in my Library Tracker – I’m starting with recording my ebooks and then I’ll move onto my physical books!
  • Grow my blog to 800 followers – why not be a little more ambitious, eh?
  • Start my Re-read Project – I had this idea to re-read some of the books that I rated 4-5 stars before I started my book blog. I’d love to see whether I still feel the same way about them and I want to give them actual reviews this time! I hope to at least read 2-3 series or ~10 books.

That’s it for my 2022 reading and blogging goals! Do you set yearly goals for reading and blogging? Do you find setting goals helpful or is it just pressure you don’t need?