What I’ve learnt from Book Blogging and how has it affected my reading habits?

I know a whole heap of you won’t be interested in this post at all but that is ok. I wanted to write a reflection piece on how book blogging has affected my relationship with reading and what I’ve learnt from it.

So this first big obvious point is that I read more books now than I used to. Those who know me, know that I read about 3 books between the years 2012 and 2017, I then jumped on a New Years Resolution Band Wagon to read more and low and behold here I am reading 100+ books for three years in a row and my totals keep going up and up…

Blogging has made me more confident in expressing my opinions, not only in the book world but at work and in my home life too. It must be the creation of space to say what I like has allowed me to feel the freedom of being honest about what I think. I don’t write perfectly crafted reviews like some other people but that is ok, it’s my blog, my thoughts, my reviews.

My reading choices (particularly genre) have diversified massively. I used to only really read contemporary fiction and chick-lit and thinking back I cannot believe I hadn’t ever read a thriller/crime/mystery book, which are the staple of my current reading. I have also discovered YA, which I didn’t even know existed AND read more non-fiction than I used to (although still not enough!)

Blogging has made me a little more critical of books and I tend to decide very early on what I’m going to end up rating a book. Now this is a good and a bad thing, I’m often not wrong but the jury is out on whether that is because I’ve set my own goal (and have made my mind up) or because I just know my tastes well… I’d put money on it being the former.

I NEVER re-read books. Despite wanting to, I never get the chance to re-read books now which is a shame as I used to love re-visiting old favourites.

I can get very absorbed in stats when they don’t really mean anything at all. Instagram is the worst for me, I get consistently sucked in my how many likes or comments I have when really, why does it matter? I also look at my WordPress stats a lot but I’m not sure why… especially when I maintain that blogging is for me and ‘I don’t care’, I clearly do at some level.

I take notes while I’m reading to help with group buddy read discussions or to make sure I don’t miss out anything when writing up my review. I NEVER did this before, and lots of people who aren’t book bloggers find this behaviour a little odd and assume it takes away from the reading experience. I’m not sure it does.

Do you agree with any of my points above?

Drop me a comment and let me know what you’ve learnt from being a blogger/reviewer? and if it’s changed your reading habits…

17 Comments

  1. Oh my gosh I relate to this so much!! I still do find time to re-read because I realised I was so caught up in reviewing I was missing some of my favourites but I’ve got a bit of a system in place! Also totally with you on thinking you don’t get about stats and then finding yourself always checking. Book blogging is never going to be as big as some other niches but it’s hard not to get drawn in. Love this post!

    Liked by 1 person

  2. For years, I’ve only been posting poems, writings and proses on my Blog. Now, I have decided to post Book reviews as well. Not gonna be as good as your reviews but I’ll try to make it readable. Haha. As we both share the love for reading, I could really learn a lot from you. 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

  3. I didn’t used to re read books on the grounds that I felt it a waste of time but not long ago I re read Huckleberry Finn. Read it first time many decades ago. It’s a different book ! Has it changed or have I? Do find time to re read some old favourites. Just re read Brideshead Revisited. I see so much more in it. As you get older and wiser you begin to see these books in a new light.

    Liked by 1 person

  4. I haven’t been book blogging for very long but I certainly think that reading book blogs has widened my reading as I read about so many different books. I often go straight from reading a book review or blog to the library home page to see if they have it.

    Liked by 1 person

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