Over the last few days we've been feverishly going through our old books from one end our shelves to the other. It's the "Stay at home" equivalent of running a marathon in your back yard, or climbing mount everest by measuring the amount of times you can go up and down stairs, only in literary form.
The whole point of our #Booky100Keepers articles was to describe some of the reasons we began the book blog in the first place, why we fell hopelessly in love with books (and writing about books) and all those intricate little stories and moments that emerged from encountering these for the first time, and again some years later.
Most folk aren't really interested in other people's retrospectives and if we're totally honest with ourselves, these articles are our swansong, our way of bowing out gracefully with one last collection of the truly awesome books that have led us to this point.
Nostalgia is addictive. Most people will hear a particular song and like a jump-cut in a movie, be thrown back to the place and time in their lives where they first heard it, or where they kissed someone while it played in the background, or it was played at someone's funeral, or on their car stereo during a road trip. Some people will get the same jump cut from watching their favourite movies, and we have most definitely been getting it from reading these books.
As you'll see as the 100 days count down to August, there's a lot of love for the books and the folk who have created them in these articles, and we hope that above all else that comes across in what we're writing. There's also that other part of the addiction of nostalgia, the hope that folk will read these retrospectives and dash out and want to read / own these books themselves, to share with their own kids, or (in some cases) to read themselves.
Our world has changed, is changing, will change but the powerful draw of nostalgia will never alter, and we truly hope you're enjoying these. Though work is busy I'll try and tweet about the articles (the automation stuff will tweet about them for me anyway but it does a bit of a half arsed job) and also don't forget that there'll be articles during the weekend too, we really are pulling out all the books - and all the stops - and we've got a lot to get through so thank you if you're joining us on this journey, and give yourself a huge pat on the back if you fall in love with any of these books, you have exquisite taste!