Going for a Russian lit/history focus

Having been thinking about things now for most of this week the decision that has been reached is to opt for an area that I could read about all year with great happiness. As a result this blog will now be covering Russian literature and history.

Both of those areas are real passions and I think that having a focus will make it easier to keep the reading and the blogging going. I have read a few of the Russian greats but there are still plenty out there and as well as the classics I'm hoping to get into some more modern stuff, depending on what has been translated and is available.

The history theme is also going to provide me with a chance to have a better mix of fiction and non-fiction and provide an opportunity to occasionally complement the era used as the setting for a novel as a period of history to study in more depth.

To celebrate I have started reading A Country Doctor's Notebook by Mikhail Bulgakov and am enjoying it immensely. Set during the First World War this is a rare Bulgakov where the spectre of Stalinism does not over shadow the tale and as a result you get a different take on Russia's problems at the time. The main theme is one highlighting the difference between rural Russia and life in the cities. The world that young Bulgakov is sent to to deliver his medical skills is dark in more than just the quality of the light.

Anyway hope things going forward will make more sense now this blog has a bit more of a direction.

No longer the everyman

Thinking about what this blog should be about has lef me to a few possible options. When I was a child I remember going into a stamp shop and telling the man behind the counter that I enjoyed collecting stamps. He asked which ones and I replied "All of them". He then laughed and said that most serious collectors specialised in one country or one period and that although my collection was a good one for a young boy it lacked any focus.

I often think of that same conversation when I think of this blog. At the start the idea was that I would record all the books I read. The broad remit was that after years of just reading non-fiction there was a lot of catching up to do and so I would pick up some of the greats and get thoughts down on those. It was also an attempt to try and capture thoughts that would otherwise have been lost as a result of my leaky memory.

But there are various problems being an everyman blog. It leaves you often without direction, makes it hard to engage with a specific online community and prevents any great analysis from ever developing as you jump from genre to genre and period to period without enabling too much comparison.

So thinking about what I like to read a lot there are a couple of stand out options:

Russian literature and history has always been a passion of mine and I would be happy to go down that route. Pros are that it would keep me entertained for a long time. Cons are that the books tend to be fairly gloomy and I'm not sure a sustained diet of Russian lit would be good for the soul.

History, specifically modern, is something that I have studied in the past and there is plenty of material here. The Pros are that you can really get stuck into some interesting things, like my current interest in the Vietnam War. The Cons are that the books tend to be long, dense, not always that well written for the lay reader and can be hard to share.

IThe third choice is of course to combine the two but I'm not sure how that would work.

Plenty of food for thought there and I hope to make a decision soon and change the blog strapline and get a more coherent focus.

Must try harder

It's hard to believe that when I started blogging I took great pride in the output and used to pat myself on the back for doing at least a post a day, if not sometimes multiple entries.

So when I see the total posts of last year only came to 10 it is quite a shock and a graphic illustration of just how far things have changed. There are several reasons why things have slowed down:

* Time - I just don't seem to have any of it anymore. As a result of running a marathon last year (first and only) and a couple of half marathons I seem to spend the little time I have donning lycra and trying to fight the bulge.

* Kids - I have a young son, not yet two, and it's hard reading and blogging when there are special moments to be had with him. Milo is a real joy and along with his brothers deserve my attention.

* Motivation - The drive that used to be there at the start has almost completely burnt out. I know that this will never be a blog attracting thousands of hits, my interaction with people is poor and there are so many better alternatives (see the blogroll). I'm comfortable with that but am still working out just what this all means for the blog going forward.

* Readers block - this is a really serious one for me. Last year I just couldn't read without feeling stressed and the result was that I only managed to read a handful of books and most of the time started and abandoned reading books. I'm not sure what this is all about but suspect that it is psychological connected to some of the other factors I have listed here.

If I have one aim for this year it is not only to fall back in love with reading but also to try and work out what this blog is for. It is something that I want to provide me with enjoyment, that hopefully can be shared, but right now it is doing little of that. Hopefully that will change and I will work out a strategy for 2014.

Thinking of doing a refresh for 2011

Last year I looked at the blog and changed the look and to a limited extent the content and thoughts are now turning to doing something smiliar.

