Yesterday (19 April) marked 10 years since I published my first post after deciding to become a book blog! I’ve written this post as a retrospective, a walk down memory lane, a way to see how my blog has evolved over the years 😊 For each year, I wrote an overview of how the year went, a brief summary of what life events occurred that year, and a list of my favourite reads and posts. For favourite reads, I selected books I read that year which I still recall fondly, so the answers may differ from what I said at the end of each year.
2014
Overview
On 12 March 2014, I wrote the following:
I’ve decided to reinvent this blog as a proper book blog. I’ve spent the past few years on the sidelines watching how things are done and I think I’m finally ready to give it a shot! Since I’ll be graduating university in June, I think this will be a good activity to fill that void. I would like to start working on it now as a form of procrastination, but I’ve only got three weeks of classes left so I’m going to try to hold out until then =) Watch this space.
“Book blog?”
That was followed by a 23 March post in which I migrated posts to a new blog. I had started casually sharing thoughts on books in Sept 2010, so when I migrated, I decided to keep the posts about books. My first post as a ‘book blogger’ came on 19 April, when I signed up for Kate and Kristen @ The Book Monster’s Summer Library Challenge. (The Book Monsters is no longer around but Kristen is still on Twitter.)
In addition to the Summer Library Challenge, I participated in a variety of blogging events throughout 2014. It was a fun way to jump further into the book blogging community. I participated in:
- Dewey’s 24 Hour Read-a-thon (23 April)
- Armchair Book Expo America (26 May to 1 June)
- Did anyone else read Alix E. Harrow’s blog The Other Side of the Rain back in the day? (At least, I’m pretty sure that was her, haha)
- The winner of the giveaway I hosted for this event, Kai @ Fiction State of Mind, is still blogging!
- Leeswammes’ Literary Blog Hop (21 to 25 June)
- RIP IX Readalong (1 Sept to 1 Oct)
- Bloggiesta (18 to 21 Sept)
- Dewey’s 24 Hour Read-a-thon (15 Oct)
Life Events
- Finished university in April
- (apart from one compressed crash course in Japanese language which I took in May and June)
- Moved to Japan in August
Favourite Reads
- The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
- Burial Rites by Hannah Kent
- The Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender by Leslye A. Walton
- Anne of Green Gables L.M. Montgomery
Favourite Posts
- Response: Thoughts on J.R.R. Tolkien
- This was my response to two articles, “Sean Michaels: On J.R.R. Tolkien” and Simon J Cook’s “On Tolkien Fundamentalism“. Cook was kind enough to respond to my post in turn.
- Response: Literary Pilgrimages
- I wrote about my experiences travelling to Oxford and New York City
2015
Overview
2015 was one of the years where I signed up for several community challenges: The Official 2015 TBR Challenge hosted by Adam @ Roofbeam Reader, Foodies Read hosted by Vicki @ I’d Rather be at the Beach, and The Re-Read Challenge hosted by Belle of the Literati and Hannah @ So Obsessed With. My favourite posts from this year stem the re-read reviews (listed below under ‘Favourite Posts’). A lot of these books are still my favourites… perhaps I should do a new series of re-read reviews 👀
2015 also marked the introduction of Family Reads! The concept is straightforward: my sister/dad/mom and I discuss a buddy read, with the books usually chosen by my family. I can’t believe I started that series only a year after I started book blogging. In nine years, I’ve posted 40 Family Reads (see them all listed here). I’ve evolved the style of Family Reads quite a bit since its introduction, and the feature had some slim years, but 2024 looks like it will be its strongest year yet.
Life Events
- Moved back from Japan in August
- Completed a certificate in Teaching English as a Second Language from September to December
- Attended NerdCon: Stories in November
Favourite Reads
- Tuesdays at the Castle by Jessica Day George
- The 1918 Pilgrimage of Itsue Takamura trans by Susan Tennant
- The Rights of the Reader by Daniel Pennac
- The Boy Who Lost Fairyland by Catherynne M Valente
- The Third Plate by Dan Barber
Favourite Posts
- Part of the Re-Read Challenge:
- White is for Witching by Helen Oyeyemi
- The Scar by China Mieville
- Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami
2016
Overview
After two strong years of blogging in 2014 and 2015, 2016 was quieter as I spent a lot of time travelling. But my 2016 travels gave me plenty to write about after I returned, having spent most of time in New Zealand and doing lots of LotR sightseeing, which I recounted in a series of five posts in the later half of the year (links below). I also fondly recall 2016 as the year I started to really develop my interest in the Karluk, lol, as I read Jennifer Niven’s The Ice Master.
