to
Yes, but not to fellow Booklikers, who are just moving the conversation to a more congenial gathering place, which is ironically, the one we all fled when we joined BL.
I really wish I were talented enough
to find a little mp3 sound clip that I could embed here of Andrea
Bocelli and Sarah Brightman harmonizing in that beautiful duet that they
made famous. It is trite but it is the perfect exit line and now you
all have that earworm anyhow because you all know what I am talking
about.
It's time to say, "Goodbye."
End of the month, end of the line.
I've updated my BLopoly for the last time here and I have spent the last
few weeks adjusting to the fact that this beautiful haven for readers
and bookish doings that some generous person gave us the wherewithal to
create is now closing its doors. I am now ready to pull the plug here
and move on. I will continue to check in here regularly to see what is
doing but this is my final post here (on Booklikes).
I have tried to collect, bookmark
and, in some cases, even add to my RSS feed, as many of your websites
and blogs as possible, so that I can continue to read the reviews and
commentaries that have kept me going over the past few years --and maybe
even find a new title or two to add to my TBR. I have left my forwarding info.
I may even open a thread in The Outpost. I will eventually figure out
how to follow the conversations that are now being delivered to my inbox
daily. One step at a time, my friends, one step at a time. Things are
looking brighter.
It's time to say, "Goodbye."
Finally, many thanks to the movers
and shakers, the folks who turned this website into more than just a
place to organize our book catalogs and blog to an unseen audience but
into a community of readers and bookish companionship, those who came
out of the woodwork and made it happen. Thank you all for introducing me
to Terry Pratchett and Discworld, to Peter Grainger (D.C. Smith), to
Rivers of London and scads of other books and authors I may well have
never tried if it weren't for your enthusiastic reviews and
commentaries. Thank you for Book Clubs and Buddy Reads and Mount TBR and
all the regular features. To you all, my fellow BOOLIKERS, I say...
"Thanks for all the fish"
I effectively left BL on 14 July and it was the hardest thing because you're absolutely right: the community we all created was very special. It just makes it ever so much more frustrating that the current owners of the site are not able to realise this and use it to its full potential.
ReplyDeleteGoing back to GR has its own challenges - and trying to follow all of the activity over there is one of the challenges.
Btw, are you playing HW Bingo with us? I couldn't see you in the group listing. (There is a separate group for the bingo.)
Congrats!! You are my first comment in this blog. Of course I didn't open the blog for comment until the other night but still.
ReplyDeleteBT, it was very hard. But having the OUTPOST made it easier to quit because now so much of the conversation is there now. Starting this blog helped as well. Booklikes was a unique platform and it is a shame what happened to it. But it was special because of the people and the community and not because of the place. It is a moveable feast, thank goodness.
On GR, I have managed to figure out how to receive a daily digest for all the posts added each day. It is in my inbox each morning. Some days I can get through the whole thing and not feel entirely lost and other days I can only read about half of it. Eventually I will find the rhythm. I'm trying to follow the talk on LT but I think that may eventually fizzle since most BLers are putting their effort into the GR and because figuring out how to get notifications is difficult.
I'm not doing HW Bingo -- and I am going to miss it this year because I loved following everyone's progress. This year, there are no seats in the cheering section. No complaining, just explaining. This year they have to figure out how to run the game on the new platform and that is going to take all their efforts and attention. I'm almost strictly a cozy reader and that doesn't leave me much breadth for a bingo card, so I have yet to play.