Book Blogging Organization · 20 March 2007
I’ve posted another review in the reviews section and I thought it might be helpful (to me and to my readers) if I clarified what I hope the site layout matures into.
Honeyed-Words.com is loosely organized around the idea that I read a book and then bring in ancillary commentary related to my experience of that book via food or other interdisciplinary means.
Books that I choose to “feature” in this manner (such as In the Time of the Butterflies and The Onion Girl) will be posted in the main section of this site, and their reviews will appear on the front page. Depending on the viability of interdisciplinary discussion about any given book, I expect that feature discussions will last an average of two weeks. As a general note, only books that I enjoyed will make it to the feature section, though not all books I enjoy will be featured. I estimate that I read about six books per month and naturally some of these books translate better into the culinary world than others.
My goal is that other books that I review, good or bad, will be added to the Reviews section. Permalinks to all book reviews appear in the Archives section regardless of whether they were featured or not. So far, I have quite a backload of books that I’ve read in 2007 that I haven’t written reviews for. Once I get more proficient with the technical aspects of the site and finalize the design, I should have more time to write about the books.
Right now, with only two reviews in the separate reviews section, I haven’t added an index. Currently, to find any of the reviews, featured or not, just use the “browse” function and select the “book reviews” category. As I organize the site more, I’m considering adding the following functionality:
- The “Queue” – A list of all books on my reading list
- The “Vault” – A list of all books that I’ve read in a given period, including a notation on whether they’ve been reviewed or not
- An index page for all reviews, sorted by genre
What do you guys think? As readers, is this layout functional for you? As foodies, do you find the literary information extraneous and distracting? My hope is to bring together the conspicuous consumption of both books and food and introduce a holistic discussion about the merits of both. Am I boring both my target audiences in trying to force this? Let me know if you have an opinion
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The Perfect Enemy · 8 February 2007
I was driving home last night, listening to Loveline produced by KROQ, mostly because it keeps me from falling asleep but also because I’ve somehow developed this strange addiction to hearing Dr. Drew yell at other people about their problems.
Joining the regular hosts, Dr. Drew and Striker, were two members of Fallout Boy (I think it was Joe and Pete), one of which said, when asked how pleased he was with the new album, that this is the one he is most pleased with, and that he usually doesn't like his work once he's done with it.
I can truly sympathize, except my problem is that I don’t like my work when I’m in the middle of it. He then went on to say that Patrick (another of the band’s members) kept saying to him “Perfect is the enemy of good.”
This is by no means a new concept, as best I can find it was originally attributed to Voltaire, but it was the first time I'd heard it quoted and it was oddly appropriate.
Perfect has been my number one enemy these last weeks. Stamina has been culprit number two. Today I am kicking both of them in the butt by posting this imperfect post, while sleepy and sick. Take that Perfect!
And as the site has been rather devoid of color lately, take this too. It's a purportedly perfect rose.
Also, check out the Beta version of “Reviews” link. This section will eventually include all the reviews that I write and, TextPattern willing, will allow searching by Title and Author. Featured books will also be included in the Blog section of the site. For now, the first book is up.
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More updates soon · 15 December 2006
I’ve got the navigation bar working for now, though there’s no content on the remainder of the pages.
Finals week is almost over. Next week I should have some more time to dedicate towards getting the rest of the functionality of the site up and running, and to make some actual posts not related to site functionality.
Until then, my essay calls, as do the pile of unwrapped Christmas presents.
Posted by fortrix
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