Book Chase Is 5-Years-Old Today

Two of Book Chase's Biggest Fans

Well, you know what Robert Burns said about the "best-laid plans of mice and men"?  I am here to tell you that the man was right on the mark about that one.

I had rather grandiose plans to work Thursday evening and Friday afternoon on the announcement that Book Chase has today officially reached the ripe old age of five whole years.  I know that's not a real big deal just based on the fact that I've seen so many 10-year blog milestones marked in the last few weeks.  But, believe me, five years is about five times longer than I ever figured I would last.

Anyway, that was when the real world decided to take control of my schedule instead.  Last night my tweener granddaughter invited me to take her to the Middle School girls basketball doubleheader - where I sat with a few fathers while she visited with her friends at the other end of the stands.  (Hey, you take what you can get from them at that age.)  And then, this morning, I got a phone call from my father's assisted living center telling me that he had fallen and needed to go to the emergency room.  So here it is, almost five p.m., and I'm finally at home trying to post something before I completely miss the date.

So, a brief summation it has to be.  Since beginning Book Chase in January 2007, I have read 685 books and, according to the counter in my sidebar, I have reviewed 684 of them (and I have no idea why I skipped one, or which one it was).   This is post number 1,771 since the blog's inception, and those posts have drawn 9,445 comments.  Answering comments from interested (or provoked) readers has been the most enjoyable aspect of book-blogging for me.  I have been particularly enthralled by the long-running conversation under the post I made about Anne Perry's murder conviction - and how could I ever forget being threatened with a lawsuit by the brother of a very well-known and powerful British celebrity?

I do want to tie in some kind of giveaway to mark the end of the blog's fifth year, but that will have to wait until later this weekend.

In the meantime, I want to thank all of you who have read and/or commented on my posts here for the last few years.  One or two of you have, I'm pretty sure, been here since mid-2007 or early 2008.  It really is all about the book community and finding people who enjoy discussing the passion we all have for the written word.  Coincidentally, I ran into a quote in the book I'm currently reading, A Novel Bookstore, that makes that exact point:

"You have just confirmed to me that one of the most fortunate purposes of literature is to bring like-minded people together and get them talking."

Thanks for talking with me for the last five years.