Wednesday 4 June 2014

PAULA'S PEOPLE: GUEST SPOT, BOOK BLOGGER SRUTI TELLS US HER STORY

Today on Paula's People, I have invited lovely reviewer Sruti to tell us about her book blog. Sruti is also a respected interviewer and her blog is a fantastic place for readers to find a good read because she has an extensive range of genres and you are likely to find books to read that you will never have had the opportunity to find. So please welcome Sruti. 

Books, Blogs, and Myself
Sruti Nayani  


Wow! I get to write about Books, Blogs, and Myself in this guest blog. This guest blog was commissioned by a friend and fellow reviewer for her blog. Well, this was how it began.
It started with me being introduced to books by my father, at age six. I mention the date now, though it is not because I have an excellent memory but because I have written it down on the book. It was the 23rd of May 1988. I remember exactly where it was, and how it was built and the wonderful stuff it contained.
So, there I was, browsing at the store picking up a book or two. And what did I find? My first Enid Blyton! The Mystery of the Disappearing Cat, it was called. I bought it because I loved the cover. It had two girls and three boys, plus a dog and a cat, all in a garden and a wooden room and green hills in the distance. I loved the first girl’s haircut, (noticed it was a little like mine) short hair and playing with boys. Since I was a tomboy at that age, it fitted right into my bookshelf.
Sruti aged six 
By the time I was nine I had read my first Shakespeare, As You Like It. And my love for books continued. I kept reading on and off through my career in journalism, but then it was time to start off on my blog. What you can see today at Sruti's BookBlog actually started with a publisher who mailed me about how he could send me a few books and if I reviewed them, I could not only keep them, but that they would be free too.

My first books 
You cannot imagine my delight! You can call me a silly girl, but there I was, never realising the power of the internet until then. And today, almost six months later, I am getting books from publishers and authors to review. I had reviewed a few books earlier, but I had no idea of how much bigger a book blog could be.


I also like to interview the authors and the editors of these books, because not only is it a fun thing to do, but because it lets me grow intellectually. And plus, I get a chance to put in a few of my own views, on writing, reading and editing and hopefully more.

I have written about four short stories, which are up online. But it took me a few years to discover blogging. The best thing about my blog is that it gives me a lot of space to write about books. I am now trying to expand my blog further and am reading up a lot of articles, with regard to writing, blogs and more. A fairly big boost is that my book is being read by Jacaranda Literary Agency. It is a book of short stories for children and tentatively called The Nap Time Adventures.

Now I enjoy a lot of historical books, mythology, legal, adventure and thrillers too. Some of my favourites include most of the Amar Chitra Katha series, then and now. Have always liked the illustrations in these comic books. Growing up, there were Enid Blyton’s adventures and JK Rowling’s Harry Potter series.
My library 

I enjoy a lot of Jeffrey Archer, John Grisham, Robin Cook and Alex Rutherford. And also, Krishna Udayasankar, Anand Neelakantan, and Devdutt Pattanaik. I get a lot of books, so nowadays I have mostly said goodbye to having a favourite author. I enjoy most of the books, and rarely used to say no to anything.

That’s my story...

Thank you Sruti for a fabulous post. You can find Sruti's blog at http://srutis.blogspot.co.uk/

3 comments:

  1. A couple of authors' names I'll have to investigate…and the bookshelf makes me drool! :P

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  2. It's great to see a love of books being transformed to a greater level. Reading is a great habit on it's own, encouraging others to do so through blogs, well that's just awesome. Keep up the good work.

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