Lately, I've become bored with what I'm reading on the blogs listed in my blogroll. I just purged around 10 or so that were inactive/dead (with the exception of a couple that I want to keep for the time being) and am contemplating deleting at least half of the remainder of those in the Review Blogs column.
Nothing personal against those whose blogs I've removed/will likely remove in the next few days, but ya know, sometimes there's this sameness that sets in. I need "new blood." So I'm going to look for it, especially centering my focus on blogs that review more than just SF-related material. I'm open to looking into any suggestions from readers here and even if you do have a SF-centric blog, I might consider it if it's updated frequently and contains more than just "the usual" that I'm seeing on a few of the blogs that I visit frequently.
Edit: My insomniac mind should have realized that I wanted much more than just reviews. Commentaries about literature, things happening in the various publishing areas, traditional literary criticism - those are key interest areas of mine, not just formal reviews of recent books.
Knight Errant
4 days ago
Posts
12 comments:
I'm apparently still there, so that means you still find me remotely interesting...right?
Just a note, I'll be relatively inactive until the 30th. Finals and a grad school interview and spring break in England. So, you know, if you're concerned about me being inactive or something, that's why. I have some nifty posts cooking up, though, so hopefully you'll keep me around.
I do, even if I don't comment as often as I would like. I think I'm growing bored with the blogs that focus more on promotional giveaways than they do on discussing anything of interest, so you're safe for a long time. In fact, I don't know if I'll be deleting any others for a while (almost all the ones I deleted had stopped being active for a while), but I'll just have to figure out some way of highlighting the ones I read the most, while still maintaining a visible presence for the others.
But that'll have to await another day, as I really should have been asleep, since I have a nasty doctor's appointment in the afternoon after work. No food or drink from the time I wake up until 3:30 PM. It's already haunting my thoughts...
Larry, I don't see how many review blogs can be that appealing, especially if they're only doing reviews (that gets tiring easily). Personally when I read blogs, I look for interviews, essays, and feature articles more than book reviews (but that's just me).
You're right, Charles. I'll amend this later, when I have the time and am a bit more coherent. Stupid lack of sleep.
You're welcome to drop in to my place anytime, Larry.
Not sure that it always lives up to the "about" page, and it's been kind of slow lately, but I expect it to pick up in a flurry of activity real soon!
I've noticed my "links" list has become a combination blogroll & website links. Don't know if I'll divide them into two lists or leave 'em alone. But I will add OF Blog of the Fallen to the mix.
I am trying to be original in everything I do, but in a world where information travels fast it can be difficult sometimes. And I think a note of originality is always welcomed.
I don't mean to shamelessly self-promote but . . . you can add my blog if you like it. I read a lot of things but I'm trying to narrow my literary focus to international literature. (I get ARC's from Open Letter Press and search the Internet for additional stuff.) I also write a lot about American history. I do update very frequently and my blog isn't exclusively about books, although that is what I write about the most.
Bill,
Was going to add yours along with a few other new/emerging authors in a few days, but since you were so polite in reminding me, I went ahead and added it now.
Mihai,
Originality is a journey, not a process, so as long as you aim to improve and to do what you enjoy, it should work for you, right? Besides, even if I don't comment often (sadly, I think I only comment at a couple of places total these days, but that'll change after late May), I do like what you do with the cover art.
E.L.,
Oddly enough, I was trying to remember your URL so I could add you, so I just now did. Talking about translated fiction alone merits a spot. Again, see my comment above to Mihai about my regrets in not commenting on other blogs very often these days. Sometimes I fail to reply here!
I should probably look through my blog roll as well. I don't pay much attention to it, honestly, as I use Google Reader to keep up with the blogs I follow. I know my Reader list does not match the list on my blog. I bet I have a few that are old and could be purged.
I would totally understand if I got purged from your list, since I pretty much do nothing but focus on reviews (mine and others). While I do only review epic fantasy, in my daily review link-ups I do try to highlight other types of books. Overall, though, I like having my main focus be on the specific area of epic fantasy. Even though I know you and I don't read the same books much anymore, I enjoy reading your reviews, just to read your take on things.
