Category: Uncategorized
The Best and Worst of November 2015
It’s been a rough few months posting-wise but I’ve finally got things back on track. So let’s take a look at what my stats were like despite hardly posting anything throughout November.
In terms of views, November has been the worst month since July with only 4,114 page views (including 2,942 unique views). That’s not surprising considering how little I posted throughout the month. December will definitely be better.
So what were the best posts this month?
1. How to Read 100 Pages in an Hour
2. The Hunger Games and Ancient Rome
3. Why Girls Hate Game of Thrones—A Rebuttal
4. The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton
5. End of Days by Eric Walters
None of this is really that surprising. Now that school and university are back in session, lots of students are trying to cram in as much reading in as little time as possible. My speed-reading article will always remain popular for that reason. And with the movie Mockingjay Part 2 coming out, it’s not surprising that my Hunger Games article surpassed the usually more popular Game of Thrones article. I was surprised to see End of Days by Eric Walters up in the top 5 but then again I suspect it’s a popular-ish book for novel studies for middle school students.
Now that we’ve seen the best articles, what were the worst articles this month?
2. The Eagle and the Raven by Pauline Gedge
3. My New York Trip Day #3: The Metropolitan Museum of Art
4. Eldest by Christopher Paolini
5. The Sorceress by Michael Scott
Like with the best posts this month, none of these are particularly surprising. They’re either dated posts like my New York trip post or they’re older/less popular books that obviously don’t get as much search engine traffic. As usual they’ll probably disappear from the list next month.
So that was how my November went. There was sparse posting but December will be much better, especially once I do migrate over to WordPress.org. How was your November?
Lazy Sundays: Greek History
My schedule has been so busy that although I am officially a volunteer at the local museum, I haven’t actually been able to do my training. So in January I’m finally going to get my training to be a tour guide! I can’t really articulate how excited I am to be working with both stunning replicas of real ancient Greek sculptures along with real Roman coins, glassware and Egyptian amulets. I also can’t wait to have an excuse to prattle on about history to people who want to listen.
I’m quite confident in my ability to explain and answer most questions on Egyptian and Roman history but my one weakness in the main eras the museum covers is Greek history. So I’ve been hitting the books for the cultural aspects and watching The Teaching Company’s ‘The Long Shadow of the Ancient Greek World’ for the famous events of Greek history. It’s a lot to remember but I’m confident that over Christmas I’ll at least be able to answer the most basic questions about Greek history from the Archaic to the Classical Period (plus the wars of the Diadochi).
I was studying up on the English Civil War in preparation for an article here but I think that’s going to be put on hold. However, in December I should finally have that Jon Snow article I keep promising you guys. It’s to do with Roman history instead of Greek history but I think I can take some time off to write something longer than my usual reviews.
So how has your Sunday been?
Discussion: Reducing the TBR Pile
Like most book bloggers out there, my TBR pile is getting insane. It includes not only books I’ve agreed to review for authors who contacted me while submissions were open but also books I requested from authors, NetGalley requests and of course my own personal collection (which grows by the month). I’m starting to think I have a problem with cutting down on books.
However, these past few weeks since I’ve been back blogging I’ve drastically reduced my TBR pile. I haven’t bought any new books and I’ve been going through my NetGalley dashboard to make sure I read and review all of the books on my shelf before I request any new ones. Then I’m going to tackle the books I promised to review for authors and publishers, then books I requested from authors personally and finally the books I bought for myself. I have no illusions: I’m never going to actually cut down my TBR pile to zero. However, I hope to get it down to at least less than 100. It’s getting a little ridiculous.
So what do your TBR piles look like? What strategies do you have for cutting them down to a more appropriate size?
Poll: What is your favourite genre?
Lazy Sundays: Winter is Depressing
After a reasonably warm October and beginning of November, I think I finally have to make my peace with the fact that the snow is here to stay. It started snowing only a couple of days ago but I guess it’s not going to melt until spring now. (Sigh.) I really, really hate winter. And I really, really hate taking the bus in the cold because the busses are rarely on time.
This has basically been my Sunday: whining about the weather while knowing full well I live in Canada and so have no right to expect anything but snow in winter.
How has your Sunday been?