While I don't remember too many details about what lead to the blog, I do remember it sprang from a brainstorming session between the director and I. At the time I was working evenings at the library, and when I suggested starting a library blog to review books, the director let me run with it. I brainstormed blog titles that night, and "A Series of (Un)Fortunate Reviews," a play on the middle grade book series title A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket, was by far the best one. This blog was almost called "The Lovely Reviews" or "The Lovely Books" (both plays on The Lovely Bones) or "The Lady of the Reviews" (a play on The Lord of the Rings).
This blog adventure has largely been undertaken by flying by the seat of my pants. The first blog post, a welcome message, went live September 6, 2007, and it wasn't until the following week when the first review was posted. It was a review of a children's picturebook, and the reviewer was Miss Kathy. I reviewed a book called Words Are Categorical, and that review was posted later the same day. The first adult fiction title review, Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult, was not posted until the second week of October. In other words, I just jumped in without a plan or a strategy, and that has (mostly) worked these past ten years.
As the primary reviewer for this blog, it's often a tight schedule to post weekly content. I'd love to post reviews multiple times a week, but this isn't feasible with just one main writer. However, I am reviewing more titles than I did when I first started writing this blog. In the beginning I didn't review every book I read. However, at some point over the past decade I started writing reviews for every book I read, and I also review the occasional movie, mini-series, or TV series.
There was a period around 2011-2013 during which the blog was mostly dormant. At the time my family was grieving the loss of my grandparents (within the space of a couple years we lost both my maternal grandparents), and I was not reading books. I just didn't feel like reading books, and books just didn't hold my attention. When I finally came back to reading, I found that my reading interests had shifted from the usual crime/thriller/mysteries to more lighter genres. Many of the series I followed and read for years, I stopped reading, and I have yet to return to most of them. Then in 2015 I started an online, full time graduate program in information and library science during which I didn't have a lot of time for reading anything other than schoolwork. However, I graduated this spring from that program, and now finally, there is more time for what's important in life: reading what I want to read when I want to read it!
Throughout this month we'll look back on the blog over the years, take a look at some numbers, rustle up a special surprise, celebrate the past decade in "A Series of (Un)Fortunate Reviews," and toast the next decade of reviews! I hope you'll check back to see what we've got going throughout the month. And I hope I'll hear from readers in the comments too. I'd love to hear how you found the blog, what you enjoy most about the blog, how long you've been reading with us, or anything else you want to share
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--Ms. Angie
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