Nicholas Reid reflects in essay form on general matters and ideas related to literature, history, popular culture and the arts. You are free to agree or disagree with him.
REID’S READER TWO YEARS ON
It is now
exactly two years since I began posting the weekly comments that make up Reid’s Reader. The first posting was on
29 June 2011.
My
essential method hasn’t changed. Each week I devour and make copious notes on a
new book, then write it up as “Something New”. As often as possible, I try to
make that new book a New Zealand book. The comments on older books in
“Something Old” come mainly from notes, which I’ve been making in my notebooks
for the past twenty-plus years. These are notes on everything I read, serious
or frivolous. Often I check these notes against a more recent acquaintance with
the older books discussed. Sometimes, however, “Something Old” is a book I have
read specifically for inclusion on this blog. Summer holidays are often the
time when I find myself chewing my way through books I have meant to read for
years. As for “Something Thoughtful”, it is either the easiest or the most
troublesome part of the whole blog. A topic or controversy for discussion will
come readily to mind, or else I will rack my brains trying to think of
something.
One year
ago, while celebrating the blog’s first anniversary, I noted that the counter
[which you can see at the foot of the blog] stood at c.20,000. Allowing for holidays
and breaks etc., I took this to mean that about 500 people weekly visited the
site. Now the counter is rapidly approaching 100,000, meaning the site has
received 80,000 ‘hits’ in the last year, or four times the number of visitors
it received in its first year. Over summer, I take a four-week break from
making postings; and I recently took a three-week break while visiting Canada.
Putting all this together, it adds up to a weekly average of 1600 ‘hits’
weekly, but in fact over the last six months, it’s a poor week when the site
doesn’t receive 2000 ‘hits’. So the site has built up a sound regular
readership.
Only
occasionally has there been anything approaching controversy. One novelist took
exception to one of my reviews, and subjected me to a series of strident
e-mails on the matter. Two readers took diametrically opposite positions on a
book I’d covered, and posted their conflicting comments. (And good for them.
That’s what the Comment button is for. More use should be made of it.)
I am
pleased that in the last year, some comments on this blog have found their way
into the general cultural “conversation” and have been cited on other
platforms. I am also aware that (unlike printed reviews, quarterlies etc.), I
often have the advantage of making detailed analyses on books very shortly
after their first publication. In other words, sometimes I get my thruppence
worth in first. In this respect, I am fully aware that this site is sometimes
used as a “source” by other reviewers. I am also pleased that occasionally,
some helpful people have contributed “Something Old” essays. My friend Dr Iain
Sharp, my brother Christopher Reid, and the distinguished academics Peter
Simpson, Harry Ricketts and Brian Boyd have all sent me essays, which have
appeared here.
I would, however, welcome any
further such contributions.
To put it bluntly, producing this
weekly review single-handedly takes a very big commitment in terms of time.
Sometimes I have considered easing up on myself by making my postings
fortnightly rather than weekly, and I may adopt that option at some future
date. Meanwhile, post a comment (leaving
your e-mail address) or get in touch by e-mail if you’re game to give me an
account of a book you have really liked and want to bring to the attention of a
wider readership.
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