Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created by The Broke and the Bookish. Each week, bloggers get a topic which entails giving a list of ten things based on the topic.
Today’s instructions were as follows: Thanksgiving freebie — tell us what you are thankful for! Books you are thankful for!
I started blogging about books this year. In January, I had only 41 followers. This was after blogging for three years on and off. I now have slightly over 600 followers and not a day goes by without having visitors (even if they are 10) on the blog. My blogging experience has changed and I now enjoy it unlike before. Perhaps, I just needed to find a niche, do something that I enjoy or just find a community where I belong. So today, I am thankful for book blogging and this is why….
Talking about books- I don’t have many friends who are book lovers. My friends used to tell me that I read way too much but now I know people who read more than I do. I like being able to talk about books with fellow readers.
Discovering new books and authors- My TBR is out of control because of all the book recommendations that I have received. I have read many books from reading reviews and this is how I discovered some of my favourite books this year like The Girls by Emma Cline, Wrecked by Maria Padia, Cruel Beautiful World by Caroline Leavitt, It Ends with Us by Colleen Hoover,The Book Thief by Markus Zusak…there are so many books that I’ve read based on recommendations
Discovering new book genres- I have always been a reader but I actually never knew what my favorite genre was until I started book blogging. I took the goodreads reading challenge this year and also started requesting books on NetGalley. This helped me realize that I read a lot of thrillers and I enjoy dark books. I can confidently say that my favourite genre is psychological thrillers. Through book blogging, I also started reading Young and New Adult. The first YA that I read was Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins followed by November 9 by Colleen Hoover. These books were so popular when I started blogging. I have found other great YAs through the year. My favourite one is SOS: Summer of St. George by Briana Gaitan.
I also read my first dystopian novel this year, The Last One by Alexandra Olivia. I am still yet to venture into the world of fantasy but I do have The Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor and have received numerous recommendations to read Harry Porter series.
Free Books (NetGalley)-I discovered NetGalley in July this year and I am still mesmerized by the site. The fact that I can get access to so many ARCs is just unbelievable. NetGalley is like Santa and the gifts just keep coming.
Authors-I still remember my first online interaction with an author. Lola Shoneyin was the first author that I ever chatted with concerning her book, The Secret Life of Baba Segi. Other authors include Maria Padia(Wrecked), the amazing Robert Bryndza(Erika Foster series) and Mary-Jane Riley(After She fell). It still feels surreal.
Memes and Weekly features-My favorite weekly features are Top Ten Tuesday, WWW Wednesday, Diversity Spotlight Thursday and Friday Finds. These features have helped me discovered new blogs. I enjoy reading everyone’s posts and participating in the discussion. Features also help me keep the blog active in between reviews. I usually read about 2 to 3 books a week although there are weeks where I read 1 book. Without features, I would end up with a post or 2 per week.
Recommending Books-As I have mentioned, I have found so many wonderful books based on recommendations from book bloggers. I also like the fact that I get to recommend my favorite books to others. I have done a number of posts on African Literature and diversity books posts featuring African authors or books set in Africa. Some of the popular ones include; From Africa with Love and Top Ten Books to read if your book club likes African Literature. It is always great to find out that another reader enjoyed a book that I recommended.
Making new friends-I never expected to make online friends when I started blogging. However, this has been the best part of book blogging. I have met so many great people from all over the world. This has definitely been a wonderful experience. So I know I reader from Spain, France, USA, Nigeria, South Africa, India. This is just awesome!
Okay so those are 8 reasons as to why I am thankful for the book blogging community. What do you like about book blogging or blogging in general? What are you thankful for this Tuesday? Feel free to leave me your links on the comment sections. Happy Tuesday!
A Haven for Book Lovers 
This was such a lovely post to read! And I love having an out-of-control TBR because of recs from fellow bloggers, or because I’ve read a post about a book they loved. I hope you continue to have a happy and fulfilling experience while blogging!
Thank you Kate:-)Out of control TBRs are a blessing.At least we know that we will never run out of books to read 🙂
Aha that’s true! One thing I’ll never worry about is running out of books!
