18 February 2014

Top Ten Reasons I Love Being a Blogger and a Reader


I love being a blogger because...
1. Interaction and New Friends
I have joined many different communities and forums in the past through various hobbies and interests, but the book blogging community has been one of the friendliest and most accepting of them all. I don't think I would have kept my blog up if I wasn't interacting with other bookish people and making friends from all over the world. I get to meet new people everyday, and it's definitely the most important thing about blogging for me.

2. Discovering New Books
Another of my favourite things about blogging is all the new books I get to discover on a daily basis. I get recommendations from friends, I see people raving (or ranting) about books on Twitter, and I spend hours scrolling through Goodreads and adding books to my shelves. Before blogging, my journeys of discovery were mostly restricted to Amazon recommendations. What a small world that was.

3. Endless TBR Pile
I have a love/hate relationship with this one. The TBR pile in my room is about four hundred books high, and then there are the books on my Kindle (another two hundred or so, considering how many free books I have downloaded from Amazon) and those on my wishlist. More books are released every week, and there is no way I'm ever going to be able to read all of the ones that I want to, which makes me a little sad. But at the same time, I love that there are so many books out there to choose from!

4. Recording My Thoughts
I originally started my blog so I could record how I felt about the books that I was reading. I often go through my old posts and reviews and, while they are pretty cringe-worthy, I really enjoy remembering how I felt about a book and all the feelings come rushing back. This blog is nearly four years old, and I've read a lot of books since I started reviewing, so it's always great to have a refresher at hand! In addition, I also love sharing my thoughts with everyone, even if few people read the review of less popular books. 

5. Reading Others' Opinions
As well as recording my own thoughts, I always love reading about other people's opinions, whether they're similar to my own or completely different. It's always great when you find someone who adored the same book as you, just as it's always interesting when you find someone who didn't love the book and you can read their reasoning. 

I love being a reader because...
1. New Worlds
Whether it's an alien planet, an Earth overrun by paranormal creatures, or simply a story based in another city to yours, reading lets you explore all sorts of different new worlds and places. I've been to a vampire academy, snowy mountains, Russia, and various different roadtrips across the USA, all thanks to one series. Every experience is unique in some way, and I always love diving in.

2. Heroes
I talked a little bit about this in a recent discussion post (Why I Don't Care About the Female-to-Male Ratio in YA), but books are a place where everyone can find a hero, whoever they may be. 

3. Escapism
Books provide the best escapism when you just need to leave this world behind a little while. I guess they're kind of like drugs in that way, and they even have some serious side effects if you're reading a particularly emotional book or series. I'm still not over Harry Potter.

4. Memories
Some of my favourite memories are related to reading. My Nanny, who died when I was 12, bought me lots of books and I will always remember her when I read them. I remember her reading Harry Potter to me, and she's the one who told me the proper way to pronounce Hermione. And of course, there are more recent memories, like when I made Tatum read Falling Kingdoms, or she finally got me to carry on with the Chaos Walking trilogy. And then there's mine and Judith's epic fail of a readalong with Beautiful Creatures. The list is basically endless.

5. Interaction and New Friends 2.0
This kind of goes hand-in-hand with the first thing on my list, obviously. If I wasn't a reader, I wouldn't be a blogger, and I wouldn't have made so many new friends. Tatum and I would have very boring conversations instead of screaming at each other over our current read, and I think the world would be a more boring place.

10 comments:

  1. I used to pronounce it 'Her-me-own-e'. A friend in primary school was always telling me I pronouced it wrong but I was a bit of a know it all so I refused to believe her. Then the film came out and I was like...oh.

    Fabulous post full of happiness and looove. I'm pretty new to actually interacting with the community, but I've gazed at it lovingly from afar for a long time. It's fantastic, and I'm already starting to appreciate all these things from the blogosphere!

    Here's to another four years Amber!

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  2. So many memories, you are so right! I definitely pronounced Hermione wrong for the first few years, haha. Probably until book 4 came out when Viktor Krum needed help pronouncing it. Great list! :)

    Amanda @ i solemnly swear

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  3. Great list! I totally agree with all of these! Escaping into books is absolutely awesome, and finding a new exciting world, and a hero you can admire and look up to. It's amazing.
    Same goes for recs and community people. I never even knew how big this thing was! It's still mind-boggling! :)
    Happy reading!

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  4. Same, I 100% wouldn't be here today if it wasn't for the people. Nick, Jenny, Lauren, you, Giselle, Jenni, Ama, Andrea, Jasprit, Rachel and the list goes on and on and on. The friends I have made with blogging has been most definitely the best thing out of this experience. Ha! I have a love-hate relationship with my tbr as well. I never know which book to choose, because there are so many, but but but there are sooooo many *stares in awe* "just as it's always interesting when you find someone who didn't love the book and you can read their reasoning." I actually like this sometimes even more. It's eye-opening. Though fangirling together? Nothing beats that. (STILES *sobs*) New worlds, escapism and memories? Helllls yeah to all of this. This list is perfection and I couldn't have said any of this better myself. Well done *gives Amber a golden star*

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  5. You're so right that the interaction goes hand in hand with the reading AND the blogging. Community! Friends! SQUISHY HUGS.

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  6. I didn't do a TTT list this week, but I absolutely agree with all of these. I love how friendly and accepting the blogger community is and I def have a love/hate relationship with my TBR pile. I love how writing my blog allows me to really thing about the books I've read and I adore surfing other blogs and hearing all the different opinions on books and bookish things. Some of my favorite memories revolve around books, too. Great list!

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  7. Great picks :) Escaping into the world of a book is such an amazing feeling, it can make me forget whatever is happening around me and I love that. My TTT.

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  8. Meeting new bookish people has definitely been the best part of the hobby. There's also someone to gush about a book with, or rant about it if that's needed. Those feels just demand sharing!

    400 books in your TBR?! Yikes! It's nice to have options though, and there's probably a book in there for pretty much any mood you're in! Your TBR is a bookish buffet.

    I love what you said about every finding their hero. It's very poetic! Plus there's nothing like reading a book and thinking, "This hero/heroine really GETS me and what I'm going through." It's even better when you identify with them and they have a HEA. :)

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  9. I totally agree you with the book blogging community being one of the friendliest. You can talk about anything and at a drop of hat, you’re having random, yet wonderful conversation about being on #teamnobody or whatever. :D I started my blog for that exact reasons — to record my thoughts. I always get a case of book amnesia, and having a review written is excellent for me to remember what I loved about the book.

    I love that you get to experience all types of different worlds when you read. If we can’t experience it in our own world, why not theirs by reading about it? :D

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  10. Haha, I know what you mean about the endless TBR list. I try to keep mine pared down, but I don't think I'll ever have less than a couple of hundred books on my TBR list at all times. People I’ve met through books and blogging are the best. This is probably my favorite top 10 topic yet.

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