A decade ago, the first post went up on Talking About Books, announcing its arrival. The first review followed soon after, exactly 10 years ago today.[1] This post is a way of taking stock of the journey and of thanking the people who have been part of it.

When I first started this blog in September 2013, I saw it as a space for friends to share books. TAB has grown from those humble beginnings to now having a global audience. Some of you have contributed reviews over the years—many of which, judging from the stats, are still popular with readers.

Because of the anniversary, I spent some time looking at the early years of the blog. Posts were more sporadic, and I shared articles about books when I did not have a review at hand. The articles (and podcasts/videos) have now been moved to TAB’s Facebook page. But skimming through the content, I realized there were three key moments that shaped the blog.

The initial idea for a book blog came from my cousin, Masume Alikhan. In December 2012, when I asked Facebook friends for the best books they had read that year, I received an overwhelming response. Masume, one of the respondents, suggested starting a blog. It sounded like a good idea, and it took several months to actually get it online (the first posts were mostly about getting it up and running, and worrying that the comments function didn’t work).

The next big step was when a friend, Kristine Goulding, inspired by Ann Morgan’s reading challenge, suggested that we expand our horizons by reading a book from every country in the world.[2] So in 2014 we formed a group of readers who wanted to take this on.[3] (You can read their reviews in the category The Reading Challenge.) I have added to this by posting on a variety of books from around the world. (Before you ask, the challenge is still ongoing and the group has so far covered 142 countries. See map below.)

The word about the reading challenge got out, and more readers joined us. In November 2014 in Geneva, Switzerland—in collaboration with a non-profit organization, International Communications Volunteers—we held a reading from a selection of the books we’d read. It was the one day that Geneva’s public transport system decided to go on strike! We did have a decent turn out, though, and more people signed up to the challenge.

The challenge has altered the way I read. I had been on the lookout for books from around the globe: for example, buying them wherever I travelled. Now, with the challenge, I have become much more systematic, actively looking for books from different countries.

This has led to some wonderful discoveries: Kendall Hippolyte, a poet from St. Lucia; Boubacar Boris Diop, a Senegalese author; Kunzang Choden, a Bhutanese writer; and many others. Readers of the blog have also made suggestions: Sonia Francis from Grenada, for example, recommended Jacob Ross (a fellow Grenadian) and Cherie Jones (from Barbados)—both of whom I’ve interviewed.

Which leads me to the third key moment, when I went beyond writing about books to interviewing authors. It all started in 2021 when a friend, Kat de Moor, wrote two novels in quick succession (the first books she’d written). I thought it would be interesting to interview her. Kat is Belgian but her books are in Spanish and set mostly in Mexico, where she had spent many years. That conversation with Kat kickstarted the interview series. They are all written interviews—with one exception, when I spoke to Davina Quinlivan for an online session of the Hyderabad Literary Festival.

Connecting with authors, readers and publishers, is easier now than it was two decades ago, thanks to social media. TAB is present on Facebook and Instagram, and I use my Twitter (X) account almost exclusively for book-related matters. You can say what you like about the downside of social media, but the social book world is a great place, with many helpful and friendly bookaholics!

It is not just through social media that I have been connecting with fellow readers. Over the years, the blog has travelled far and wide, both in terms of content and audience. You can see its worldwide audience in the map below, which records views since 2015 (when I moved to WordPress from another blog site). Most of the audience is based in the US, India UK, Switzerland and Canada, but visitors have come from several other countries such as Bhutan, Côte d’Ivoire, Fiji, Romania, St. Kitts and Nevis, Tonga, Vietnam and the UAE.

Finally, two doors opened up for me because of this blog. In November 2013, Leyla Alyanak asked me to be the book reviewer for her website, Women on the Road. Our aim is to highlight travel books by women. It has been nearly 10 years since I started that column, and it has introduced me to some excellent travel writing.

The second opportunity was becoming part of the core group of the Hyderabad Literary Festival, which takes place in my hometown in India every January and highlights regional Indian authors. It also has online sessions once a month throughout the year.

When I first started TAB, I wasn’t sure how long it would last or whether anyone would even look at it. So something that started out as an informal project has taken me on quite a journey. I hope it has done the same for you.

My thanks to everyone who has been part of this journey: authors who have given their time to answer my questions, review writers, and most of all, to readers worldwide who have made this blog a success!

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[1] The book reviewed was Thirteen Moons by Charles Frazier.

[2] I later interviewed Ann Morgan about her year of reading the world.

[3] The size of the group changes over time as people come and go.