It’s There’s Always Room For One More‘s birthday today – would you believe it’s been five years since this little blog was born? I’m celebrating with a look back at some favourite moments – and (in best hobbit fashion) I shall be giving away a book…

A milestone is always a good time to take stock, so let’s take a look back at some of the moments along the way.

Firsts

On-brand: my first post here at There’s Always Room For One More was a (late) SciFiMonth read-along discussion of The Long Way To A Small Angry Planet. Start as you mean to continue? Hell yes.

…ignoring The Long Way To A Small Angry Planet (as I published my review at the end of the read-along), my first review was another SciFiMonth 2015 read: Sarah Lotz’s SFnal fictional non-fiction thriller The Three.

My first NetGalley ARC was The Abyss Surrounds Us by Emily Skrutskie because hell yes pirates vs kaiju and girls kissing. While I was a little conflicted about it (I think I’d have been more ebulliently positive if I had realised it was YA going in), I retain a great deal of affection for it (and I loved the sequel).

Favourites

How very dare – yeah, okay, let’s do this. While I started There Always Room For One More to write reviews, Read-alongs have been one of my favourite activities (since day one, evidently). I love reading with friends, whether I’m watching them discover a book I love (oh the nerves) or discovering something myself. I love the discussions – I always see something in a new light, thanks to talking it through. I’m not a member of an in-person book club; these virtual book clubs are just as much a joy (and you can take part in your pyjamas, bonus).

I have loved being on the panel for the Subjective Chaos Kind of Awards for similar reasons: it has consistently pushed me to read books outside my comfort zone, and resulted in fascinating debates with passionate, considered fellow readers. It’s been my pleasure to contribute to the first three years – may there be many more!

Highlights

It’s always an honour to have a special guest – I loved showcasing Alex Storer recently, and hope many more authors will agree to take the Six Degrees of Separation challenge in future. One of my all-time favourite guest posts is the fictional editorial by Audrey Camherst in support of Turning Darkness into Light (there’s a reason I love Marie Brennan so very much).

At the risk of being cheesy – go grab crackers, I need to say this because it’s true – SciFiMonth and Wyrd and Wonder are highlights every year. I’ve learned a lot since stepping in to help out on SciFiMonth 2017, but mostly I learn afresh each year just how awesome our SFF bookish community is. I love you folks.

Stats

I don’t worry too much about hits and likes and followers, but I’m quietly chuffed to attract a regular stream of visitors who seem to enjoy what I do. 5 years in – to my amazement – There’s Always Room For One More has over 800 subscribers (hello you lovely people, thank you for showing an interest!) and still shows steady growth each year.

Somewhat to my surprise, my most-read post is actually a review. Reviews typically get less traffic than discussions or event posts, but apparently there’s a lot of people out there with a healthy interest in The Prestige (which is fair enough: both film and book are very good).

Assuming my tagging has been accurate (my tagging has not always been accurate) there have been nearly 450 reviews in 5 years*, a quarter of which have been review copies, and a third of which have been for bite-size books (short stories, novellas, and serialised fiction). There’s been nearly 200 read-along posts (a small number of which are also classed as reviews). See, told you it was a favourite.

*Note: I collated a bunch of earlier reviews I’d written on LiveJournal and LibraryThing and republished them in the archives here. If you’re wondering why it looks like There’s Always Room For One More has been around longer than five years, that’s why. It’s an illusion.

Birthday presents

I choose to celebrate my blogiversary hobbit-fashion – by sharing my love of books. One lucky winner can choose to receive a copy of any book I have reviewed since November 2015 (max value $30) – just follow the blog and leave a comment on this post to enter.

Open anywhere shipping can be arranged via BookDepository or Wordery. Entry closes at midnight (UK time) on December 3rd; winner will be contacted by December 5th. If no response is received in 48 hours, another winner may be chosen.

Update: giveaway is now closed