This post is mostly about what I have to say on Bellezza’s latest (and can I say provocative?) post on the topic of going back to the basics of blogging. I’d really appreciate it if you could all visit Dolce Bellezza and read her honest thoughts. There she speaks about the virtues of staying true to ourselves as we blog, as well as her opinion on certain trends that are becoming more and more widespread in the blogging community. I’ve already posted my comments there, but in light of some recent events I felt the need to talk about it in my blog as well.
But before I go into that, please also allow me to express formal apologies to those who’ve written to me in hopes of having their books or websites featured, advertised, or reviewed here in my blog—and whom for that matter I’ve respectfully declined. I sincerely hope that each reply I’ve made have been satisfactory and by all means unoffensive. It’s flattering for me to have my humble site considered for such purposes, and though I regretfully cannot be of help to you, I do wish you all success in your respective ventures.
Now on the issue of going “back to basics,” I can say that for me it’s a matter of keeping my blog my own. I feel that if I were to write a post that is practically commercial or promotional in nature, my blog would no longer be my own, or at least not in the context that I would’ve liked it to be. I have no problems, however, with writing good reviews about books that I enjoyed reading, and I’m always happy to post links to their websites so that my readers would have access to excerpts and extra material, including links to online stores should the reader be interested enough to want to buy a copy. Not that there’s anything particularly wrong about it, but what I don’t want is for my posts to be tied to a promo. For me, writing about the things that made me love a book is quite different from simply posting a clear advertorial. And though I very much cherish the blogging community, my blog is also not a social networking site. I keep separate Facebook and Goodreads accounts for that purpose :) If ever I’m followed or recognized, I hope it’s for my writing and not for anything else.
I hope I don’t come off sounding like a hypocrite, though. I do have something that might be called “ties” with a publisher, but they only send me books that I personally requested after careful consideration. And I firmly believe that I always write only the truth in what I enjoyed about a book. I guess I’m just very fortunate that so far every book I’ve asked from publishers turned out to be good, if not great. Now that I think about it, it can also be said that I sometimes mix a bit of “business” in my blogging. But it’s only in the sense that I try to be professional and courteous when communicating with publishers and authors (especially when I’m being so bold as to ask for review copies of their books) and that I feature their works when I do find them enjoyable or worth reading. But I wouldn’t go as far as agreeing to promote a book I’m totally not interested in simply because I owe a publisher for giving me other free books that I’ve requested. I know for a fact that I’ve never lied about my impression of a book just to make it sound worth buying.
Like Bellezza, when I first started my blog I had no idea that it’d soon center around books and literature. My original plan was simply to create a space where I could place my thoughts and have it safely kept so that I can go back to them again in the future. I’ve tried it with a hand-written journal the year before, but it didn’t work very well for me mostly because I can never seem to compose my thoughts in order with just one go; the ability to re-read and then re-write has been very helpful to me. So, as you see, it is my intention to keep my blog as an archive of things that have come off my head. And now that it’s become primarily a book blog, it’s my desire to keep my posts centered on my readings—a blog that more or less carries the same feel of a personal journal (or reading notes, for that matter). There are a number of such sites that I very much admire, but there’s one in particular that I can say is a near-perfect (if not at all perfect) example of my ideal book blog. It’s Emily’s blog Evening All Afternoon. Its simple style and profound writing never fails to inspire me to try and achieve a higher standard of quality for my blog, mostly for myself but also for my readers’ benefit.
Now before I end this rather long post, I’d like to apologize for my absence in the blogging community (that is in case anyone has even noticed, hehe!) As much as I hate to blog about it, my 4-month-old laptop’s down at the service center again for more parts replacement, and you can all just guess how frustrating it can be to not have a computer at home for weeks. More than anything, I really feel bad about not having posted a book review for Carl’s RIP IV Challenge. I know of course that with the huge number of participants, my review would be so far from being missed but I felt like I’ve somehow let Carl down after having promised to participate in the challenge. It’s long past the deadline, but I’ll be sure to write and post my review of Elizabeth Kostova’s The Historian as soon as I get my computer back.
Actually the list above is more about the authors I want to be familiar with than it is about the books I don’t want to miss reading next year. The age of “The Lost Generation” has always had an appeal to me so the indisputable writers like Hemingway and Fitzgerald are at the top of my have-to-read list. And I chose The Great Gatsby because it seems to be a good introduction to Fitzgerald, though I’m also very curious about his other novel Tender is the Night (what an inviting title, don’t you think?). I’ve also recently read from Susan Bell’s wonderful essay “Revisioning The Great Gatsby” that the book is a masterpiece of not just writing but of editing as well. The work done by Fitzgerald and his editor Max Perkins has been said to be “one of history’s most rewarding editor-writer collaborations.” As for Hemingway, well I can still remember watching the biographical film about the author entitle In Love and War when I was a kid, so now—as I am just a sucker for love stories in times of war and conflict—I’m also interested in reading his novel A Farewell to Arms. And I’m equally anxious to read For Whom the Bell Tolls. I’ll read all of them, for sure. It’s just a matter of when. As for Faulkner, they said you have to read his works several times over in order to understand them. I’m inclined to try reading only once, and find out how much I manage to absorb.
There’s three Russian (at least by birth) authors on my list because I’m also very much intrigued by how much readers seem to take their works in high regard, almost as if having read them can serve as a testament to one’s mental prowess. Tolstoy’s War and Peace is an obvious choice for me, even though I’m intimidated by its length. As for Dostoevsky’s writing, now that I’ve heard is really intimidating. But I’m still inclined to try. Of the three—and of the entire list, actually—it’s Nabokov’s Lolita that I’ve long had second thoughts about. The premise is surely controversial, if not provocative, and I’ve long seen it in all-time lists like that of 
The Godfather and Revolutionary Road are comparatively new. If anything, they’re certainly “modern” classics. Along with many in the list above, I originally planned to have Revolutionary Road as one of my entries for the 
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