A Dozen Years of Book Blogging

What a year it’s been! Since last July, I finished a graduate certificate, started an MA program, and got a promotion at work. We traveled more than we have in the past two years, got COVID (ugh) from traveling, and as I’m typing this I’m in the airport waiting to hop on a last-minute flight to Chicago for a work thing (I don’t usually travel for work).

I’ve also read 116 books! That sounds like a lot, but it includes so many romance novels, quite a few graphic novels and manga, and not enough nonfiction, which is par for the course these days. That being said starting school again I’m sure I’ll be reading quite a bit of nonfiction but not blogging about it since it’s more long passages and chapters than entire books.

There were no big surprises, looking at my most viewed posts over the past year other than one in the first batch.

Top Book Posts from All Time Viewed July 2021 – July 2022

1. 1. [▲1] Book 741: On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous – Ocean Vuong (Aug 14, 2020)
   2. [▲2] Book 724: Boyfriend Material (London Calling #1) – Alexis Hall (Jul 8, 2020)
   3. [New Entry] Book 647: Red, White &  Royal Blue (Sep 16, 2019)
   4.  [▼1] Book 272: The Handmaid’s Tale – Margaret Atwood (Apr 18, 2014)
   5. [New Entry] Book 615: Pride – Ibi Zoboi (May 22, 2019)

This is a pretty standard year I don’t see these changing any time soon. On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous is on its way to the top viewed posts of all time and Boyfriend Material and Red, White & Royal Blue are moving that way too. The one real surprise was Pride by Ibi Zoboi. I’m not sure if it was optioned for a film or some other reason, but I was not expecting to see it!

Top Book Posts Published July 2021– July 2022

1. Book 906: Black Cake – Charmaine Wilkerson (Feb 16)
2. Book 827: Flash Fire (The Extraordinatires #2) – T.J. Klune (Jul 7)
3. Book 853: The Midnight Library – Matt Haig (Aug 9)
4. Book 904: Heartstopper, Vol. 3 – Alice Oseman (Feb 11)
5. Book 863: The Hollow Heart (Forgotten Gods #2) – Marie Rutkoski (Sep 15)

This is always the most interesting list to see. There’s usually at least one I didn’t like (The Hollow Hart), a YA staple or two (Flash Fire and Heartstopper), and the other two are either a book world favorite (The Midnight Library) or a debut/one that I have no clue how or why so many people visit it (Black Cake). I’m a little surprised Heartstopper wasn’t higher with the release of the Netflix adaptation, but it’s probably my older Vol. 1 and Vol 2. posts that are getting the most views at the moment. It’s funny to see Flash Fire here as I’m hoping to finish up the final book in The Extraordinaries series, Heat Wave, on the plane 😀

Top 10 Book Posts of All Time

1. Book 272: The Handmaid’s Tale – Margaret Atwood (Apr 18, 2014)
2. Book 356: The Witch of Portobello – Paulo Coelho (Jun 12, 2015)
3. Book 122: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks – Rebecca Skloot (Jul 5, 2012)
4. [New Entry] Book 741: On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous – Ocean Vuong (Aug 14)
5. Book 345: How to Be Happy (Or at Least Less Sad) – Lee Crutchley (May 4, 2015)
6. [▼1] Book 102: Murder on the Orient Express – Agatha Christie (Mar 28, 2012)
7. Book 672: Go for It, Nakamura! – Syundei (Feb 12, 2020)
8. Book 110: The Color Purple – Alice Walker (May 14, 2012)
9. Book 45: The Alchemist – Paulo Coelho (Jun 27, 2011)
10. [Re-Entry] Book 91: A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire #1) – George R.R. Martin (Feb 1, 2012)

Not a lot of change here. I wasn’t expecting On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous to jump that high into the most viewed posts of all time, I honestly expected #8 or #9, but nope right into the Top 5. The rest have been pretty steady bouncing around shuffling one or two spaces in either direction over the past few years and I don’t see that changing unless another post goes viral.

What’s Next?
I may be quieter over the next year with school taking a lot of my bandwidth and seeing what all this promotion at work means. I’ve already dialed back accepting ARCs that aren’t romance (they’re just so fun and easy to read) and have made almost no progress in interacting with other bloggers. So if you’re a book blogger and you continue to read thank you! I wish I had the mental capacity to be able to interact with ya’ll! I do still read posts but more often than not get distracted before I can actually comment on them.