Aww! Congratulations on all your followers Diana! I’m going to chime in about you needing to try the Harry Potter series. I also recommend the Percy Jackson series by Rick Riordan. 😊💁🏻
Thank you Kim:-)I will get the HP books soon.I saw Lightning Thief at the library,I think that’s part of the Percy Jackson series?I could start with that.Thanks for the reccomendations 🙂
Awesome! Yes, The Lightning Thief is the first book. I think you’ll really like it Diana, especially if you like Greek mythology and loads of humor!💁🏻
Lovely list of gratitude, Diana! I’m thankful to have found you through the blogosphere. You have such a beautiful personality. A true gift ❤
Aww,thank you so much Faith.I am so glad that I met you and I definitely consider you my friend ❤
I enjoyed reading this post! I haven’t been blogging as long as you but I have to agree with all the reasons you gave on why it’s such a fun experience. I don’t know how I’ll ever read all the great book recommendations though!!
I know what you mean about the reccomendations:-)Good thing is that we will never run out of book ideas and the TBRs just keep growing:-)
Yeah, if it wasn’t for the book blogging community, I’d have like one person I could talk books with.And even then we read such different books that it’s hard to really TALK books.
I also love getting all the different recommendations too. There’s been books I would have never picked up that I have simply because I trusted the people who recommended them.
And I’m going to be checking out some of your recommendations for African literature so I can put some more read-dots on my map 🙂
Thank you Lilyn:-) I hope that you find some African Lit.I don’t know if there any Sci-fi set in Africa but I do know Akata Witch is a fantasy novel set in Nigeria.Glad to see that we agree about the joys of being part of this community 🙂
We are considering reading Lagoon by that same author that wrote Akata Witch for January Discussion.
Oh,is it an online discussion?I haven’t read both books but I’ve been interested in Akata
Yep. Jan 3 @ 700 pm. We do a discussion every other month right now.
What a lovely and sweet post. I definitely feel all the love from the book blogging community, too!
It is a wonderful community.Thanks 🙂
Discovering new book genre’s or classifications is a big thing to be happy about. I didn’t read my first LGBT book until after I’d joined up with the online reading community, nor had I read any Dystopia. Both are favorites now.
Glad that to hear that :-)I read my first LGBT this year.Simon vs homo sapien agenda.I picked it because it was reccomended to me as a diverse read.I loved it and hope to read more books in that classification:-)
Oh, that one was really good too. A great book to read for your first one.
What a lovely list Diana! So much to be thankful for.
I agree, there are so many wonderful, little things around us. In and outside the book blog world. Thank you 🙂
What a great list! None of my friends read near as much as I do either. It’s fun to be part of a blogging community that is friendly. I also love finding new authors.
I love the bookish community. Everyone is so nice and supportive. I love talking about books with everyone. This was a fun post to read. And it’s nice to spread some blog love. I’m so glad one of the books I recommended to you is on this list. 🙂
I really love that book. It meant so much to me on a personal level because it spoke about something that many people don’t acknowledge and unfortunately, its something that I went through while at Uni. It also helped me get rid of some of the self-blame that I have been carrying for long. You may not know this but your recommendation meant that much to me..Thanks Jill ❤
The bookish community is amazing 🙂
I’m so sorry to hear that, Diana, but I am glad that I recommended a book that you were able to truly connect with. I’m so happy that it helped you in such an incredible way. You’re welcome! 🙂
❤ This was a perfect post, loved it so much!!!!! You're obviously one of my favorite bloggers and I love your diversity posts so much!
Thank you Annie. I love your blog too and I have found so many books through your recommendations. Thank you for also being a friend ❤
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love love love all that you said here, Diana! 😀 😀 😀 keep that grateful heart. ❤ And you have a reader from the Philippines too! 😀 That's me! 😀
Oh, I should have added Philippines to my list.Great to know 🙂 Thank you Rose, I really like your blog and your writing ❤
awww. thank you! i feel the same.1 😀
Great post! 2016 is also the year I started blogging and the journey has been marvelous ❤ Just like you, I'm so thankful of meeting new friends who share the same interest in books as me and I also discovered some new-to-me authors! Alsooo, glad to see you branched out to other genres outside your comfort zone, it happened to me too 😀
Glad to hear that you have had a great blogging year too 🙂 This community makes the whole experience much better. Thank you 🙂
Great list! I definitely agree with the first point. I don’t have a lot of friends to discuss books with in real life, and the blogging community is a great place for discussion. Book recommendations are also a huge part of it 🙂 Though I definitely agree that TBR those gets a little out of control as a result, haha.