Spines Speak

My “Spines Speak” feature includes all my bookish discussions:
monthly reviews, book lists, and updates on my blogging adventures

Spines Speak: Blog Design and Re-Brand

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I’ve been talking about creating new graphics for the blog for the past two years and for the first time in all that time, I’m actually making progress! So I felt like sharing some of what I’ve been working on today, though there’s still a long way to go before they’re ready for the official launch.

Also, if you’ve been poking around the site, you may notice more updated pages (and that sidebar!).

I’m planning to re-envision my logo as well as my header, especially since that header is filled with many books I haven’t read and doesn’t feel like a great reflection of my reading tastes. I know a lot of folks have specific header images for different kinds of posts, as well as graphics within posts like dividers and sign-offs. I’m still playing with those but for now I’ve started with my logo, which I hope will inform the other graphics once I get it finalized.

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Month in Review: January 2021

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It’s felt like a busy week of blogging and I’m writing this on Tuesday 😛 Time for some reflection in the new year, thanks to Jenna @ Falling Letters for the template!

Books finished:

  • Super Fake Love Song by David Yoon
  • (Trust) Falling for You by Charish Reid
  • The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
  • Chlorine Sky by Mahogany L. Browne
  • Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik
  • Tales from the Hinterland by Melissa Albert

Books reviewed:

Book cover for The Ghost Collector by Allison Mills. Illustration of a graveyard with a ghost man wearing headphones and a ghost cat leaning against gravestones. A woman's face with long brown hair is at the top of the cover, her eyes aren't visible.
Book cover for Transcendant Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi. Half pink and half black background with an illustration of a young black woman's torso turned away from the reader and knelt in prayer.
Book cover for My Conversations with Canadians by Lee Maracle. Title text is white over a photo of a person sitting with their head on their lap on tree branches laid in a star pattern. They are outside on a grassy lawn.
Book cover for Pemmican Wars by Katherena Vermette. Illustration of a girl with braided hair and headphones in her ears.
Book cover for Archibald Spider and His Paper Glider. Illustration of a spider on a red paper airplane that flies over a farm, a duck pond, field of cows, and a school bus driving by.
Book cover for Love Beyond Body, Space & Time: An Indigenous LGBT Sci-Fi Anthology. Illustration of two silhouettes of women holding hands and looking up at the moon. All colours in pinks and purples.
Book cover for Charming as a Verb by Ben Philippe. Illustration of a teenage Black boy and girl crossing a street at a crosswalk while walking a dog.
Book cover for The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue. Gold title text against a black background, Seven stars form a constellation over the title.
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2020 Recap: Blogging Adventures

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Yes, the first month of 2021 is almost over and I’m still recapping last year. Today, it’s all about looking back on my blogging adventures!

Unexpectedly, I had a really, really good blogging year (one pro of being unemployed 😛 ). As someone who says they’re not creative, I was surprised in looking back at how many original features I created this past year! I fully embraced expanding beyond my typical collection of book reviews and life updates and experimented with other types of content and formats.

And I loved it! True, it was a lot of work, especially near the end of the year when I started introducing a new feature every month. But I had so much to share and I’m so pleased with the response I got from all of you!

Read on for more on these features and links to check them out if you missed them!

January

After a two year wait, I finally launched Lovely Libraries! Since my university in Toronto had 44 libraries on campus, and I only ever used the one in my faculty’s building, I decided to spend a summer visiting each one. And of course as a lover of lists, I made a pros and cons list for each one I visited so I unintentionally had all the notes I needed to create this feature on the blog!

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