I'm not trying to dislocate my arm patting myself on the back, but next Monday, June 10, marks the fifth anniversary of the Classic Mysteries blog. The podcast, which began a little more than a year earlier, is now into its seventh year (with roughly 316 weekly reviews published so far).
I want to thank all of you who visit here, especially those of you who join in the conversation by leaving your comments. I hope you all enjoy reading this blog and listening to the podcasts. I plan to keep them going. I may start broadening the author base a bit, to include more recent, even contemporary, authors who are still turning out very good traditional puzzle mysteries. I figure five years is a good solid base, and I promise to keep building on it.
Now back to your regularly scheduled mysteries...
Les - Congratulations and well done! I am most impressed. Long live your informative and interesting blog! I know it's a must-visit for me.
Posted by: Margot Kinberg | June 07, 2013 at 02:01 PM
Thanks, Margot. For me, the same is true of your blog - which you update far more regularly than I update this one! Folks, if you're not reading http://margotkinberg.wordpress.com/ - Confessions of a Mystery Novelist - you're missing a treat!
Posted by: Les Blatt | June 09, 2013 at 11:29 AM
Congratulations, Les, on 5 years of a great blog on mysteries. Your blog inspires me to read more. For those of us who, like you, love mysteries and probably have collected over the decades many "to-be-read-someday-when-I-have-time", how do you go about reading all the books you may want to read? I even have trouble choosing the next book to read... too many to choose from, too little time even though I'm now retired. When I was working, I had a high-stress job that required multi-tasking; often I'd come in to work (litigation paralegal)with the usual "to do" list I was working on for up to 12 attorneys only to find out I'd have to do a task that suddenly came up and I'd have to go to court to review some files or fly to another city for the day. So my mind now has trouble focusing on one thing, such as reading a mystery from my collection. How do you focus, how do you accomplish so much reading -- how many books do you read in a month, or do you ever start one and decide to move on to another book? Could you give us a blog on the art and joy of reading all the books in your personal mystery library?
Posted by: Nancy | June 09, 2013 at 02:15 PM
Thanks for the kind words, Nancy - but I only wish I could read all the books I want to read! As with so many other readers, my To Be Read pile towers above my head, and never seems to shrink to a manageable size. I'm mindful of a post I saw elsewhere the other day, "I gave my books their own room. Now they want the whole house!" I'm committed to at least a book a week, as I review one each week for the podcast (and I usually work several weeks ahead in terms of pre-recording those shows); I'd like to do more, but, not surprisingly, there's never enough time - even after retirement, as I've discovered.
The idea of doing a blog post on my read habits is intriguing. I'll have to work on that. Thanks for the suggestions, and I hope you'll find lots of candidates here for your own TBR pile.
Posted by: Les Blatt | June 09, 2013 at 02:39 PM
Belated congratulations, Les. I see your blog began on my birthday. Two reasons why it's such an auspicious date in history. Ha.
Posted by: Yvette | June 12, 2013 at 07:42 PM
An auspicious date indeed, Yvette. Happy birthday!
Posted by: Les Blatt | June 12, 2013 at 08:06 PM
A belated happy fifth birthday, Les. I thought I'd already congratulated you here, but it must have been on Facebook, instead.
Cheers,
Jeff
Posted by: J. Kingston Pierce | June 14, 2013 at 12:09 AM
Thanks, Jeff. Your blog continues to inform and inspire me.
Posted by: Les Blatt | June 14, 2013 at 10:17 AM