Undersea Spotlight: Fahima at I Read, Ergo I Write

Posted by Jessi (Geo) on August 27, 2013 | 5 Comments


USSpotlight I started this feature here at ASR in order to know your fellow bloggers a little better! If you are interested in being featured please fill out the form.

USSfeature

I Read, Ergo I Write

Meet Fahima!

Hi! My name is Fahima, and I really suck at introductions, so please bear with me :) I’m 18 years old and from India. I love to read (which goes without saying. See? I told you I was bad at this), and write – anything from reviews to articles to poetry. When I’m not reading or studying, I paint and experiment on Photoshop (which as far as I’m concerned is the greatest thing Adobe ever made) and bake! I also go to uni, where I study Psychology, and according to my mother I am an expert at ‘window shopping’ on the Internet. Apparently, that means that I do a gazillion random stuff on the internet, but use it for something concrete only sometimes. I’m also a firm believer in the use of capital letters and exclamations :D
 

How long have you been blogging? What made you want to start a book blog?

I’ve been blogging for about 4 years now. But I started book blogging only towards the end of last year. And well, most of the credit for that goes to Pooja @ On Books! I met her last year (she was my senior in college) and we kind of bonded over our mutual obsession with books! Once I found out about the existence of book blogs, I was like, ‘OMG, this is GENIUS! I would never have a lack of writing material!’ My personal blog was sort of inactive by then, so it seemed like the perfect thing to turn into a book blog, and hence, ‘I Read, Ergo I Write’ was born! :D

What do you do when you’re not blogging or reading?

Well, I’m a psych student at uni, so that takes up a lot of my time. Oh, and (I’m so sorry, but I cant resist adding this) I just took a seminar on Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) this week, and I was SO excited for it, since I’ve read about it in so many books, and it was actually one of the things that pushed me towards Psychology in the first place! It was so much fun preparing for it! Ok, so moving on, I also love art of any kind: movies, paintings, music, books, and I spend a lot of time with all of that. I also play around in Photoshop a lot. It’s like my virtual playground!

What is your favorite part about blogging? Least favorite?

My favourite part is that I get to write and talk about the things that I most love, with like minded awesome people!That’s the important part. Before I started blogging, I hardly knew anyone who shared the same taste as I did in books (actually, I hardly knew anyone who read books for fun. Period.), and then when I found all these people who READ, it was like ‘Where did you all come from?!’ I still find it so awesome to be able to fangirl over a book with an utter stranger! I also love the fact that I get to write, which is something I love, about another thing I love (I hope that sentence makes sense).

Least favourite? I have a hard time keeping up with everyone else. I seem incapable to scheduling posts, so I often end up doing things at the last moment, which can get a bit stressful sometimes. I sometimes have to remind myself  that I’m doing this for the fun factor and it should stay that way. I also tend to get kind of intimidated by the awesome blogs out there that have such interesting content, dedicated readership, and have been around for so long. But I’m working on getting over that now… :)

 

Where did you come up with the name for your blog?

Seriously, I have no clue. My friend and I had been wracking our heads for a name, but never came up with anything satisfying. I wanted something ambiguous that didn’t brand my blog as a pure book blog (since I also had my old personal posts to consider), but at the same time also suggested at the fact that I love to read and write about books. ‘I Read, Ergo I Write’ just popped into my head (not kidding) one day when I browsing Goodreads, and I’ve always wanted to use the word ‘ergo’, so it seemed perfect.

Do you have any specific book bloggers that inspire you?

Oh, yes, definitely! 
– Pooja from On books!, definitely, because she’s one of my best friends, and especially for her reviewing style, which sounds great when you read it with her voice in your head! 
– Jamie from The Perpetual Page Turner. I dont know her, but she’s just so adorably funny and innovative and I love her discussion posts and her fashion sense!
 