One more fun fact: I read 116 books in 2016 thanks to Cybils judging, which is the most I’ve read in a single year since I started tracking in 2011.
Life Events
- Travelled to Australia and New Zealand from February to May
- Migrated to WordPress in September (I say this counts as a life event for a blogger 😝)
- Participated in Children and Young Adult Book Lovers’ Literary Awards (Cybils) as a round one judge for middle grade fiction from October to December
Favourite Reads
- Uprooted by Naomi Novik
- The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill
- The Witches of New York by Ami McKay
- Solving the Procrastination Puzzle by Timothy A. Pychyl
Favourite Posts
- 6 Books on Dying in Modern Times
- What is Speculative Fiction?
- This post doesn’t stand out much in the year of 2024 BUT it was the first time I mused on the blog about defining genres 🙂
- Brief Thoughts: The Karluk’s Last Voyage by Robert A. Bartlett
- My first review of a non-fiction Arctic book on the blog!
- Literary Pilgrimages: Middle-earth
2017
Overview
2017 was a fairly steady if ordinary year of blogging, as I had a lot going on in my personal life – but I didn’t have a full time job, so had a good chunk of time to devote to the blog. One highlight from this year is that I wrote my first guest post for Pages Unbound in celebration of Tolkien Reading Day. I also read a couple of my favourite authors, Anna-Marie McLemore and Seanan McGuire, for the first time.
Life Events
- Worked as an educational assistance supporting Speech-Language Pathologists in public schools from February to May
- Moved to Vancouver in August
- Started grad school in library studies in September
- Saw Depeche Mode in Seattle and Vancouver in October
Favourite Reads
- When the Moon Was Ours by Anna-Marie McLemore
- Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire
- When the Sea Turned to Silver by Grace Lin
- Strangers in the Their Own Land by Arlie Roth Hochschild
- Radio Silence by Alice Oseman
Favourite Posts
- Review of Vaddey Ratner’s Music of the Ghosts
- 5 Arctic Adventures From Icemen + The Luck Of The Karluk
- The Inevitable Disappointment Of Trilogies? (Thoughts On A Conjuring Of Light)
- Defining My Personal Canon
2018
Overview
In 2018 I continued with grad school, including a co-op position over the summer in a rural public library. I’m slightly astonished to see that I posted 82 times in this year?? Being in grad school was a lot better for my blog than being a full time employee, haha. It helped that I was specializing in children’s literature/services, so I transformed some of my schoolwork into blog posts, such as this post “15 Picture Books on the Contemporary Refugee Experience“.
As I scan through all the posts I wrote and books I read in 2018, I’m realizing 2018 was a great year for both of those things. I read the entirety of The Silmarillion for the first time! I participated for the second time as a Cybils judge, this time for round two middle grade speculative fiction. I started a new series “I Can’t Believe I Haven’t Read That Yet“. I have posted 25 iterations of this series. I love hearing which books folks vote for and picking up gems that might have languished forever on my TBR.
Life Events
- Worked as a children’s programmer in a rural public library from May to August
Favourite Reads
- Nightlights by Lorena Alvarez
- A Properly Unhaunted Place by William Alexander
- The Inquisitor’s Tale by Adam Gidwitz
- Spirit Hunters by Ellen Oh
- In an Absent Dream by Seanan McGuire
Favourite Posts
- Review + Discussion Questions For Laura Lam’s Pantomime
- 3 Picture Books about Child Refugees
- How I Fell in Love with Middle Grade Fiction
- Favourite Picture Books from my Childhood
- Reacting to Convenience Store Woman
2019
Overview
When I look back, 2019 is when the years start to feel ‘recent’. We all know how our sense of time became jumbled in 2020, so of course I remember 2019 as the last ‘normal’ year. But it was a year full of big changes for myself! I finished grad school and began my dream job as a children’s librarian. This is the year my blogging habits started to frazzle, as I began fulltime employment. I still haven’t figured out how to get the balance right, five years later, but maybe one day! In terms of reading, I read two of my all time favourite books since I started blogging: Nevermoor and Middlegame. 2019 had a lot of five star reads, but those two are on another level.
