Happy and Healthy New Year!

I am in the process of reading my next book which I am enjoying and I hope to have a review up in about a week.  In the meantime I want to wish everyone who has been nice enough to read my reviews a sincere thank you and a very Happy and Healthy New Year.  I particularly wish good health to everyone which is the most important.

Life has been tough for me these past few years since I moved to Florida but there have been good things too and I put creating this blog at the top of the list of good things.  First, this book blog has given me a real sense of accomplishment because I don't follow through on projects but I have kept this site up since 2015.  My book blog has forced me to read classics (Jane Eyre, Great Expectations, The Stranger, My Antonia, North and South, Pere Goriot) that I would otherwise have never gotten around to reading.  In the past I had a tendency to read about 50 or 60 pages of a novel and put it down eager to be on to the next book.  This site has changed all that since I would never review a book that I haven't finished.

I have also discovered or had recommended to me some great mystery novelists Lawrence Block, Donna Leon, Linda Castillo and its comforting to know that these wonderful authors and their novels will be there as back up when I get into a reading slump. Finally I have found that reviewing books and keeping a blog can clue you in to who your favorite writers are, your favorite genres and time periods.  I know for me there is nothing like a good mystery series.  And in terms of authors, countries and their time periods I have become a big fan of 19th Century British literature and the Brontes in particular.  As G. K. Chesterson wrote: "what the Brontes really brought into fiction was the blast of the mysticism of the North ... the strong winds and sterile places, the old tyranny of barons and the new and blacker tyranny of manufacturers".  He got it right.  That's what I love about the Brontes, Elizabeth Gaskell too.

But I digress and so let me end by saying I would advise anyone who is thinking about starting a blog to do so.  You can write about any topic: books, movies, life, politics, music, film, TV, religion, you name it.  It's whatever you are passionate about.  One thing I would advise though is that whatever you wish to blog about, don't get hung up on the quality of the writing.  I tried to keep a journal for years and could never get past the first few entrys before I would become obsessed by the thought that I could have said it better.  And so that's another New Year's Resolution.  I'll try going forward to write well but the most important thing is to enjoy the reading experience and accurately write down what I thought of the book and how it made me feel.

Happy New Year and Happy Reading!