– Amber from Books of Amber and Judith from Paper Riot, both for their simple yet creative blog designs and content and the way they interact with people! They’re so great at making friends, which is one department I’m sorely lacking in.
 

What do you look for in a blog when following? What are your pet peeves?

A lot of times the blog design attracts me (I told you, art has a great influence on me), but it’s the content that makes me stay. I love the discussion posts and features that a lot of people do, aside from the reviews, of course.

Not much. I don’t like it when people are really derogatory about a book (like, very), because a lot of people rely on reviews to select their books, and when the review’s not respectful and reasoned out, it feels like they’re forcing their opinion on someone. And it’s actually happened to me that in spite of a negative review, I read a book and loved it. Also… design. If it’s too flashy and all over the place, I go slightly crazy (I dont know, I’m just really particular about design and stuff). But if it’s a great blog, then I just ignore the design and stay ;)

 

What’s your favorite book(s)?

The Blue Castle by L M Montgomery
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Harry Potter by J K Rowling (always)
and currently, Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell (have you read it? It’s omg so great!)
 
[Jessi] I’ve heard fabulous things about Eleanor and Park! I need to read it…
 

Favorite author?

L M Montgomery, who is a bit underrated, if you ask me.

What is the biggest turn off for you when you’re reading a book?

Cliched characters can get on my nerves. Completely irrational and downright idiotic reactions can make me roll my eyes and go ‘Really, now?’ And contractions in narration. In dialogue, they’re fine, but when they’re used in the narration…

What first draws you to a book to make you want to read it?

Cover. Blurb. Reviews. In that order. Sometimes, of course, that order changes, like for Delirium, which I wasn’t going to read at all until I saw the reviews.

Describe yourself in 3 words.

Art-Lover. Dreamer. Shy.

Name a random fact about yourself.

I honestly suck at any and all random facts answers. I had pneumonia 4 times before I was 10. But I’m perfectly healthy, so no worries. Does that count? Also, my birthday coincides with Mahatma Gandhi’s birthday.

Do you have a job? If so, what do you do?

Nope.

What did you want to be when you were little? Has that changed?

For a long, long time I wanted to become a pediatrician, inspired by the wonderful doctors I had in time I spent in the hospital when I was a kid. But that was before I learned about the amount of studying and hard work and the number of years I’d have to put in. Then it was either an environmental engineer or a psychologist. And since I’m studying psychology at the moment, no, it hasn’t changed.

Randomness 

 Cats or dogs? 
Cats! And kittens! But I also like dogs with floppy ears, though I’d probably freak out if they came near me.

 Favorite animal? 
Tiger. I swear, they behave like they know they’re royalty or something and it’s so awe-inspiring! People find it odd when I say that though, probably because they’re supposed to be scary?

 White, dark, or milk chocolate? 
Dude, as long as it’s chocolate, I dont care what form it comes in!

 Coke or Pepsi? 
I hardly ever drink either, so it makes no difference.

 Favorite TV show? 
It used to be Gossip Girl and One Tree Hill, but now it’s Suits and Sherlock and The Vampire Diaries. I seriously cant choose just one.

 Movie? 
A Walk to Remember. It makes me cry every time! And I so love the song and the verses about love at the end!

 Color? 
Blue, Purple. But only sometimes together.

 

Thanks for being here today, Fahima! It was great getting to know you! :)

 

Find Fahima:

Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads | Pinterest

 

Jessi (Geo)

Posted in: Features | Tags:

Subscribe to Novel Heartbeat to get more posts like this!

5 responses to “Undersea Spotlight: Fahima at I Read, Ergo I Write

  1. Ahh I feel like a black sheep because I didn’t totally Eleanor and Park like some people did D: Haha I totally agree with getting intimidated by awesome blogs! Also with actual life in the way scheduling posts and staying on top of thing sis always so hard!

    It was nice meeting you, Fahima! Fantastic interview! <33

Leave a Reply to Eileen @ Singing and Reading in the Rain Cancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.