Life Events
- Attended ALA Midwinter in January
- Visited New York City in February (to see Tolkien: Maker of Middle-Earth!)
- Finish grad school in May
- Worked two jobs as an on-call librarian in June and July
- Started as a FT children’s librarian in late July
- Started as a FT children’s librarian at my local branch in October
Favourite Reads
- The Travelling Cat Chronicles by Hiro Arikawa
- Middlegame by Seanan McGuire
- Cuckoo Song by Frances Hardinge
- A Mind Spread Out on the Ground by Alicia Elliott
- Nevermoor: The Trials of Morrigan Crow by Jessica Townsend
- It’s a couple more years before I ‘review’ it, though!
- Scary Stories for Young Foxes by Christian McKay Heidicker
- The Winter of the Witch by Katherine Arden
Favourite Posts
- Reflecting On The Unique Experience That Is Reading An Oyeyemi Novel
- Talkin’ About Tolkien: Favourite Chapters In The Lord Of The Rings
- Cinnamon And Gunpowder: A Buddy Read With Dani
- Touring My Sister’s Bookshelves
- Five part series “A Book Blogger’s Reflections”:
2020
Overview
I’m sure we all have strong memories of this year! Just when I thought I might be ready to figure out the whole work-life balance thing… well, I won’t get into it much. In terms of reading and blogging, I was one of the ones for which the upheaval worked in my favour. I dove into Wyrd & Wonder and met lots of new blogging buddies!
Life Events
- Laid off in March
- Prior to that, I spent Dec- Feb fretting because my employment term was up at the end of March, I had interviewed but hadn’t done well enough to secure a permanent/long term position, I was then offered a six month term as a teen librarian and was relieved to start preparing for that in March… This post gives a pretty in-depth description of what February and March were like for me.
- WWOOFed July and August
- Return to my hometown for September and October
- Started doing on call work at the library in November and December
Favourite Reads
- With the Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo
- The Girl and the Ghost by Hanna Alkaf
- Homerooms & Hall Passes by Tom O’Donnell
- This Was Our Pact by Ryan Andrews
- Deeplight by Frances Hardinge
- That’s What Friends Do by Cathleen Barnhart
- Hide and Seeker by Daka Harmon
- Black Water by David A. Robertson
Favourite Posts
- Favourite Reads of the Decade
- Slightly Spooky To Truly Terrifying: A Ranking Of Middle Grade Horror
- A Collection of Hobbits
- Get to Know the Fantasy Reader
- How Kendare Blake’s Three Dark Crowns Hooked Me
- 35 Middle Grade Fantasy Faves
- 18 Middle Grade Speculative Fiction Books by Black Authors
- A Book Blogger’s Reflections: One Year On
- 8 Quotes From I’d Rather Be Reading: The Delights And Dilemmas Of The Reading Life
2021
Overview
For me, 2021 is mostly defined by my work life and not my reading/blogging life. I experienced quite a a trade off of one for the other. Work was not enjoyable, and by the end of the year, I had decided to make a huge change: leave libraries and move back to my hometown. Anyway, let’s move quickly past this year 😆
Life Events
- Back to FT work at my local library from January to December
- Moved back to my home town in late December
Favourite Reads
- All You Knead is Love by Tanya Guerrero
- Too Bright to See by Kyle Lukoff
- Lurking: How a Person Became a User by Joanne McNeill
- The Chosen and the Beautiful by Nghi Vo
Favourite Posts
2022
Overview
Am I done writing this post yet?? It’s getting a little dreary looking back at 2020-2022 but I know things improve by the end, haha. 2022 saw some improvement over 2021 in terms of reading and blogging. I participated in Nonfiction November, and also joined Cybils again as a round one judge for middle grade speculative fiction.
Life Events
- Began a 100% WFH job in January
- Moved into my own apartment in May
- Started a new job as a children’s librarian in September
Favourite Reads
- Let the Monster Out by Chad Lucas
- Raybearer and Redemptor by Jordan Ifueko
- Siren Queen by Nghi Vo
- The Mirror Season by Anna-Marie McLemore
- The Green Children of Woolpit by J. Anderson Coats
- Taking Up Space by Alyson Gerber
- Children of the Quicksands by Efua Traore
- The Marvellers by Dhonielle Clayton
Favourite Posts
- What If I Don’t Read Any New Releases This Year?
