Blog posts to share | March 2018

Here are some of my favorite blog posts from other bloggers for the month. Enjoy!

Shanah @ Bionic Book Worm talked about staying motivated to read – I definitely have periods of my life where I read less than others. Sometimes I get home from work and all I want to do is eat, watch Netflix, and then go to bed. And that’s okay! It’s okay if I don’t read every day, because I know that some days I will literally spend 6 hours reading.

Angelica @ The Book Cover Girl discussed how YA is moving away from the trilogy to other formats – This is definitely something that I’d noticed. For the most part, I agree with what she’s saying and I definitely agree that the duology is underrated. I also think that single books are underrated, but that might just be me.

Jess @ Reads and Dreams reconsidered some books that she had previously DNF’d – This is something that I definitely need to look into doing as well. It’s hard because I already have so many other books that I want to read, but I think it’s worth doing every once in a while. Sometimes you start a book and it’s just not the right time for YOU even though the book might actually be great.

Savannah @ The Book Prophet talked about why she likes reading negative reviews – I wholeheartedly agree here. I LOVE reading negative reviews. For some reason, those reviews just feel more honest to me and it’s always fun when you’ve got an unpopular opinion about something and find someone else who shares it. I also like reading negative reviews when I’ve really enjoyed a book because a) Sometimes it opens my mind to things that I hadn’t considered before, b) Sometimes I just have an argument with the reviewer in my head.

Cristina @ Girl in the Pages gave some non-traditional advice for getting into audio books – Again, my struggle with audio books. This post really got me thinking about how I choose to listen to audio books and which books I choose. I already know that I’m very picky when it comes to narrators, but I didn’t even consider that some genres might be better suited for me than others–I just assumed I would listen to the same kind of stuff that I read, but that may not be true.

Kristilyn @ Reading in Winter talked about some reality checks when it comes to blogging – I really loved this post because it’s SO TRUE. I can’t really do it justice, so I’m just going to say GO READ THIS POST. If you’ve ever felt overly pressured as a blogger, you need to read what Kristilyn has to say.

Krysta @ Pages Unbound discussed why she limits the amount of books that she owns – This is similar to the previous post in a lot of ways because I think it tangentially touches on pressures that bloggers have. I think sometimes we think if you don’t have a gorgeous shelfie on your Insta, are you even a real book blogger? The answer is YES. You can still be a great book blogger and not own that many physical books. If you know you’re never going to read a book again, there are so many other places that it can go!

Marty @ The Cursed Books talked about how blogging might be bad for your reading and what we can do about it – This is definitely something that I’ve struggled with and I think she gives some really good advice about dealing with the pressures that blogging brings. The struggle is real!

Blog posts to share | February 2018

YABookers discussed standalones vs series – Series are definitely a double-edged sword, in my opinion. I agree with pretty much everything they mention in their post here.

Kristin @ Kristin Kraves Books talked about books she picked up on a whim and loved – I really liked this post because it encourages me to pick up random books too. You never know what hidden gems you might be missing out on!

Flavia @ Flavia the Bibliophile raved about The Greatest Showman (using lots of gifs) – Hi, yes, I agree that this is the best movie ever. I absolutely LOVED it and the soundtrack is AMAZING and interracial relationship representation is A+.

Courtney @ Buried in a Bookshelf gave some great recommendations for finding books for cheap – I’m always on the hunt for great book deals. The only thing I’ll add is that if you don’t mind eBooks, Amazon is a great place to find those and will often mark down popular eBooks to $1.99 or $2.99 for a limited time. Library book sales are really where it’s at though.

Analee @ Book Snacks discussed different family types in YA books and lists recommendations – This was a great post because sometimes I do feel like YA books have “invisible families”. It’s nice to know that there are books out there that feature both good and bad family dynamics.

Marty @ The Cursed Books listed 8 things that she wished non-readers would stop doing – The struggle is real you guys! Some people legitimately don’t understand the love of reading. While that’s okay, sometimes they still do things that get on every reader’s nerves. Let’s just take a collective deep breath.

Jamieson @ jamishelves gave some tips on how to get into audiobooks – I’ve read a few posts like this and always appreciate them because I do think that audiobooks are slightly underrated (especially in the YA community). But This was such a comprehensive overview to starting audiobooks with some recommendations at the end. A lot of posts like these don’t really talk in depth about how important the narrator/narration is, so I really appreciate that Jamieson really discussed that.

Krysta @ Pages Unbound discussed whether YA books are maturing too fast – This post was so interesting to me because I grew up with YA books like The Giver, Hatchet, Ella Enchanted, My Side of the Mountain, etc. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve continued to read YA but haven’t really noticed that the YA books I’ve been reading have also aged with me. I think it’s really something to think about. YA today is definitely not the same content-wise as it was when I first started reading it.

5 blog posts that I want to share | January 2018

This is a new series that I’d like to start where I spotlight some blog posts that I’ve really enjoyed throughout the month. I just decided to start doing it, though, so most of the posts here are from the last week or so. Hopefully next month I can try to bookmark posts as the month progresses and give a full month recap. So let’s get started!

Anne @ Books Baking & Blogging reviewed Strange the Dreamer – Hi, yes, I am completely in love with this book too. Her review is great and just really hits all of the same reasons that I loved this book as well. It’s so good! For anyone who hasn’t read it yet, it was my favorite read from 2017…so go read it!

Maren @ The Worn Bookmark started a new reading challenge – I absolutely love the idea of this challenge! She’s challenging herself to read books set in different geographic locations and she’s dropping pins on a Google Map to keep track. I think I would love to do something like this, but I might not be very good at keeping it up.

Zoe @ My Life with Books gave some audiobook recommendations – I have a love/hate relationship with audiobooks. I really like the idea of them, but often I can read a book faster than I can listen to it, so it almost feels like a waste of time. I’m also very picky about my audiobooks because I have to like the reader’s voice. With baby boy coming this year, I’m thinking this could be a great opportunity to really dive into audiobooks and Zoe gives some great recommendations to start me off.

Kristilyn @ Reading in Winter talks about being a bookish mom – An especially timely post for me. I’ve had my concerns about how my reading habits will change when the baby comes (I’m officially less than 100 days from my due date!). This post really helped me to adjust my expectations.

Carrie @ Cat on the Bookshelf gave some tips on finding good FanFic – I have always been both intrigued and overwhelmed by the idea of FanFic. I just have no idea where to even start! Carrie gives some really good tips for both people who have already delved into the FanFic world and for newbies like me.

One thing I really love about this community is how open bloggers seem to be with each other and the interesting things that we talk about. I love reading your guys’ discussion posts and more often than not they really get me thinking. So thanks for sharing your thoughts with me, I hope that my contributions can measure up even a little bit.

What posts have you enjoyed that I missed from this month? Let me know in the comments!