Regular readers of this blog will have noticed that in the past few months I have changed both the site design and the content. In this new format, my own posts appear here, on the main column, but I have added two columns to the right, one to keep track of ongoing "literary news" and the other to post links to "literary views," posts and essays of substance from other sites, and "notable book reviews" from other sites.
My posts have become somewhat longer in the last year or so, and farther between. I did not necessarily intend that to happen, but in focusing on the five topics listed to the right under "Categories," I have found myself writing at greater length (although I still try to not simply repeat the themes that were the focus of the first iteration of this blog) and posting these pieces with less frequency. I hope the posts I do publish make up in substance what they lack in timeliness. I have especially spent more time writing reviews of new fiction, to which I also hope to add reviews of new poetry, and should this blog in its current form become primarily known for posting new reviews of some substance, I would be happy with that.
However, I am hoping that an audience might still come to The Reading Experience even on those days or weeks when nothing new from me has been posted. The "literary news" I am tracking is not the gossip- and trivia-heavy "news" that dominates too many links roundups. I want to note such news as serious readers of fiction and poetry might want to consider precisely amongst the trivia and publisher-focused items shared around most literary sites. The "literary views" I want to highlight are those still being offered with care and thought by literary and critical blogs, as well as other online sources. Since in my opinion most of the book reviews published in newspapers have become only more superficial and bland since the "crisis" in print book reviewing was pronounced, most of the book reviews to which I will draw attention are those appearing on critically credible blogs as well as the increasing number of online book reviews, which even now do a better of job of reviewing the full range of current fiction and poetry than the newspaper-based reviews ever did.
I hope to update these sections several times a week, if not daily, so readers interested in the kind of literary news and commentary I have described could profitably visit this blog even when its feed indicates no new post from me has yet appeared.
Much of this sort of linking has been taken over from blogs by social networking platforms, but it seems to me there is still room for a blog to display all such links in one place. Still, links- or digest-style blogging is not what it used to be, which arguably frees the blog--specifically the "literary weblog" as it was originally called--to engage in the longer form reviewing and literary commentary for which I myself always thought it was very well-suited. Whether the "litblog" will endure as a form of publication for such commentary is still an open question (some people think it's already dead), but it's a possibility I continue to pursue.
No complaints here, sir. Keep up the good work!
Posted by: Mayowa | 09/13/2011 at 01:50 PM
Me likey.
Posted by: Jim H. | 09/13/2011 at 03:50 PM
FWIW, the blogroll was a greater enticement as gateway.
Posted by: nnyhav | 09/18/2011 at 01:58 AM