Best Laid Plants

So I had this great idea. I would start a book blog so that I could talk about the books I love, to press them into the world's hands, if you will, the way I do my friends'.

The punchline, perhaps predictably, is that since I started trying to write about books in a focused way, there haven't been all that many books that i've loved. Of the 25 or so books I've read in 2009 fewer than five have met my admittedly undefined shout it from the rooftops standard. This isn't to say that I haven't enjoyed the remainder of the reading - there has only been one DNF since January 1 - just that I'm becoming aware that I may have set my boundaries here a wee bit narrowly.

What's a reader to do? I have little interest in initiating a rating system that would result in more posts for the sake of discussing books I may not actually like let alone love. I don't know (or honestly care) about doings amongst the publishers and, even if I did, I doubt I could do a better job than Dear Author or Smart Bitches Trashy Books. Racy Romance Reviews and Teach Me Tonight offer interesting and intellectually challenging commentary on the social issues surrounding the genre(s) I adore. I possibly couldn't do that better.

I've decided to expand my self-defined mandate. In addition to recommending fantastic books, I've decided to explore some of the steam of consciousness things that run through my head as I read. Why all these green-eyed heroines? Could I get a moratorium on the phrase "long moments" (Karen Marie Moning, I'm looking at you)? Where did all the golden-skinned Highland warriors come from? (Every Scottish guy I've ever met has been on the more fair side). Would I rather, er, have a well-experienced (but disease-free) hero who's searched all over time and space just for me or a virginal hottie who magically knows just what I like? Is it wrong that the words "Nathan Kamp" reduce me to a quivering puddle of estrogen?

The little voice inside my head is looking forward to having its own forum. Since a great portion of the pleasure I get from reading is the mental calculus that fits the text into the ever-growing puzzle of my life's experiences, exploring that running internal commentary should be great fun. Plus, I get to be totally mercurial and call it all good in blog-land. Nice work if you can get it.

2 comments:

Joanna Chambers said...

Oh goody. That's just the sort of blog post I like.

Kristie (J) said...

I just followed you from DA and I look forward to reading more of your thoughts. And since I followed from you comment on The Madness of Lord Ian MacKenzie - and how much you also love it, I'm really looking forward to your thoughts on this book :)

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