Ten years ago today, I started this blog. It seems extraordinary that both so much and so little time has passed since then.
In January 2010, I was twenty-three years old and feeling very lonely in Calgary, the frozen wasteland I’d moved to right after university. I enjoyed my job but the city felt entirely foreign to me, full of young people who knew their way to every bar but not to a single library, and I, raised to expect flowers and green grass in January, had no idea what to do in a place where I was literally snowed on every month of the year.
I’d been ill the autumn before with appendicitis and while recovering had stumbled across the world of book blogs. I’d been silently lurking since then, amazed to find people who read books I loved, the kind of people I’d never found at university or in this strange city of cowboys and fast-talking oilmen. Chief among these was Simon at Stuck in a Book. Simon had been blogging for several years by then about books I either already loved or instantly wanted to read. I loved seeing the conversations that emerged in the comments on his posts and wanted to be part of that. Because not only was there Simon but there were Rachel and Darlene and Eva and Jane and Thomas and Harriet – in short, there was no end to all the people out there reading fascinating books.
And that is why I started a blog. Because I wanted to be part of a conversation that I found (and mostly still find) impossible to have in person. I had no real intention of writing many reviews myself, I just wanted to be somewhere on the edges. (And, of course, my first comment was on one of Simon’s posts.)
I certainly had no idea that ten years later I would still be here. But though my level of activity has changed over the years, the blog and this community has become an important part of my life. I couldn’t imagine not being able to turn to all of you when I’m excited about something or when I’ve just thrown a book against a wall and need to rant about it.
When I started the blog, I was struggling and frustrated. I was feeling isolated and like I would never fit in with the people around me (this was true. It was entirely the wrong city – culturally and climatically – for me). As soon as I started writing, I was overwhelmed by a community that made me feel welcomed, who valued reading and understood the joy of old novels and obscure titles. At a time when I was feeling timid (a first for me) and a bit lost, your support helped restore my confidence. Feeling intelligent and capable, I then realised it was alright to admit that my Calgary experiment had failed; within a year of starting the blog I moved back to Vancouver for an altogether healthier and happier life.
So, after ten years, 1,609 books, 1,732 blog posts (including 429 photos of libraries), 12,539 comments, and a rather excessive 28 reviews of works by A.A. Milne (unequivocally a sign of Simon’s influence on my reading choices), THANK YOU. It’s been wonderful and I’m sure the next ten years will be too.
Claire, I am much, much newer than you to all of this, but I agree with everything you say. The book blogging world is so welcoming, so interesting, and above all so reassuring – at last we can talk to people who care about books (especially old ones). I enjoy your blog. (And I also lived in Newfoundland for one very long winter, when we used to watch TV from Vancouver and see people in T-shirts in January. You did the right thing.)
Thank you, Rosemary.
Happy blog birthday! You speak beautifully of the reasons why so many of us cherish our book blogging activity. For me it has become a real community and almost a second home, wherever in the world I may move. I’ve followed yours almost from the beginning of my own and I appreciate all you do. Cheers!
Thanks, Lory!
Good for you, Claire! This is wonderful to read.
Thank you, Diana.
Oh what a lovely post, Claire! Without a doubt, one of my favourite blogging experiences was seeing you fall for AAM in the same way I did. And I’m so pleased you joined the blogging community and it made such a difference in your life, because it certainly made a wonderful difference to my blogging life!
AAM now feels like a huge part of my reading identity and that is clearly all down to you! This entire post is sort of a thank you to you for being such an inspiring presence in the book blogging community but also thank you for having been a good friend and cheerleader (and chastiser for ACOB) over the last decade.
Gosh, that’s lovely!
Congratulations! What an achievement! And so agree about the blogging community – it’s a wonderful one! 😀
Thanks, Karen.
Great to read this account of your blogging years and awesome how much you’ve read and conversed with other bloggers. Happy blog anniversary!
Thank you, Eric.
Happy Blogiversary, Claire! You put it beautifully – the blogging community is like a home for all of us 🙂
It’s been such a wonderful community to discover and grow into!
Congratulations on ten years. That is truly impressive. I can relate to the happiness of discovering a whole community who love books and reading. I wonder how many of us started blogging after discovering Simon’s blog! I know I did. Yours is one of the first few blogs I started reading and I am so glad I did.
Thanks, Jennifer. Glad to hear I’m not the only one who has been inspired by Simon!
A decade of book blogging is something to celebrate. Happy blogiversary! I hope you continue writing for many years to come- I don’t often comment but do enjoy reading what you have to say, and adding books to my list of course.
Thanks! It’s always nice to hear from my silent readers.
