The very first "book blog" that I ever read was Reviews by Jess... now known as The Cozy Reader. I discovered several books that I'd never heard of and read them based on the reviews that she gave. I'd never had anyone to recommend me books before and so it was great to just be able to open up her page and find a lot that interested me.
I don't have a lot of friends who read the way I do. Well, let's be honest. I just don't have a lot of friends. Haha. I do have one or two on a different site who would tell me the books they liked. But blogging has opened up a whole world of people like me. I've read books I never would have picked up before simply because they covers didn't appeal to me (The Hungers Games). I've learned that it's ok to throw a book across the room and never pick it up again because it was horrible (Tower of Change).
It's brought authors down to human level for me. I read Maggie Stiefvater's blog on a regular basis and I think she is just hilarious. I bring up Jackson Pearce's youtube every couple of days to check for a new video and they're great to watch. Before, authors were unattainable to me. They were intimidating and unreachable and (this is going to sound wicked judgemental) haughty. But book blogging has shown me that they're just trying to make a living just like everyone else. And they LIKE their fans. They TALK to their fans.
It's given me something to talk about. Something that I LOVE. People who don't read books don't understand why I love the Hunger Games parody of Britney Spears's I Wanna Go. They don't understand why I fall in love with Mr. Darcy every time I hear his name. They don't understand why I wish I had a Jacob Black in my life. They don't know what WizRock is. They don't get why I get so excited if I win a give away or an author emails me about a review I've written about their book. They don't get why I'll read a book more than once and THEN listen to the audio version as well. Or why I can't throw or give any of my books away.
How has book blogging changed your life? Leave your link over at Parajunkee's site so I can check out your answer!
Great post! I love blogging, and it has really changed my reading habits. Reading is more than just reading, I pay attention more to the books I read. I never noticed publishers before,and now I always look. The book blogging community is great. I don't have many friends that love reading as much as I do, and I really enjoy the community.
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