Day 4 of BBAW brings us one of those important questions.
Book bloggers blog because we love reading. 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? Choose any one of these topics and share your thoughts today!
In the 6.5 years of blogging I have done, blogging has radically changed my reading. For. the. better. Not too long ago, I realized I had been tracking my reading for 10 years. I started in 2001. So I started putting together a spreadsheet of each years books and what I had rated them. And something became startlingly apparent; I was reading better books. In 2001, I read aLOTof stinkers. I read 74 books in 2001 and only really liked 19 of them. That was the year I discovered Joanne Harris, so 3 of those are her books. And Slammerkin. Oh Slammerkin….
Anyway. So far this year, I’ve also read 74 books and honestly? I can’t think of one I have an active dislike for. Except maybe 1…. Same for last year. Last year was the year I discovered the magic of Terry Pratchett and yes, that was thanks to a book blogger (thank you Debi!!). I started blogging in 2005 and not only has my quantity steadily increased (in 2003, I read 31 books. Granted, that was the year my daughter was born. I was slightly distracted) the quality has markedly increased. If anyone says book bloggers don’t have influence, well, they are quite ignorant. Just this year, I’ve read (thanks to a book blogger review or recommendation):
Illyria by Elizabeth Hand (Ana, who loves Elizabeth Hand)
The Bone series by Jeff Smith (Debi, with heavy influencing by BethFishReads)
The Night Bookmobile by Audrey Niffeneggar (several, but the one that stands out is Jenn)
All the Terry Pratchett books I’ve read/listened to (Debi)
Tender Morsels (Kelly, Ana, and Chris)
The Coffins of Little Hope by Tim Schaffert (don’t remember who)
Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day by Winifred Watson (I think Ana, but I’m not sure)
Faery Tale: One Woman’s Search for Enchantment in a Modern World by Signe Pike (Neil Gaiman. No, really. He blogged about it, I think it should count.)
The Kitchen Daughter by Jael McHenry (I think I was Swapna)
The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss (several people recommended this one to me; Marg, Carl, Kelly….) (and thank you again) (geez, I adore this book)
Oryx & Crake by Margaret Atwood
A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness (like I needed much pushing; Ana, Chris, etc)
The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman (long time ago, can’t remember)
Tomorrow When the War Began (Galleysmith and BethFishReads)
Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs (I believe My Friend Amy is the one who posted the book trailer to her Tumblr)
Yes, My Darling Daughter by Margaret Leroy (I believe this was Swapna too, it was a year or two ago)
Hate List by Jennifer Brown (Galleysmith)
Anya’s Ghost by Vera Brosgol (Ana and Chris)
Looking for Alaska by John Green (Debi)
The Stuff of Legend Vol. 1 (Chris, via Debi)
The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley (many, but mainly Carl)
Tolstoy and the Purple Chair by Nina Sankovitch (many)
Bleeding Violet by Dia Reeves (for NerdsHeartYA)
What Momma Left Me by Renee Watson (for NerdsHeartYA) (AND the winner!!!)
I’m not going to just outright say that book blogging makes you read better, but, uh, it sure does help!
I think the quality of my reading has vastly improved as well. I figured out my taste and found bloggers who's recommendations I trust. Because of that I find that there are very few books that I pick up and don't end up enjoying at least some part of.
That's a lot of great books!! And great people suggesting them…
Oh so true! I'm reading much better books too! Great how that works
Absolutely! I've discovered so many different authors that I never would have found otherwise, and have tried other genres for the same reason. Love blogger recommendations!
My reading looks NOTHING like it did before I started reading book blogs. NOTHING. And it wasn't that I wasn't happy with my reading before…but that was just because I didn't know what I was missing!!! My reading, heck, my life (and that is not an exaggeration!) is so much richer, so much fuller, so much more varied because of book blogs!!!
It made me laugh to see you credit me for discovering Terry Pratchett…because I never would have discovered him if not for Ana!
It's awesome at both end of the experience too – receiving a recommendation for a book that you then end up loving but also watching someone else love a book that you have told them about too!
Ha! Glad to see I've had some influence!
31 and you were distracted?? I think that's super great! Your numbers now are simply humbling! I wish I could rack up that much because I have so many I want to get to! I'm usually lucky to hit 20 or so.
6.5 years of blogging?!? That's like a 100 years in real life!
10 years! Holy cow! How cool to have that list to go back and look at. I started keeping stats about a year ago and can't wait until I have a few years under my belt so I can see the trends and shifts, if there are any. I definitely think book blogging is useful for getting some quality reading into the mix!
Very nicely said. I'm also happy with the better quality of books I'm reading since I began blogging. For me, it's that now I know about all these great books.
I hear this! I would never have picked up The Knife Of Never Letting Go, if not for book bloggers.
Yay for reading better