Tuesday, August 4, 2015

Post no 1000

1,000 posts! I'm amazed I made it this far. I think I wrote in my 500th post that I was amazed I made it past the first two weeks... This blog started as a reading diary & has expanded into much more than that. It's still a reading diary, & I love being able to look back at some of my favourite reads & be reminded of the books I'd completely forgotten. It's also become a place to show off photos of my cats - Abby, Lucky & Phoebe - & sometimes the garden & my baking. Any post with a cat photo is guaranteed to attract a lot of hits, often more than the book posts...

I thought I'd celebrate by choosing one post from every hundred that I've written over the past 5 1/2 years. Thank you to everyone who visits & comments or just visits & lurks. It's lovely to know there are so many other people in the world who enjoy the books, poetry & cats I love & want to have a conversation about them.

Abby, hot cross buns & reading progress - a post about Abby, who died just over four years ago, but who made her presence felt on the blog in that first year. Also, baking & the books I was reading that Easter.

Judging a book by its cover - Sometimes the posts that generate the most comments aren't reviews but general ramblings about books & reading. This post looked at some of my favourite imprints & the changes over the years to the cover art & the way the books are made - font, paper & binding. I also wrote that I didn't see that I would ever want an e-reader. Oh well, it just proves I'm not ashamed to change my mind as I now have a Sony, Kindle & several apps on my iPad devoted to e-books.

Memoirs of a Highland Lady - Elizabeth Grant - I know that Blogger's statistics can be a little dodgy but I'm always fascinated by the posts that are in my Top 5 in my stats overview & also by the posts that have generated lots of hits. Sometimes I can guess that it's because the book is on a school syllabus but sometimes I have no idea. This post has had over 2000 hits since January 2011 & I have no idea why.

Introducing Lucky & Phoebe - First impressions (without pride or prejudice) of the girls when they came to live with me nearly four years ago. Nothing has changed - Lucky is still timid & Phoebe is still adventurous.

Gaudy Night - Dorothy L Sayers - I love rereading my favourite books & I enjoyed writing this post which is more an appreciation of DLS than a review of the book.

Sunday Poetry - Sir Walter Scott - Sunday Poetry was one of my better ideas. I hadn't read much poetry for years until I thought about posting a poem each week. It's taken me back to old favourites & to anthologies on my shelves. This post about Scott's Lochinvar took me from the anthology I was reading then to a book I've had since I was a child. Scott, Scotland & a little nostalgia.

Plotting for Grown-ups - Sue Hepworth - I've been very lucky to receive review copies from authors & publishers over the years. Sue sent me a copy of her novel, But I Told You Last Year That I Loved You, & I then read & loved her other books. I'm always fascinated by how writers write & authors like Sue & Linda Gillard have discovered that publishing their work themselves gives them a lot more control over the finished book.

New arrivals - Buying books is one of my favourite hobbies & posts about my latest purchases & preorders always create lots of comment. I once mentioned to my online reading group that I counted my preorders (like sheep) when I couldn't get to sleep, which caused much hilarity but also made a lot of sense to several members of the group... I just tell myself that I'm building up a good stock of books for my retirement.

The joy & the curse of the tbr shelves - I do a lot of dithering in my life & sometimes I dither on the blog as well. Usually it's a not-too-serious complaint about being unable to decide what to read next because I have too many choices & want to read everything at once. Since I discovered podcasts the problem has only increased. When I think that once, all I had to worry about was the review pages in the Saturday paper & the books I saw at work. Now, there are so many wonderful blogs that I read, three online reading groups constantly mentioning books I either know, own & haven't read, or (even worse), have never heard of but must own as soon as possible, plus podcasts that I can listen to while I'm driving, ironing or cooking - no wonder I buy a lot of books!

And finally,

Bookish ramblings - which could be the alternate name for this blog.

26 comments:

  1. Will always be grateful to you and your blog for introducing me to O Douglas..own all her books now and re read with great pleasure...long may you blog!

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    1. Thanks Marmee. I still have a few Douglas's to read but I will get to them one day. She's such a comforting author.

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  2. Lyn,

    Congratulations on the big M. And here's hoping there's many more M's to come.

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  3. Here's hoping for a lot more bookish rambling, of many different kinds!

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    1. Thanks Audrey. I think all the ramblings, about things other than books, keep it interesting. Especially the cat ramblings! It's a very cold morning here & I left the girls curled up ready to go back to sleep again. Wish I could be home with them.

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  4. Wow Lyn! Congratulations on hitting 1000 posts! That's amazing :D

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    1. Thanks Rachel. I couldn't be more surprised that I kept the blog going so long.

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  5. Congratulations on 1000 interesting posts Lyn, I thoroughly enjoy your blog and count myself lucky for the day I stumbled on it. Thanks for the links above, it will be fun to revisit those.

    Here's to the next 1000!

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    1. Thanks Rose. Here's hoping I last another 1000 posts!

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  6. Congratulations - keep up the good work!

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  7. Wow, amazing number - congratulations! And yes there are many fans of books, poetry and cats out there. I'll explore those posts you highlight above which I may have missed, as I came later to your blog. Here's to many more posts!

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    1. Thanks Marina. I sometimes think the cats are more popular than the books but they would think that was quite reasonable!

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  8. That's an impressive milestone. I always enjoy your reflections and finding the interests we have in common. Thanks for bringing some older posts back to our attention, I especially liked the ones on Gaudy Night and the book covers.

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    1. Thanks Lory. I'm always surprised to discover how many people like the books I like. One of the advantages of the internet has been discovering all these like-minded people.

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  9. I have just started blogging and I thought I would blog about books only. But I have discovered, as you did, that readers like ... whatever they like and often not what I thought was my best entry (for the time being) and that "bookish rambling" is much better than serious criticism done by scholars. You are entirely right. I cannot experience the cat aspect, having no cat myself... Thank you for your blog which is always iteresting and that I share on my FB page from time to time as I have done today... Long live your blog!

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  10. Gaudy Night; just saw another repeat of that with Edward Petherbridge and Harriet Walter, not forgetting Richard Morant as Bunter. I think they did the best they could with three episodes, but a fourth would have only served to add to the drama. I would have liked to have seen Viscount St George.

    I loved what DLS had to say about her book Gaudy Night and the "monstrous impertinence" where the Balliol College cricket pitch was concerned.

    I'm a lurker more than a poster to this site and yes, I greatly enjoy reading about the cats :-) I miss my Jamie who died at the end of August last year, but we have Lulu living here now and would not be without her. She was a rescue cat and to begin with found it hard to settle, but now rules the roost and lives life to the full.

    I think cats and books go together, although I don't know why......

    Greetings from soggy Scotland!

    JB

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    1. I do love the EP & HW series. I agree it would have been fun to see St George & Reggie Pomfret but it's a very good adaptation nevertheless. My girls are only interested in books because when I'm reading, I stop moving & they can sit on my lap. As far as that goes, they approve! Cats, books & tea definitely go together. It's soggy in Melbourne this morning too but at least it's winter here.

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  11. Congratulations and best wishes for at least another thousand posts! I enjoy your posts so much. You cover all the things I like, too: books and cats and baking and all the little things of life. Thank you!

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    1. Thanks Joan, I'm glad you enjoy the blog. It's the little things that make up a life, don't you think? Not that Phoebe & Lucky would enjoy being referred to as "the little things"...

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  12. Many congratulations. Thoroughly enjoy reading your blog.

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  13. Congratulations! I always enjoy dropping in, and I've especially loved reading more poetry because of your posts.

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    1. Thanks Vicki. I've enjoyed reading more poetry too.

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