BBAW: Community, Part 1

Today kicks off Book Blogger Appreciation Week (BBAW for short), a week devoted to recognizing the awesomeness of the book blogging community. More eloquently stated on the event’s website, BBAW was created “to recognize the hard work and contribution of book bloggers to the promotion and preservation of a literate culture actively engaged in discussing books, authors, and a lifestyle of reading.” It’s been going since 2008. It’s also the event I so fortuitously stumbled upon by accident last year, the one that gave me a glimpse of the amazing breadth and depth of the book blogging community and convinced me to take my first faltering steps into it. So, obviously, it is an event that is rather dear to me.

Each day of the week brings a new theme on which bloggers around the world write. Today’s centers on community, encouraging bloggers to “highlight a couple of bloggers who have made book blogging a unique experience for you.”

Now, book bloggers as a group are generally some of the most friendly, welcoming, and supportive people I have ever encountered, which makes it hard for me to highlight just a few individuals. So instead, I’m going to focus on something a little different: my Reading Buddies. (Not sure what that means? Check out the Reading Buddies page.)

I started Reading Buddies because I love to read books with other people. I like knowing there’s someone I can discuss, gush, or ponder with. I like being able to do more than just write reviews, to dig into the characters and talk about plot points that would spoil the book for those who had not read it. I also love the different perspectives each reader brings to a book, how the thing one person may not even notice is the very thing on which another reader’s experience focuses. I’ve found that reading a book with someone, even informally, allows me to learn a bit about them, to have a sort of conversation, however brief, that goes beyond reading one another’s blogs.

When Reading Buddies began, I was prepared for it to fall flat. There are so many fantastic readalongs and online book groups out there that I doubted there would be room for one more. Eight months later, though, I continue to read a Reading Buddies book each month…and people join me. I love it! I cannot thank you enough, all of you who have read with me or who plan to. Thank you for supporting Reading Buddies and for sharing a little bit of your precious reading time with me. Each of you has absolutely “made book blogging a unique experience” for me.

Any attempt by me to list all my Reading Buddies would result in someone getting left out, since no formal list of participants exists. However, if you’ve read a book with me, I’d love for you to say so in the comments.

So, what bloggers have made book blogging a unique experience for you?