BBAW: Readers
Posted 15th September 2011
Category: Book Blogger Appreciation Week Genres: N/A
6 Comments
Today we are asked if blogging has changed the way you read, and I must answer that for myself, yes it has. In all ways.
Before I blogged my reading was not organised in any way. Although I loved reading and had read a lot as a child (I once had eleven books on the go, however I wouldn’t recommend this and indeed I only ended up finishing two because it became so confusing) I started to let this fade when I went to secondary school. It wasn’t that reading was uncool, although of course it certainly is in many circles at school, it was simply that I was changing and growing and while reading was important there was a part of me that saw it as part of my old self. I read books every now and then and the books I chosen tended to be random ones that caught my eye in the bookshop.
I didn’t care about the age of a book, whether or not others had read it, because it didn’t matter. I read books about anywhere by anyone, the only type of book I wouldn’t read was classics. And of course this was before Twilight so the furthest I got to vampires was Harry Potter.
And this was basically what I carried on doing until 2009 when I decided it might be fun to write a review. Half way through that year, with several books under my belt and a few reviews to boot, I decided to make a list of what I’d read, the number of pages, the date I’d read it. And the next year I did the same, only now I was wondering what to do with all the reviews I’d written. I had been posting them to my personal blog, but that wasn’t as much fun as I thought it would be, so, having already been reading a few previously, I set up my own book blog.
And my reading changed. I read posts by people my age who loved the classics – loving the classics when you’re younger than 50? I knew I had to read some myself to see if they would work for me, and, well, I’m still reading and loving them now. And, because I wanted to have a steady flow of reviews to my site and because my randomly chosen books might be a bit too random for a blog, I now mix up my choices with brand new releases and books that are recommended on other blogs.
Sometimes I miss the impulsiveness of just finding a book and reading it, but to be honest I know that structuring my reading as I now do has lead to me becoming more aware of books in general.
I thank book bloggers for introducing me to Pride And Prejudice, a book that I’d heard too much about and yet had never discovered, as it led to my continuation of reading classics. As too I thank them for books such as Before I Fall, Matched, The Wilding, and also presses such as Peirene Press and Persephone Books. For the presses in particular, I never would have known of them if it weren’t for book bloggers, and they have brought a whole new side to my reading.
September 15, 2011, 3:01 pm
I am so glad blogging brought you to the classics! It does my little nerdy heart good to hear that. I was sort of the opposite. Blogging introduced me to YA and contemporary lit.
Charlie: Then that is awesome also! I like keeping up with both, it makes more groups accessible and places less limits on conversation.
September 15, 2011, 3:42 pm
Blogging is slowly bringing me to the classics, too. I’d never have started reading them again if not for bloggers’ influence! I’ve seen my reading get more organized, too, both in what I read and in my tracking of what I read. And I think that organization means I read more, both in terms of type of book and in terms of quality. All good things, I think!
September 15, 2011, 9:06 pm
My big thing when I started blogging was actually reading YA. I hardly ever read it when I actually was one, so I don’t think I would have started if it wasn’t for reviews of great sounding books!
Charlie: I know it’s weird, but I still sometimes feel like YA books are the right age for me (well, generally). I think it’s the era now, how we’re so different to our parents.
September 16, 2011, 12:15 am
I got lured into book blogging through sort of the same route– kept track of my books read in a list, started writing reviews on LibraryThing, found book blogs and now here I am almost three years later, a book blogger myself! :D
Charlie: That’s the thing, once you start writing reviews and listing your books, you find it’s silly keeping it to yourself if there’s a place to share with others!
September 16, 2011, 2:53 am
I actually miss the randomness of picking up whatever books called to me, as now I have too many review commitments. Am thinking about cutting down on review requests in order to catch up on my teetering TBR piles.
Charlie: That’s a good idea, and one I’ve started to subscribe to as it does bring the fun back into blogging. That said, I let myself get swamped every few months because it makes me read quicker.
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September 15, 2011, 1:53 pm
Isn’t it amazing to see where you have come and to know that you are on a journey which may take you somewhere completely different in the future!