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The Book of Paige
In the wide world of weblogs, it doesn’t really get much better.
The current design is very nice to look at it. The simple, conservative use of lines, boxes and as few images as possible really give the entire layout a very clean presence. Of course, Paige has the “About the Author” section which gives us a little more insight into her, a section devoted to “Vegan Recipes”, an obligatory “Links” section leading us to different weblogs she reads, and a couple of links directing the reader to Amazon.com where they can find out what Paige is reading or listening to.
On a personal note, I could effortlessly connect with some of her latest posts about starting her new job. Reading the way Paige describes learning everything you need to know at a new job and beginning to wonder if her new job is too good to be true are both situations I’ve experienced right around the same time she was writing about them, so I felt exceptionally drawn into this weblog.
While other readers may not find the same connection I did with specific entries, it’s simple to believe that nearly any demographic – male, female, younger, or older – will be able to relate in some fashion to the variety of posts Paige gives us about her daily life.
As I’ve said about The Book of Paige before, which still holds true three months after my last review of this site, the author only adds another entry in when she has something to say. Sometimes this is every day, but other times, there may be a few days between posts. Taking this route makes the majority of the entries more than just one or two lines long, but absolutely worth reading.
Aside from giving the world something to read every single day, I honestly don’t know what else could be improved upon. This is the second time I’ve reviewed this site, and honestly wasn’t really sure what else Paige could have done to make it stand out from being better then it was the last time it was reviewed. Being able to make such a close connection with the author gave me no choice but to give an even higher rating than in the past. Just as before, I would recommend giving this site a once over, because honestly, there’s no reason not to.
This site was reviewed on 2003-03-02 by Wendy.
They felt this site belonged in the Personal category.
Wendy felt that The Book of Paige deserved a rating of 5.
Usually when I enter a weblog for the first time I dive straight into the "about" page. With The Book of Paige it was different- I actually stopped on the front page and got caught up in the writing before I felt the need to go elsewhere. Now that's a sign of a good blog.
You can't go more than three posts in this weblog without finding one that sucks you in. One of my favourite post was about M&Ms, of all things! Paige, the author, has a love of writing and books, and with her writing abilities and inspiration combined can make the most unexpected things very readable and amusing or thought provoking.
I'd say that Paige's writing would appeal more to female readers, as she often writes about issues that would be of more relevance to them: A response to a 1955 Good House Keeping article, how to make a plastic bag bra [very useful for the unemployed- read "broke"- among us!], Ben & Jerry's ice-cream. However, there is enough variety to make this an enjoyable visit for anyone.
As for the layout, I definitely prefer the current one as opposed to the one used in the archives. It is clean and easy to navigate and has good use of colour. The weblog has an 'about' page and links to the books and CDs that Paige is listening to. This is a nice idea but I'd have preferred them to take you to a another page in the site as opposed to the Amazon site. With Paige's writing skills, I'm sure that a reading and listening page with her views on the books and CDs would be a worthwhile addition to the site.
Whilst The Book Of Paige uses a simplistic design and focuses mainly on the day to day life of its author, the quality of the writing is what really won me over. With the new layout highlighting the writing more than ever, if you haven't visited this site before then I would definitely recommend you go there now.
This site was reviewed on 2003-03-02 by Bluiser.
They felt this site belonged in the Personal category.
Bluiser felt that The Book of Paige deserved a rating of 4.5.
Reading the Book of Paige is like reading my own diary. This is one personal blog. Paige’s entries make her life sound so human; and almost anyone can relate to her past experiences. The self-deprecating moments in her blog (i.e. ‘Why I am an idiot’ episodes which can be found in her archives) puts a smile on your face, as it assures you that you are not the only one in the world to get bad days. Her writing is rather smooth and there’s a certain flow to her entries, allowing your eyes to just glide over the sentences. Paige is a very intelligent writer who doesn’t have any qualms on voicing out her thoughts, so you can expect really outspoken entries at times. I really love it when Paige sometimes teases the reader with entries with a really suspenseful head. (E.g. Entry dated 3 August 2002) It’s like eating while blindfolded. The anticipation! It’s fabulous!
