These last couple of days have been absolutely incredible for me, and my soul has been truly touched in many ways. I know I’ve been bouncing off the walls, but in the eyes of some people it seems that I’ve been wagging my tail too much. They’ve become suspicious. They’ve viewed me as nothing more than a ‘look at me I’m great’ kind of character; a self-promoting big mouth. Fact is they couldn’t be further from the truth, they really couldn’t!

I do admit that I essentially blog for self-promotion, but not in the way most people may think. And that’s because the only thing I want to promote about myself is my passion for books and for reading. I do so solely in the hope that spreading my passion will encourage others to take up books and read, and hopefully with the same level of enthusiasm that I do. The trouble is some people don’t believe this. They think that my intentions are anything but pure, and that I are merely post and promote my posts for personal benefit and gain. This is a view that’s really beginning to tear me apart.

To some extent I don’t blame some in the lit blogging world for being suspicious of those who show boundless enthusiasm and friendliness towards them. In my 2+ years of blogging it’s broken my heart many times to see so many obnoxious, self-serving glory-hunters who blog solely for personal gain; for minor fame and fortune. They employ the tools of enthusiasm and friendliness to get to where they want to get to, and in doing so they dupe people. The people being duped then, of course, become wary. So when someone comes along who is genuinely friendly and enthusiastic, they are instantly looked upon with suspicion. They’re ignored, cast by the wayside, fobbed off and treated as nothing important, and it’s becoming increasingly impossible to convince people you may be other than that.

And it’s this negativity against those who show genuine enthusiasm and friendliness that’s really starting to affect me. Like many bloggers I pour countless unpaid hours into what I do, and I don’t mind, I really don’t. I have no attraction towards making money. I care even less about fame. Yet I do care enormously about passing on my passion for reading, and about spreading the word about books and authors that I’m truly enthusiastic about. And when you’re doing that it’s nice to have people on your side. Often though, they’re not!

Take that Simon Van Booy/ Kevin Barry post I put up yesterday. All told that took me 9 hours to put together from start to finish. The time it took doesn’t matter because all I wanted to do was to give other people some impression of how incredible these writers are, and how wonderful the event was. I think I achieved that because those who read the post and took the time to respond showed their appreciation, and to those people I thank them a million times over.

I think however that I made the mistake of showing too much enthusiasm for this post by going on to Twitter and promoting it a couple of times. I even made a point of tagging @EdBookFest onto one of my tweets in the hope that they would interested in me having reported on the event so thoroughly, and that they would pass it on for others to see. They chose instead to ignore me. Why? Well they may have genuinely just missed the tweet of course, in which case I apologise. But on the hand they may have considered me too insignificant to be worthy of promotion (which is fair enough because I am merely a minnow). Most worryingly though, is that they ignored me simply because they thought I was trying to raise my own profile – my own sense of self-importance – and it is the thought of this being the reason that upsets me most.

EDIT: Time to eat lashings of humble pie because @EdBookFest DID RT my post (as did @BeautifulBooks). I swear to God that the RT doesn’t show up in my #replies section. It’s only when I go to their profile page that I see it. So if you’re reading this @EdBookFest my apologies for thinking that you didn’t care. Regardless, my angst in general remains. Read on..

Of course now it probably looks like my whole decision not to post a follow-up post on the Van Booy/Barry event is based on one passing incident. Well I can tell you in all honesty that it’s not. I’m really not that sensitive. Rather my decision not to post a follow up, is based on my fear of suspicion; that it may only look as though I’m putting up another ‘look at me I’m great’ post- another exercise in self promotion – instead of what it genuinely is i.e. me sharing a special moment in my life.

And that’s why I’m also now seriously rethinking my position as a lit blogger (despite the kind, kind things that people have said to me over the past few days). I don’t think I can spend many more countless hours toiling over something, that people consider to have been written for any other reason than to share a genuine passion. Maybe it’s time for me to take my reading back to the private and personal, and to leave it to others (the genuine ones) to continue spreading the love for books.

Lately however I’ve begun to have doubts, and I’m starting to wonder if my Reading Journal feature is maybe taking things a little too far. It’s not that anyone has ever said anything to the negative – in fact a couple of people have said some really nice things about the feature – it’s just a niggle that my Reading Journal feature isn’t really serving any purpose.

