discussion

Let’s Talk Bookish – The Evolution of Book Blogging

Fives @ Down The Rabbit Hole

Let’s Talk Bookish is a weekly meme, hosted by Rukky @ Eternity Books & Dani @ Literary Lion, where they discuss certain topics, share their opinions, and spread the love by visiting each others’ posts.

MARCH 25: THE EVOLUTION OF BOOK BLOGGING (RUKKY)

Prompts: How long have you been blogging, and how has the book blogging community changed since you started? Do you think it’s been a positive or negative change? What do you think the future of blogging will be? Would you want to keep blogging even if blogging becomes very “old school” and isn’t really done anymore?

Welcome to Spring everyone! Though it doesn’t feel like it yet necessarily, we’re already on the last week of March LTB here at DTRH. Today’s topic is from one of our very own hosts, Rukky!

I’ve only been blogging here since around fall of 2018, if I remember correctly. Time flies though! I remember being super new, not even really knowing how WordPress works, and now a lot of things are just muscle memory. I’ll forever be grateful to Andge who brought me on board, because book blogging is something that I was always interested in, and to come onto a completed site and not have to build anything from scratch was such a blessing.

That kind of answers the next prompt, but I definitely think it’s a positive addition to my life. Sure it adds a bit of time here and there, but in a good way it also adds structure to my life, and also keeps me in communications with Andge. Building something together (or even alone) has always been an exciting challenge, and seeing the fruits of your labour is also just something that keeps me going. So extra work or not, it’s definitely a good addition to my life.

Because I’m relatively new (am I?) to the scene, I really don’t have huge predictions for the trend of how blogging is going. I think it will continue to be around. After all, it’s a community that continues to grow, or at least ebb and flow. As long as there are people interested, I think it will remain around. Even if people stop, I think they’d have to move it elsewhere (e.g. another platform/media), as I believe there will always be booklovers and a community for them online.

I think partially I do book blogging for myself. While yes we try to come up with good content for the audience here, a part of it really is also to track my own progress, and also a place for self-expression. Even if blogging becomes “old school,” unless no one is reading it, I believe we’d still be posting fairly regularly! And if not, then maybe less pressure on ourselves. In that case, I would probably want to transform the blog into something of a personal library…

What do you all think about blogging? Here to stay? Or quickly fading? Would you all keep blogging if there wasn’t as much community?

recommendations

Books To Read If You Enjoyed These Movies – Part 1

Andge @ Down the Rabbit Hole

Have you ever been so immersed in a storyline that it just felt awful when it had to come to an end? I know I’ve definitely felt that way before when it comes to movies. I rewatch it over and over again but honestly? At some point, I just wish I could feel it like I’m seeing this story for the first time again.

Well, perhaps a BOOK with a similar storyline could be of help! So if you’re ever in the mood to read a similar plot line in book format, here are some I would recommend.

The girl who has to disguise herself as a boy and falls for a guy while pretending to be said boy

Sounds complex? They both totally give off Twelfth Night feels. While She’s the Man is very much a romantic comedy, I do feel this fantasy novel, Defy, brings out the romantic trope very well here. It totally gets complicated when the guy may very well never know her for who she really is. And that makes it all the more fun, right?

Continue reading “Books To Read If You Enjoyed These Movies – Part 1” →
3.5 star, Uncategorized

Review: A Game of Fear by Charles Todd

Fives @ Down The Rabbit Hole

Inspector Ian Rutledge #24

In this newest installment of the acclaimed New York Times bestselling series, Scotland Yard’s Ian Rutledge is faced with his most perplexing case yet: a murder with no body, and a killer who can only be a ghost.

Spring, 1921. Scotland Yard sends Inspector Ian Rutledge to the sea-battered village of Walmer on the coast of Essex, where amongst the salt flats and a military airfield lies Benton Abbey, a grand manor with a storied past. The lady of the house may prove his most bewildering witness yet. She claims she saw a violent murder—but there is no body, no blood. She also insists she recognized the killer: Captain Nelson. Only it could not have been Nelson because he died during the war.

Everyone in the village believes that Lady Benton’s losses have turned her mind—she is, after all, a grieving widow and mother—but the woman Rutledge interviews is rational and self-possessed. And then there is Captain Nelson: what really happened to him in the war? The more Rutledge delves into this baffling case, the more suspicious tragedies he uncovers. The Abbey and the airfield hold their secrets tightly. Until Rutledge arrives, and a new trail of death follows… 

This was my first time (randomly) picking a book from this series to read. I actually didn’t realize it was part of a series, but like many other long series, they can be read as standalones too (I think). I think I said I would pick less books up randomly, but luckily this one did not come back to bite me.

A Game of Fear revolves around our protagonist Inspector, Ian Rutledge, who investigates an interesting murder… a murder with no body. Or really any evidence at all, for that matter. Set in 1921 in the small village of Walmer, we get a historical into the look of what happened to the town during and after war, and how that all may be culminating into the current mystery. Is there really a ghost in Walmer?

Continue reading “Review: A Game of Fear by Charles Todd” →