As many of you know, I took a little break from blogging. Surprisingly, in that time away, I picked up a few new followers. Well, I’m back now, new friends and old, and I’ve changed my look, as you might have noticed. I love it!
Here’s some interesting (at least to me) background info on the look: I was directly inspired by the art print, “Someday, You’re Gonna” by Jordan Crane, which hangs in my kitchen. I wish I could commission Crane to do the artwork for my header, but what can I do? Use silly pictures of myself and the covers of a few of my favorite books, I guess.
Anyways, back to the topic at hand. Since I have some new followers, and I’m returning after a long absence with a new drive, I thought I’d share some of my favorite posts that best reflect who I am as a blogger, and what you can expect to see here at Adventures in Borkdom. Many thanks to The Broke and the Bookish for providing the inspiration with today’s perfectly timed Top Ten Tuesday prompt!
1. Book Reviews
While I have been slacking in this area, a good chunk of Adventures in Borkdom is devoted to book reviews. When I put in the work, you can expect regular reviews on books of varying genres (I am a mood reader and like to read it all!) and I attempt to make these reviews as unbiased and professional as possible (when I might be biased, I make note of it in the review). I even created a rubric (feel free to use in your own reviews!) to make my methods of judgment transparent. Here are some examples of the positive review: Bleak House and The Waste Lands, the “meh” review: A Discovery of Witches, and the negative review: Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children.
When I don’t feel like putting in the work, you can expect posts full of mini-reviews: July Mini-Reviews
If you’re looking for more reviews, I post them up in the “Reviews” page at the top of the blog. *Coming Soon: Reviews organized by genre!*
2. Inspired Adventures
This is a new feature I started yesterday. It will appear twice a week (unless life gets in the way), and will center around a book I recently read, and an adventure or activity that I took part in that was directly inspired by the book. For example, after reading Hatchet, I took a hike in the mountains, and considered what aspects of the area would affect my survival if I were stranded there, à la Hatchet. Here is that post: Inspired Adventures: Hatchet and a Hike.
Upcoming Inspired Adventures include: Anne of Green Gables and Raspberry Cordial; The Return of the King and LARPing; and When You Are Engulfed in Flames and Quitting Smoking.
Check back on Thursday for this week’s second Inspired Adventure!
3. Bookish Featurettes
I enjoy writing posts on books that explore the various aspects of novels and reading in general. This is where I can really analyze certain literary/bookish areas without the limitations of a book review.
Some examples include:
- Spasmodic Benevolence: Charles Dickens and Philanthropy
- The Waste Lands: I Want My Picture Book!
- Banned Books Week: Rebel Without a Cause
- Catching Up with Old Friends
- “You Can Always Depend Upon Me for Two Things: Not to Cry and Not to Faint.”
4. Classic Authors: They’re Just Like Us!
These posts are biographical and discuss traits of a classic author that are surprisingly similar to either “us”, the everyday reader, or to the traits of modern-day popular authors. These ones are fun to read if you’re interested in a certain author, but don’t feel like getting bogged down by a long biography. I try to just give you the good stuff!
Examples:
J.R.R. Tolkien (posted over at Snobbery)
5. Fun Top Tens
Occasionally, I compile Top Ten lists that are connected to my reading preferences. I try to make these fun and somewhat informative. Typically, these directly derive from topics originating from the good folks at The Broke and the Bookish (like this post!).
A few of my favorites include:
Playing Hooky With Literary Characters
If Classics Were Set to Punk Rock
Oh Boy! It’s My Day to be a Girl! Here Are My Top Ten Book Boyfriends
The rest of my Top Tens can be found at the top of the blog in the page labeled “The Best”
6. Participation in Reading Challenges
This year, I signed up for a bunch of challenges. Not all of them have stuck (or, at least, I’m not attending to them right now), but I have seen a few of them through.
Two of these are
the horror- centric, annual Readers in Peril (RIP) Challenge, hosted by Stainless Steel Droppings
and
Charles Dickens Month, hosted by Fig and Thistle
7. Writings on Current Blogging Issues and/or My Views on Blogging
I don’t often dabble in blogging politics, but on occasion, I’ll come across an issue that I think needs addressing. Here’s a sample of what it looks like when I do:
When Blogging Gets You Down: A Letter to Bloggers (Big and Small)
I have also created a blogging manifesto, which pretty much spells out my views on blogging, and still holds true today: My Blogging Manifesto
8. “Best of” Lists
This shall be an annual event, and since I am only just approaching my one-year anniversary, I only have examples for 2011. Yet, you can expect to see daily posts, during the last week of 2012, that list my favorite books of 2012, broken down into genres. Here are two examples from last year:
Top Adult Contemporary and Young Adult Fiction Read in 2011
The rest of my “Best of” lists can be found at the top of my blog in the page labeled “The Best”
9. Readathons
I am a nut for readathons, particularly the big ones. This year, I took part in both of Dewey’s annual 24-hour readathons (held in October and April). I also held personal, impromptu readathons, which I chronicled on the blog.
Here are two posts reflecting my readathon participation:
October Read-a-Thon: And so it begins!
10. The Person away from the Book
Finally, you will get to know the person that is separate from the books I read. Sometimes I write about what’s going on in my life:
and sometimes I feature the other interests and hobbies in my life:
———***——–
All of this, and writings I can’t foresee, will be featured here at Adventures in Borkdom. Obviously, if you want to know a bit more about me, the writer, check out my “About” page .
Thanks again for reading my blog and taking an interest in what I care about. I hope you enjoy what I put out there.
Filed under: Blogging Tagged: About Me, Best, doing, read-a-thon, recommend, reviews, writing
