
I click on Jessica’s of The Bookworm Chronicles latest post and she wrote about the Prolific Blogger Award. Jessica had picked 7 of her favourite bloggers to pass the award to. Number 1…. number 2… halfway through the list I thought, wow, awesome… well, I wish I could win an award, somewhere, somehow…anything, it’s a long shot but can I win something?
And guess what??!!! I am at number 6.. Wow I’m gobsmacked and stunned. 14 months of blogging and this is my first award!!! I have never been so happy at number 6!
Jessica had passed the award to me for being a treasure trove of in-depth book reviews of which I haven’t even made a dint into reading all there is to find here. Awww…. you are so sweet Jessica. I tried to be as thorough as I could, I’m just wired that way at work and at home. I gave it my best shot and try to make the world a better place by giving out my best.
Recently I have reduced the number of books I read as I put my cyber life and reading life on hold and focus on making some new changes in my life. I am itching to get back to reading voraciously as soon as I can. Thank you everyone who kept my blog hits on expected average and not suffered with my lack of reading.
These are the people who kept me reading and blogging, in no particular order here they are:
First, there is Mee of Book of Mee maintains a visually very beautiful blog (ok that’s not the reason to be nominated). She read books which I would love to read and she is very creative in her blog entries. She entertains with entries about movies which originated from a bestselling book, youtube videos, authors, food, movie characters and the reading challenges that she participated. She has the most varied format of book blogging I have ever seen.
Next, Michelle of Su[Shu] as her blog implies reads books that is comforting to her. She writes in a comforting way too, like sharing thoughts with a friend. Michelle replies to every comment and at one point blogs 3 books in a row that I was crazy about and it seals my belief that we could be great blogger friends (only if I get back reading and blogging consistently again).
In number 3, there is Vulpes Libris, the book foxes. The Book Fox clubs really consists of a group of writers (published and unpublished), journalists, librarians, actors – as well as wildlife painters, craft-workers, opera-buffs and dog-lovers based in London. It is a club of intellectuals really and they blog about books that inspires me to read, because of them my TBR kept piling up. Their reviews are always profound and insightful, some might qualify for academic reviews, and that’s the way I like it!
Next I am going for husband and wife team, Jill and hubby at Rhapsody in Books. Jill reads YA books and hubby is into military and war. The husband and wife team made me wanted to read Moby Dick again and are ever so encouraging of my every review that I post. I think every blogger need a cheerleading Jill to spur us on the days that we don’t feel like blogging!
Ok Mel U of Reading Life has already been nominated for the Prolific Award once, I’m just going to pass the award to Mel again as Mel reviews are a good source of sociopolitical and economic analysis and deserves to be nominated. Mel U has similar reading taste as mine in reading up on South Asia, South East Asian and Japanese literature . I love reading about people of another country and culture, Mel U’s blogs offers many alternatives to learn about the world around us.
Moving on to Bernadette of Reactions to Reading, Bernadette is a pro when it comes to blogging about Crime fiction. Bernadette start blogging the same time as I am and is instrumental in being there in my early days of blogging. Although Bernadette blogs about crime fiction which is a genre I hardly read, whenever I’m in need, Bernadette never fails to offer help. Bernadette very recently went out of her way to recommend books from her country, Australia, to me. Not only is she a prolific crime fiction blogger, she is also a prolific reading habit analyst and statistician. I believe we share the same love in charts and analysis!
Last and definitely not least, it’s Adrian of The Reading Monk. Adrian writes in-depth and thought provoking review. Adrian is also a member of Culturazzi. Adrian’s review and support is a source of inspiration to me. Besides being a prolific blogger, Adrian is a prolific lawyer in real life. Although Adrian is taking a break now from blogging, organising a Legal year (in English Law, the Legal year is the calendar during which the judges sit in court) for the nation and coping with a new addition in the family. I hope when his busy schedule eased up, he would come back and start blogging again.
So if you see your name in the list above I am passing the award on to you. If you wish to take part please read the rules.
For all who happen to read this post, please take a look at these prolific bloggers’ labour of love, their blogs. Spread some love and vote for 7 more of whom you think deserves the prolific blogger award.




The Great Gatsby tells of the pursuit of the American dream in the “Jazz Age” and also the hollowness that comes with it. It is said, Following the shock and chaos of World War I, American society enjoyed unprecedented levels of prosperity during the “roaring” 1920s as the economy soared. At the same time, Prohibition, the ban on the sale and manufacture of alcohol as mandated by the Eighteenth Amendment, made millionaires out of bootleggers and led to an increase in organized crime, for example the Jewish mafia. Fitzgerald, like Nick Carraway in his novel, idolized the riches and glamour of the age, he was uncomfortable with the unrestrained materialism and the lack of morality that went with it, a kind of decadence.
About the Author:


Shan Sa was born in Beijing, China, to a scholarly family. Her real name is Yan Ni Ni; she adopted the pseudonym Shan Sa, taken from a poem by the Tang dynasty poet Bai Juyi. At age 8, she published her first poetry collection, and went on to obtain the first prize in the national poetry contest for children under 12 years, an event that created a public upheaval. After graduating from secondary school in Beijing, she moved to Paris in August 1990 after obtaining a grant by the French government. Settling there with her father, a professor at the Sorbonne University, she quickly adopted the French language.
The Heart of The Matter tells the story, principally, of Scobie, a colonial policemeant trapped in a loveless marriage. Scobie has an overdeveloped sense of pity and responsibility which spell his doom. He is never so moved by his wan, cheerless and complaining wife than when she looks ugly and vulnerable.
Paperback. Publisher: Vintage Classics [originally published 1948, this edition 2004]; Length: 255; Setting: WWII Sierra Leone. Finished reading at: 10 Jan 2010 
Seek and you will find.
Tim Harford is a member of the Financial Times editorial board and presenter of “More or Less”, Radio 4’s look at the numbers in the news and in everyday life.