Her site is rather well linked. There’s a good ‘about me’ page, which consists of basic details in Paige’s life (age not included. You NEVER ask a lady for her age, though you could probably catch a hint in Paige’s earlier entries), as well as some not-so-important information. For example: Paige is DIY-handicapped and spiders scare her to death. There are also the usual ‘link’ page and entries. Extras include links to her favourite books and music at Amazon.com, as well as a vegetarian recipe page to cater to lacto-ovo vegetarians like Paige. Bonus points goes to a good selection of links (e.g. Erotibonsai – A news article on a tree shaped like the more private parts of the human anatomy).
I love it when blog writers actually spend time on the blog’s design, even if the layout was not done by the writers’ themselves. This shows that they care enough about their writing to present it well. Paige’s layout did not create the layout but the design is very clean and, unlike most blogs, is rather tastefully done. There are almost no distracting elements in the design, so it’s pretty easy on the eyes. I would say that this design definitely suits Paige’s style of writing. I say, good choice!
This blog is a truly intelligent and delightful read, filled with subtle and sometimes cynical humour. It’s good for people who love well thought out entries and eloquent writing. One area of improvement is that she could probably add in an html code that enables a new window to pop up every time someone clicks on a link. The Book of Paige is updated once every few days so it’s a pretty good choice if you want to add this site to your regular ‘blog’ diet. Seriously, this is one blog which makes you crave for more. Once you start, you can’t stop.
This site was reviewed on 2003-03-02 by velvet.
They felt this site belonged in the Personal category.
velvet felt that The Book of Paige deserved a rating of 4.5.
This is a re-review of The Book of Paige
Not much has changed since I last reviewed The Book of Paige. She did get a much better design which was needed as I said in my previous review of her site.
This time her design is a simple grey column in the center with her weblog in that and a white background everywhere else. The color of the grey is both too dark and too light at the same time, as some of the text blends in, as well as the links which are in white.
The writing now seems to be more personal. I mentioned in the earlier review that I thought I would find an "in-depth" look into her life, and now it is starting to be so. What she writes is very heart felt, and you can tell that she puts a lot into it.
On the minus side, her views are her views which you may or may not agree with. I had a hard time connecting to her, and I don't exactly know why. The only thing I can think of is something that she had mentioned on her site.
She recently wrote about going out with her girls every Friday night. And how she never realized how much alcohol played a part in the events that took place. But now that she is married and older, she realizes that she may not have made the best decisions. Maybe for me since I am married and older, I do not try to connect as much anymore. But then again, it could be something else.
Over all Paige is doing a great job with her site. She got the design in order, but I still feel it could be improved upon. Her writing is amazing, and you would be a fool not to go and visit her site.
This site was reviewed on 2002-09-25 by Brent.
They felt this site belonged in the Personal category.
Brent felt that The Book of Paige deserved a rating of 4.
This is a re-review of The Book of Paige
"The Book of Paige" is quite a vocal and opinioned blog which some might and might not like.
Pagie is a fiction writer who's been a lacto-ovo vegetarian for the past 12 years. She goes on to share some more personal things on her about page which you can read for yourself ...
The layout’s pretty plain; different shades of gray framing the content of the site itself. You of course have your usual links to the about page, archives and so on.
From what I sensed from reading the blog is Paige seems a bit cynical in her writing. She talks about some personal things, but with a twist of sarcasm, which sometimes comes off like she's not being rude about what she's talking about ... I almost want to say she's bitter but that's going a bit far. She discusses things going on, like one of the posts she did about when it seemed like her house was falling apart; sad but amusing to read. Other posts sometimes have little quotes she likes from a writer which are often good reads.
"The Book of Paige" is an okay site. Her humor isn’t something which all will like and even though I enjoy sarcasm, it was a bit much for me on this site. But it’s nice to read a site where the person isn’t afraid to express themselves on whatever topic it is.
This site was reviewed on 2002-09-25 by imelda.
They felt this site belonged in the Personal category.
imelda felt that The Book of Paige deserved a rating of 3.
This is a re-review of The Book of Paige
Compare life to an Etch-a-Sketch for a second. Bet you never thought about how easy it would be if you could control your life like you did an Etch-a-Sketch when you were a kid. I hadn't either, until I read Paige's recount of it. I liked that concept a lot - if you shake it up hard enough, you can start fresh.
The written delivery of several of Paige's weblog entries are written with an ingeniously clever approach. There's just the perfect balance of wit and sarcasm scattered throughout each entry, and personally, that's the kind of thing I like to find in a weblog.
