Woman Reading, Andrew Stevovich

According to WordPress statistics there are 54.2 million new posts each month. Amongst all that noise it’s difficult getting noticed. So, this is my monthly shout-out to the posts and bloggers I think deserve a little extra attention in a blogosphere crowded with content.

This month there are three blogs about four things: writing, reading, books, and life.

Drum roll, please:

Freshly Seen at Jill’s Scene in February were:

The Green Study 

The very first post I read from The Green Study, Reading Like A Human rails against the notion of “should reads”. Those lists of worthy books from the literary canon that go around and around, each merely another rendition of those that have proceeded them. You’ll know the list : 100 best novels of all time, ten best women writers ever, thirty books to read before you die,  and on and and on. All designed no doubt, to increase readership and possibly sales, but that have the effect of snuffing out experimentation and stifling taste. As Michelle says

Statistically it is impossible, with the millions of books out there, that these writers are the end-all, be-all.

I recognised in her post someone whose reading habits, like mine, are changing. More than that, she’s a reader and writer who isn’t afraid of the digital revolution. Rather, she welcomes it.  Not whole heartedly. I’m with her on the matter of increased distractibility, too. But the easy access to content via my Kindle has made a power of difference to my reading life.

Michelle blogs as she sees it —there’s nothing pretentious here. Take the title of her blog: The Green Study. Why that? Because in the room where she writes the walls happen to be painted green!

Michelle is from Minnesota – and you know I’m always on the lookout for bloggers from that part of the world.

A Year of Reading the World

When the Olympics went to London in 2012, blogger, book lover, writer, and editor, Ann Morgan decided to read her way around the world.

In 2012, the world came to London for the Olympics and I went out to meet it. I read my way around all the globe’s 196 independent countries – plus one extra territory chosen by blog visitors – sampling one book from every nation.

I, however, only came across her blog a few weeks ago, via a facebook link to an article in The Guardian. It’s a listicle :Ann’s ten must read books for travellers.

If you’ve been reading my blog for  a while, you might have figured out I enjoy reading fiction and non-fiction about the countries I visit. That list sent me straight to Smile as They Bow by Burmese writer, Nu Nu Yi and which I read during February. Her posts from that year lead to her book Reading the World which came out in 2015.

Ann has started a new series: World Bookshopper in which she reviews bookshops she visits from around the world. Having a few favourite bookshops in far flung places myself this is a concept I love!

Idle blogs of an idle fellow

Tom is a fan of  Jerome K. Jerome but you might have guessed that already. The first of his posts I recall coming across was My first year of weekly blog. It made me laugh. And commiserate. I was right there, in the bathroom racked with despair. Blogging can be brutal, folks, but it’s also a blast and there’s lots of laughs to be had when you read Tom’s posts. You see Tom’s a writer. He’s a got a book coming out! His most recent post is all about the sweet spot between clinching the deal and the release date.

When you read it, you’ll see that after a long time waiting and hoping he’s pretty excited about the whole deal.

Tom also just happens to have recently reviewed Anthony Doerr’s All the Light We Cannot See which was my book of the month back in August last year and which I’m still recommending to anyone and everyone.

Oh, by the way, the title of Tom’s Book? The Life Assistance Agency. (Had you worried, I wouldn’t drop it in, eh Tom!)

It’s impossible to talk about writing, and reading, and books and not talk about life. All three of these bloggers have a fair bit to say about life and I like that!

Go on, check them out. And then tell me what you think. Are these blogs you might enjoy, too?