For What It's Worth


Sunday, February 17, 2013

Book Blogger Confessions: Reading habits

 

Co-hosted by 
For What It’s Worth & Midnyte Reader

Book Blogger Confessions is a meme that posts the 1st and 3rd Monday of every month, where book bloggers "confess" and vent about topics that are unique to us. Feel free to share, vent and offer solutions.

Just keep it respectful - no bashing authors or other bloggers! If you want to participate just grab our button and include it in your post with a link to either Midnyte Reader or For What It's Worth. We will be providing a linky at the end of our posts so people can "hop" to see all the participants answers.

Question: How has blogging and reviewing changed your reading habits? Do you read a genre now that you wouldn't have tried prior? Or have you been turned off by a genre you used to love?

My reading habits have changed dramatically (and keep changing) since I started blogging/reviewing.
Before blogging, I mostly read non fiction; travelogues, biographies, books about cooking, aspiring chefs and magazines. Blogging has opened up a whole new world of genres and authors to me.

Now I never read non fiction or have time to read magazines.The sheer volume of books I NEED to read is staggering. I used read about a dozen books a year….compared to the several 100 per year now.
Once I started blogging I discovered and devoured every PNR title I could get my hands on, then I moved on to YA. I would read a whole series in a week. But then blogging effected my reading choices in a negative way. Even though I follow 100’s of blogs we do tend to hype and review the same dozen or so books. Instead of expanding my reading choices I started reading whatever everyone else was reading and hated most of it. Also with the types of books I was reading the plots started getting repetitive.

I kind of stepped away from the hype machine and now seek out blogs that are reviewing books that are outside my usual reading tastes. Not everything works for me. I’ve tried erotica and while I have enjoyed a few – the darker stuff just isn’t for me. I do enjoy historical romance and chick-lit now. I’m giving manga a try and I think I’m going to go back and try to read more non fiction again. I’m not sure how that will go because these days I love the escape from reality that fiction provides. I rarely start a series these days. I was juggling over 50 and with the overflowing TBR pile I just can’t keep track anymore.

I think blogging and reviewing has had a positive effect on my reading overall but there have been a few times that the “job” of blogging has sucked all the joy out of it. I’m finding a good balance these days. I’ve been through the pitfalls and I think I’m in a good place with my reading now.

How about you? Have your reading habits changed since you started blogging or even since you started following blogs if you are not a blogger?

bestmeme

Exciting news for Book Blogger Confessions!

We’ve been nominated for best meme for Book Blogger Twitter Con (#BBTC) hosted by Parajunkee and The Bookish Brunette. This event will take place April 1 - April 7 and all of it will be held on Twitter. We are thrilled to be nominated and want to thank everyone who participates, comments and reads. Voting starts March 1, 2013. Even if you don't vote for us, go vote! For more information on #BBTC click HERE.

27 comments:

  1. I have had to step back from reading the hugely hyped books for the same reason. I just felt so disappointed when I didn't love the book like everyone else. I do love how my reading has changed and that I read such a variety now.

    Congrats on the nomination!

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    1. Exactly. You end up feeling like something is wrong with you lol

      I intentionally leave popular books until later now - or I read them before I hear too much about them.

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  2. Yay congrats on being a nominee :D

    I have found more genres since I started blogging so that's nice. I also read more, it's more like when I was in elementary school and read everything I could find. After that it started to be less, mostly cos I had read all the good books and not much to choose from. So thank you blogging that opened a new world. I still love the library but hey too few books

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    1. Thank you!

      I was never a big reader which is hilarious to me because I now read almost 200 books a year and blog. O_O

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  3. I am definitely more 'critical' and more open to other genres since I started blogging.
    also, this is such a small thing- but I started to notice acknowledgments now. I found that most of the time, authors thank book bloggers/reviewers! Very cool.

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    1. I LOVE acknowledgments! I even did a post with my favorites last year. It's the first thing I read. I think it says a lot about the author too.

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  4. I hear you. Though I haven't been there yet, it's easy to understand how blogging can become sort of a second job. I'm glad you were able to find a balance. Also, congrats on the nomination! I won't be able to vote though, not having a Twitter account :(.

