TSS: The changing nature of this blog

This week has been a big one for me in bloggish reflection.  I think many of us in blogosphere have been mulling over where we fit in, how much of an impact we have and in what direction our community is going.  I have been blogging since May 2005, so am coming up on seven years very soon, though the first few years of the blog were pretty on and off in terms of me posting, and I didn't have many readers at all.

I also posted reviews that were almost exclusively in the historical fiction or fantasy genres.  Often, books that somehow fit both genres and were historical fantasy.  That was basically all I read, and I think that if one were to classify my blog up until probably 2009 or 2010, it would be classified as a fantasy or histfict blog.  And while I loved those genres (and still do, very much), I had a feeling that I was missing out on a big chunk of awesome reading.

So that's why I was so thrilled to receive an email from Kari this week that started with the words, "Hey Aarti, I know you're into non-fiction reading."  Seriously, she does not realize how excited this email made me.  Or actually, she probably does, because my response to that email had a copious number of exclamation points.  But hey, I was excited.  I am not sure when the transition happened, but clearly at least one of you out there thinks of me as a non-fiction reader, and that makes me really happy!  I am not sure why- maybe because none of us really likes to be pigeon-holed or to seem narrow in scope.  But also because I really have made an effort to read more widely and sometimes obscurely than I did in the past, and I'm glad to know that people have noticed.

I don't really know many people at all who have been blogging as long as I have (Kailana?  Daphne?) though I know many, many people who have blogged much more successfully than I have in a much shorter time frame.  But I started the blog to keep track of my reading and this week, I've really been reflecting on my reading.  And honestly, when you have kept track of your reading for almost seven years, you start to see trends and shifts.  I can trace my new-found love of non-fiction to the Women Unbound challenge that I co-hosted with Eva and Care.  I think that challenge really impacted the way I read, and I'm so grateful that we brought that together.  I think my interest in more obscure fiction stems from the now-dormant Spotlight Series that I co-hosted with Amy and Chris.  It was so great to find amazing books that just didn't get the attention they deserved.  And now that I have a Kindle, I can go back and find so many overlooked and forgotten books and journals and accounts that I never would have had access to otherwise.

I still love historical fiction and fantasy (though I admit the epic fantasy has not been thrilling me lately the way that it used to).  But I've also found that as I've grown older, my reading tastes have shifted.  I don't say that they have evolved, really, because I don't know that they are "better" now than they used to be.  But they're certainly different, and I look forward to seeing what direction the next several years of reading will take me, too.

In looking back over old posts, I've also been reminded of all the people that have been involved in my blogging life.  Many no longer blog, but several still do.  And it was so fun to go back and see the first time that so many of you commented on my blog, and how long you've been coming here.  I have done a lot of detective work both on my blog and other people's, trying to see how I first "met" some of you and all our interactions began, and it's been so fun!  I'm sad to report, though, that most of my first comments on your blogs were not particularly insightful or interesting, so I'm really impressed and delighted that you all made such an effort to come back my way and post here, too :-)

I realized, in revisiting old posts, just how rarely I make an effort to visit new-to-me blogs these days.  I don't know the last time I added a new blog to my reader, and I don't really know the last time someone new commented on my blog, either.  I honestly don't have the bandwidth any more to go discovering new people, but it makes me a little wistful, too, that I am moving to the periphery of a community that I've been involved with for so long.  I guess that's the nature of change, really.  I am not likely to give up blogging any time soon, but I am also never going to be at the center of it.

I'm okay with that.  As a very wise friend told me recently, books "are an escape from the world; a lens with which to focus on culture and people around us; and a way of forging strong friendships on the premise of loving the same set of printed words. If your blog still helps you do those things, then you should not stop."  And I won't stop because I've had such a wonderfully literary week.

I've really enjoyed my bookish interactions lately- the fabulous email from Kari that signaled to me that my blog is no longer very genre-specific, reminiscing about the first interaction I ever had with Zibilee, trying to figure out a buddy read with Kailana from our shared LibraryThing catalogs, getting back in touch with Amanda through her blog, chatting with previously quoted wise friend about books challenging the tired tropes of epic fantasy, and discussing the nature of feminism and racism with Ana.  And really, none of those conversations would have come about without the help of this blog, and my ability to interact with so many of you on a deeply personal and profound level.  And I look forward to so many more conversations that will help me discover new works and new perspectives and new readers. 

So thank you, BookLust.  I think I'll keep you around for a while longer.