Saturday 16 March 2013

We are one!


Looking back and looking forward

We Sat Down is one year old today!
 
A detail from our handmade bookmark
 
We'd like to say a very big thank you to all the publishers, authors, bloggers, teachers, parents, readers and literary festival organisers who have helped to make We Sat Down such a memorable experience for us this past year. What started off as a digital recording of our reading thoughts and an exploration of Young Adult fiction has become so much more than we expected. Special thanks to Alice, Lucy, Kate, Nanny Bee, Grandad Africa, Daddy Cool and commenters who have all contributed their reviews and thoughts on this blog.

Our highlights

Little M:
My favourite things in the last year of blogging were being a part of Team Candor; talking to people about books that I have read; going to Hot Key Books in London and meeting other bloggers there like Georgia, Nina and Meg; and getting Twitter so I can talk with other bloggers/people in the booky world. I also love shadowing the Carnegie and seeing what people think about the books that have been nominated for it.

M:
Some of Little M’s favourite things have been mine too. Of course I know that reading is enjoyable but blogging about books has just made it terribly good fun as well. I’ve enjoyed exploring my own reading habits but the thing I’ve liked the most about the past year is the joint or group activities that blogging has fostered. The blogging teams that Harper Collins set up for the publication of Veronica Roth’s Insurgent felt like a huge reading party! Both of us being invited to meet publishers and authors together has also been wonderful. I’ve also really enjoyed doing interviews with authors, via e-mail and in person. Like Little M, a particular highlight has been following the Carnegie longlist and we're looking forward to shadowing the shortlist too (although I've read it all already).

Overall, it’s the discussions that we’ve had about individual books, reading and literature in general that have brought me a lot of satisfaction (much more so than my literature degree ever did). With a little bit of help from all sorts of people, we’ve also put together a book list for our future reading with about seventy book titles on it for us to explore over the next few years (and that's not incuding our Classics Club reading list!).

Remember, to celebrate our blogoversay, we're holding a 24 hour sponsored readathon next Saturday 23 March (inspired by Ms Adkins). Please pop by our Justgiving page to help raise money for school supplies for children who've been traumatised (many have been living on the streets).

 
 
We're looking forward to our next year with you all - happy reading!

9 comments:

  1. Happy blogoversary! I love your blog so am so glad that I found it. Your reviews are so good and you really do deserve everything that you have achieved.

    Reading your post has made me realise how lucky we are to be a part of this wonderful community that us book bloggers have forged and never did I think that I would be able to talk to such lovely people- bloggers, authors and publishers alike.

    The 24 Hour Readathon is such a good idea and I'll definitely try and participate for some of it. Wishing you many more years of blogging! :D

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    1. Thanks Lucy,that's so kind of you. And if I remember rightly yours is not too far away either?! Will be so cool if you can take part for some of the readathon next Saturday. We'll be tweeting throughout as well so we'll look out for you then.

      PS. The idea was inspired by Ms Adkins (@RPS_Library) who ran one in her school library a couple of weeks ago.

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  2. Got so excited reading the comments that I was moderating that I deleted 2 of them! So they're Copy & pasted from my e-mail account:

    Susie said:
    Happy Blogoversary! Your reviews have nudged me on to read lots of fabulous stuff this year - and I am of course proper chuffed to have been one of your interviewees. Good luck with the readathon, off to sponsor you now!

    (that would be Susie from http://susieday.com/)

    Thanks, Susie, we loved having you on here and loved your book, The Twice Lived Summer of Bluebell Jones. Thanks for heading over to sponsor us too!



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  3. Another one was:

    Alex:
    Happy Blogoversary. Doesn't the year go by quickly when you are writing about books you like? I always enjoy reading what both of you have to day. One of the things I really love about blogging is being about the meet readers from around the world. I feel like I have gotten to know so many great people, including yourselves.

    I hope you have many more successful blogging years and keep up the good work!

    (that would be Alex from http://thechildrenswar.blogspot.co.uk/)

    Thanks Alex, I think you are one of our most loyal blog readers and commenters. I feel as if I know you. It's great to hear what's going on over in the Big Apple from you! Look forward to lots more reading of each other's blogs!

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    1. Thanx Alex for all your comments on our blog in the last year. lets hope this year is as good.

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  4. Happy blogoversary M and little M! It was great to have met you guys through blogging events, and your reviews have always been awesome. The readathon event is a great way to celebrate, and a brilliant cause too! :) What will you be reading for it?

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    1. Thank you Georgia! We like your reviews too :) We have shelves of books to pick from next Saturday: leaving ourselves open to fancy. Lots of short light reads for weary eyes and when the going gets tough. But some heavier ones too if the mood takes us. We'll tweet and blog how it goes/went.

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  5. Happy Blogoversary!


    Congrats on the turning of one year! That's great! :D

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