Here we are again: me writing about which articles were the most popular for me on my blog over the past month. Yes, you are reading this one quite deep into the following month of June, but we’ll brush over that for a minute as it’s not important.
Please note that this article contains affiliate links. This means if you choose to purchase any products via the links below, I may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. These affiliate links do not affect my final opinion of the product.
If you don’t know what the idea is here, I go to Google Analytics and have a look at which five articles had the most views in the past month and then I list from 5 to 1 right here on this page.
Then what I do is pull a section from the article itself and post that below each title to give you an idea of what the article is about. If the article is a book review, I’ll also pop a link to buy the book too if you so wish!
What you’ll notice is that, if you read through previous editions of this article, the same articles keep coming up. This will purely be because they’re slightly older and Google has decided they’re good quality content and so should stay near the top of the search results when people search for them.
5. Did Atomic Habits by James Clear actually change my life?
“I’ve noted a few times in this review that I am a huge sceptic when it comes to any of these books that claim to change your life, however, I came out of reading Atomic Habits not feeling like I’d read a load of wishy-washy nonsense about how I should change my mindset but with real tangible applications. Also, my favourite lesson to come out of this book is that you don’t have to start off big – in fact starting off very small and consistently doing something very small is the best way to start as it promotes what you want to be being very easy. If you’re looking to become a millionaire in the next six months, this may not be the book for you, but if you’re trying to consistently take up running or lose a little weight or something tangible like this, then Atomic Habits may offer you some great steps to help build up those habits.”
Read the full article here | Buy a copy of Atomic Habits from Amazon
4. Book review of The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
“I struggle with novellas as I’m somebody that likes to feel like I’ve been on an emotional journey with a book and often feel that the 150 pages a novella gives you can’t accomplish this. However, once in a while, a novella does come along that does really impress you and makes you see why it is so celebrated. The Alchemist almost does this for me.
Whilst reading it, I was impressed with the messages Coelho was getting across but felt that due to its short length and lack of deep plot, I couldn’t give it the five stars it deserves. In hindsight, it is a great novel and one that has left me reflecting. I reckon I’ll pick it up again in the future at some point when I’m maybe more in the mood for life-changing writing. But for now, it’s a four stars from me.”
Read the full review here | Buy a copy of The Alchemist from Amazon
3. 50 questions to ask your bookish friends
“I was browsing the web, looking for some book tags to do (they’re always great fun and I often realise something about my reading habits I didn’t know) and came across Owlcation’s “50 Questions About Books and Reading to Ask Your Friends” and thought there was great some great questions in there.
Therefore, I thought I would steal the question and answer them myself. As there are 50 here, I’ve not given the longest of answers as I’d be writing all night otherwise.”
2. Book review: Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone by J.K. Rowling
“If you’ve read the previous 900 words and gotten to this point then I congratulate you. If you’re somebody who has already read HP a million times over and are simply here to read another view – thank you. If you’re somebody who has never read the books and wants to know if they’re any good – I hope I’ve summarised the book well enough for you.
I would recommend Harry Potter to absolutely everybody. It transcends the fantasy or YA genres some would argue it fits into. The Philosopher’s Stone is a very solid first book and you can see why (after her many attempts to actually have it accepted by publishers – google it) J.K. Rowling hit a home run with this first novel.
Read the full review here | Buy a copy of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone from Amazon
1. Book review: To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee
“I listened to To Kill a Mockingbird via audiobook and I read the kindle version too and whichever I was choosing to do, I found myself absolutely obsessed and invested by the story and the characters. When I pick up a classic, I always go into it with hesitancy as I worry I won’t grasp why it’s received the acclaim it has and to have endured for such a long time. But I can 100% see why To Kill A Mockingbird is considered one of the greatest novels ever written. It gives you an utterly pure look into prejudice and the beginnings of the questions of whether it’s right the way people of colour were treated back then and whilst doing so writes in some utterly loveable characters, a gripping story and the feeling of completion when finished.
If you’ve not read To Kill A Mockingbird, I would highly recommend it to absolutely everyone. Usually, I pick a genre so I can link it to those genre reviews on my blog but I have to recommend this book to everybody. It’s fantastic and possibly up there with one of my favourite novels I’ve ever read.”
Read the full review here | Buy a copy of To Kill A Mockingbird from Amazon
In summary
I looked back at previous months where I’d published this same article and it appears the top five same articles are consistently doing the rounds, just in different orders. So really there are no surprises here!
I wonder why these five articles are getting all of th SEO shine and others aren’t. I know if I’d started writing this article in this style earlier (where I encompass my whole website as opposed to just the most popular from the month) this would likely have featured a lot more Colleen Hoover as, overall, I think my review of her books aare the most popular!
Anyway, what were your most popular articles throughout May? Did you read any of the articles from above last month? let me know in the comments below.
