{"id":11397,"date":"2026-01-10T09:31:24","date_gmt":"2026-01-10T08:31:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lesestunden.de\/?p=11397"},"modified":"2026-01-17T11:40:40","modified_gmt":"2026-01-17T10:40:40","slug":"digital-gardening-11-jahre-lesestunden-de","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lesestunden.de\/en\/2026\/01\/digital-gardening-11-years-of-lesestunden-de\/","title":{"rendered":"Digital Gardening: 11 years of Lesestunden.de"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n

A few weeks ago, I read a blog post about digital gardening<\/em> on Miss Booleana\u2019s blog<\/a>. In it, she describes the idea of tending and caring for older posts on a blog. I really like that thought, so that\u2019s exactly what I did \u2014 I tended and cared for my blog a little like my own small garden. A good moment to look back and write a bit about my own digital gardening<\/em>.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

I\u2019ve never celebrated or even mentioned any blog anniversaries. But eleven years is a really long time for a website. Over all these years, I\u2019ve enjoyed writing here, trying out many different things, programming, analysing, and commenting. I\u2019ve now revised, cleaned up, updated, expanded these posts \u2014 in short: I\u2019ve taken extensive care of everything as if it were a digital garden. Because all these posts, even the older ones, are still frequently visited and read.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n

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\"Instagram:<\/a><\/figure>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n

Back then, my post about the analysis of the book blogging sphere<\/strong><\/a> was very popular, as well as my top list of German book blogs<\/a>. Over the years, I\u2019ve written about the book blogging sphere again and again, but since the scene has shrunk significantly, I\u2019ve now turned to Bookstagram<\/a>. Accordingly, there is now also a top list for Bookstagram<\/a>.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

My map of public bookcases<\/strong><\/a> is also very well visited \u2014 and it\u2019s available as an app. The app has been around for almost nine years now, and I think it\u2019s very useful for many people, so not too long ago I revised and modernised<\/a> it again. I also completely reprogrammed the website<\/a> for it.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n

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\"18<\/a><\/figure>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n

My post with gift ideas for book lovers and avid readers<\/strong><\/a> is also very popular. I\u2019ve updated the post again and again over the years, and by now it contains twenty gift ideas. Some are very useful and beautiful, others are rather trashy. But it\u2019s still a collection I really like, and I hope it has helped book lovers receive good gifts over the years.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n

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\"Prunkausgabe<\/a><\/figure>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n

What I\u2019ve always enjoyed most is writing about beautiful classics. I simply love beautiful books and splendid editions<\/strong>. A real highlight is my deluxe unique edition of The Count of Monte Cristo<\/a>. Or my leather-bound unique edition of The Lord of the Rings<\/a>. I restored and upgraded<\/a> my antiquarian complete edition of Balzac\u2019s La Com\u00e9die humaine<\/em> myself on a small budget. I even designed high\u2011quality dust jackets<\/a> myself \u2014 something that now works very well with an excellent free tool.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

But after all these years, my main focus is still on reviewing classics<\/strong>. And I\u2019ve already introduced a great many<\/a>. There are countless editions that are beautiful both in content and appearance. For some reviews, I updated and improved the photos afterwards. I also sorted out and removed numerous book reviews. Digital gardening, indeed. Anything that, in hindsight, no longer really fits the blog, I removed. Some reviews I revised and improved again. Posts that were only short updates \u2014 I removed them. Years later, nobody cares about those anymore. I also cleared the entire blog of outdated images, checked for dead links, and updated or removed them. It\u2019s truly astonishing how much outdated content accumulates after just a few years \u2014 and how much storage space I saved by cleaning it up.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n

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\"Buchmarkt\"<\/a><\/figure>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n

Of course, I\u2019ve also written about the current book culture<\/strong>, the book market, and generally about authors, literature, and related topics. Surprisingly popular is my post The Deceived Reader: How Patrick Rothfuss Misleads His Readers<\/a>. Apparently, readers are indeed very disappointed here. I also regularly look at the numbers of the book market. Red Alert for Germany\u2019s Book Industry: The Silent Collapse of Our Reading Culture<\/a> was my latest post on the topic. I also looked into how books are censored in Germany<\/a>. And I wrote about how publishers censor themselves voluntarily<\/a>.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Finding good books<\/strong> isn\u2019t that easy. My post On the Art of Finding Good Books<\/a> is a frequently visited source of inspiration. And 12 Books That Completely Changed My Life and Everyone Should Read<\/a> is an article that everyone really \u2014 truly \u2014 should read. If you\u2019re looking for beautiful books, you should also take a look at my guest post series My Most Beautiful Books<\/a>. In general, it\u2019s worth browsing through the old posts \u2014 I\u2019ve introduced many truly worthwhile books there.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n

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\"Gamebook<\/a><\/figure>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n

As a software developer, the topic of artificial intelligence<\/strong> was naturally very present for me. I experimented with various things<\/a> and found it exciting to test whether an AI can write a book. Or whether it can help with reading a book. I\u2019m definitely not done with that yet, even though the topic is (understandably) viewed very sceptically and controversially.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Behind the scenes, I cleaned up a lot<\/strong>. I fixed plugins and replaced some with better ones. I checked and resolved all issues using the Google Search Console<\/a>. My entire blog is now also available in English<\/a>. The configured language of a visitor is detected automatically and redirected accordingly. I even cleaned up and slimmed down the database. I also improved and expanded my backup script<\/a>. All of this is very relaxing and soothing for the soul. Like a Zen garden, it feels liberating to let go of old ballast. Or as Edmond Dant\u00e8s says in The Count of Monte Cristo<\/em>:<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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You know that human inventions move from the complex to the simple, and that simplicity is always perfection.<\/p>\r\nThe Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas<\/cite>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Even after all these years, I still enjoy writing here about books and literature. I know that with this blog I\u2019m still very much in a niche, and the phenomenon of book blogging is largely over and has been replaced by social media. But Lesestunden.de is still a beautiful place for me, where I love to share my passion for beautiful classics and hope to inspire one or two readers to discover good literature. So here\u2019s to the next eleven years \u2014 and to a wonderful new reading year.<\/p>\r\n\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A few weeks ago, I read a blog post about digital gardening on Miss Booleana\u2019s blog. In it, she describes the idea of tending and caring for older posts on a blog. I really like that thought, so that\u2019s exactly what I did \u2014 I tended and cared for my blog a little like my … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Digital Gardening: 11 years of Lesestunden.de”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11412,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"slim_seo":{"title":"Digital Gardening: 11 Jahre Lesestunden.de - lesestunden","description":"Vor einigen Wochen habe ich einen Blogbeitrag \u00fcber Digital Gardening auf Miss Booleanas Blog gelesen. Darin beschreibt sie das Konzept auch \u00e4ltere Beitr\u00e4ge eine"},"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[262],"tags":[867,868,869,11,866],"class_list":["post-11397","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-book-blogging","tag-bloggen","tag-buchblog","tag-jahresrueckblick","tag-klassiker","tag-lesestunden"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.lesestunden.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/gardening.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lesestunden.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11397","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lesestunden.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lesestunden.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lesestunden.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lesestunden.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11397"}],"version-history":[{"count":22,"href":"https:\/\/www.lesestunden.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11397\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11440,"href":"https:\/\/www.lesestunden.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11397\/revisions\/11440"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lesestunden.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11412"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lesestunden.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11397"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lesestunden.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11397"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lesestunden.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11397"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}