Preferring to work things out for myself I’ve never actually reached out like this to ask readers directly what they thought about something on RobAroundBooks before, but this really is important to me, and that’s why I’m asking. So I hope you can grace me with a minute or two of your time to let me know what you think.

So fellow reader am I flooding people with too much information here with my Reading Journal? Is a weekly journal entry of more use to people than a daily one? Are my entries too long, labourious and boring? Are there things I’m talking about in my Reading Journal which you don’t think I should be? Conversely, are there things I should be including but aren’t? I’d love to know what you think!

You can do that either by leaving a comment below, dropping me an email at Rob@RobAroundBooks.com, or, because I know a lot of you are shy even submitting your thoughts anonymously using the box below.

This may also be a good opportunity to let me know what else you do or don’t like about RobAroundBooks, and what changes you’d like to see me make, and what features you’d like to see me add. So please don’t be shy in holding back any. I’m a big lad, with a tough skin , and I really want to know you think.

I know your time is precious to you, so I thank you in advance from the bottom of my heart.
Warmest
Rob

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The drinks have been drunk, the party poppers have been popped, and so there’s only one thing left to do on this very special first day of the new decade (aside from the breaking the seal on a brand new diary…mmm). And that’s to wish fellow bibliophiles the world over, all the very best for 2010.

As the door closes on 2009 I also want to take the opportunity to pass on a big bottom-of-the-heart thank you to all friends and visitors of RobAroundBooks, who have shown their love and support over the past twelve months. Books may hold a special place in my heart, but many of you in demonstrating what the spirit of human kindness is really all about, have also found a permanent home in my bookish ‘ticker’. I’m indebted to you all, and I hope that you will continue forward with me, in what I hope will be the most exciting year ever, at RobAroundBooks.

So here’s to an extraordinary literary-flavoured 2010. May your forthcoming year be full of words, wonderment and many book-shaped gifts, and may all the belligerents in power take a leaf out of the bibliophile’s book this year and:

We can only hope fellow readers, we can only hope. Normal blogging service will resume from Monday 4th.

There’s only one thing I like more than receiving short collections, and that’s receiving short story collections that offer something a little different from the norm (whatever the definition of ‘norm’ may be). Here’s two for today’s Daily Bookshot; one published by Saqi and the other by Telegram.

The first is a collection from Pakistani writer Aamer Hussein entitled, Turquoise (Saqi Books). Despite being an avid short story fan I’ve never read any of Hussein’s work, which is surprising because Hussein is revered by many as being one of the greatest short story writers alive today. To date he’s published five collections including this one which was first published in 2002.

Cultural exploration is of huge importance to me in my reading, as is the need to read stories which are both memorable and moving. Thankfully the blurb for Turquoise holds promise that both of these prerequisites will be met:

Direct and startlingly intimate, Hussein’s stories are set in troubled times – in Karachi, Lahore and London – amid war, partition and military rule, the anticipation and anxiety of changing homes or cities, the mixed blessings of family life, the hopes and failures of love and work. Turquoise illuminates the passions and fears of a world more complex and more beautiful than the media images of Islam and Pakistan convey.

The second collection, The Blue (Telegram Books) is by Maggie Gee, the industrious novelist. I’ve never had the pleasure of reading the short stories of this writer either. But to be fair The Blue is Gee’s debut collection of short stories, so the opportunity to read her may not have arisen quite as readily, as with say Hussein.

A debut collection it may be but Gee’s The Blue seems to offer just as much depth and diversity as Hussein’s does:

The people in The Blue try and often fail to understand the world, freeing themselves by small acts of courage, love or folly. A journalist decides to convert an evangelist in mid-air; a solicitor gives up his day job to help young artists; a Middle Eastern woman shocks her children as she walks through the heat towards the sea; a man, in a moment of madness, cuts down his neighbour’s tree

These subtle fables of everyday life are set against an intricate global backdrop where life is harder for outsiders. Exquisitely written and aerated by comedy, they show human beings who struggle to live good lives.

So that’s a brief rundown on these two very different, but very intriguing story collections. It’s too soon to give you anything more of a personal opinion on either of them until I’ve read them. But the prospect of the reading journey that lies ahead with regards to these two books, is nothing short of thrilling.

