So by the time this goes up, I should be at the Vancouver Children’s Literature Roundtable breakfast event which features Oliver Jeffers not on the breakfast menu but as a speaker. And because I am in a somewhat reflective mood, it seems perfect for me to take a look back on what book blogging has been like in the last three years I have been doing it.
I read a lot and I read fast but somehow, this year, I feel like lingering over my books. Savouring them. So I have been doing that and not reading as much as I did in the same period in the last year. So where do the daily reviews come from? Well, I read 460 books last year and I reviewed the bulk of them. So I have 40 reviews already written and this helps me when I am scheduling my posts. I only clarify this because I read someone’s post scoffing about how it is impossible for someone to read enough to post a book review daily. I read all the books I review. I don’t skim them and I don’t just read the synopsis and get the details from someone else’s review and refashion them into my own thoughts. That would be plagiarism. So while I may not post a book review five days a week in the future, I can certainly afford to do so now.
Blogging has interesting effects on my bibliophilia. I love books. But I’m not going to lie, sometimes I want ARCs because everyone else is getting them and receiving them seems to be an induction in some sort of big girls’ club of rad book bloggers. I have never been a follower. I prefer to be in my own corner, reading my own book but you mention ARCs and I sort of go silly. I guess it’s a good thing NetGalley and Edelweiss are around because their denials keep me grounded. Hee. I mean, ARCs are nice, there’s no denying it. But honestly, if it’s not a book you want to read but one you have to read because you receive it? Not so cool. My time is becoming increasingly limited – so much s0 that I do not want to spend time reading what I won’t like and what I will end up writing a negative review for. So I’m trying to be smart and more controlled. I don’t promise anything (even to myself) but I am going to try.
I also have to periodically remind myself that I did not start book blogging to become a popular book blogger. Sometimes it’s easy to get carried away by things that do not matter. It doesn’t matter how many people view my blog every day or month or even year. It doesn’t matter how many comments I receive on the posts or even if I receive comments. What matters is that I reach even a single other book lover out there whose passion for books matches my own. If I can recommend a book to even one person, whether they comment on the blog or not, then I am happy. Honestly.
So in this new year, I am going to read fewer book. But I am going to savour them more. I am going to read good books and some bad ones. And I am going to travel into worlds that do not exist on this plane and go places without setting a foot into an aeroplane. I hope that you, too, read beautiful books this year.
I have been feeling the same way. Just started reading A Conspiracy of Alchemists and I don’t know why I signed up to review it :(
I totally hear you on being more selective with what you request for review! I’m trying really hard to only request books that truly call to me. I know that I will still come upon those disappointments, but hopefully there will be less of them.
And I’ve been doing better with keeping to a posting schedule. I know that, during the week, I will get less reading done due to my work schedule, so I try to keep that in mind when deciding what I’m going to read and when.