The look is perhaps a little bit dull and the commitment to try and update every day has just not been sustainable this year and so going forward I will be being more realistic about the volume of posts.

What is important are the reviews and so more effort will be put into those. There are still so many that are not yet done from this year and to speed up the process I will be putting together some concise reviews in the next few days to clear the backlog.

Thanks as ever for reading and if you have any suggestions please don't hesitate to make them.

A fourth birthday

Today marks the fourth birthday of this blog. It all started four years ago after a conversation the night before with my brother who told me that rather than write things down in little notebooks I could put my thoughts and reviews of books online.

It's been a great four years with lots of reading packed in and it's also provided an opportunity to interact with a wider book reading and literature loving group of people, most of whom are in the blog roll on the right. It's been fun, hard work and occasionally let's be truthful a bit of a chore. The mojo has risen and dipped but is hovering on okay at the moment.

Thanks for reading and supporting the blog over the last four years.

Book Bloggers Appreciation Week

Please forgive me for blowing my trumpet but I'm entering this book bloggers appreciation week and the following five posts are my entry:

Book review - The Thousand Autumns of Jacob De Zoet - David Mitchell

Book review - Solar - Ian McEwan

Author interview - Evan Maloney

Book review - The Unnamed by Joshua Ferris

Book review - Bel Ami - Guy De Maupassant

Reading and writing

Years ago I was told an anecdote about a journalist on the Daily Telegraph who was asked by his editor "have you read the story?" to which the hack replied "I can either write for this paper or read it, which would you prefer?"

Feeling a bit like that at the moment as I'm head down concentrating on the reading and sure enough when you let the reviews slide a bit the reading you are able to do seems to speed up a little bit.

But I'm all too aware that the days slip by without a post and more importantly that pile of books that need to be reviewed just gets longer. So after the next book, this is a mantra coming up, I intend to sit down and do some reviews. Just one more book and then things should get going ;)

Doing things slightly differently

For the past three and a half years the approach has been to blog about books I'm reading on a daily basis. Great for me to remind myself what they are all about but not so interesting for those that simply want to see what i have read and thought about it. As a result the approach this year will be to do a half way through blog post and then a concluding review.

It makes more sense to summarise the progess of a book at the half way stage and then to produce a review at the end rather than a daily diary with potentially a big pause before the review appears.

I am concious that I am still working through a backlog of reviews of books read last year. I will try to get those up in the next few weeks sprinkled in among other more current reading.

maybe time for a refresh?

The look and feel of the blog hasn't changed for a couple of years and I'm thinking that maybe it's time to have a look at what the options are for improving the look and feel of it. The dots seemed to be one of the best choices available at the time but Blogger has probably improved the choices since then and made it easier to make things look more compelling.

Keep an eye on the blog in the next few weeks to see if I have the guts and the gumption to make any changes. I'd like to but we will see.

The addictive nature of Twitter

i started Twitter in earnest a couple of weeks ago - name is insidebooks on there as well - and am finding it addictive. The main reason is that not only does it provoke you to condense your thoughts but it is also more socialble and interactive than blogging.

As a result my attitude towards blogging is becoming more strained and that is something to keep an eye on. Micro blogging might be seen by some as a cop out, because of the 140 character limit. But in fact I am communicating more often and more widely on that medium.

Still for the foreseable future both this and Twitter will be kept going to offer a best (or worst) of both worlds.

Fair criticism

Somebody recently commented on one of the reviews I posted up a while ago pointing out that I was pretty much an ignoramus. At first the criticism hurt but then it got me thinking and in a way I have to agree.

The more you read hopefully makes you a better reader. By that what I mean is that literary references and style aping that might be included in a work pass you by if you don’t have the wider knowledge needed to pick up on them. For instance when I started to read Ulysses someone pointed out that without a knowledge of the Odyssey it was going to have points that just sailed over my head. Have to admit that even with Homer under the belt the references were still pretty hard to spot.

So that is the first line of defence, but the second is that reading is subjective and also meant to be enjoyable. That last point is crucial. I know that by blogging thoughts on books you sort of put yourself out there but that believe it or not is still part of the enjoyment.

