What fun that week was! Thanks to all the bloggers who participated in this series of My Life in Books, and for all the readers and commenters. It always seems like an unmanageable amount of coordinating and organising, and somehow it all slots into place and is enormously fun and interesting.
I thought I’d answer a few questions about My Life in Books that I’ve seen here or on social media – just to have them all in one place.
How many people have done My Life in Books?
Astonishingly, 82 people now! That’s bloggers and blog readers and members of my family. Some of those people haven’t had blogs for years, some are going strong, and some have moved onto others types of blogs entirely. It has been nine years since it started, after all!
How are the people chosen?
Essentially I ask people if I like their blogs – though there are plenty of people on my waiting list whose blogs I also like! There are a handful of people I can’t believe haven’t done it yet, just because I didn’t happen to think of them when I was emailing people. And I think four people have turned down participating, over the years – all with good reasons, of course. Well, three out of the four had good reasons, but that’s another story (and a long time ago!)
How do I pair people up?
This is the fun bit! I love choosing pairings – and I always choose the pairs before I get any of the book choices back. So when there are neat coincidences – like both partners choosing Pride and Prejudice this time – it’s just that: a coincidence. Except that I pair people that I think will work together, based on what I know of their blogs. That doesn’t necessarily mean I think they have similar tastes (though sometimes it is that) – more that I think their reading lives will read interestingly alongside each other.
How does the last question work?
The last question is asking what a participant thought of their partner’s choices – and this year, for the first time, also what book they’d recommend. I only ever send a list of five books, without any of the context. My hope is that brings the reading to the fore – and makes it a bit harder to make the educated guess about what their reader is like!
Will My Life in Books be back?
I certainly hope so! I intended to take a year off, and that somehow became five years. But it was so fun that I’m keen to make it an annual event again. Watch this space for My Life in Books 2020!
It’s been fun following this, Simon – and I can’t quite get my head round the fact there’s been such a long gap! Here’s to the next selection! :D
There were so many interesting stories. Thanks for including me, Simon!
Thank you for letting me take part – it was great fun! And I managed to discover a couple of new bloggers as well.
Thanks for including me, it’s was fun:)
Thanks for taking part!
Thank you for letting me be a part of this. It was thoroughly enjoyable. I was so sure you paired people after you got the responses. It is impressive that you do it before and the pairings work out so well. I’ll be looking forward to the return of the series.
Thanks Jennifer! I really enjoy seeing who I think will work well with each other, and it’s rewarding when it works out :)
I really enjoyed taking part Simon, thank you! It was lovely to read all the other responses too – I’m looking forward to My Life in Books 2020!
Great to have you!
I loved going to new blogs, and I found a few to follow!
Excellent!
Thank you for creating this series, Simon, and for including me! I discovered some bloggers I didn’t know, and it was fun to wait for the posts every day. I am looking forward to My Life in Books next year! :)
Thanks Juliana :D
Thanks so much for inviting me to participate Simon. I appreciate it. I love this feature on your blog. Readers’ responses are endlessly fascinating and as pointed out above, it is a great introduction to other bloggers too. I do hope you are able to do it again in 2020. :D
It was lovely to have you!
This series was a delight to read! I picked up several new titles to add to the TBR, and lots of new blogs to sample. Thanks, Simon, for organizing, and to the bloggers who participated!
Many thanks!
It was so much fun Simon, I loved being part of it – and I’m overjoyed with the recommendations I received! ;) Can’t wait to see the next batch, thank you for putting all the work in to making it happen.