When I began my blog on July 7, 2009 I never thought it would last so long. I never dreamed how starting a book blog would change my life. My blog has connected me with many wonderful people who love reading. I no longer feel alone in my love of reading. I am very proud of the high quality of my readership. I owe my greatest thanks to those who take the trouble to make comments and those who have done guest posts and participated in Q and A sessions.
Since inception my blog has had 3,191,198 page views. In 2014 The Reading Life had 946,222 page views. The most common countries of residence for a blog visitor are The United States, The Philippines, India, England and France. The top home cities of my readers are The Greater Manila Area, Mumbai, London, Paris and the San Francisco Bay Area. The five most read posts are all on short stories by authors from the Phillippines. The authors most searched for on my blog are Katherine Mansfield with R. K. Narayan a close second. I have 3818 twitter followers. There are as of today 2648 posts on The Reading Life.
I don't really have a review policy. I don't see myself as a "book reviewer" and don't like to be called that. I just read things and I post on them. I have received many free books from publishers and authors this year and I declined many more. I do look at every item I receive.
The love of reading and the love of books are related but they are not the same thing by any means. My ethereal theory is that in E reading one connects more directly with the Platonic essence of the text rather than the mode of presentation. The struggle between E reader and traditional reading on a world wide basis will go overwhelmingly for the E book as China, all the Indian Subcontinent and " third world" countries gain full and hopefully free access to the internet.
Books are not going away, just as I guess there are still places to buy records, traditional books will always be available. I see in traditional book stalwarts elitism, a fear the temple will be violated. The Reading Life wants all the door open, all barriers down. I do think E Books should be priced lower than physical books as the production costs are significantly lower. Amazon has a strangle hold on E books, and nearly the publishing industry and their sales versus price projections will dictate costs.
In December after German Literature Month ended, I was inspired to do a series of posts set in 1932 in The Grand Budapest Hotel.
The event began as planned, in a series of civilized activities reflecting the best of the culture of Greater Germania but with the collapse of the main event host Ruffington Bousweau after four days and the arrival of his niece Ambrosia Bousweau 48 hours of pure Weimar decadence began with guests from all over The Reading Life, a Venus in Furs Costume Contest at which I lost all self control, and numerous other happenings best left at The Grand Budapest Hotel.
Bad Book Bloggers must be chastised.
On New Years Day I will do a post on my blogging plans and hopes for 2015.
2 comments:
Very nice wrap-up post! Mel, you read and post more than anyone else I know in Cyberland. Have a safe and happy New Year's!
Suko. I wish you and your family a happy and good 2015
Post a Comment