closing the book properly

Oh, hi.

So it’s been a while. In case you’ve completely forgotten who I am (which is fair): I’m Margaret, and from 2018 to 2021, I was a book blogger right here at Weird Zeal.

As you may have been able to gather based on the fact that my last post is over two years old (and references now-iconic (at least to me) books like Iron Widow, Little Thieves, and Summer Sons as anticipated releases?? Different times…), Weird Zeal has basically been retired. And I’m sorry to say, that isn’t going to change. But it didn’t feel right to leave forever without saying a proper goodbye.

So here we are at last. Closing the book one final time.

There wasn’t one single reason that I left book blogging; it was simply a combination of losing steam, blogging work becoming too similar to what I was doing for my day job, and general burnout. I don’t even remember making a conscious decision to leave. I just took a step back and figured I’d return if/when I felt motivated again, but sadly that day never came.

All that to say, I couldn’t be more grateful for the approximately three and a half years I spent gushing about books, making friends, and generally being a huge nerd here with you all. I wrote a total of 327 posts—including 208 book reviews—got over 187k blog views, and received over 5.4k comments. Even now, years later, I have trouble wrapping my mind around everything that this community meant to me while I was in it.

So thank you to everyone who made me feel welcome, who shouted about books we loved (or hated) with me, who recommended books that ended up changing my life. There are quite frankly too many of you to name, and I don’t know who’s still around anymore…but if you think I might be talking about you, I’m definitely talking about you. Thank you. ❤️

I’m not terribly active on the bookish internet anymore (my Bookstagram experiment lasted about six months, if we’re being generous, and I’ve abandoned Twitter for obvious reasons), but if you don’t already follow me on Goodreads, that’s a good place to keep up with what I’m reading. You’re also welcome to follow my personal Instagram, where I don’t post a lot but spend plenty of time lurking.

And while I’m (briefly) here, I want to know how you all have been! What have you been up to? Read any amazing books recently? What shows/movies/music have you been obsessed with lately? (I’m personally still recovering from the quadruple punch of Good Omens-Heartstopper-Red, White & Royal Blue-Hozier album of July/August. If you know, you know.) What’s the latest book blogging gossip??

And now…I don’t really know what else there is to say except for thank you again for three and a half wonderful years of blogging, I wish you all well, and I’ll see you around.

(Now let’s see if I can remember how to post this…)