BBAW Day 4

I admit, I skipped the prompt for yesterday.  I just didn’t feel like I had anything to add to the other fabulous posts.  I had fun reading everyone else’s posts though and I added a few tips to my mental list.  One thing is for sure, I need to be on the up and up with twitter.  I have always felt like it moves at such a fast pace that I just can’t keep up, so then I lose interest.  Does anyone have any tips on how to make twitter work for me?

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!

Book blogging has drastically changed the books I read.  It has encouraged me to branch out a little more and pick up  books that I would otherwise have ignored.  I value the opinions of the blogs I read, so if I see a blogger singing the praises of a book that I would generally dismiss, I instead add it to my wish list.

Here are some books that I doubt I would have ever read without the encouragement of bloggers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That is just a smattering of the wonderful books I have read that I can attribute solely to book bloggers.  What books have you read due to the influence of other bloggers?

BBAW Day 2: Interviews

It’s day 2 of BBAW and we all know what that means . . . blogger interviews! I am always interested in getting to know bloggers on a more personal level, and I think the interviews really elicit that.

This year I was assigned a new to me blogger, Chachic, from Chachic’s Book Nook.  I perused her blog and immediately added her to my Google reader.

Chachic is a blogger from the Phillipines and she has made quite a presence in the blogging world. She is hands on when it comes to the blogging community and is especially involved in the Filipino blogging community.  She will be participating in the first Filipino Reader Conference, which commences tomorrow!

First off, give me the low down on your blog.  How did you get started on your book blog? What is the inspiration behind it?
I was already following other book blogs before I even decided to start my own. I started out as a lurker and then I thought it would be a good idea to comment on some of the posts and then got excited when the bloggers replied. I was surprised at how nice and friendly everyone was and I wanted to interact with more people who read the same kind of books that I do so I decided to start my own blog. I was thrilled to discover that there are others who understood how I feel about reading. It felt good to find kindred spirits.

Tell me a little bit about your literary tastes.  Which genres do you go for? Are there any genres you tend to stay away from?
I read all sorts of books recommended by fellow bloggers, that’s how I usually decide what books to get. I’ve realized that my reading tastes have changed because of this and I’ve started to read books from genres that I normally wouldn’t explore. But I keep coming back to epic fantasy and contemporary literature (both adult and young adult) and I feel like those two will always be my comfort genres. I’m also a big fan of fairy tale retellings. I also read a lot of young adult fiction although I shy away from paranormal YA.

I don’t know about you, but as a book blogger, I love hearing about other blogger’s favorite books EVER.  Spill about what books you can’t stop gushing about!
Oh so many! I actually have a list of favorites on my blog because it helps me keep track of what to recommend to other people. I think it’s safer to enumerate a couple of my favorite authors, I always recommend books written by Megan Whalen Turner, Robin McKinley, Sherwood Smith, Diana Wynne Jones, Sharon Shinn, Juliet Marillier, Ilona Andrews, Orson Scott Card, Elizabeth E. Wein, Eva Ibbotson, Sarra Manning and Melina Marchetta. I told you there were a lot of them. 😛 Like I said, I have a more comprehensive list on my blog so feel free to drop by, check it out and let me know if you’ve read some of the books. I love chatting about my favorites.

You are from the Philippines.  How does that affect your reading and blogging?  Do you tend to follow mostly Filipino blogs?
I think the biggest factor that affects my reading and blogging here in the Philippines is that we don’t have good public libraries. So all of the books that I read and review? They’re bought or borrowed from friends. Aside from that, there’s probably not much difference. We use English as the medium of instruction in schools so most US and UK books are readily available in local bookstores and what we can’t find here, we can just order online through Amazon or Book Depository.

As for the blogs that I follow, they’re a mixed bunch. I follow a lot of foreign bloggers because I feel like we have similar tastes in books and I get a lot of great recommendations from their blogs but I also follow Filipino book bloggers because I get to interact with them in person even if we don’t usually read the same books. There’s an active community of Filipino Book Bloggers and we have regular meet ups and discussions.

How do you make time for blogging?  Do you have a system in place?
I don’t have a fixed system in place. When I first started blogging, I made sure that I had daily posts and that I’d review all of the books that I read but this year, I’ve been more laidback. As much as I love blogging, it requires time and effort and sometimes, I don’t have the energy to post as much as I’d like. So I try not to pressure myself and just blog when I have free time, usually after work on weekdays or when I don’t have plans on weekends.

Thank you so much for allowing me to interview Chachic.  I am thrilled to have found your blog!

BBAW Day 1

First off, I just want to say I am thrilled that today marks the start of another BBAW. This is my third year participating (and I think the third year it has been in existence!) and every year I am happy to see how everyone comes together as a community and celebrates book blogging.

While the awards are a fun part of BBAW, they can never accurately represent the depth and breadth of diversity in the book blogging community. Today you are encouraged to highlight a couple of bloggers that have made book blogging a unique experience for you. They can be your mentors, a blogger that encouraged you to try a different kind of book, opened your eyes to a new issue, made you laugh when you needed it, or left the first comment you ever got on your blog. Stay positive and give back to the people who make the community work for you!

This is today’s prompt.  I have to say I am not that excited about it.  It feels a little overdone, because this is the third year I have done a prompt like this and while I appreciate what it is attempting, I feel like I would just be repeating myself.

However, I will go ahead and give brief shout outs to my favorite blogs.  Jill from Fizzy Thoughts always gives me a good laugh. I love the detailed and thoughtful reviews of Steph from Steph & Tony Investigate.  The laid back nature of Diane’s blog at Bibliophile by the Sea makes her another of my favorites.  Kim at Sophisticated Dorkiness offers reviews of books that I don’t always see around the blogosphere, so I enjoy her blog for its originality.  I love the friendliness of Dana of Much Madness is Divinest Sense and man, that coffee in her banner always has me salivating! I just discovered Deborah of The Bookish Dame in the past few weeks and I have enjoyed reading her blog immensely.

So there you have it.  Obviously this in no way encompasses all the blogs I read and love! I am looking forward to discovering even more blogs as BBAW unfolds.