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    1. I realized that I have to read for me - not for blogging and the rest ends up flowing from there. Blogging is hard enough without making a job of it.

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  5. I used to read a TON of magazines... now I don't have time! Also with non fiction... I used to love it, and now I never read it. It's ironic that this is the BBC this week because on Friday I just decided to pick up a non fiction at the bookstore that I was eyeing, I need to read something for me. I feel that overall it's done good things for my reading though!

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    1. I miss my magazines lol I don't even watch much TV anymore. Reading has become all consuming!

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  6. I know what you mean about the hyped books. While some may be good, it seems like just reading about them on someone's blog is enough information. I used to read non-fiction books too a lot. Once in a while I still read them. They do tend to be the darker kind of books I like anyway so that still fits my blog.

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    1. Isn't that weird that so many of us stopped reading non fiction?? I wonder why that is.

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  7. I tend to stay away from most hyped books though i do read a few. On a whole now, I mostly read older stuff. Like you I just kind of stepped away from the hype machine. Now I read a little bit of everything and I am a much happier reader :)

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    1. The hype machine can ruin a book for me. I probably would have even like quite a few if I didn't let my expectations get sky high. I ignore it all now and read what I want.

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  8. First off, congrats on the nomination and thank you so much for creating this fantastic meme!

    I go back and forth between hyped books. More often than not, I'm dying to read it, but I never get around to it. I think all the hype kind of ruins it for me. Great post!

    Thanks for coming by to mine :)

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    1. If a book is hyped I put off reading it right away and I don't read many reviews for it. I find that if I go in with a clean slate I can manage my expectations and don't get disappointed.

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  9. Oh the hyped books were my downfall - I wanted to love what everyone else did and gush about them and get all excited. Like Just One Day - and we know how that worked out ;-)

    But one awesome part of blogging is experiencing all these books we never normally would have read - so there's positives and negatives at times :)

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    1. lol - I *knew* that book wasn't going to work for me but I did get caught in the hype. I felt like just maybe I was missing out on something brilliant. I should have stuck with my instincts there.

      But I can't complain because I would have never found dozens of other incredible books/authors without blogging.

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  10. Blogging definietly has it's good points and bad points...luckily for most of us the good outweigh the bad. And I always cringe when I see that something is part of a series!

    PS Congrats on the nimination!!

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  11. I think that blogging has made me a far more critical reader and viewer. And I don't mean critical as in negative, but critical as in that I analyze constantly. As I read (or watch a movie or TV) I am always asking myself if the storytelling is working, and if not, why not?
    I also need to find time to read books just for fun -- no note-taking or reviewer brain. I usually do that in the summer.

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  12. It really is amazing how much blogging has affected my reading, especially with my limited time. I pretty much only read review books at this point, BUT I'm also only accepting the ones that I think will be good for me. Working for Entangled has really lessened my "free" time, so I'm much more picky about what review books I accept.

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    1. I rarely accept books for review anymore. I'm much more discriminating. My early days of OOH! a free book are over lol That thinking put me in a horrible reading slump.

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  13. I've seen this meme around but I've never joined in. I think I'll have to sometime soon! I think many bloggers' habits have changed since they started their blog. I still read the same kinds of books, but the way I find out about them is different, I read more books a year than I did before (for the most part), and my TBR list is much, MUCH bigger! Great question!

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    1. The past few months I noticed I've became a big Twitter/impulse buyer. If I see several people tweeting about one book over & over (especially if it's a cheap e-book) I can't resist.

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  14. I totally get what you mean about hyped books. There have been a few that I've read that we're pretty hyped up and I was either disappointed or I really liked - at the time, but after a few weeks passed I couldn't tell you anything about it!

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    1. Now that I don't listen tot he hype and choose my books for other reasons I'm finding myself enjoying the hyped books again. Does that make any sense lol

      I'm just reading what sounds good to me and it works better. I have no preconceived ideas and I tend to give a book more of a chance that way.

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