January is a good time to visit Dubai because it is the winter, aka my most favorite season of the year. We had the coldest period of the year in the last few days and I loved it.
Credit: Time and Date
Of course this is still the Covid era and I didn’t go out as much as I usually do. How cold is your place right now?
I finished reading my first book of the year already putting me on track for my yearly challenge of 52 books. I read Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia this week and I will be posting a review soon.
What I watched this week
Last week I watched the Imposter and I had to binge watch the two seasons in just two days. I really enjoyed the first season more than the second.
Earlier, I also watched Collateral on Netflix. What have you been watching these days?
On my blog
In case you missed the posts from my blog, last week.
Also I hope you guys had a wonderful New Year’s Eve and happy New year to you all!
Quick December’20 updates
We began the month with a fabulous five day week end for the UAE national day. The weekend had a lot events happening and a spectacular fireworks show at Le Mer.
December 2020 also saw the beginning of the voluntary mass vaccination program all over the country. I love how proactive and involved the government is in the control of Covid, unlike many other countries from what I hear.
I also met my book club in person after almost a year. It was the first and only time I got to meet them in 2020. Though we had quite a number of Zoom meetings, it was not the same.
Finally about the New Year’s Eve. We stayed overnight at the Crowne Plaza (using some reward points, the prices were sky-high) mainly to watch the spectacular fireworks and not drive home after the party. The fireworks left me breathless and it was fun to celebrate the NYE with strangers. Of course social distancing protocols were followed, though not to the T.
What I read this month
Nothing works like a last moment panic right?
In order to complete my reading challenge of a measly number of 46 books, I went on stupor and a reading spree. Look at the number of books (11) I got to read this December 2020.
Ziggy, Stardust and Me by James Brandon
Quiet Girl in a Noisy World: An Introvert’s Story by Debbie Tung
Semi-Definitive List of Worst Nightmares, A by Krystal Sutherland
Silent Patient, The by Alex Michaelides
Heartstopper by Alice Oseman
Hercule Poirot’s Christmas by Agatha Christie
Heartstopper 2 by Alice Oseman
In A Holidaze by Christina Lauren
Two Boys Kisssing by David Levithan
Heartstopper 3 by Alice Oseman
Heartstopper Mini by Alice Oseman
What I watched this month
Thanks to the long weekend and the holidays in between I spent a lot of time on the Netflix and the other streaming platforms.
Here are my top five things that you have to catch up soon.
The Scam
Delhi Crime on Netflix
The call on Netflix
Flight attendant
The night of
On my blog
In case you missed the posts from my blog, last week.
As much as I love Christmas, the week between Christmas and the New Year has always been filled with excitement for me. It is the perfect time for reflecting and recapping the year and then setting new goals. I wanted to share the most popular posts of 2020 in terms of page visits with you all.
Also the internet Gods have proved once again that popular doesn’t necessarily mean the best. It just means Google liked them better or Facebook kept showing them randomly. We will never know why and how.
Elgee Writes’ most popular posts of 2020
I am ranking my most popular posts of 2020 based on the page views garnered during the year, based on the WordPress’s statistics. Let me know if your favorite made the cut.
We book bloggers keep lamenting at how book reviews don’t get much engagement. This post takes a good dive into why that happens to help you understand.
Quite funnily enough, this book review of The Henna Artist by Alka Joshi is one of my most popular post of 2020. Read on to find what made it so popular.
One of the points on my checklist for bloggers is the WordPress follow button. But if you are self hosted there is no direct way to add that button. This post explains how to do that and gain more followers.
If you are content creator and you are on top of your social media profiles without going insane, YOU ARE A ROCKSTAR. But for others, mere mortals like me, here are some tips to balance it out.
Some questions for an author to ask your beta reader when you submit a manuscript for beta reading. These questions ensure you get constructive and honest feedback from them.
This famous book didn’t fare so great for me and this review in particular had a lukewarm response when I initially posted. But when the official Auschwitz Museum responded to my post on Twitter, my page visits shot through the roof overnight.
The factual mistakes & misinterpretations made by Heather Morris in "The Tattooist of Auschwitz" resulted in creating a distorted version of Auschwitz. This is dangerous and disrespectful to history. The story deserves better. #FactCheck review: https://t.co/hioNswY2nT
You know that I get too excited during this season, even if I don’t celebrate Christmas. And every year I make it a point to go see as many Christmas trees and decors as possible. I did the same this year as well.
Also I met my book club after a year or so in person. And we had a lot to chat about, including books. On the whole it was a good week, I suppose.
Can’t wait to read your Christmas and holiday related posts, everyone! Hope you guys had a good one.
What I read this week
OK I am still racing against the clock to reach the 45 books target for the year and I am on my 42nd book now. I am currently reading In A Holidaze by Christina Lauren
This week I read
Hercule Poirot’s Christmas by Agatha Christie
Heartstopper by Alice Oseman
I hope I can reach my goals!
What I watched this week
It is the holidays. Of course I spent a lot of time on Netflix and Amazon binging. Don’t judge me!
This week I watched Kaley Cuoco’s Flight attendant and it was hilarious and intriguing.
And then I went on to watch “the Night of”, which had a similar storyline as Flight attendant at first glance. But it was so serious than the other one.
The best watch of the week was the Netflix’s Korean film The Call. My mind blown at the way the film held us in suspense until the credits rolled in. I loved it, catch it up if you can.
On my blog
In case you missed the posts from my blog, last week.
I got back to blog hopping and here are some of my favorite posts around the blogosphere. If I missed your blog and you can leave me your link to your blog here.
If you are still hating the block editor in WordPress, Sumedha post might help you.
Good morning everyone. I am kinda pumped up today, because there are couple of good news from my side.
Firstly, we have the Covid vaccines widely available here in the UAE. Early last month, the frontliners had their vaccine shots, and last week, the UAE health authorities have started the mass vaccination program.
We decided to wait for the people who needed the vaccine urgently to get it and also for the initial rush to cool down. Now that the vaccine is here, we can consider visiting our families back in India at least 2021. Fingers crossed.
On other news, many companies here in the UAE, have given its employees the option to continue the remote work or Work from Home in 2021 as well. This idea has its roots from the announcement from the Prince of Dubai of himself, approving remote working options for Dubai Government officials.
Looks like some things may have changed forever.
What I read this week
I finally finished read the Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides. And I am currently reading Heartstopper by Alice Oseman.
Yes I am dangerously close to not reaching my Goodreads reading challenge and I am gonna kinda cheat by reading graphic novels to get to the target.
Do you think it is fair to do that? What other graphic novels should I be reading?
What I watched this week
Last week, I caught up with the Prom, on Netflix. Despite the star power, I felt lukewarm towards it and the storyline was not gripping at all.
I also watched Big Sky on HBO, and it was just ok for me. I felt there were too many cliches and the final cliffhanger made me think I would rather read the source material, than watch it anymore.
Have you watched either of these? How did they fare for you?
On my blog
In case you missed the posts from my blog, last week.
