My Top 10 Favorite Blog Posts this Year (by no means a ranking done after reading all the blogs that people have written this year)

My potentially happy readers, the school year is nigh and this is the last blog cycle! I'm doing something different for my last blog post and ranking my favorite 10 blog posts that I've read this year, and there will be spoiling, I suppose. Although it will probably be harmless? I'm not sure what kind of warning to include, but here be dragons... just because. 

            For my last blog post, I wanted to write something different from all my other book reviews. Thankfully, Miranda suggested this topic, and I was pretty much instantly on board. Just a disclaimer, all of these opinions are very VERY subjective and honestly it feels like my standards change every time I look at the list I have compiled. I'm so proud of us as a class for getting through with these blogs and keeping it up this entire school year, and I enjoyed all the blog posts mentioned here for unique and different reasons. With that out of the way, let's start off with...

#10: "Mein Kampf: A poorly written book with horrible ideas" by Henry Guan

                This was definitely an impressionable blog post. It's not every day that you scroll across the blog websites expecting to find reviews for books you've already read to comment on, and instead come across an evaluation of Hitler's literary work. The way that Henry presented this information was very amusing to me, and the concept that this morally atrocious piece of writing was also written atrociously feels very on-par for those subjects. 

#9: "Do Furries Deserve The Hate They Receive?" by Akeel Dixon

                Akeel’s blog post provided some positive representation for furries, which I feel is lacking in popular media. Before reading this blog post, I had already done some research on the furry community, and their mostly harmless effect on society. Moreso, they are the ones who get generalized, stereotyped and mocked. The hate is so prevalent that I was frequently accused of being a furry at my last school despite being uninterested in the entire concept of roleplaying/cosplaying as animals or anthropomorphic characters. So, I was entirely pleased to see that someone else did their research into the topic! For anyone else who wants to know more but doesn’t necessarily want to read a news article, the Odd1sOut made a video about furries a while back, and I’d recommend watching it for another Gen Z perspective. 

#8. “Review: A Study in Scarlet” by Ruijing Tang 

            Reading Ruijing’s blog brought back WAVES of nostalgia for me, and I am so incredibly appreciative for that. For the summer of third or fourth grade, I spent the vacation with my dad in China, just the two of us. I spent a lot of my free time watching Case Closed in Mandarin, and I had no idea that there was an English version with separate English names for the characters! For this reason alone, this blog had stood out to me— I hadn’t thought about this show in years, I most definitely will be watching it again soon. Besides from that, this blog was a lovely review of the first book in the Sherlock Holmes series. I’ve read Sherlock Holmes a handful of times, and I feel like Ruijing definitely captured the awe and admiration you feel towards the plot of the book, when reading an intricate mystery novel.

#7. “Crested Geckos in Captivity (+photos!)” - Charlotte Lin

            I love reptiles, and I was super happy to find another reptile-loving friend in our class last year in Charlotte. This was a great blog about your experiences with reptiles and non-conventional pets, as well as with the book Crested Geckos in Captivity, and I was very surprised to find that Tinley Park was so close to us! Lovely job, Charlotte’s African fat-tailed geckos are adorable. 

#6.  "THE LESBIANA'S GUIDE TO CATHOLIC SCHOOL" JUST WORKS OUT PERFECTLY” by Adrian Schneider 

            I LOVED Adrian’s tasteful digs towards the bad writing in The Lesbiana’s Guide in this blog. As I wrote in my comment, the way that Adrian sets up the book as seemingly really good before quickly giving me whiplash (in a good sense) and revealing all of its flaws is very admirable. I read this blog and felt like I was living alongside them and their various actions.

#5. “A Review of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo (with spoilers!)” - Karenna Hurst 

            I personally feel like I’m notorious for posting blog comments ending with “I’ll add it to my TBR list”, but the subject of Karenna’s blog was one of the only books that I followed through with and read. The recommendation was great! The only thing I regretted was getting too invested in the characters and becoming vulnerable to the tragic plot. The book was remarkably written, and I wanted to give Karenna some credit for her short but sweet blog post on The Seven Husbands.