And did you say at some point your profession might change, or am i making that up?
Jeff,
Nashville-area bloggers are exempt from any purges! :P
And yes, I'm leaving my teaching job at the end of May. There's been budget-related cuts, but I was contemplating leaving either this May or next so I can go back to school in the near future to earn degrees in Spanish and in ESL, so it's not too tough of a loss. Only need to find a job in the next 6-8 months, that's all. Since I have been staying with my parents for a while, my bill payments are only in the low hundreds now, so I'm not too worried about the future at the moment...well, minus the obvious one about my liver, but I'll know more about that tomorrow or Friday.
I don't think you've ever had Reading the Leaves in your blog roll, so that means you won't have deleted it recently. I definitely review more than SF/fantasy/horror, because I read more than that. I also try to sneak in occasional essays about the reading life, though they're fairly uncommon. And I can't say I update all that frequently, as I'm a practicing lawyer and must squeeze my blog in with that as well as writing reviews and columns for other publications, but I do what I can.
Most recently, inspired by your various projects, actually, I read a short novel a day in February. I'm still reporting on that project. (Haven't yet written up Verissimo's Borges and the Eternal Orangutans -- have you ever come across that one? Great fun, with Borges as a character.) And, after I clear away a bunch of library books and some books received for review, I'll be concentrating on material in translation, including some works by Somoza, Calvino, Bolano, Pamuk, Abe, and Moers.
I'm not saying you should add me to your blog roll -- but I'd love it if you'd keep an eye out, and add a comment every now and then. If you'd consider it, I'd be most appreciative.
I'd be honoured, of course, by any look at my own blog, though I certainly wouldn't suggest it for a permanent link, at least at the moment.
My blog's very new, and I've been busy, so I've not actually put that much on it - and most of what's on it will be uninteresting to all but three or four people on the internet. I'm a worldbuilder as a hobby, so there's thousands of words on the evolution of clothing standards on a fictional island. There's six or seven posts about how a particular fictional language deals with deictic references.
There is, however, some content that might be of interest to some people, and hopefully that content will expand as time goes on (it's not an active blog, but I've no intention of ending it, and I think that when I get a full-time job in the near future (and thus have less time for expressing my views on forums and other blogs and the like) I will concentrate on it more).
At present, people may be interested in:
- a long, rambling, poorly-evidenced off-the-cuff meander about the narrative structures of very-long-form fiction, primarily fantasy (/scifi)
- a review of Rachmaninov's Isle of the Dead
- a review of A Canticle for Leibowitz, which I am still intending to follow up with some of my own exploration of its themes
- a two-part essay on the difference between sympathy and empathy (the first part in fact being about perspectives and creative definitions and what they're for; the latter being a creative definition of the difference)
- a statement of an intent to review certain books, concentrating on the notion of the sublime
In the longer run, I intend to write more reviews, and a lot more irrelevent pseudo-philosophical ponderings. And also my worldbuilding stuff. Which you can feel free to skip, as it's hardly a popular hobby.
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Oh, and I know that the blog is disorganised. It will become more organised with time. I will add some links. I'm planning to organise posts into sets accessible through indexes, but as no such sets are actually completed that's not possible at the moment.
I also know that the appearance may be... not what people would prefer. I'm not entirely keen on it myself, but whimsy, laziness and the limited supply of themes offered have conspired to have that as the winning option, for now.
[And yes, I'm aware that the title is misspelled. I find it pleasing to do so. The hubris of my humility is unbounded]
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What have I made this post for? Not entirely sure. Vanity, I suppose - I'm still new to the idea of having a blog, and am stilled thrilled by the fact that anybody reads it at all, let alone, gods-forbid, actually comments on it. Perhaps this post should constructively serve as a benchmark, recognising the nascent state of the blog, to spur me on my way improving and extending it.
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