There aren't too many of life's more serious issues being heavily touched upon in The Book of Paige, but that's certainly not a bad thing. Of course, with the previous statement, I'm certainly not trying to make light of the ultimate bad haircut, triscuits in the laundry hamper, or trauma of buying a magnet for one's plastic Saturn car - all of which can be found in reading this weblog.
Paige is an editor. This is a good thing. I very much enjoyed not having to wade through asinine shortened spellings of words like "cuz" and "b/4", or wondering where I might find some punctuation. Intelligence is such a lovely thing, and there's certainly a prevalent dose here.
None of my complaints are at all relative with the content of the site, but with the cosmetic appearance. When I open up the page, I immediately get a Javascript error. The site was designed for viewing on nothing less than a 1024 x 768 screen resolution.
The relatively new weblog isn't archived at all Hopefully, the site will continue to expand in length, but as entries continue to be added, the site might take a while to load.
This is a fun site to read. The site isn't "overposted" to, and there's certainly something entertaining for nearly everyone. After spending time throughout the entire site, I really felt like I got to know the author's personality and sense of humor, both of which I think I'll be getting more regular doses of by continuing to visit this site.
This site was reviewed on 2002-06-24 by wendy.
They felt this site belonged in the Personal category.
wendy felt that The Book of Paige deserved a rating of 4.
The Book of Paige. What an interesting title for your weblog. I some what expected to have almost an in-depth look into Paige's life based on this title.
The page loads, and has a rather bland design. The links are images (of words) that are rather big and are given as much space as the blog is on the front page. There is a lot of white space all around in this design, which makes it not seem as fluid to me. Also below everything is a lot of different webrings, and things that I think the author just didn't know where else to place them. Finally, the front page only has two (though an earlier reviewer noted only one) posts on the front page.
But this isn't The Weblog Design Review, it is the Weblog Review. So onto the weblog. As I was reading all of the posts, I felt like either I was missing something, or the weblog was missing something. She posts about things going on in her life like most people do. However, her posts have a fair amount of thought in them, and they can make you think about things yourself. My favorite posts were the ones where she is actually forcing you, the reader, to think about issues. Even if the issue is something small in her life, and not a global issue, these posts were the most interesting to me.
After finishing the entire weblog, I was still left with that feeling of something not there. The closest I can come to describing what I think it is, has to go back to the design of the site. To me, the weblog read find, and was fluid, but the site didn't give off the same vibe.
Over all, we have a great blog, where the design of the site actually played a big role. This site has a lot of good in it, but lacks an overall fluidness to really bring it home. If all you are concerned about is the text, then you have a fantastic site, but if the entire site plays a part in your decision, then this might not be the one for you.
This site was reviewed on 2002-06-24 by Brent.
They felt this site belonged in the Personal category.
Brent felt that The Book of Paige deserved a rating of 3.5.
The Book of Paige opens up to a nice design with a funky logo in script writing. It’s a simple blue and white design that’s easy to navigate and all of the links appear to work cleanly. It’s easy to get to what Paige is reading, listening to, etc. The links are clearly defined on the right with no guesswork needed.
As for the actual blog entries, Paige has a nice way of incorporating humor with serious topics. Case in point, Paige references a woman who hit a homeless person who was, pretty much, impaled himself on her windshield and she ignored his please and cries for help. Paige shows her own personal contempt for this woman’s actions by giving the woman a little jab in describing some of the “important” things the woman needed to accomplish prior to reporting the homeless person in her windshield. Each entry was a wonderful read and you learn a lot of about our author.
I only have two small complaints. First, Paige needs to invest in archiving her posts. Having posts that go back about three months all on one page meant (for this guy on one slow PC with a dial up connection) that I had to wait to start reading some of the entries. Archives are our friends.
Second, the opening page has, what I assume to be, the post of that specific day. I think I would have preferred more entries over the plethora of links to webrings and such. Also, I think there might be too much space between the links which spoils the “clean” design I liked above.
But like I said, those are small complaints. I really enjoyed reading The Book of Paige and think that it’s a worthy read.
This site was reviewed on 2002-06-23 by LtTorasso.
They felt this site belonged in the Personal category.
LtTorasso felt that The Book of Paige deserved a rating of 3.5.
8 reviewers gave The Book of Paige an average rating of 4.0000
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Site Category: Personal
Reader Rating: 1.9375 based on 4 votes
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