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This Island Life

Book reading is predominantly a solitary pursuit, even if you are a member of a book club, most of your reading, where ever you are, whether it's on a train, or a bus, a plane or whether it's sat in your favourite, comfiest chair will be by yourself. Now, for the most part, this is expected - even relished, one of the reasons we love to read is for that space away from everything else that clamours for our attention. Yet every now & then I want to communicate my love for some book, whether it's some classic or my latest/greatest literary find.

If you are lucky & the member of some book Club that's open enough to accept the latest book you’ve found from some obscure Asian/Latin/Nordic (take your pick) Author, or if like myself, you mention some book you’ve read to friends & colleagues & you get the standard response “I’ll wait till it's out at the cinema/or on DVD”.  Cue film insert – Robinson Crusoe gazing at the sunset, minus his man Friday, camera turns & written into the sand is

“Shut the $%^*+! up”

Then one day, whilst browsing (for work purposes honest !), you discover a book blog, in my case - In spring its the dawn (thanks Tanabata) & suddenly the sun peers out from behind the clouds, some suitably epic music plays & the proverbial light bulb blinks into life “I can do that”
So the process starts, “how do I do that”. In my case, I found Blogger, used up every profanity & swear word I knew & some how got it working. Next, came the name – The Parrish Lantern (check out the “about me” page), which had to be christened with some good whisky (Ardbeg 17 yr old, mmmm) & then my first post, followed by my 2nd3rd4th5th6th.
I then discovered the art of networking & amazingly some people found me, or to be accurate they found – The Parrish Lantern. Bit by bit my blog develops, what was an island becomes an archipelago as I discover more fellow Bloggers & they find me.

Suddenly what was a solitary pursuit – Robinson Crusoe blowing smoke signals into a void has gone global, gone broadband. What I once saw as a clique of likeminded individuals spread across the planet, is now, thanks to the Book Bloggers Appreciation Week (thanks Amy), an army of Bloggers woven through every strata of society & networked everywhere Asia, Europe, America, Australia, everywhere. There are Blogs run by couples, friends, clubs & individuals spreading the word about literature, whether its Fiction/ Non-Fiction, whether its the Classics or Contemporary, Sci-Fi Or YA, it’s out there to be found.                    


So now thanks to Blogging, if I want to shout from the rooftops about how fantastic some book is, I can & if I want to discuss some salient point on the use of e.g. concrete as a social metaphor there is a whole world of likeminded people quite happy to debate the issue with me.


                                                        http://www.bookbloggerappreciationweek.com
Thanks. Parrish
p.s. Best of luck to all concerned.