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Deepali Agarwal has a Master’s in literary linguistics, which means that every person she’s ever known has, at some point, asked her to ‘edit a thing’ for them-- ‘just see if it reads okay?’ She doesn’t mind, because she believes that the world can be fixed one oxford comma at a time. Deepali lives in Delhi, the capital of India, where cows are sacred, but authors and poets exist and write brilliant things. She works as an editor with OUP India’s School ELT division, where she moves apostrophes, looks up pictures of cats, and talks about children’s books for eight hours. The rest of her day is spent reading, thinking about Parks and Recreation, and wondering if there exist jobs for English majors that pay more than peanuts.
Twitter: @DeepaliAgarwal_
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Loving books with a ferocious intensity is not always easy. Sometimes your favourite authors do some problematic things, or book Twitter is unnecessarily mean; sometimes your favourite book’s adaptation ruins everything you love and hold dear. But the next day, you wear your favourite t-shirt with a bookish reference, and a complete stranger looks at you, nods, and smiles knowingly. So here’s to happy bookish feelings; 99 more of them:
- Receiving book mail you didn’t order (or in some cases, ordered and forgot about)
- Buying a book you know you’ll never get to, but you need on your bookshelf
- When a book you’ve loved for ages starts getting the hype it deserves
Someone coming back to you to say they loved your book recommendation
Books and good coffee
The heady smell of a good bookstore
Looking up from a book and wondering where you arevia GIPHY
Adding books to your Amazon cart (sometimes it really doesn’t matter if you really plan on buying them)
Falling asleep on a book
When someone asks you how you know that and you reply with “I read it in a book”
Unboxing a squeal-worthy bookish subscription
When a book podcast episode leads you to new bookish obsessions
Finding a kickass feminist lead in a book or comic (preferably a comic, so that you can swoon over the art as well)
Book swaps, whether with friends online or IRL
When you’re scrolling the Internetz and some great bookish merch appears
Meeting a favourite author IRL, and they turn out to not be problematic ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Books and dessert, preferably doughnuts or ice cream
Finding your reading game after a long break
A good bookstore in an unfamiliar city
Scrolling through some good bookish Instagram
Discovering new authors/artists/creators of colour
Feeling special when you receive some secret bookish stuff through an author’s Patreon
A satisfactory book pile (often teetering, always tall)via GIPHY
Finding hidden jokes and/or easter eggs in comics
Bookish newsletters which lead you down endless bookish rabbit-holes
Reorganizing your bookshelves
Discovering books you’d forgotten you owned while reorganizing your bookshelves
Watching a toddler engrossed in a book
Sneakily listening to a bookish podcast while pretending to work
(booksellers/librarians only, please) Finding a new book for the picky 12-year-old who has read everything
Spying someone reading a book you like in public
Advance reading copies
The accomplished feeling that comes with finishing a book in one sitting
via GIPHY
Bookish memes: all day, every day
A truly excellent movie/TV adaptation that doesn’t ruin everything you’d imagined
Rereading a childhood favourite, and it still holds up/is not racist!
Coming across dog-eared, scribbled-upon copies of your childhood faves, which you refuse to part with
Completing a bookish DIY project (from a bookmark to a bookshelf)
Finding an unexpectedly good book deal online
Discovering that your new favourite author has an entire body of unread work
Reading a tweet from your favourite author and feeling like you know them now
Unexpected finds in bookstores (last week I found a copy of The Hate U Give at a tiny bookstore, which I didn’t even know had been released in India, so I’m good on bookish fuzzies for a month now)
Owning multiple copies of the same book, because that is a legitimate thing to do, okay?via GIPHY
When someone gifts you a book with a great inscription
All the feels from strangers’ loving inscriptions in second-hand books, brownie points for when they’re decades old
Receiving news of your favourite comic book series not getting cancelled (*side-eyes Marvel*)
Falling in love with a comic’s art, or as Susie puts it, finding a comic whose art you GROOVE on
Good, smart bookish conversation at a gathering
When a comic book series ends, or is on break for a while, and then suddenly you see it in your stack of pull list for the month when it’s returned
Seeing yourself represented in a book (especially in a genre where you’ve never before gotten to identify with anyone/anything) because diversity matters
Getting word on New Comic Book Day that stuff from your hold list came in
A gift-wrapped book with neat edges
Furiously texting your BFF about a bookish happeningvia GIPHY
Carrying some familiar, loved books with you to a new city
Authors reading their audiobooks
Meeting someone with the same favorite book as you
Book sales. Period.
Book fairs which give you giddy feelings, because all you can see for miles are books
People of colour on book covers
When a book unexpectedly becomes an exercise in self-help
Uninterrupted reading on an airplane/a secluded vacation spot because the internet doesn’t exist
Browsing bookshelves with someone in comfortable silence
DNFing a book that has been irking you for a whilevia GIPHY
Passing books on to younger siblings or cousins
Buying a pretty box set of your favourite series specifically for display purposes
Making book lists of all kinds, from thematically-sorted TBR lists to giant Excel sheets tracking your reading life
Getting your Goodreads account up-to-date after a hiatus (full disclosure, it’s been months since I updated mine)
When someone gifts you a book you’ve been wanting to buy for a long while
A happily-ever-after
Being able to read for pleasure after a long bout of academia
Writing about a book you’ve loved, and want to shout from the mountaintops about
(booksellers/librarians only, please) When a customer comes back in to tell you how much they loved the book you recommended
Discovering an unexpected author interview at the end of an audiobook
via GIPHY
Getting a reluctant reader to enjoy a book
An unexpectedly great read outside your preferred genres
When book club makes you completely rethink a novel
When you have to stay in your car in the driveway, even though you’re home, so you can listen to just one more chapter
Owning a piece of bookish jewellery you’ve coveted forever
Finding out a narrator you love is recording/recorded a book you’re excited about
Finding a secret reading nook in a library
Discovering a long-sought book for your TBR in a Little Free Library
Swoon-worthy bookish art on Pinterest/Tumblr
(this one is for the good days gone by) Sneakily reading the latest Harry Potter when you’re supposed to be studyingvia GIPHY
The joy of a graphic novel adaptation of a loved book, where a character looks just the way you imagined them
Truly cathartic fanfiction
Reading an article/blog post (sometimes even just a tweet) which echoes your feelings for a book
Reading outside on a good-weather day (no bugs, please)
Packing just the right number of books for your holiday
Spending a gift card/birthday money solely on books (no regrets)
TV characters who are book nerds and make for guaranteed bookish references in every episode
Vast, gorgeous public librariesvia GIPHY
Flipping a book so that all the spines line up on a bookshelf in a bookstore or library
(let’s be real for a second) Lying to someone about being busy so that you can stay in and finish a book
…On a related note, how great is reading in a cozy blanket on a winter day, with your body at optimum temperature?
Donating books to good causes
Managing to stay spoiler-free about a buzz-y book and enjoying the full effects of that surprising twist
Absurd bookish quizzes with very satisfactory results (not you, Pottermore’s Patronus quiz)
The thrill of standing in line outside a bookstore for a much-anticipated book release
A bookish soulmate (could be a community or person, online or IRL)via GIPHY