#4.  “A Review of The Red Pyramid by Ian” by Ian S. Merrifield

            I related SO HARD to Ian with this blog post. Really big PJO fan? Check. Relying on the associated series and content without realizing that it could one day run out?? Check. Falling into deep depressions after realizing that said series had become my entire personality only to end???? DING DING DING DING THREE FOR THREE LET’S GO! I may be projecting at least a little, but in all seriousness, Ian’s blog on The Red Pyramid not only brought back memories of a forgotten and formerly loved fandom into my consciousness, but also a core part of my childhood. I thoroughly enjoyed your blog, Ian, thanks so much.  

#3. “Rating Greek Mythology Retellings” by Sophia Chen

For much of the same reasons as for my fondness of Ian’s blog, Sophia’s reviews of contemporary Greek mythology novels made me feel very happy and seen. Genuinely, her reviews of the three are well-written and passionate, and if I had more time, her recommendations left strong enough impressions that I think I’d really enjoy these books, which is common feeling I have after reading her blogs. 

#2. “FEED: a review by Karenna” by Karenna Hurst

            I think it goes without saying that this was one of the best blog posts I’ve had the pleasure of reading this year, but truly, it was. Legitimately, the only reason why I haven’t borrowed this book yet is because I’m saving the trilogy for over the summer. I remember when you actually recommended this book to me IRL, Karenna, before winter break, which I doubt you recall, but I do. I also remember thinking to myself, “there’s no way this could be that good…” What a fool I was, Karenna. Your blog post made swift work of my skepticism, and considering how your blogs are on this list twice, I will never again doubt your reading recommendations. 

            Before we reveal my favorite blog post from this year, I’d like to give some honorable mentions to: 

            DJ Wang, for “A review of Barron's AP Computer Science A prep book”. I commend you for being brave enough to write a blog post on an AP textbook while simultaneously being on the grind for AP’s, I don’t think many would have the courage for that. If by any chance you see this, I’m rooting for you and I hope that you have aced and will continue to ace all the exams, competitions and the like that you’re grinding for right now. Kudos to you.

            Muhammad Iftikar, for “Diary of a Wimpy Kid - No Brainer”. I came across this blog post when it was just a picture of the front cover and thought it was absolutely hilarious. But also, I was not expecting the smoke towards Jeff Kinney at the end! Definitely a fun blog that stood out to me. 

            And Ian Merrifield (again), for “Did the Attack on Titan's anime only changes make the ending better than the manga? By Ian Merrifield”. Long name, due to the unusual inclusion of Ian’s last name and also just generally a long time. Honestly, I’d like to give props to Ian for all his other blogs too, I’ve found myself consistently enjoying reading them. Specifically, I want to praise this post for the sole reason of the complete and utter FEAR that was struck into my heart within the first millisecond of opening the webpage at your supposed spoilers, despite AoT having almost no relevance to my life whatsoever. 

            And now it is time to reveal the grand leader, assuming you haven’t already read the next line!

#1. “Why Greg Heffley is an Unreliable Narrator and is Also Possibly the Worst Character in Literary History” by Miranda Isaacs

            YAY MIRANDAAAA!!!!!!! This blog was my all-time favorite this year probably, because of the sheer catharsis emanating from the computer screen bathing me in a sense of self-righteousness and validation. Reading this blog was very affirming to me, and I loved the way you described your hatred for this series. You’re doing a service to society by reading all these books and reporting on the absurdity and obnoxiousness that is Greg Heffley. Thank you for writing a great blog that immediately stood out to me above the rest. 

            And that concludes my very long list of my Top 10 most favorite blog posts of 2024! I’d love to shout out DJ, Muhammad, Henry, Akeel, Ruijing, Charlotte, Adrian, Karenna, Ian, Sophia and Miranda for writing my favorite blogs. 

            And finally, thank you, my Potentially Happy Readers, for reading my blog posts this year, hopefully enjoying them, and for being potentially happy. 

With lots and lots of love, Jemina Feng <3