The Blog Critic

Quite frankly, literary blogs aren't really my cup of tea. I don't see the point of reading other people's thoughts on various literary works. I mean, if I really wanted to find other people's opinions on a writing, that's what Google's for, right? Nonetheless, after perusing through the 15 blogs, I did find myself drawn towards a few of the listed blogs.

Time to sit back with a cup of tea.

I found myself reading more posts of the blogs that incorporated personal posts into their literary reviews. LiteraryMinded and The Elegant Variation both did a great job of varying their posts, however, I liked LiteraryMinded slightly more than The Elegant Variation. Personally, I liked the layout of the blog and the blogger's writing style better on LiteraryMinded. She included pictures in her posts to aide her writing, which was a great plus. Also, I personally related to her more than the blogger on The Elegant Variation, as she was a traveler and he was a professor. Dani Shapiro's blog also interested me, as she made each post personal, connecting various topics back to her life. I also liked Andrew Rickard's blog, as he set up his blog as a compilation of quotes and passages he found intriguing.

So, as you can see, I like personal blogs. I like going through posts and previewing a snippet of another person's life. But if I had to pick a favorite literary blog, I'd have to pick Andrew Rickard's blog.

According to his "About Me" page, Andrew Rickard is a McGill University alumni who graduated with language and literature honors. There, in Montreal, he studied French and German, which is something I hope to do (study multiple languages and expand my knowledge of languages). Post-undergraduate years, he went into the insurance and investment business, which, ironically enough, is something I'm hoping to do as well. He eventually gave up everything to pursue what he really wanted and become a translator.

What attracted me the most to his posts was the fact that he centered his blog in an unconventional manner. While most literary blogs consist of long, droning reviews and annoying advertisements (3 Quarks Daily, GalleyCat), Andrew Rickard's simply contained his favorite quotes. He made an effort include the citation, as well as a link to the literary work, of which he retrieved his quoted passages from. He was also careful to refrain from self-reflection and commentary on his blog posts, which, although sounds a little odd, works. His blog is concise and very straight to the point, which, along with the simplicity of his layout, makes it that much more readable. It's nice and doesn't appear intimidating or cluttered like other blogs (The Millions, Emerging Writers Network).

One thing I would possibly change is the appearance. Although simple, it isn't very appealing. It doesn't have many pictures; in fact, the entire blog is approximately 95% words. I'd also change the look of the blog. Personally, I like to read aesthetically designed blogs. If I'm going to be looking at something for a while, it might as well be appealing to the eyes. For example, Reluctant Habits has a very modern look to it and is abundant in pictures, but I just don't like how oversized the posts appear. I also don't like the fact that I have to click on each individual post to read more. Call me lazy, but it's true. Maybe that's why I didn't really find myself getting into blogs like The Mumpsimus or The Guardian Book Blog.

A picture's worth a thousand words.