John Miedema

Help me understand a curious repeating event on my website.

About every six months, on a Sunday evening, I observe a swell of hits for a particular book review, The Republic of Nothing by Lesley Choyce. I get about 250 hits a day for three days. WordPress provides the search terms that people use to find my website. Google those phrases and my website turns up first. It is clear that people are looking for a book review of this particular book. As of tonight, Tuesday, it is subsiding.

What causes the cyclical interest? Part of me grimly wonders if the book review is being plagiarized. The six months bit roughly corresponds to school terms. The Sunday night timing fits for procrastinating students seeking a quick fix for a Monday assignment. The book is a good choice of Canadian literature for a student assignment. And no one leaves a comment. Hmmm.

But I hate to think of it that way. This particular book review is special to me. It was the first book review I wrote when I kicked off the Slow Reading blog. It is a good expression of my world view. I have fondness for its cover, an outstretched hand, a surreal invitation, perhaps to the island where the story is set. I use the cover often as a sample for OpenBook.

If the interest was for a student assignment, why would the hits continue so intensely right through till Tuesday? So help me find another explanation. Any ideas?