Day 3 of Book Blogger Appreciation Week 2012. This is the first time that I have participated in BBAW and I am excited.
Today's Meme: What does book blogging mean to you?
This is a tough question for me to answer. Primary because I have never really thought about what book blogging means to me.
When I started this blog in 2008, I did it because I wanted to discuss the books that I read with someone. I had just moved to Florida and it is easier to get involved with communities online then it is in the real world. I knew absolutely no one and my roommates did not read the same kind of books that I did. So, while we could discuss popular books like Twilight (which I only read because one roommate was a fan), other books not so much.
My memory tells me that when I started there were a lot more General (Non-Genre) fiction book blogs around. I found tons of books that I would have never heard of and even read books that had been sitting on my shelf forever.
Because of book blogging, I found Shelfari. Which at the time was my go to bookish community until it was acquire by Amazon and I got locked out of my account and it took almost a year for me to get someone to fix it. Because of book blogging I found GoodReads, where I am not active in forums but more like I record my reading journey.
There was a two or three year time period where I basically stop blogging and for the most part stopped reading. During that time there were a lot of changes in both publishing and the book blogging community. Young adult fiction became a huge success and some of the blogs that I had once followed had disappeared.
These changes have been interesting to watch. Specially what ends up being the next big thing and watching how the long it last or how fast it disappears. Especially in the young adult genre (and sub-genres).
Unlike some blogs out there I don't have a lot of followers and because of my reading taste I rarely get review request. So, it is always interesting to look at other peoples blogs and see what is coming out and what they thought about it. Amazon/GoodReads/Shelfari are great to read reviews but for some reason I trust someone that has a blog. Because I know the time it takes to maintain and I have followed them for awhile and I can go back and look at what they read and reviewed. It is almost like a background check. I feel that I can trust what a blogger (at least most) a saying about a book. Sometimes an incident happens where people are less then honest but it hasn't happened to any of the blogs that I follow.
One thing I noticed is that my reading taste have not changed. It just has become a little harder for me to find books that match what I like. Books that can catch my interest because there is some much focus on genre fiction. It feels that my choices of literary/contemporary fiction are getting smaller and smaller every month.
In fact, this year I am still looking for that one great fiction read. The one that blows my mind and has me thinking about it for days after. The one that I rave to all my friends that I love. While I have read some good books, none have been that one, yet.
My blog still primary functions as an avenue for me to record what I read and what I thought about it. I don't have a lot of followers so it is always nice when someone comments on my post or an author ask for a review. I get a lot of joy and pleasure out of the fact that maybe one person has stumbled across my little corner of the web, read my review, and then read the book and enjoyed it.
Being involved in the book blogging community has been a great ride so far. I am looking forward to see where it all goes with the changes occurring in publishing
When I started this blog in 2008, I did it because I wanted to discuss the books that I read with someone. I had just moved to Florida and it is easier to get involved with communities online then it is in the real world. I knew absolutely no one and my roommates did not read the same kind of books that I did. So, while we could discuss popular books like Twilight (which I only read because one roommate was a fan), other books not so much.
My memory tells me that when I started there were a lot more General (Non-Genre) fiction book blogs around. I found tons of books that I would have never heard of and even read books that had been sitting on my shelf forever.
Because of book blogging, I found Shelfari. Which at the time was my go to bookish community until it was acquire by Amazon and I got locked out of my account and it took almost a year for me to get someone to fix it. Because of book blogging I found GoodReads, where I am not active in forums but more like I record my reading journey.
There was a two or three year time period where I basically stop blogging and for the most part stopped reading. During that time there were a lot of changes in both publishing and the book blogging community. Young adult fiction became a huge success and some of the blogs that I had once followed had disappeared.
These changes have been interesting to watch. Specially what ends up being the next big thing and watching how the long it last or how fast it disappears. Especially in the young adult genre (and sub-genres).
Unlike some blogs out there I don't have a lot of followers and because of my reading taste I rarely get review request. So, it is always interesting to look at other peoples blogs and see what is coming out and what they thought about it. Amazon/GoodReads/Shelfari are great to read reviews but for some reason I trust someone that has a blog. Because I know the time it takes to maintain and I have followed them for awhile and I can go back and look at what they read and reviewed. It is almost like a background check. I feel that I can trust what a blogger (at least most) a saying about a book. Sometimes an incident happens where people are less then honest but it hasn't happened to any of the blogs that I follow.
One thing I noticed is that my reading taste have not changed. It just has become a little harder for me to find books that match what I like. Books that can catch my interest because there is some much focus on genre fiction. It feels that my choices of literary/contemporary fiction are getting smaller and smaller every month.
In fact, this year I am still looking for that one great fiction read. The one that blows my mind and has me thinking about it for days after. The one that I rave to all my friends that I love. While I have read some good books, none have been that one, yet.
My blog still primary functions as an avenue for me to record what I read and what I thought about it. I don't have a lot of followers so it is always nice when someone comments on my post or an author ask for a review. I get a lot of joy and pleasure out of the fact that maybe one person has stumbled across my little corner of the web, read my review, and then read the book and enjoyed it.
Being involved in the book blogging community has been a great ride so far. I am looking forward to see where it all goes with the changes occurring in publishing
