Book Reviews - A Note of Explanation

During the past year,  I have been featuring increasing numbers of book reviews on my blog. Some have dealt with the primary interest of the blog, bluegrass music or more widely selected music materials which I see as having relevance to bluegrass. Others are books I read because they attracted my interest when I discovered them, so I requested them as pre-publication galleys from the publishers through several different web sites providing such a service.

Books, like bluegrass festivals, seem to come in seasons. We're in the midst of the run-up to Beach Reading - mysteries, thrillers, light reading ideas for the summer. They come in June with release times suitable for people to purchase for summer reading, thus I've posted several recently and have several more in the pipeline. Fall reading often consists of heavier fiction and more political and social commentary before Christmas season arrives with a bunch of blockbusters. These galleys are released to reviewers anywhere from four to six months in advance of publication dates, permitting plenty of time for reading and reflection before publication of reviews surrounding the release date. Reading is a major part of my recreation and entertainment interests, and I enjoy writing book reviews and criticism. It seems to be pretty well accepted, and I post my book reviews on the blog with shorter versions on Amazon and a reader's web site called Goodreads.

I've been considering re-formatting my blog to separate book reviews of more general interest from my bluegrass material and book reviews pertaining to bluegrass and more general music related topics.  I've been reluctant to undertake this because I think my readers are comfortable with my format, and many bluegrass readers are also book readers, although certainly not a majority. What do you think about this? Are my book reviews interesting and useful to you. Would you prefer that they have their own section on the blog? Please comment here or on Facebook. I look forward to your opinions? - Ted