No, that's
not me humming a birthday ditty, but the blog itself. (Believe me, you don't want me humming or singing anything!)
It's
amazing to think that a full year has elapsed already since I naïvely began to
blog, but as my
inaugural post was published on March 10, 2013, I guess I am forced to
believe it! Time doth flit, as Dorothy
Parker put it (and those who know it can silently and inoffensively fill in the
rest of the quote)…
A new self-portrait in my inimitable style (for, let's face it, who would want to imitate it?) |
As
that post explained, I wasn't at all sure at first that anyone else would ever care
about my obsession with tracking down little-known British women writers. Without a doubt, the most exciting
development of the whole past year has been the gradually increasing number of
smart, charming, kindred spirits—i.e. you—who
have come across the blog, left thoughtful, intriguing, kind comments, and/or
emailed me with generous suggestions, assistance and inspiration. This is never likely to be exactly a
blockbuster blog, but there are already more of you out there than I ever
imagined there might be when I first started typing words into Blogger! And I should especially thank the members of
the D. E. Stevenson discussion list, who were the first people to whom I
"came out" as a blogger and were—as always—completely supportive and
encouraging.
Little
did I know, too, that that innocuous little list which formed my
second post was going to
become—for better or worse—a central focus of the blog (and of my most of my spare
time as well). In fact, the specific
focus on British women writers 1910-1960 didn't quite come about until I'd
already written a few reviews—with the result, by the way, that buried among my
earliest posts there is actually a single review of a novel by a male author. Shocking, eh?
Two of
the most exciting events of my first year of blogging came courtesy of
Persephone Books. First, my favorite
publisher added a link to my blog from the "Our Favorite Blogs"
section of their website. Then they
quoted me in their latest issue of the Persephone
Biannually, which of course I had
to post about (in a quite undignified way).
I still check their site every now and again just to see the link and get
a quick little ego-boost. And getting an
email from Nicola Beauman herself gave me quite a bit of a boost as well…
But
enough looking back. What does year 2 of
Furrowed Middlebrow hold in store?
Well,
truth be told, I keep resolving to do fewer actual reviews and more
research-oriented posts. I love reviews,
mind you, but it just takes such a lot
of time and concentration for me to whip my chaotic thoughts into some vaguely
logical sequence and keep them from being total
gibberish. Whereas the research side of
things tends to be kind of blissful meditation by comparison, and everything
just tends to fall into place. Plus, it just might be that my ever-expanding database of obscure writers and their forgotten works is the greatest strength of my blog anyway, and I am working on new ways of harnessing the power of a database to give you interesting perspectives on the literary world of the early to mid-20th century.
But
somehow I seem to keep finding books that are just so interesting and/or
entertaining that I
just can't resist babbling on and on about them. So we'll see how my resolution pans out…
At any
rate, I am definitely planning to unveil several "short lists"
soon—subsets of writers from the Overwhelming List by genre or other
characteristics. I've been planning them
for months, but they are—slowly—coming together and will, I hope, be
interesting and useful. Down the road, too,
I've given some thought to dedicating entire posts to some of the most
interesting of the lesser-known writers I've come across, about whom there are
sometimes interesting personal details or odd little tidbits that just won't
fit in those short little blurbs on the main list.
Looking
back at my posts from the past year (90+ of them in all—no wonder I've got a
stiff neck these days!), I was thinking about my favorite discoveries of the
year. Certainly, the two novels that
represent Celia
Buckmaster's literary life's work would rank very high, and Mary Bell's even
smaller literary output would also be hard to top. And for those who like their reads a bit
grittier, nothing compares to Frances
Faviell's harrowing Blitz memoir A
Chelsea Concerto—still criminally out-of-print but perhaps gaining some new
hope of reprinting from Faviell's prominence in Virginia Nicholson's
fascinating Millions Like Us: Women's
Lives in the Second World War.
But if
I had to pick a single favorite, it would have to be Ursula Orange's smart,
funny, cozy, and completely absorbing novel of wartime village life, Tom
Tiddler's Ground (published in the U.S. as Ask Me No Questions).
Why? Because it's as lovely and
entertaining as any novel I can think of, and yet it has truly vanished without
a trace. So it constitutes an exciting
discovery that I was glad to be able to share.
I can't recommend it highly enough.
Happy !st Anniversary, Scott, and I'm looking forward to many more blog postings from you.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Susan. And thanks also for all your thoughtful comments!
DeleteHappy Birthday, Scott!
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on such a great job of your first blogging year.
Whatever you feel like writing will certainly be entertaining reading as your humour is delightful! Have a lovely massage, some bubbly with your cake, and best wishes for another year of lovely reading experiences!
del
curlsnskirls.wordpress.com
Thanks, Del! Oh, a massage sounds lovely. You're right--that would be an excellent way to celebrate!
DeleteHappy anniversary! I wish someone would reprint Chelsea Concerto too, I think I came across it in another VN book, Among the Bohemians, years ago & it sounded fascinating. I look forward to reading your posts in Year 2.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Lyn! I still have to get around to Among the Bohemians--thanks for reminding me...
DeleteHappy Birthday, dear Blog of Scott! I have greatly enjoyed reading you this past year, and expect to continue to do so. You are such an enjoyable blog!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Kristi! I always appreciate your comments and feedback too, not to mention your knack for tracking down informative tidbits I've missed--the Ursula Orange photo, Mary Bell's daughter, etc. Thank you for all of that!
DeleteHappy Birthday, Scott! I knew your blog would take off, ex. "One of Persephone's Bloggers."
ReplyDeleteThanks, Julia! And thanks for your support since day one!
DeleteWrite about whatever you like! I've come late to the party and still have a lot of catching up to do - more than 90 posts eh? That'll take me a while - and I shall love every minute of it.
ReplyDeleteA very happy birthday to this delightful blog :-)
Awwww. My blog is touched by your kind comments, Cestina. Thanks for reading and commenting!
DeleteHappy Birthday Furrowed Middlebrow!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Peggy Ann! So glad to have come across your blog as well!
DeleteCongratulations! I've only recently found your blog, but it has provided me with hours of good reading. Thank you, and continued success!
ReplyDeleteThank you! So glad you found me, and welcome!
Delete