Thursday 13 & BBAW Day 4

read more entries @ BBAW

Join in @ Thursday 13

13 Ways Book Blogging Has Change the Way I Read

my BBAW day 4 response

1. Book blogging shifted the balance back towards even from over 80% NF.  Fiction had been my first love and remained nearly 90% of my reading until the year I went back to school in 1985 at which time I discovered that, in the hands of a good writer, good stories could wear the guise of NF and that good storytelling was my access to areas of knowledge and information that I had thought too technical, too obscure, too academic or too jargon obfuscated.
2. Book blogging shifted the balance of my blog reading from predominately news & views to well over 70% reading, writing and fiber arts (many book lovers, as am I, are workers in thread: crochet, knit, needlepoint etc)
3. After I started reading the book blogs I started getting to read new releases the same year they were out because I got heads up and got in queue at the library before it was in the high double digits.
4. After I began reading the book blogs I stretched my comfort zone into even more genre than I'd already favored
5. I discovered new authors
6. I started seeing things in the stories I might not have because I am constantly alert from something to say/share about what I am reading.
7. I learned to defend books I thought were being misunderstood by some and to do so with humility so as not to offend (I hope as I try)
8. Book blogging has changed reading from a solitary experience to a social one which was HUGE for me who am extremely shy.
9. Because of book blogging I gave audio books another try and have come to LOVE them which is good because in a few years, due to a degenerative eye disease, I will have to depend on them more and more and eventually exclusively.  My main reason for disliking audio books in the past was impatience because I could read three times faster than the reader.  That is no longer true but I realize now that I was missing out regardless as hearing the words aloud emphasizes the music of the language and opens a new dimension to the enjoyment of the story.
10. I have discovered the world of Indie and found it feels like home
11. I read more ethnically diverse stories.  I always did enjoy stories from ethnic backgrounds different from mine but my encounters of them were aleatory and before the book blogs luck was constrained by a much narrower access to information. i.e. the new books shelf at my library was my primary source of info
12. My wishlist and TBR pile have exploded
13. I read fewer books.  Counter intuitive?   I've already read several of the posts on today's BBAW topic and found every one of them claiming to be reading more than before.  In my case, reading the book blogs and writing my own posts has eaten into the time I used to have for reading.  But that isn't necessarily a bad thing since a case could be made for my life being better balanced now.  Before the web I was isolated and a loner mostly by choice, somewhat due to visual impairment.  Joining the blogging community has given me a sense of belonging I never had before and I suppose I am paying for that with less pages read but I'm not sorry.