So what about you my fellow readers. Have you ever had the pleasure (or displeasure) of reading the short stories of either of these writers?

Books about books are in a genre of their own, and they hold a special place in my heart. I like to call these books ‘soul food for the bibliophile’ because they not only have the potential to leave a lasting and profound impression on the reader, they also have the power to fuel the soul of the true book lover too. Books such as Ex Libris by Anne Fadiman (Penguin), Sixpence House by Paul Collins (bloomsbury) and A Pound of Paper by John Baxter (DoubleDay), have all managed to have that affect on me in the past, and if its cover blurb is anything to go by then this one, Howards End is on the Landing by Susan Hill (published by Profile Books on the 15th October), is another one to add to my ‘soul food’ list:

Early one autumn afternoon in pursuit of an elusive book on her shelves, Susan Hill encountered dozens of others that she had never read, or forgotten she owned, or wanted to read for a second time. The discovery inspired her to embark on a year-long voyage through her books, forsaking new purchases in order to get to know her own collection again.

A book which is left on the shelf for a decade is a dead thing, but it is also a chrysalis, packed with the potential to burst into new life. Wandering through the house that day, Hill’s eyes were opened to how much of that life was stored in her home, neglected for years. Considering everything from Macbeth and The Life and Opinions of Tristam Shandy through Virginia Woolf, Dickens and Roald Dahl, Howards End on the Landing charts the journey of one of the nation’s most accomplished authors as she revisits the conversations, libraries and bookshelves of the past that have informed a lifetime of reading and writing.

You know, I adore this analogy of the chrysalis, and the notion that a book appearing as a dead thing has the potential to burst into new life, if only its owner would pick it up and read it. I often meditate myself on the books that languish as unread on my bookshelves, and wonder what hidden treasures they may contain, and to what degree a particular book may enrich my life should I pick it up and ‘bring it to life’ (these meditations always surface again when I’m about to read a book and they form the basis of my ‘forethoughts’ for that book). I’ve never had the ingenuity to come up with an analogy for this ‘sleeping potential’ concept before, but this chrysalis one fits the bill perfectly.

It seems like Hill explores this ‘meditation of the unread book’ to a large degree in Howards End is on the Landing, and that’s definitely why this personal memoir appeals to me the most. However, I also see something else I really like the look of. I see Howards End is on the Landing as a journey through the book collection of a truly passionate book lover; one who is also an accomplished and revered author. That for me is a cordon bleu serving of bookish ‘soul food’.

Profile Books | 15 October 2009 | £12.99 | HARDBACK | 240 PP | ISBN: 9781846682650

• Reader of the Week: Frances Evangelista
• Afterthoughts: Song for Night by Chris Abani
• Daily Bookshot: Boy Soldier
• ‘Book Bites’ for Monday 22nd June 2009
• On The Radar: A hot trio from Oneworld Classics, plus a title each from Mann and Hesse
• Daily Bookshot: Tsotsi Time!
• ‘Book Bites’ for Tuesday 23rd June 2009
• Bookshelf of the Week: AGMK’s Bookcase Door
• Daily Bookshot: Quiet Jesus, I’m Reading
• Introducing ‘Reading Journal’
• Reading Journal: Wed 24th June 2009
• ‘Book Bites’ for Wednesday 24th June 2009
• Devouring De Maupassant: The Piece of String
• Devouring De Maupassant: The Christening
• Daily Bookshot: The Russians Are Here!
• Reading Journal: Thu 25th June 2009
• ‘Book Bites’ for Thursday 25th June 2009
• Daily Bookshot: Don’t Kill it Daddy!
• Reading Journal: Fri 26th June 2009
• Daily Bookshot: True Boy Soldier
• Reading Journal: Sat 27th June 2009
• Forethoughts: Tsotsi by Athol Fugard
• ‘Shot of Short’ #41: Immortal by Alex Burrett
• Daily Bookshot: Telegram’s Glorious Polar Fog
• Reading Journal: Sun 28th June 2009

That’s your lot folks. Many thanks to all of you for your support, guidance and opinion over the past week. Looking forward to the next seven reading days with great excitement, as I’m sure you lot are too.
Happy reading guys ‘n’ gals!
Rob

