Weekly Geeks: Reassess Your Blog 2010-21

BBAW is approaching fast and this year there are some changes to the nominating and voting format. One of the major changes is that bloggers have to nominate themselves to the different categories. Because of this Weekly Geeks this week ask us to pick our 5 best posts.

I am nominating myself in the eclectic category as I so far this year (since January 2010, when I’ve been keeping track) have reviewed 39 books and out of them 9 are non-fiction, 11 crime fiction, 9 modern, 1 fantasy, and 6 children’s/YA (I don’t really know how to categorize the Anne books). So as you can see I have a bit of an eclectic taste.

1. Book Review: The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B du Bois. This is my favourite review ever. I am so incredibly proud of the way this one turned out. Normally I am not really one to toot my own horn and I can usually find faults with my reviews, but this one, this one, I am incredibly proud of. I just feel that I got a great balance between the personal and the substance.
2. Book Review: Mias systrar (Mia’s Sisters) by Mia Eriksson and Kerstin Weigl. I’ve chosen this review because of the subject matter it covers. I read it for the Women Unbound a challenge that I find very important. What is even more important is the subject matter the book covers. Highlighting violence against women and the poor protection for victims of domestic violence is something I find very important and worthwhile. I want this blog to not only highlight books in general but to also highlight books that show issues that are important to me. In addition to this I want to show off books that have not been translated to heighten awareness amongst English speaking publishers to books not in English that might be worthy of translation.
3. Book Review: The Last Hero by Terry Pratchett. I chose this review because I so completely love this book. I also chose it because it is an illustrated book, which is out with my comfort zone. Although I read eclectically I also don’t read many books that are heavily illustrated. Not even the books I chose for the Childhood Favourites Challenge were illustrated. So for me this is a departure, of sorts. I say “of sorts” because it is a book by one of my favourite authors, Terry Pratchett. I adore his writing style. The dry wit and snarkasam. It is just wonderful. I also like it because of it’s commentary on our society. Well worth a read.
4. Book Review: Freedom in Exile by The Dalai Lama. This was a book that I loved for very many reasons. One, I loved learning more about one of the big leaders of our time. To hear about his life and philosophy was great. Two, I liked his philosophy. Yes it is easy to like someone who basically agrees with you, however, it was more than that. He managed to put words to ideas I have not been able to. I also chose to highlight this review because this is primarily a review blog right now and I want my selections to show that.
5. National Audiobook Month: How I Fell in Love with Audiobooks I haven’t written many feature posts outside my weekly(-ish) Sunday Salon posts but I want to start doing more of them. Part of the reason why I haven’t written many is that I am never sure if people want to hear my thoughts (yeah I have issues, I’m working on them :D). Part of it is that I am still trying to find my voice. I like the Sunday Salon because it has given me a way to think about books, but now I want to start posting Book Talk posts during the week just for me, because, in all honesty, I blog for ME so it shouldn’t really matter if anyone else reads these posts. I chose this one because I am happy with how it turned out and because it is very topical right now.

In addition to our 5 nomination posts Weekly Geeks also highlights the fact that this past weekend was Bloggiesta Weekend and therefore they also ask us to look at our blogging goals. I was unable to take part in Bloggiesta this time round :( because I was away celebrating a high school graduate (YAY!) and working (BOO! but kind of YAY! got to make money for books) but working on this post has made me think about what I want to do in the future so…

I blog for me. To do something creative. To keep a record of what I read. To move out of my comfort zone. To help me organise my thoughts.

In addition to this I want to spread the word about books I love. Books I want other people to love. This is one of the reasons why I am passionate about the Spotlight Series and the Classic Circuit and why I love Aarti at BOOKLUST’s feature With Reverent Hands (and it is her series NOT a meme, if you want to participate contact her). They all work hard to promote books that don’t normally get to go on tours. Books that might not have a large marketing budget but are still very worth a read.

Most of my non-review posts for the last year are meme’s and Sunday Salons. There is nothing wrong with that, but I think I want more of my posts to reflect me and what is important to me. I have already stopped taking part in many of the meme’s I started with* and I want to continue keeping them to a minimum. I do want to continue with Teaser Tuesday for a very specific me centred reason: it reminds me to finish a book. I try to use Teaser Tuesday as a preview of a book I will be reviewing in the next week. It doesn’t always work that way, but I want to get better at it.

*I don’t want anyone to think that I think that meme’s are bad. It is just that it isn’t the way I want this blog to go, simply because I start to feel like I HAVE to do the meme and this blog will never become an obligation. It always has to be fun!

So my goals are:

• To share books I love
• To showcase books that might not get so much attention
• To write non-review posts that reflect me and my interests
• To use Teaser Tuesday as a showcase for the next book to be reviewed.

Okay so that got a bit rambly, but actually that is another one of my goals, write longer reviews.

• Write longer reviews

Most of all I want to blog because it is FUN! I like writing about what I like. I like reading other books. I like making connections (although that is something I need to get better at too…this list is getting long now). And now I think I might have rambled enough for this week.

Copyright ©2010 Zee from Notes from the North.This post was originally posted by Zee from Notes from the North. It should not be reproduced without express written permission.