Ten years of roughghosts

Rabindra Sarobar, Kolkata, September 2023

One decade into this endeavour, which began as a bit of a manic impulse, I’m still here. I’m not the most prolific blogger, and not the fastest reader, but I am pretty steady and I do take time with the reviews and other assorted pieces I post. Periodically I hear people bemoan the death of the literary blog, longing for a time before I was even online in any meaningful way, but I get great satisfaction writing about books, engaging with readers, authors, translators, and independent publishers. And people continue to visit roughghosts. And my blog has indirectly allowed me to travel in return, as in this past year’s return to India, the first since 2019.

There are, however, some things that have started to change for me over the past year. I’ve written fewer general essay-type posts. I am painfully aware that we are living in a world that is increasingly polarized and openly intolerant along lines of race, religion, gender identity, climate change and more, while conversely, here in the Western world and elsewhere, increasingly ambivalent (if not open) to authoritarian politics and the use of violence against innocent civilians. I want to articulate my despair but I can’t seem to find the words. Some days I simply want to scream. And I’m not certain if or how I should I address the things that concern me in this space, there are perhaps people who do that better than I ever might.

Second, I am leaving more of the books I read unreviewed. Some are are not very good, or at the very least, not worth the time it would take me to explain why I didn’t like them (that’s what Goodreads is for). Some, poetry in particular, I enjoy but am so often at a loss to explain how or why. And yet other books, like my recent reread of Michel Leiris’ The Rules of the Game, I could probably write about forever, but so much of what I get from his work is personal—that is, I read him for myself first and when I do write about his work I take those essays elsewhere.

Finally, in keeping with what I have just written above, outside of this blog, beyond reviews, I am not really writing anything at all. That’s probably okay, I don’t know. Maybe the next year will tell.

Bookworm, Church Street, Bangalore, October, 2023

Author: roughghosts

Literary blog of Joseph Schreiber. Writer. Reader. Editor. Photographer.

23 thoughts on “Ten years of roughghosts”

    1. Thanks, Grant. I didn’t start out with the intention of reviewing books, but looking back, it’s probably the best thing that could have happened for me (and my reading).

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    1. Thanks. I sometimes worry that the energy I put into writing about other people’s writing keeps me from writing my own work—but then I remember that this blog is a key element of my *own* writing!

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  8. Congratulations. Thank you so much for your dedication to world literature. You have opened my eyes to so many writers – brilliant work. Everyone I have introduced to your site adores it.

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    1. Thank you very much, Patrick! This project has, in turn, introduced me to so many writers, small publishers, and works in translation. And serves as an excuse to keep acquiring books…

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    1. Thanks, Marcie! Bookworm and the nearby Blossoms are legend in Bangalore. In fact, Church Street in general is a book lovers delight. It’s always my last stop before leaving India (books are heavy, you know).

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