I can’t remember what it was, but something brought to mind a nice meme that I did this time last year – and the year before that:
“Take the first line of each month’s post over the past year and see what it tells you about your blogging year.”
It’s an idea that started with The Indextrious Reader and it really is an interesting way to look back at a year.
So here goes …
December
“My 20th Century Reading Project is nearly over!”
from 10% Report: Reading the 20th Century
November
“I have to do this from time to time; I have to celebrate the books I’ve read, organise the books I’m reading, and think about what might come next.”
from Reading Books: Past, Present & Future
October
“Now this was a lucky find, as I was searching through lists for a book published in a difficult year – 1972 – in my century of books..”
from Limmerston Hall by Hester W Chapman
September
“Stories can make us look back over our shoulders and question every creak and groan on a dark, quiet night.“
from As The Evenings Draw In, R.I.P. VIII Begins…
August
“I only meant to be away for a couple of days.”
from I didn’t mean to disappear, but it’s been quite a week, and now I have a story to tell …..
July
“Do we need independent booksellers, in this day and age when there are so many ways to discover, buy and exchange books?”
from Welcome to Independent Booksellers’ Week!
June
“I owe Francesca Segal a debt of gratitude, because by reworking The Age of Innocence in a contemporary setting she inspired me to go back and reread Edith Wharton’s Pulitzer Prize winning novel.”
from The Innocents by Francesca Segal
May
“At the centre of this story is Albert Honig, an octogenarian bee-keeper”
from Telling the Bees by Peggy Hesketh
April
“I’m halfway through my 20th Century Reading Project!”
from 10% Report: Reading the 20th Century
March
“I’ve had mixed results with Beryl Bainbridge’s books in the past, and so I have left for a long time in the box marked ‘undoubtedly an excellent author, but probably not for me.’”
from Renewing My Acquaintance with Beryl
February
“I’ve had wonderful luck in recent years browsing the library’s reserve fiction stock.”
from Writing Women … Then and Now …
January
“I must confess that I tried to write a post about bookish resolutions, but it seemed dreadfully dull and too full of things I know I’ve written about before.
from An A to Z of What’s Ahead …
And that’s it!
I don’t think I can draw any conclusions, but it’s been lovely looking back to find my firsts.
Do have a go – it’s fun to do, and I’d love to see.
That is a great idea.
Yes, it is, and i do hope you will put up your first lines too.
Great idea for a blog post – I particularly like September’s opening line. Will have to go back and look at my own. I see that your pick for 2014 at We Love This Book is The True and Splendid History of the Harristown Sisters. Very keen on this myself. Fetching jacket, too. Makes you want to pick it up.
I can’t claim the credit sadly – September’s line is a quotation.I hadn’t noticed that the 2014 picks were on show yet, but now I’ve seen them I have to say that yours is excellent.
Thank you! It’s been such fun doing it. Two more posts which takes me up to the end of April but I might do it again for the second part of the year.
You have a fine eye for a quote, anyway!
This is a nice way to think about the year, though I suspect more of mine would begin with “I haven’t posted for ages…” It will make me think a lot more about getting that attention-grabbing first line right in future!
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