Ten years is an amazing achievement, Claire! I really enjoy your posts and I wholeheartedly agree with your comments on the bookish community 🙂
Thank you!
It’s been rather wonderful for us too. I look forward to all of your posts (and sometimes dread that they will result in too many additions to my library reserve list, or worse, the disappointment that I can’t immediately locate them!) and I also love Library Lust. Happy anniversary, Claire, and I hope you keep blogging for many many more.
Thank you, Audrey. I promise to keep making trouble for you library list!
Thanks for ten years of interesting blogging. You are a great ambassador for reading and indeed for Canada.
Thank you, David.
Well done. I understand exactly what you mean and how lovely to be surrounded by bookish people at all levels. I hope you go another 10 years🤠🐧
Thanks, Pam.
Happy blogiversary!!
Thank you, Marg! It’s great to hear from you.
Congratulations! I always look forward to reading your posts and have read dozens of books at your suggestion. Please keep filling us in on your reading life, your baking and you travels.
Thanks, Susan! I’ll do my best.
This is such a lovely reminder of the pleasures of book blogging, finding the blogs of other book loving people. Thank you.
Thank you for reading and commenting! It’s the comments that make book blogging worthwhile, knowing someone else is out there and interested in what you’re saying.
Happy anniversary, Claire! Realising that you have been here for ten years makes me feel rather old, but hearing about your reading has always been a delight.
It went alarmingly quickly, didn’t it?
Happy Blogaversary! Simon’s blog is one reason I was inspired to start blogging, too. The only people I know who love books and reading are the bloggers and tweeters I follow. Read on!!
Thank goodness we were all able to find each other online!
Congratulations on the anniversary Claire. When so many bloggers give up after a few years, it’s wonderful to hear of people who keep the book blogging flame alive. I’m a little behind you in blog years (are they the same as dog years?) but my reasons for starting are similar – I also wanted a community in which to share my love of reading. What I found far exceeded my expectations.
I so agree that the reality of this community exceeds expectations!
Congratulations and thank you for blogging. I’m stuck in a blah desert ,,,,would love some snow. But also no readers around…of course they’re out there but hard to find here in AZ stateside. So I get my comfort w/ all u wonderful bloggers who help us feel connected to others who share our love of reading. AND what would we do w/out your pix of library rooms!!!!!!! I always check for the latest…and spit out very harsh judgements when there are no reading lamps or ottomans. Thank you and rock on. Quinn
There are some truly absurd “library” rooms out there, aren’t there? I have so much find finding those photos, though I’d only want to have about 20% of the rooms I feature in my actual home! (Reading lamps not optional!)
It’s such a joy to have you out here in the blogging world, Claire! And it’s been lovely to get to meet you in real life and consider you a friend. Isn’t it wonderful that we’ve all been able to find each other and enrich our lives as a result? It must have been 10…or maybe 11? years for me too this year. Time flies. And I’m still having fun! Thank you for inspiring me and giving me a glimpse into your world in beautiful Vancouver. I was just thinking of you the other day when I saw some cheap Thirkells in Oxfam…now I’m on my book buying ban I didn’t pick them up but I wanted you there to advise me as to whether I should have been naughty and taken the plunge (I know not all her books are equal!)!
Rachel, what self control at Oxfam! I would have been so happy to help tempt you towards Thirkell purchases. Next time I’m in London I’ll do my best to do just that!
Yes the blogging community is a warm one. I enjoy your blog and always find recommendations from you for more books I crave to read. Congrats on 10 years. I began my blog in 2007 and still enjoy it.
Oh! How did I miss this post!
Congratulations on ten years, it’s been lovely reading your posts for several years now (can’t quite remember when I started) and now co-hosting with you.
You have inspired me to try some adult AA Milne! I just haven’t got around to it yet…
I know that feeling of having relocated and trying to find one’s place in a new city. I was lucky that I had grown up in Boston and had friends and family here when I returned after 17 years in NYC. However, in New York, so many of my friends were single and lived nearby, willing to do things spontaneously. I remember one year my friend Danielle had determined to see one movie per week all year, which resulted in many invitations (and some of these movies were bad!). In Boston, no one worked in publishing, most of my friends were married, and it was hard to get anyone to do anything after work. I joined a book group and have adjusted but I do relate!
Happy Blog Anniversary.
This is to you Con….I’m from Boston and now stuck in AZ…..they’ve built a wall and I can’t get out 🙂 Enjoy the ocean breezes and keep on keeping on…it ain’t NYC but it has it’s charms…
Congratulations
Congrats and keep up the great work!!