Kick Your Blogroll Up The Arse
I’ve set myself a little project. A project that I’m going to foist on you all.
Over the past few months quite a lot of the blogs I read regularly have upped and died. People I used to read regularly like Tired Dad, Peach, The Woman in Wellies, Joseph etc have just buggered off and stopped writing. Most upsettingly the first blog I ever blogrolled, American Scot the tattooed Atheist stopped blogging even though he promised he wouldn’t. How dare he have a life!
For a while we even lost that minx, Slutty McWhore and jetsetting The Good Woman . Thankfully, the two of them have come to their senses, pulled their writing pants back on and got back to blogging regularly.
But I realise five things:
1. That I’ve become set in my ways in the blogs I read.
2. That I haven’t been actively looking for new good stuff so it’s all my fault.
3. That I pretty much ignore people’s blogrolls, which is a bit stupid.
4. That good blogs are bloody hard to find (there’s some right shite out there, isn’t there? If you don’t believe me try Stumble Upon and you’ll see…).
5. That you can’t rely on your old favourites to keep on keeping on, you’ve got to seek out new favourites once in a while.
6. That I can’t count.
So I’m going to start a bit of a meme to gee us all up. It’s called Kick your Blogroll up the Arse.
The Rules of Kick Your Blogroll Up the Arse
(Hint: This is the cut out bit for you to post)
What you do is you go to four of your favourite blogs and pick a blog from their blogroll that you’ve never visited or commented on. You then add them to your blogroll or feed, read them for at least a month (by which time there should be no turning back) and give them a chance to invade your life.
Then you duplicate the main part of this post with a note on whose blog you got it from. Stick the four new blogs you are going to read up , tell us briefly why you chose them and whose blogroll they came from. And if you want, coerce others mercilessly into joining in. Then start reading.
I have chosen these:
Mr Farty’s blogroll I have chosen Giggles because she looks a bit of a laugh and I kind of like Australians on the whole. Mainly because I like the way they casually swear without a thought.
From Ms Robinson’s blogroll I have chosen Bossy because I’ve noticed people rave about her and I’ve never read her, so I want to see what all the fuss is about.
From CatGirl’s blog I am going to give Planet Me a go because I like the honesty of the title of the blog and Cat seems to have got excited that he’s “Back! Back! Back!”, so that looks like a good bet.
And from Mommy Has a Headache I chose Annie Rhiannon I clicked her name randomly and went with it because there was a photo of a bloke with red hair and an apple on his head that somehow spoke to me. Then I read a post and realised that my gut feeling was right.
I am passing the meme onto ALL readers of the Misssives, all commenters on the Misssives, everyone in my current blogroll and even those pesky lurkers in the skirting boards. But I officially want to pass it onto everyone whose blog is linked in this post.
Oh and if you do decide to take on the challenge, let me know so that I can zip on over and have a peek.
Consider your autumn evenings filled.
You’re welcome!
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What you readin’ for?
Read this. Trust me.
The past few weeks I’ve been reading books like I was in an extreme reading competition. It’s extreme because I don’t have time or peace to read and so in order to get through a book I have deployed a range of tactics. These tactics often involve some anti-social behaviour, and can lead to people being a little put out.
So in the last 14 days I have read Robert James Waller’s The Bridges Of Madison County, Mark Haddon’s Curious Incident of a Dog in the Night-time, Alexander McCall Smith’s Tears of the Giraffe, Peter Kay’s The Sound of Laughter, Jodie Picoult’s Nineteen Minutes, and now I am half way through Cormac McCarthy’s The Road.
I have enjoyed all of them tremendously, but have in the course of this read-a-thon:
- Done minimal housework
- Only fed my family food that can be cooked with one hand in five minutes (the other hand is holding a book)
- Locked myself in the bathroom to get to the end of a chapter. I am still blaming India for tummy trouble long after it has actually abated.
- Watched no telly (I’ve not seen one second of the Lympics)
- Resented going to work when I could be reading my book
- Stayed up far too late reading my book
- Not answered the phone if I’m at a good bit when it rings
- Woken up and read my book as I get ready for work and school
- Read Charlie and Lola* to Junior Misssy at bedtime with one eye and my book with another
- Been in a bad mood because of something bad that has happened in the book but not in my actual life, and then had to give myself a slap when I’ve realised that I am not the character in the book
This tends to happen about once or twice a year when I come across a raft of good reads. It won’t stop until I read a crap book and then I’ll be done with reading for a good five months or so.
But in lieu of that happening (and because I’ve not got anything lined up for the end of The Road- man, it’s harrowing, I can hardly bear it) can you tell me what you’d recommend I buy or borrow next.
What was the last amazing book you read?
(You can also have a look at my Amazon list to see my own recommendations for the best books I have ever read) I know, I’m starting to sound like Richard and Judy…I’ll stop now.
* I am the self proclaimed best impersonator of Lola on the planet. I could do the voice for telly
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