Thursday, March 19, 2015

Let's Talk: Are you a Reader or a Blogger?


Hello All! 

I haven't done a "Let's Talk" post in a while, but I've been thinking recently about Blogger relations across all subsets between publishers, authors, etc...

What I must ask you all is what are you foremost, a reader or a blogger?

 I know for myself personally I still consider myself a reader primarily, but the way I read books has changed immensely since I first began reviewing back in 2009. I read books thinking about specifics; How is the character development? Is this storyline overdone? Does this plot make sense? WHY did this just happen? etc...  

I know that part of this has been hounded into me by school as well, but does any one else notice their reading style change do to reviewing? 

I still definitely fall into stories that are fantastic and get overcome by plots and emotions, but there is always a part of me which is formulating the review I will write and thinking about things I MUST say and point out. 

Any one else do things like this? Has your reading style changed from blogging? 

4 comments:

Nikki R said...

I'll always consider myself a reader first and foremost, and a blogger second! But reviewing has definitely changed the way I read books. I have those moments of "oh this needs to go in my review" while I'm reading, like you! Though I'm consciously trying to suppress that a little bit lately, even for review books, because it's been making me feel like the books are slightly more "work" than pleasure... (It helps for me, when I get to moments like that, to just quickly highlight/add a sticky note and move on, so I'm not pulled out of the story.) I always want to be reading for pleasure, for enjoyment, and I want my reviews to come from that mindset, if that makes sense?

Juli Rahel said...

Ooh this is a really interesting question! My reading has definitely changed since I started blogging, mainly in how much I "make" myself read and which books I am reading. Just like you and Nikki I do think of my review while I read, but because I also have to do a lot of reading for university (I study English Lit) I am always "thinking" while reading anyway. However, I think that becoming a conscious reader like that is a good thing, as long as you don't lose the magic of reading and of sinking into new stories.

And Nikki, I totally know what you mean! I want my reviews to show how much I love stories and reading!

Amanda Gray said...

I don't think I'm either.. I mean, I read books, but I also don't always spend the time I'm not reading just blogging, I game, I create, I watch films, I'd be a artist, or a gamer, or a movie watcher as well as a reader and blogger. Blogging has changed how I read, I can vouch for that, it's changed how I read a book, and whether I'm reviewing a book can change my look on the book, but I always have opinions anyway, it just feels like I'm picking up on them more?..

I don't know, maybe I'm only one, maybe I'm all of the above, but whatever I am, I like it. Great post though Nikki! :)

V.L. Aroche said...

I think above all I am a reader, blogging has just become something that makes it easier to share with other fellow readers. It is interesting how the two go hand in hand because my experience to reviewing seems similar to @nikki R. Now that I am reviewing books I'm finding myself paying more attention to details I didn't beforehand. I thought that I was able to figure out what made a good/bad book simply by deciding if I liked it or not but deciding on a what makes a good/bad book is way more skin deep. @ Amanda grey I'm also a gamer!!! But I don't think I could find myself blogging about it I like to enjoy my gaming and probably suck a lot compared to others. It really is great that we are living through such a digital age it is amazing to see how different the internet has made reading experiences. Great question !!

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