Let’s Talk Bookish is a weekly bookish meme originally created by Rukky @ Eternity Books and hosted by Aria @ Book Nook Bits, where every Friday, bloggers write discussion posts based on a weekly prompt and Dini @ dinipandareads has cohosted since the beginning of 2025.
This week’s topic is:
March 6: Women Who’ve Shaped Your Reading Life
Prompts: March is Women’s History Month and March 8 is also International Women’s Day.
In honour of this month celebrating women, let’s talk about the women who’ve shaped our reading lives. Was there (or is there) a woman in your life who sparked your love for reading? Who was the first woman author you remember loving? Do you tend to read more books by women authors and do you think that’s for a reason?
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Was there (or is there) a woman in your life who sparked your love for reading?
A few! I grew up in a house with many people, there were like 5 families, it was a multigenerational household. The matriarch of the house was my Aunt Linda, my dad’s sister-in-law, had historical romance paperbacks on a shelf in the living room. I would look at them but was too young to read them, but I was already fascinated with the covers, a woman in a gown, guy with long hair (Fabio?! lol). It definitely made me curious. But I have an older cousin named Vicky, 10 years older than me, and she was from the Philippines, moved to the Big Island, then moved to Oahu and lived with us so she could go to school to become a medical assistant. She had Sweet Valley High books, and Sweet Dreams books!
She passed down all her books to my sister and I since she felt like she outgrew them. But while she wasn’t reading teen romances anymore…she moved on to historical romances and one of them was Judith McNaught. I don’t know if I just went into her room and borrowed it or how it ended up in my hands but as a teenager, I was hooked on historically romances along with young adult books. So a big thank you to my cousin Vicky!
Who was the first woman author you remember loving?
Judith McNaught. My sister and I were obsessed! We read all the books my cousin had and then fell into a rabbit hole of historical romance authors!
Do you tend to read more books by women authors and do you think that’s for a reason?
Yes, I do. I feel like so many books in high school, the classics, were mostly male authors. And honestly…it was fine but I felt like I didn’t relate much to them. But when I read female authors…wow…the connection. When I read all the romance I could find at my high school library I did read male authors like Stephen King, Nelson Demille, Dan Brown, but I always went back to women authors because I just relate more.
March 2026 Topics:
March 6: Women Who’ve Shaped Your Reading Life
Prompts: March is Women’s History Month and March 8 is also International Women’s Day. In honour of this month celebrating women, let’s talk about the women who’ve shaped our reading lives. Was there (or is there) a woman in your life who sparked your love for reading? Who was the first woman author you remember loving? Do you tend to read more books by women authors and do you think that’s for a reason?
March 13: Immersive Reading (suggested by Leslie @ Books Are the New Black)
Prompts: Immersive reading is when you simultaneously listen to an audiobook while reading the physical or digital book. Do you do any immersive reading? Do you prefer it or is it not for you? Do you think it’s a good way to get everything from a book? Is there a genre that is better to do this with? What are your recommendations for immersive reading?
March 20: Portrayals of Women in Books
Prompts: We’ve previously talked about underrepresented women and women in STEM in books, but let’s take a look at portrayals of women in books. Do you think portrayals of women have changed over time? Are ambitious women portrayed differently than ambitious men? Are “unlikable” female characters judged more harshly? Are girls and women written more complexly in books today? Share some of your favourite books featuring complex empowered women being unapologetically themselves!
March 27: Right Book, Right Time? Reading for the Season You’re In (suggested by Alli @ Alli the Book Giraffe)
Prompts: Do you prefer reading about characters who are in a similar life stage as you (age, career, relationships, etc.)? Has your preference changed as you’ve gotten older? Have you ever re-read a book and experienced it completely differently because you were in a different stage of life? Do you think books come into our lives at the ‘right time’ and are there any books you think you’d feel differently about if you were younger or older?
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