BBAW – Day 4 – Reading and Blogging
Today’s BBAW topic explores the dynamic that exists between reading and blogging; click here to join the fun or read more answers! 🙂
Has book blogging changed the way you read? Have you discovered books you never would have apart from book blogging? How has book blogging affected your book acquisition habits? Have you made new connections with other readers because of book blogging?
Blogging has changed my reading habits in more ways that I can count, I’m sure! There’s really been a shift in how I read since I first joined bookish communities like Goodreads or Librarything, but the biggest changes occurred, without a doubt, when I first started my blog and started visiting others. These have been positive changes (though the shelves wincing under the weight of numerous books might disagree!) that directly impacted the quality of my reading. So let’s just try counting some of the ways my reading has changed since The Infinite Shelf’s humble beginnings :
- Discovering new books and authors : This is without a doubt the first change that comes to mind. Many authors I probably wouldn’t have come across otherwise, like John Green, Scott Westerfeld and David Levithan for instance, have now become favorites of mine – and those are only the YA ones!
- Buying books in a more reasonable way : The Man of the House would probably argue that we have different notions of “reasonable”, but the truth is, I am a lot more careful about which books I buy. I read lots of reviews and most often than not take a peek at Goodreads and Librarything before I add a book to my shelves. It’s not really about whether the book has been well-received, but more about whether it is a good fit for me.
- Letting Go : Discovering so many new books means that I want to read many more, so I’ve learned to let go of the books I don’t enjoy. I’m a lot more critical about this than I used to be, although I won’t put a book aside forever if I feel that I’m just reading the wrong book at the wrong time. I have also let go of series that weren’t right for me, and it has made my reading life much more rewarding!
- Reading More : When I started blogging, I thought it would eat what little time I had to read. Instead, adding so many new books to my wishlist and TBR piles is only more motivation to read. I don’t wait for the reading time to “happen” as much as I used to (like in the subway or just before bed). I have gone back to what I used to do years ago, taking the conscious decision to just sit, relax and read more frequently.
- Sharing : If writers write to be heard, I believe readers read to share. Share the experience of a story, or a knowledge, with the author; but also share with each other. There are a few readers among my friends and my family but none that really completely matches my taste in books. Blogging is a wonderful tool because it gives you the opportunity to share the excitement you lived through the pages with other readers. It’s awesome, and probably the most precious aspect of it all 😀
I loved the point wise response!
Reading is a part of life. Any kind of reading. Be it research papers or book blogs. They always keep us going, the dear book bloggers!
Here is my post:
BBAW 2011: Readers
Nice post, thank you! I agree with #3. I used to finish a book NO MATTER what. Now I don’t waste the effort if I really am not enjoying it.
I think I am opposite — I actually buy more books now as a book blogger. 🙂
I’m glad you put “letting go” on your list, because so many readers think they have to finish a book, even when they don’t like it. I’m probably a lot pickier now that I’m a book blogger, but there are far too many books in the world to get stuck with the ones we don’t like.
Amen on letting go!
Nice post Kay.
Readers read to share. I so agree with you on that. We cannot stop talking about books that we loved or even about the ones we hated. Thank god we have our blogs…
I buy A LOT more books than I did before I started blogging. I still struggle with not finishing a book, for some reason.
Very nice post! I also buy tons of books, but the difference now is that I know exactly what I am buying and most likely if I will enjoy it or not. I also tend to read more voraciously and never let a free moment pass when I can be reading. I agree with a lot of what you’ve said here today!
Haha, what are shelves for if not to hold our ever increasing collections of books?? Green, Westerfeld, and Levithan are all authors I’ve found through blogging, too. I’ve picked up that habit of carefully researching a book, too! I love being “friends” with bloggers I follow on Goodreads, because I can so quickly and easily check to see if any of them have read a particular book and what they thought about it. And since I know which bloggers I tend to agree with, I can often then have a sense of whether a book will be for me. It’s a great community resource!
My TBR list is constantly growing because of blogging. It’s both a good and bad thing. I feel like I don’t have time to get to all the books I want to read, but then I discover a new author I love because of some review and it’s all worth it.
I share many of your thoughts, Kay! I’m definitely more choosy about the books I purchase, and that can be both good and bad . . . good because I’m generally reading a higher quality of novels after reading so many reviews and collecting others’ thoughts, but bad because I’m far less likely to just “stumble upon” a gem of a story without hearing what other reviewers think first. Overall, it’s a good change, but sometimes I miss the days when I could just wander a bookstore and see what looked good. (Of course, now our only bookstore is closed, so I guess those days really are over, anyway!)
I am another one who is much more careful about buying books now. I really put thought into it; I search blogs and goodreads for reviews, then I buy when I’m sure it will be a wonderful book. (Although I do buy more now… LOL! But they are almost always good, as opposed to before!!)
I am picky about what I buy, too, but I am not so sure the guy agrees with me. There are jokes about the bookshelves falling through the floor…
I really like what you wrote about sharing — and totally agree!!!
I definitely feel pressure to read more/read more often/read faster/blog faster/etc.! But I think it’s just pressure that I put on myself, because I don’t think anyone would fault me for not reading something or for reading slower (or not blogging for a while). At least I hope they wouldn’t!
my wallet has definitely taken a hit thanks to book blogging but i wouldn’t have it any other way. i would of missed out on so many good books if it wasn’t for book blogs, but at the same time i’m more inclined to dnf a book now than i was before.