Welcome to guest blog number 2, this time coming from my wonderful friend Kelly – This Northern Gal (her details are at the bottom of this blog post!).
I’m not a very good book-worm, or book-blogger for that matter. I think Shakespeare is kind of over rated, and way too overvalued in English schooling. I don’t have much time for Austen. My bookcases aren’t picture perfect and my collection is spread between houses. I tend not to have all the latest books, nor the prettiest editions.
Worse than that though, I only share positive reviews on my blog.
In part, that is because I have always wanted This Northern Gal to be a positive place, where I share the things I have been loving and that have been making me happy. That ethos continues to the books that I choose to share there. If I love a book, I want to write about it in the hopes that someone else will love it too. I’ve found that to be slightly more effective than babbling incoherently and thrusting my favourite books at confounded friends.
But more than that, it’s due to a much bigger decision to avoid reading books that I don’t enjoy in my free time.
You see, I read a lot of books. A LOT. I’m four years into a degree in Classical Studies and English which means that I’m constantly carrying books and trying to deny how long my to-be-read list is. At its worst, I was expected to work on three novels a week, as well as critical reading, and you know, sleeping. Anna Karenina and Great Expectations were among the lists too, if that helps you feel bad for me.
It’s calmed down a little now but not by much. So, to save my love of reading from total annihilation I promised myself that I don’t have to read any books that I don’t want to in my free time. If I’m not into it in the first 25% of it, I stop.
Some, that I think I could enjoy but are too much of a challenging read for right now, are added to my post-graduation list. Anything too dense or too long is reserved for that glorious time of unemployment. As is the entire Harry Potter series because I have been waiting a long, long time to re-read that.
Only books that I am enjoying make it to my blog because they are the books that I spend my time reading.
The kind of books that I read has also changed during my degree. My love for fantasy has increased, and I’ve been really enjoying short stories and poetry at the moment. Books that make a delightful treat after a long day of studying or working are on my agenda and therefore my blog. I no longer feel guilty about that, about not ticking every box that comes with the title of ‘book worm’, ‘book blogger’ or even ‘literature student’. Why should I?
I might not have a very balanced blog, or read the books that I should but I do love to read. Surely that’s what matters. Especially if it gives me a chance to natter about books with other literary lovers.
If that makes me a bad book blogger, then I’ll wear that badge with pride.
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I think the message that Kelly is getting across is SO important here and it’s one that I stand by firmly. There are books that I read that I don;t particularly enjoy but I would never put a negative review on my blog. I want this blog, just as Kelly wants hers, to be a place of positivity. Books are one of the things that I love most about the world and about my little world. I have all the time in the world for supporting incredible authors and their incredible stories. I’ll always be honest, I’ll always tell you my real thoughts about a book but I would hate to think that people thought of A Little But A Lot as a negative place.
If you’d like to follow Kelly (and I suggest that would be a wise move on your part) you’ll find her:
Twitter
Thank you so much Kelly for this wonderful message,
S x
