30,000 views may not be a milestone for many blogs. But, for a blog like this which was intended mostly as a record of what I’ve read, the fact that I’ve had 30,000 views is pretty exciting. And it seems appropriate to let you, the readers know what you the other readers have been reading here. So, here is the top ten most read posts on I Just Read About That… with a director’s commentary tacked on.
1. 819 views
Gordon Korman–Son of the Mob (2002)
SOUNDTRACK: GORDON LIGHTFOOT-The Complete Greatest Hits
I’m pretty much 100% certain that Gordon Lightfoot is NOT the attraction that made this post my highest one. Son of the Mob is usually a summer reading book. However, I get hits on this throughout the year. I’m guessing it’s just a popular book.
2. 521 views
Pseudonymous Bosch–The Name of This Book is Secret (2007)
SOUNDTRACK: THE FLIGHT OF THE CONCHORDS-EP
This book provided me with the most comments of any post. Most of the viewers are trying to find out Who Pseudonymous Bosch is. Which I don’t know. I’m still waiting to see lots of views for the sequel, (only 46 so far) but mostly it’s this first one. The Flight of the Conchords may have also contributed to this success.
3. 503 views
Jeff Kinney–Diary of a Wimpy Kid (2007) & Diary of A Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules (2008)
SOUNDTRACK: DROPKICK MURPHYS-The Meanest of Times
This book is a huge hit everywhere. No surprise that people are looking for more information about it. And since I covered 2 books with this post, I halved my share of views. Rats! (But the 3rd book has 137 views already!) I suspect the Murphys did not impact the 3rd place finish here.
4. 478 views
McSweeney’s #27 (2008)
SOUNDTRACK-THE AIRBORNE TOXIC EVENT-4 songs from MySpace
I’m not sure why this McSweeney’s is the highest ranked one. This is the edition with three books, first is from Art Spiegelman, second is a collection of art pieces and third is the fiction. It is the issue with Stephen King, so that may have something to do with it, otherwise not too many search terms pop up for the other authors. The Airborne Toxic Event must have some impact as I seem to get a lot of searches for them.
5. 432 views
David Goldberg, Seth Rogen & Evan Goldberg–Superbad: The Drawings (2008)
SOUNDTRACK: PAUL F. TOMPKINS-Impersonal
Everybody loves pictures of penises. And I think some people love Paul F. Tompkins.
6. 425 views
Alex Stone–”The Magic Olympics: with tricks explained!” (Harper’s July 2008)
SOUNDTRACK: JENS LEKMAN-Night Falls Over Kortedala
I walked into a hornet’s nest of controversy when I reviewed this story. I had no idea that magicians were so ornery and protective. And thank you all for coming. I’d like to think that Jens had some impact, but i suspect not.
7. 415 views
Marisha Pessl–Special Topics in Calamity Physics (2007)
SOUNDTRACK: AGAINST ME!-New Wave
I would have thought that it was Against Me who brought all the views here, but Special Topics seems to be something of a slow burner. I note in my search terms that this book keeps popping up. So good for Marisha.
8. 382 views
[UPDATE] McSweeney’s #23 (2007)
SOUNDTRACK: WEAKERTHANS-Reconstruction Site & Watermark
This was the first McSweeney’s that I reviewed (and this is the post where I updated to review each author, not just the whole book). This one has Wells Tower, Roddy Doyle, Ann Beattie, and Deb Olin Unferth. Sorry Weakerthans, we know who the top draw was here.
9. 380 views
About me
Narcissism is the key to a blog, no?
10. 350 views
Chynna Clugston-Major–Blue Monday Vol. 3: Inbetween Days (2003)
SOUNDTRACK: RICHARD THOMPSON-Sweet Warrior
I wasn’t sure why this fairly old collection of a relatively unknown comic was doing so great. Then I discovered the incoming link from a Richard Thompson website! All the popularity here is from RT. Well done, sir. Well done indeed. So, where’s the follow up?
And the two least popular posts? The ones that only one person has viewed each? And they’re 0ld enough that it was probably me logging in from work?
1 view
What I learned…(12) [Vacations] (Aug 19, 2007)
No one visits I Just Read About That… to read about a non-reading vacation.
1 view
Back online. (Nov 6, 2007)
In the future, I won’t bother saying that I’m coming back, I’ll just come back.
In fact, my very first post (Yet Another Blog About Me–May 16, 2007) has even been viewed 15 times! Making it more popular than Ian McEwan’s On Chesil Beach (!). And even more exciting, my own short story Complex Sentence has been viewed (if not read) 130 times, which is about as many people who would have read it if it was ever accepted for publication somewhere. So thank you. I’ll have to load up another one soon.
So anyhow, thanks all who have come to visit.
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