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My Most Popular Posts Of All Time

A photo of the vestibule of the Russell Coates Museum

I thought I would have a look back at what I’ve written so far in these almost 15 years. I am thrilled that this list has changed from the last time I checked – for a very long time one of my most popular posts was of a very little known book and while I loved the book (I might as well include what it is) I don’t know if my review had any bearing on sales, which was disheartening. It’s also no longer available.

I love that newer posts are on here as well as some of my long-standing favourites and posts I worked hard on. They are in order of view counts and I have chosen to highlight the top 20:

1) What Happened To Faina At The End Of Eowyn Ivey’s The Snow Child?

I was incredibly happy with this post; I’d found the book compelling. With the book receiving a new edition, I wouldn’t be surprised if this post stays at number one for a while longer.

2) Alice In Wonderland: What Is The Appropriate Age?

This was to answer people who were coming to my site looking for, well, this answer. I found it a fascinating subject to write about because Alice seems younger than the text itself reads. (Though that could of course simply be down the the era.)

3) The Ending Of Kate Chopin’s The Awakening

I just had to explore this topic.

4) On The Reasons For Censoring Names And Places In Victorian Literature

In my early days of reading classics, why Victorian literature censored things was a question that took up my time. Me being me, I had to do some research.

5) How To Order Surnames

Still something I’m not perfect on without double checking, I admit to ordering my bookshelves by first name (though that does also help when the author is someone with three names, you can’t find any mention of them online, and you don’t know if the middle one is the first in a double-barrel or a middle name).

6) Did Scarlett Get Rhett Back?

Another question I asked myself that I had to explore. Was this the very early beginnings of my podcast? Quite possibly!

7) Is There Anything In The Fact Tolstoy Calls Both Karenin And Vronsky ‘Alexei’?

Something that definitely helped me get through the to-me slog that was Levin’s portions of Tolstoy’s book – study the parts I enjoyed.

8) Identity In Daphne Du Maurier’s Rebecca

The first exploratory post I wrote about the book and the first time I studied it.

9) Elizabeth Is Missing: Who Killed Sukey?

This did very well once the TV show started.

10) Frédéric Dard – Bird In A Cage

My review of the English translation of the classic French thriller. I don’t actually know why this has done so well.

11) The Reception Of Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland From Contemporary Reviewers

A study I decided to do whilst enjoying a week or so of reading The Athenaeum.

12) Lisa See – Lady Tan’s Circle Of Women

My review of See’s still-currently-latest book. I’m thrilled this is on there; our podcast episode together has done very well, too.

13) The Symbolism Of The Sphinx In H G Wells’ The Time Machine

Not much to say about this one other than it interested me.

14) Looking At The Theme Of Love In Daphne Du Maurier’s Rebecca

Last night I had to write about Rebecca again.

15) On The Maude And Pevear & Volokhonsky Translations Of Anna Karenina

I remember well spending a good amount of time trying to read the Maude translation. I hated it and actually later found out – if I recall correctly – that the Maudes did not like the book. I think Pevear & Volokhonsky did, though, and thanks to them I finished the book.

16) Tender Is The Night And Do You Mind If I Pull Back The Curtain?

Why did this line get repeated so much? It annoyed me enough that I wrote about it.

17) The Character Progression Of Far From The Madding Crowd’s Gabriel Oak

She said she’d never read that book. She read that book. She loved that book. She let herself do a tiny bit of study of that book.

18) Jealousy In Daphne Du Maurier’s Rebecca

There I went again.

19) Dolly Alderton – Everything I Know About Love

My review of Alderton’s memoir. I’ve been surprised to see this one on the list but it did prove to be a popular book.

20) Zelda Fitzgerald In Midnight In Paris

I really liked the character.

Compiling this post – a kind of tertiary source, I suppose – was both nostalgic and intriguing. I’m still struggling to write to the perfectionist standards I can’t quite shake away, but I’ve done it once, I should be able to do it again. It also illustrates how my reading has changed over the years – my original progression to adult literature, to my minor focus on classics, and now on genre fiction.


Episode 114: Edward Carey (Edith Holler)

Charlie and Edward Carey talk at length about the arts and the theatre in the context of his book and in general. They also talk about Norwich as Edward’s book is his love letter to the city.

Please note there is a mild swear word in this episode.

If you’re unable to use the media player above, this page has various other options for listening as well as the transcript.

 
 

Andrew Blackman

January 27, 2025, 1:28 pm

Interesting post, Charlie! It’s good to look back over 15 years (has it been that long?!) and see what’s the most popular. It’s interesting to see that questions seem to do well—I guess those are the kinds of things people tend to look up, more than reviews of books in general. Anyway, here’s to many more years :)

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