One Thousand!

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millennium (mɪˈlɛnɪəm)
— n , pl -nia , -niums

4.	a thousandth anniversary

Yep, today is the millennium of A Striped Armchair: this makes one thousand published posts! Crazy, right? I thought I’d go on a bit of retrospective today, sharing with you some my favourite posts (for simplicity’s sake, I haven’t included any ‘review’ posts). Total self-indulgence, but it’s taken almost four years to get here, so I’ll enjoy it while I can. ;) Go make yourself a cup of tea, settle down in a comfy chair (bonus points if it’s striped!), help yourself to one of those balloons, and let’s get started.

While I tend to look I posted back at my early writing and cringe, I did love this post about rereading, which includes:

For me, the important thing about rereading is that the story really becomes a part of me. When I read a book once, it might affect me deeply, and I might be stunned by the beauty of it all, but eventually things begin to get hazy. Whereas if I reread it, the characters end up becoming part of an extended family, people I might not to talk to much, but the relationship is always there when I need it. :) 

My ode to The Pagemaster and Wishbone has gotten more views than any other post I’ve written. Hilarious, right? Some of my other favourite posts from 2008: In Which I Prove, Once and For All, I Am Hopelessly Addicted to Books (in which I showed just how many books I could pack in a bag), Fantasy at Any Age (chronicling my life-long love for fantasy books), Weekly Geeks: a Social Issue (a list of books about human trafficking), and Books to Keep You Up at Night (a reading list themed around an upcoming read-a-thon that is one of my most popular posts years later). I also wrote one of my favourite posts ever: Book sluts, reading moods, and giveaways oh my!. It was a humorous take on the types of books I love to read and reasons why I picked up books. Here’s a taste, but if you read one post that I’ve linked to today, read this one:

At first I thought, “Heck yeah, I’m a book slut!” (I might have thought it a bit more strongly in my head, but you can use your imaginations) And around certain kinds of books, I definitely am. If the book boasts an author name of non-English origin, I’ll throw myself at it. Who cares if it’s about a war (and thus guaranteed to be depressing), or insanely post-modern, or has an ugly cover? If it’s international, I want a piece of it. Then there’s a book size. And for this reader, size does matter. If a bookhas a definite heft, I’m going to want to bring it home. And if it’s a an international biggie, it can count on an extended stay. 

While I think I became a more solid blogger in 2009, not as many posts jumped out at me. There were a few though! I vlogged for the first time (look how short my hair was!), did a fun You Might Be a Book Blogger If… post, and made two huge lists of books that celebrate women for the Women Unbound Challenge: books I’d read and books I wanted to read.

This year, I think I hit my stride…I started including a broader mix of posts, I redesigned my blog’s appearance to reflect me better, I’ve started a few ‘features’ recently that I really enjoy doing, and all-in-all I’m really happy with the type of blogger I’ve become. Which is to say, I have several favourite posts from this year! On the semi-political front, I talked about race in reading and celebrated vaginae. I wrote a couple posts on how I read, as well as one describing my ideal home library. Finally, my posts on Why I Love Being a Book Blogger and My Book Blogging Manifesto make me smile.

Whew! It’s been quite a ride, and the reason I’ve stuck with blogging so long is really of the relationships I’ve formed with fellow book bloggers. I’ve taken quite a few breaks this year, some voluntarily and some due to circumstances beyond my control, and each one has reinforced how much I love doing this. So here’s to another 1,000 posts!