In addition to continuing to read and review books, write about book related topics that catch my interest, participate in my memes, I want to take the time to improve my blog. A little cyber spring cleaning. It became apparent to me as I moved from WordPress.com to my own URL that it was time to make all of my reviews consistent, including the links. I also want to start including more images and include links to reviews that my fellow bloggers have posted. It’s going to take some time, but I think it will be worth it. Spring cleaning isn’t always done by Memorial Day.
Each month, I’m going to post about the new content I added during the month as well as highlight what was improved. I would really appreciate your thoughts and feedback.
The New
This month was not my most productive reading and reviewing month. That’s okay, though. You can’t always go at top speed. Sometimes it’s better to slow down than come to a complete halt just a few miles down the road.
Here is what I read and/or reviewed this month:
Tomato Girl (read in January)
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (read in January)
Mermaids in the Basement (read in January)
The Triumph of Deborah
Soul Catcher
The Mom Squad
Signora da Vinci
The Kingmaking by Helen Hollick (review coming soon)
Go With Me by Castle Freeman, Jr. (review coming soon)
The Improved
One of the first things I did after moving my blog over was work on The Library. With nearly 145 reviews, even an alphabetical list is cumbersome to scroll through. I added anchors to the page and then separated the books by each letter of the alphabet. One thing that is painfully clear, though, is all of the books beginning with the word “The.” I’ve left it as is for now, but I’m considering adding double entries for those – one with the full title as is and one for the second word in the title (i.e. Monsters of Templeton, The). I would really appreciate your feedback on that page.
Finally, I’ve also updated my first 12 book reviews. They all have larger book covers at the beginning and, if appropriate, I’ve added some other graphics. Now, if you were to visit those posts, they would look just like my latest reviews. I think my review skills have improved, but I’m leaving them as they are. If you would like to check them out, here you go:
A Girl Named Zippy by Haven Kimmel
Blood Orange by Drusilla Campbell
The Mermaid Chair by Sue Monk Kidd
Keeping Faith by Jodi Picoult
Life of Pi by Yann Martel
One for the Money by Janet Evanovich
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon
The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri
Wicked by Gregory Maguire
Son of a Witch by Gregory Maguire
The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory
Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult
You have done a ton of work and it shows. Everything looks great. It’s so easy to read and follow.
the blog looks awesome! when i got my url i made a bunch of changes too- it’s a good time to give things a facelift.
marie’s last blog post..Booking Through Thursday – Collectibles
Looks like you’re doing all kinds of neat things! Love that pic
Ladytink_534’s last blog post..Superheroes in Bigtime, New York
I think you have got one of the coolest blogs out here. I’ve got blog envy! If my blog looked like yours, I’m not sure I’d change anything. But good for you for working on it!
Sandy’s last blog post.."Dragonfly in Amber" by Diana Gabaldon (audio)
Your blog looks fantastic! I think 9 books in a month with 28 days is great. You do have a life – family, job – outside of books and blogging that is very important.
Kathy’s last blog post..Current Giveaways
Very nice! I alphabetize all my titles that begin with “The”, “A”, etc., by the second word, but a double entry would be good, too. Then people could find it either way.
Lezlie
Lezlie’s last blog post..Class Notes: Writing About Literature
Thank you so much for your input. I definitely think I’ll add entries for the second word. It won’t take that much more effort, but it will help make that page more useful.
The blog looks great. What a good idea to do spring cleaning, and unlike house cleaning, it stays clean!
Even if it doesn’t stay clean, I’ll only have myself to blame. LOL!
I alphabetize by the second word “Age of Innocence, The”.
I second the other comments. I think you’re blog looks great! Good work!
Rebecca Reid’s last blog post..February in Review and March Reading Journal
Great post, but its a bit long and most people like short and sweet posts!