- Several posts for Nonfiction November:
- Bookshelf Tour:
2023
Overview
2023 seems so recent, I almost don’t want to include it in this post! Blogging fell back again a bit from where it was in 2022. One highlight was participating in Bit About Books’ Summer Reading Challenge.
Life Events
- Saw Depeche Mode in Toronto and Quebec City in April
- Return to previous job at end of May
- Enjoyed some peace for the rest of the year!!!!
- Saw Depeche Mode in Denver in November 😁
Favourite Reads
- JoyfuL The Surprising Power of Ordinary Things to Create Extraordinary Happiness by Ingrid Lee Fetell
- Ritual: How Seemingly Senseless Acts Make Life Worth Living by Dimitris Xygalatas
- Babel by RF Kuang
- Don’t Want to Your Monster by Deke Moulton
- His Majesty’s Dragon by Naomi Novik
- Nettle & Bone by T. Kingfisher
Favourite Posts
2024 and On…
And that brings us to 2024! So, what’s my takeaway from all of this? I think I can sum it up in, “Even if I don’t post reguarly, I can still create content that I’m proud of.” This review has inspired me to continue to strive for that blogging mindset I had somewhere around 2016 to 2018, and which I briefly recaptured in 2020. I don’t know if that’s possible these days, given the changing landscape of the internet, but I can also look back at those early years, when I had almost no audience, and think about how I still had fun blogging purely for myself. Reviewing this many years of blogging has reminded me that even if I can’t hit that ever elusive goal of 8 posts/month, I can still enjoy writing that which I do find time for.
Community Thank-you
I want to end this post with a massive thank-you to everyone who has followed, read, liked, or commented on my blog these ten years. One thing I noticed as I reviewed hundreds of posts was how my community has grown over time. There were years at the start where I would have zero interactions. Now virtually everything I post receives at least a couple interactions. I still blog first and foremost for myself, but it is so lovely to connect with other readers.
Thanks especially to the following bloggers, who have long been regular visitors to my little corner of the internet and whose posts often inspire my own reading and writing: Alicia @ A Kernel of Nonsense, Annemieke @ A Dance with Books, Brenda @ Log Cabin Library, Briana and Krysta @ Pages Unbound, Celeste @ A Literary Escape, Charvi @ Not Just Fiction, Deb @ Readerbuzz, Jessica @ Storytime in the Stacks, Kal @ Reader Voracious, Karen @ Ms Yingling Reads, Katy @ A Library Mama, Lois @ Aquavenatus, Lory @ Entering the Enchanted Castle, Louise @ Lone Stark on a Lark, Naomi @ Consumed by Ink, Sam @ Spines in a Line, Shay @ Required Reading, and Tammy @ Books, Bones, and Buffy.
While the book blogging landscape has changed drastically in recent years, I am glad you all have decided to stick around for now 💕
Damn that’s an achievement – congrats Jenna!
Thank-you! 😄
[…] It’s been a while since I’ve done one of these, but what moment than when someone’s celebrating ten years of blogging? […]
Wow, what a lovely reflection on your 10 years of blogging (and a very involved effort to pull this post together!)! I definitely learned a little more about you, like that you lived in Japan for some time, which is very cool! I’ve visited there once, probably a year or two before the pandemic, and just loved it. Definitely didn’t have enough time there, but I do admit there was at least one moment where I felt the patriarchal-ness of their society haha. I’m glad you’re still around 10 years later blogging! Thank you for the very kind shout out and also for your interactions with my own content. 🙂
Thank-you so much 😄 There’s lots to love about Japan and I sort of wish I stayed a second year, but I can’t imagine living there long term. I’m hoping to finally make it back there in the next few years for a ~3 month visit.
Congratulations on an epic milestone!
Thank-you! ☺
This post was so interesting and also ambitious! I’m not sure I could go back 10 years with such depth. (Also I’ve pretty much been doing the same things for the past 10 years lol) I love that you traveled a lot. It’s always nice to find fellow bloggers who stick around for the long haul😁
Thanks Tammy! Yeah, this post ended up being a lot more than what I originally thought it would be, but I enjoyed taking the time looking back through everything. I imagine it would be a lot more work for you to go through all your past posts!
