We have arrived at the seventh day of the seventh month of the seventh year of The Emerald City Book Review — which came into the world on January 1, 2014. It seems a good time to take stock, look at how far I’ve come, and think about next steps.
The past six and a half years have been a time of great change and crisis for me, a real process of learning to “read” — in the larger sense of trying to decipher experiences and put them into a meaningful context. I could not imagine having gone through all that without the support of a reading community, a group of people to whom this meaning-making activity matters. And working on this blog, with all the connections I found thereby, provided that for me in abundance.
I have learned so much about myself, about the world, about marvelous books, and about wonderful humans around the globe who are holding their candles in the darkness, expressing their individuality in manifold ways — with joy and frustration and courage and humor and outrage and compassion and grief and love. I am more grateful for this than I can ever say.
There is no way I would want to lose those connections, and so I definitely want to stay a part of this blogging world. But at the moment I’m trying to run two blogs, and it’s too much. So, with the feeling that this particular journey has brought me to its intended destination, I have decided to bring it to a close, and move all my blogging activity over to Entering the Enchanted Castle, as of January 1, 2021.
I will definitely still be doing plenty of “book blog” things, like reviews, discussion posts, projects and challenges, and monthly wrap-ups, because I love them and because I think the bookish community is the best. But I’ll also include some personal posts, share some of my writing, and sometimes talk about some other interests (as I’ve already been doing on the other blog).
I also plan to launch a new venture, Enchanted English — a place where I can offer language lessons and literary services online. I have tons of ideas that I’m working on, and I hope you don’t mind if I share them with you when they are ready.
In the meantime, don’t worry; this blog is not going away any time soon. I’ll still be here as usual till the end of the year. But after that, if you haven’t already, I hope you will follow me at enterenchanted.com. I can’t wait to find out what happens next.
“One of the things that puzzles me is that so few people want to look at life as a totality and to recognize that death is no more extraordinary than birth. When they say it’s the end of everything they don’t seem to recognize that we came from somewhere and it would be very, very strange indeed to suppose that we’re not going somewhere.” — from Conversations with Robertson Davies
This is just a quick note to remind everyone that in one month, I’m planning to celebrate Elizabeth Goudge’s birthday on April 24. That means that I’ll be reading and posting about one of her books, and I hope that you will consider doing the same.
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