Tales from Absurdia - our blog about their blog

Blog name: Tales from Absurdia

Blog link:  https://talesfromabsurdia.com/

Social media: Twitter / Goodreads / Pinterest


A little introduction:

I'm John, and I run Tales from Absurdia - a genre-agnostic book blog that places particular value in writing that demonstrates passion, thoughtfulness, and a steady dose of ironic wit.


What made you start your blog? 

Back in March 2020, I was placed on the UK Government's furlough scheme, which meant that I had a fair amount of time on my hands.

Working in marketing when I'm not regaling you all with reviews, I wanted to work on some of the more technical skills of the industry, such as hosting a website, improving my SEO skills, and other such things.

Being passionate about reading and promoting literacy, a book blog seemed like the obvious direction!


Which part of having the blog do you love most?

Self-expression.

A book review is more than slapping a rating on a book and being done with it.

It's an exercise in collecting one's thoughts, plotting them down in a coherent manner, and then crafting those thoughts into a meaningful guide for a potential reader.


Where did the name for your blog come from? 

Albert Camus is one of my favourite writers. He's also an Absurdist - a philosophy I relate to on a personal level.

Plus, being a blogger concerned with stories, Tales from Absurdia just meshed really well.

Coming up with a blog name can be quite difficult. It took me a while. I actually wrote about this recently when writing an article on how to pick the perfect blog name.


What do you love most about books? 

From an external, readerly perspective, I think that authors perform a vital role in kick-starting the creativity in all of us.

The process of reading is itself a creative act, allowing us to transcend our own immediate experiences, whether it's through fiction of non-fiction.

I also genuinely think that reading instills empathy. It locates the reader in another space and time, forcing them to address the differences between their own experience and those presented in a book.


What genres do you blog about?

I'm not a genre blogger, which is sometimes a harder sell from a blogging perspective - after all, you can't establish yourself as an authority in a particular area.

However, I cannot imagine myself enjoying just reading the same genre over and over. It would kill my passion, we don't want that!


What are your favourite books?

This is tough, but I've distilled it down into three (technically five including the LOTR trilogy).

The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien

The Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger

The Plague, Albert Camus

Basically anything with a 'The' prefix (apparently!).


What are your 3 top reads from the last year?

●       Winter in Tabriz, Sheila Llewellyn

●       Mrs Death Misses Death, Saleena Hidden

●       Islands of Abandonment, Cal Flyn


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