Hopefully the point is made that even in terse criticism there is some food for thought and give it time (a decade or two more) and a lot more reading and my reviews actually might become better…

A happy blogging birthday

Two years in and there have been a lot of books read and some intersting moments and the mind is still churning as a result and so onwards and upwards...

More fuel for the bloggers v. critics debate

Just before I left to head off to work this morning there was a discussion on Radio 4’s Today programme (it happened at 8.20 and you can listen to it online) about the differences between literary bloggers and traditional critics. This is a long running debate but the latest attempt to ignite the war of words failed mainly because the blogging representative from ReadySteadyBook.com was almost as qualified as the academic reviewer.

Of course there are people blogging with axes to grind and idiotic views to share. But unless you take everything you read completely on trust there is always the option to go elsewhere. The ability to share a gut reaction to a book is very powerful in some cases because it is raw analysis. Obviously being able to put it into a literary context is helpful but there is this is not an either or debate there is a place for both approaches.

As a blogger one of the things I have wrestled with is a feeling that more time needs to be spent producing long essay length posts about literature. The reason finally for deciding not to do those is not just because of time, and possibly a certain amount of talent lacking, but primarily because writing those type of posts never motivated me to start blogging in the first place.

Broadly there seem to be two types of blogs: those that are written for personal reasons – for instance just sharing the joy of books and reading – and those that are written with a firm eye on the commercial opportunities and traffic stats.

Maybe the problems occur in the first category but that’s where myself and lots of other fantastic bloggers are happy existing.

365 days of blogging

Well the milestone has been reached and the year is complete. What started off as an idea that sounded like a good one but without any real experience of the web or an idea of the commitment involved quickly became a passion that has continued day in and day out since July 14 2006.

There are various lessons that have been learnt on the way and there have been some overwhelming positives that include reading more books, encountering like-minded bloggers and being challenged through reading other people’s thoughts to read different authors. The later has been particularly good because it has led to some interesting experiences and should lead to a lot more.

The downside has been the loneliness that you can feel when the traffic is low and there is a pressure; of course it is self-imposed to write everyday. The posting everyday is something that has caused quite some tension at home and made life difficult on holidays and weekends. Maybe now the year is up there will be a chance to reflect and take some days off but it is unlikely because my nature is to read everyday and view the blog as something that should be updated on a regular basis.

If I was asked what the past year had meant it would be on balance overwhelmingly positive. It has handed someone who is pigeon holed in a job the chance to show they have different interests. It has provided a chance to engage with the entire Web 2.0 phenomenon and understand why it is important to look as much outwards as inwards. Finally it has provided a structure and a place to help read more.

One thing that I am aware has been absent, particularly when you read other lit blogs, is some of the longer academic type posts that try to take on an author or an issue in their work. I am not afraid to do those and the next blogging year might well see more of those types of thoughts being shared.

Thanks for reading, commenting and making this all seem worthwhile. I have enjoyed it so far and hope you have as well. Here’s to the year ahead!

Now back to the birthday cake…

2006 - the year of the blog

Before I post a review of the year in the next couple of days from a reading perspective it seemed like a good moment to look back on the experience of blogging, which started back in July, and has been something that has really been a big part of the second half of 2006 for me.

Why blog?
I started blogging because quite simply the technology available made it simple and I had a rough idea of what I wanted to write about. In terms of generating posts, that was an initial challenge I didn’t think too much about, and came across that particular hurdle afterwards which continues to keep the grey cells working. But the main reason for starting Inside Books is that what really appeals to me is the transparency of the web and the blog gives me a chance to show that I do read and write a fair bit about classic literature. Before then it was a conversation starter but it always finished quite quickly when someone asked you if you had read their favourite book and when you answered in the negative they switched off. Now however I can bore them to the edge of reason by talking about the blog and have something that very happily fills my daily one and a half hour commute.

The returns?
The great thing about blogging is that as a reader it provides discipline because it makes sure that you keep going even when the books are difficult or not too enjoyable, plus when you find a gem it provides a platform to shout about it. There are also the comments and feedback you get from other lit bloggers and visitors, which have a tremendous impact, a bit like someone patting you on the back. Finally it makes you a player, albeit a very minor one, in the web 2.0 world and that is a good thing because let’s face it this is the future and it shows that you can move with the times.