• Daily Bookshot: The Mark of a Master
• ‘Shot of Short’ #38: A Cloud of Facts by Margot Livesey
• Rob’s Reader of the Week: Rob Redman
• Daily Bookshot: My Friend Edgar!
• ‘Book Bites’ for Monday 8th June 2009
• Daily Bookshot: Hemingway’s returned to life…
• Bookshelf of the Week: Diagonal Bookshelves
• Daily Bookshot: Ahhh the Effort….
• “Chekhov Shorts”: Sorrow
• Daily Bookshot: Colour Swatching with a Book
• ‘Book Bites’ for Thursday 11th June 2009
• Daily Bookshot: Whoop and Shout, it’s London and Paris

OK, that’s all of them I think! Not many reviews to talk about but that’s what I’m busting a gut doing right now. Next week’s a special week – birthday week, so a lot to think about there (aside from reaching 42 – gulp!). Thanks to everyone for your continued support and I’ll see you all next week for another round up, which will hopefully be a lot less hectic.

• Daily Bookshot: One delights! The other intrigues!
• Devouring De Maupassant: Mademoiselle Fifi
• Rob’s Reader of the Week: Stewart McAbney
• Daily Bookshot: Mr. Self Had Better Be Right
• ‘Book Bites’ for Monday 1st June 2009
• Daily Bookshot: Zombie Jane!
• ‘Book Bites’ for Tuesday 2nd June 2009
• Bookshelf of the Week: Clark’s bedside bookshelf
• Daily Bookshot: The Joy of Unexpected Books
• On The Radar: Sofia Tolstoy, City Lit, Slinkachu and Canadian short stories
• Daily Bookshot: Out of the Margins

Well that’s yer lot Jock. Thanks as always to every bookish soul who touched my heart this week, and that’s means everyone who stopped by (whether you left a message or not). I’ll be back with the round up next Sunday, and what’s the betting the time’s going to fly?

It’s actually been a funny week reading-wise. I didn’t get through anywhere near as much as I wanted to, but what I did manage to read was soul-touching. There’s not a lot of evidence of that in this round-up, but I’ll make sure I find the time next week, to get the posts up that will convince you of this.

• Rob’s Reader of the Week: Rick Seifert
• Daily Bookshot: Bench Book
• Forethoughts: The Cardboard Universe by Christopher Miller
• Daily Bookshot: The Midori Way
• Forethoughts: The Solitude of Prime Numbers by Paolo Giordano
• Bookshelf of the Week: Ole Jensen’s Collect bookcase
• Daily Bookshot: Glint! Shimmer! Shine!
• Questions for Paolo Giordano?

That’s the lot. Thanks to all who stopped by the blog during the past seven days, even on such a seemingly non-productive week. My blogging presence will be more prominent next week though, and I may slip in a small surprise or two. So be sure to tune in.

Until next Sunday – happy reading week everyone.
Rob

This is just a quick addition to my forethoughts post from yesterday on Paolo Giordano’s newly translated novel The Solitude of Prime Numbers, which is released in the UK next week.

I stated in the post that a live Q & A session was taking place with Paolo on the World Literature Forum sometime in the near future. Well ‘the near future’ just happens to be tomorrow from 4pm, as Paolo will sit and answer any of the questions which are added to this particular question thread.

Other than gaining the opportunity to speak with a great writer, Transworld are also offering up a signed copy of The Solitude of Prime Numbers, together with a goodie bag of full of Transworld’s finest translated fiction, for the best question asked (I don’t know why I’m telling you this because now I’m seriously lowering my own chances of winning such a delectable prize )).

Now don’t panic if you can’t get along to the World Literature Forum before tomorrow (especially if you’ve still to get a hold of the book), because Paolo has promised to pop back from time to time over the coming weeks to answer any more questions which pop up on that official question thread. What a guy!

While I’m at it, now would probably also be a good time to thank the World Literature Forum’s Stewart McAbney for offering up the online venue for this Q & A session, and if you don’t know who Stewart McAbney is (although not many people don’t), then tune into next week’s Rob’s Reader of the Week feature, when you’ll get the chance to meet him.