Oh to be sweet sixteen , winstonsdad turns 16 today

Another year has passed, and they fly past so quickly these days. I find it hard to believe that it only seems like yesterday. I was inspired by the folks I had met on Twitter and started this blog. Now, 16 years later, with 2460 posts, nearly 1500 reviews, and well, twenty short of that total. The book bloggers who inspired me have long since passed away. The blogs I first followed, barring one or two, have since gone. But for me, if anything, the desire to blog is more now than it has ever been.I wish I had more comments, but I am not great at commenting and replying. I will admit that it is something I struggle with, but I am thankful for those who do comment and wish I were better at commenting back. But I am me anyway. Over the last year, I have gone on to my own website as I was running out of space and moving forward. I will be putting affiliate links for the books I review when I set this up. Adding some Ko-Fi or such, just by doing it on my own website via WordPress and now trying to get all my SEO stuff sorted, costs me a little money. I just want to recoup the cost over the year. The blog has lots of reviews, ok, they aren’t the best, but they aren’t the worst. I have reviewed books from many countries and hope to eventually reach the complete global count of countries. But I am also looking to add books to countries I have already read. So here’s to the next 16 years, reaching 1,500 reviews, then 2,000, and so on. I am basically saying this blog isn’t going anywhere everI felt like a fraud for years, not clever enough, not well-read enough, not popular. But actually these days I couldn’t give a shit is there any other bogs with sommany reviews from so many countries around well. Not many. I feature many small presses, championing them, most of which I support by actually buying their books. I have been part of the shadow jury for the Booker and the IFFP for a long time, which I started. I started the Translation Thurs hashtag. I feel I have done quite a lot over the years. I am so proud of my blog and what it has brought me. I am well read and will always feel unread, but shouldn’t we all !!! There is so many great writers out there in translation and still waiting to be translated!! The scenery has changed in those 16 years. When I started, there were fewer books we are in a golden age of books in translation. Let’s bask in the glow of it all and let’s make sure we keep getting more. Thanks to everyone who has read a post, commented, invited me to a place, sent me a book, and helped me on the first 16 years of carrying this journey into the next 16 years!