The future?
More posting, more intelligent content hopefully and more of a structured direction. When I read history books in the past for both pleasure and studying there was the expectation you would ‘read around a subject’ sticking with a theme and I hope to do that with fiction more in 2007 including a return to my favourite - Russian literature. Please keep reading and commenting because the future of all of this also depends on that to some extent because it would be terribly lonely posting away into a void. Thanks for reading.

Poet bloggers

Poetry is not my strong point but it seemed like a good idea to go out and find out what the act of blogging is doing to poets and poetry for an article I ended up submitting to Poet's Letter.

The responses were interesting...

Numerous poets have embraced the chance to blog on an almost daily basis, a welcome change from working away in isolation appearing for occasional readings, signings and new book releases.

Becoming a blogging poet posting poems and thoughts about writing and literature provides their readers with a chance not just to see the thought process in action but also to interact in a completely different way.

The benefits for the reader are clear, with access that would have been restricted to a mere handful of people now open to everyone, and it is having a positive impact on the poets as well.

“The blog has embedded me in daily practice. Poets often say, ‘Write every day, no matter how little.’ But I was never able to do it. Since 2003, I more or less have. Also, I keep a small notebook close to me at all times. I've always used notebooks, but writing for the blog has reinforced that practice,” says Mairead Byrne.

“ It has become a very really daily force in my life. I am indebted to the poetry editors and publishers of my world but I am an advocate of self-publication too, and the Internet allows that, not just for poetry, but for every sort of information,” she adds.

For others the chance to promote their own work has been a welcome alternative to the traditional routes to get published. For Martin Locock that was the main motivation of becoming a blogger.

“The main reason was my discouragement at the process of trying to get the poems into print. I had been circulating small collections among my friends, but these were by their nature limited by duplication costs and whether people had expressed an interest in receiving them. I thought that if I put them on the Web then maybe more people would find them,” he says.

For Reyes Cardenas it was the speed of the web that offered the main attraction: “I started my blog as an alternative to publishing on paper which of course involves time. And as a lot of my poetry is time sensitive a blog is the ideal vehicle.”

Another advantage that blogging can provide is a platform for poems to reach the world with feedback from readers that can offer poets vital encouragement.

“I don't post for critique as much as for pleasure. But one ‘Good poem!’ comment goes a long way. The trick is to not read silence to mean ‘You suck.’,” says Alice Hudson.

The comments might not be the sort of critical analysis that reviewers and peers might provide but as Bob Hazleton has found it be valuable nonetheless: “It's mostly general encouragement, which of course helps greatly.”

Being online has also led to new friendships and most poets have experienced interaction with readers well beyond the boundaries of their local community.

“The Internet certainly opened up my connection back to Ireland. I emigrated [to the US] in 1994 and, after five years or so, re-connected with Irish poetry at a level that was more suited to me, through American and British poetry listservs,” says Byrne.

“ I know people from different parts of the world read my blog. Some of them are old friends. Maybe some of them will be new friends too. But we're not talking about large numbers. Poetry is a one-by-one sort of art,” she adds.

Understandingly blogging, where the expectation is that there will be regular posts online, has also had an impact on the way poets write.

“I write more, I try to write a little everyday. For some weird reason though, posting my poems online sometimes makes me feel a little cheap, easy, desperate. Like the screen isn't as legitimate as paper. And sometimes I think I rush a poem to get it posted that day, when maybe if I wasn't blogging I would have taken more time to develop the thought,” says Hudson.

Lacock also feels the pressure but has a relaxed approach to developing poetry online: “The immediacy of writing online has led to my writing very short poems: a lot of haiku, for example. In an informal context, a poem doesn't have to be big or clever to be worth writing, so I write more often.”

The openness of the web can cause some challenges with poets being able to see each others work, gauge the popularity of certain styles and as a result possibly be influenced to change their own style.

“Sometimes I read other poems that get a lot of comments and I say to myself ‘I wish I could write like that,’ but then I always realise I can only be me. But it does inspire me to be more experimental on occasion,” says Hazelton.

The web is offering a much larger audience for poets, the chance to develop new relationships and adapt writing styles. With an increasing number of poets embracing online tools to share and publise their work it is to the web that the health of the poetry nation will have to measured in the future, not on the bookshelves.