Wow, happy 10th anniversary! That’s a crazy milestone. 🙂 I started blogging in 2012, but had to stop because of university. So this is a rebirth of my own blog. 😂 I definitely forced myself to post A LOT back then (3-4 posts a week, which is crazy now that I think about it), but I’m definitely going to try to post what I can WHEN I can now. Great learnings, Jenna, and I hope you have more years of fantastic books and posts to come. <3
aimee @ aimee can read
Thanks for stoping by, Aimee! (I love your Keroppi pfp 🥰) And welcome back to blogging! It is exciting to see someone returning instead of leaving. These days I’m happy if I make 3-4 posts a month, loool. But I think when you’ve been doing this for so long, sustainability comes from simply posting whenever you can enjoy doing so. I hope you enjoy getting back into the swing of things!
Congratulations, Jenna!! 10 years is a long time! I’ve so enjoyed discussing books with you. And this is a truly impressive wrap-up post! I’ll have to go back and read many of your posts and favorite books.
Thank-you so much Katy 😊 I hope I can also make it to 20 years!
Congratulations on 10 years of blogging!!! So fun to read your post, very detailed which is lovely. Thank you also for the shout-out. Loved chatting books with you on Cybils and reading all your reviews and posts. August will be 12 years for me, some days I’m even surprised by that number. Looking forward to reading your future posts.
Thanks very much! 😄 This post took a lot of time, but I’m glad I took the time to put it together. It has been inspiring to hear what milestones folks are hitting this year – so nice to see those who have stuck around!
What an incredible post! Thank you for taking us on your book blogging journey. It actually feels really nice to know another blogger who has been doing this for ten years. I also started book blogging in 2014. I can’t believe it has been that long! The things we’ve seen, my goodness. Thank you for being such a positive light in the community. Happy 10th anniversary, Jenna!
Thank you so much, Alicia! I have been feeling cozy seeing how many long-time blogging buddies are still out there. So much has changed but we’re still out here sharing our love of books 🥰
Congratulations on 10 years of book blogging Jenna! That’s a great accomplishment.
Thanks Harry! Appreciate it 🙂
Congrats Jenna on 10 years <3 Your post is a great way to look back on all those years.
Thank-you so much ☺ It was a lot of fun to put together.
I’m kinda late but happy ten year anniversary Jenna!!! Wow, you’ve definitely been a constant here, which is extremely aspiring. I think around the community posts have definitely been dwindling but I’m glad to see that you and everyone else are prioritising quality plus mental health over the quantity of posts.
Aww, honoured to be included on the list. Book blogging is nothing if not for the community, I’m glad we can keep each other going 💖
Thank-you so much Charvi, I appreciate it 😊 The community may be smaller these days, but I love seeing that for those of us who have continued, it hasn’t diminshed in value.
Congrats again on 10 years! I also can’t believe you’ve been doing family reads for that long! So many life moments that we just passed each other on, it’s still funny to remember realized we’d just missed each other as we started our programs in different directions
Right! What a journey we have been on these past 10 years, haha. Thank-you Sam 😊
Has it really been 10 years??? I’m always a bit stunned about this sort of thing because in my head 10 years ago was, like, 2000. Alas, the passage of time comes for us all.
And you’ve experienced so dang much in the past decade, too. This sort of highlight reel write-up is a really nice way of looking back on everything from big life events to especially memorable books and posts. I’m quite impressed that you’ve remembered so much, as personally I can’t even remember what I had for breakfast 😆
Thanks for the lil shoutout. I’ve learned to really appreciate folks who keep on kicking after all these years (sometimes a bit slower than before, sometimes after a nice long break, but still kicking nonetheless); The Web has changed so much, and every year my bookmarked blog list seems to get a bit shorter as people move on to other platforms or disappear entirely.
Congratulations, and here’s hoping for another decade of good reading ahead of you!
Thank you very much Louise! It has been so nice to see you around again lately, after all this time 😊 It was a little sad to see how many blogs have vanished over the years, as I clicked through old comments, but there are also a good number of us still at it. 10 years at this point is roughly 1/3 of my life so I know what you mean about being a little stunned to look back at what ’10 years’ consists of. I did spend a lot of time going back through all my posts so that helped me build the timeline of a few events in the past. While the next 10 years may look quite different from the past 10 years, I’m optimistic that I will always have a bit of time for book blogging.
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