Life of a Blogger: Languages

Well, today let's speak about the languages I can speak.  If you don't know about India, it may be weird to you that I am going to say some new languages that you didn't know about.

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As our country is rich in so many religions and caste beliefs, so are we rich in languages.   There are nearly 398 languages in our country according to Ethnologue, although only 22 of them are considered official regional languages of India.

I know to speak 4 languages.

Tamil:  A complicated, but sweet language.  Although not my mother tongue, born and raised around people who speak Tamil, this has been my favorite language and feels more like a mother tongue to me.

Telugu: This is my mother tongue.  I know only to speak this language, not to write.

Hindi: Our national language.  I can speak this, but not fluently.  I can understand and read and write Hindi.

English:  Of course, this is the universal language.  This is one of the languages I am good and fluent in.  English needs no introduction to any of you, I suppose.

I am happy sharing these with you.  India is an amazing country.  It's good to share some of its greatness with you all. :)

Above all, in whatever language you speak, be polite and kind.

How about you?  Any of the above languages interests you?  What are the languages that you can speak?

Discussion: Do you read what you WANT to read?

Very difficult question, but lately, I am asking this question again and again to myself.  Before I started blogging, I used to browse through recommendations, read some reviews from my favorite bloggers and buy a book.  Very important point is back then, I read those bought books.  Now, it's more buying and shelving and sighing now and then, telling the book that 'I will read you one day'.  That's the whole point of this post.  Now, all I am feeling is like I am abandoning those books.

Source: www.fuelyourphotography.com

Previously, I don't have access to ARCs.  I didn't get to speak with my favorite authors.  They were always more of a deity locked somewhere above clouds, invisible to commoners like me.  Now, I have authors as my friends.  And that's one of THE BEST part of being a blogger.

Now, I have lots and lots of books (both ARCs and published ones).  I am not even kidding.  No, I am not exaggerating at all.  I really have books more than I am willing to admit.. and as you think, yes, they are almost all unread ones.  I hate to do that to my books.  Especially my favorite ones.  And nowadays, I never never never re-read the books.  And you guessed the reason right..it's time and pressure.

Source: memegenerator.net

There is always the pressure of reading the review copies that I received, and the current month's releases takes priority.  This means I am pushing down my TBR list still lower to occupy newly released books.  My reading time is very much reduced nowadays.  So, obviously, I can read only very few books in a month (maybe 5-6 if I'm lucky).  Those books are majorly ARCs and blog tour copies.  Yeah, I request only those which I am curious to read.

But, did I forget my old books?  I seriously want to re-read Harry Potter (like for 2 years now), which I was doing every 4 months, before I started blogging.

Blogging definitely has its perks.  But, I also miss my pre-blogging life, where books felt more close, more exciting and less, well, no pressure.  I still love reading debuts and finding new favorites.  But, I stopped reading old old books.  My TBR list on that end of the lane has never been re-visited.  And I hate it!  You can say that there is only 24 hours a day and you are right.  I still feel like I am failing my old favorite authors, who primarily brought me the pleasure of reading and who taught me that books are more than what you just see with your eyes.

Recently, in addition to reading my review copies in Kindle, I started buying audio books and got to start reading in mobile.  With these two, I am quite happy now.  I squeeze in at least two not-recently-released books in a month with audio books and mobile Kindle apps.  I am not reviewing it though, and that's a topic for another time.

Do you have time to re-read your old books?  Do you continue to stalk your old authors?  Have you ever bought books because you love that author and he/she is your auto-buy, but never got around to read it?  What do you do during those times?  Am I abandoning my books?