To read or not to read

The Literary saloon is a sad, cold bowl of oatmeal.

Is that too harsh?

First off, it looks like it was made back in 1999 (which it very well might have been). It’s clunky, reminiscent of the class websites you made back in third grade when you did that one dinosaur project. Plus, I’m pretty sure that some of the graphics were created using Kid Pix.

I heart digital puppets

I think it also may have been created using this computer.

It’s run by Austrian born Michael Orthofer, who founded his main website The Complete Review in 1999 (was I right or was I right??) and then this complementary blog two years later. He’s written lots of reviews and literary criticism and, based on the lengthy list of publications and interview links, seems to know what he’s talking about when it comes to literature (he tweets, too?) It’s organized by day instead of posts, listing all the entries for the day under the same heading, which is a little confusing. The content he covers ranges from general events going on in the literary world (Translator William Weaver passed away; who won the Prize for literature), some commentary on others’ writing about issues in the literary world (“ Judging pseudonymous (and other) work”), and then some promotional posts for newly published books. But really, nothing quite that interesting.

He mainly writes to inform, but since there’s not too much opinion, there’s nothing really to keep the reader reading. The writing style is matter-of-fact, list-y, and lacks voice. Usually blogs that are uninterestingly written might make amends by posting some cool instagrams or at least having a nicely designed home page. But this blog really lacks some major aesthetic appeal. We users of the Internet have short attention spans, and are not going to stop and try and read each titles and paragraph to try and find information that appeals to us. WE NEED PHOTOS! PLEEEEZE.

Despite his dearth of web design skills, Mr. Orthofer seems like a well-rounded man, sculpting snow and inline skating in his free time.

But then there’s Relunctant Habits.

This blog has a nice mix of writing and audio, all reviewing books, discussing music and movies, and talking with different authors. As you scroll down, posts vary from interviews, commentaries on society, covering pretty much everything (“We examine why Kachka is a terrible journalist and little more than a middle-aged man digging through dirty laundry;” George Zimmerman’s verdict; “the serpentine history of candy”). And they even manage a little humor! It’s written by a number of people, and actually includes some good photos, too. The only problem is a visual one: the website is designed so the photo of each post takes up nearly the entire computer screen so you can’t really look at the beginning of multiple posts at the same time, aggravating my inner claustrophobe slightly.

this is me reading your blog. please help.

But, this issue is minor compared to all the opinions, humor, and voice Reluctant Habits provides not just on books and authors, but also current events in the world as well.