The Bookaholics’ Guide to Book Blogs by Rebecca Gillieron & Catheryn Kilgarriff

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Stars: ***1/2

Summary: Comprehensive guide to the top book bloggers on the internet which asks who are these people? What are they writing about? Why? With some book bloggers gaining hundreds of hits a day, this book aims to show all book lovers that these blogs are an informative and fun alternative to literary criticism in the press.

In an industry where the success of a new book can be bought with marketing campaigns that cost thousands, book bloggers represent a new and entirely independent literary force. The internet has granted the reader a voice, and with hundreds returning to particular sites daily to hear what these self-elected reviewers have got to say, literary critics, booksellers and publishers are having to sit up and take notice. But who are these people? Why are they important? Motivated entirely by the love of books, what have they got to say and why are they so keen to say it?

This first ever guide to the top book blogs aims to tempt anyone new to this phenomena to log-on and get reading – including interviews and sample reviews from the leading contributors as well as tips on new book bloggers.

I must say this isn’t what I was expecting. To me book bloggers are all my friends who are linked to in my side bar. This book is more about professional book blogs like Bookgasm, Booksurfer and The Literary Saloon. The only two blogs that are similar to the kind I am is DoveGreyReader and BlueStalkingReader. (Not that these aren’t professional blogs, but their format is more like mine and my blog buddies.

Here are the topics you’ll find inside: Jumping on the Bandwagon, Alter Egos or Inflated Egos?: Why Do People Blog?, Bookshop and Bookseller’s Blogs, Publisher’s Blogs, Fan Blogs, Obsessives and the Extreme, The Literary Establishment and its Blogs, The Internet and its Uses: Dialogues About Freedom of Expression and Personal Interest, Dissidents and Rebels: Bloggers Who Publish, Riot Lit and the Literary Groups Who Blog, Review Pages vs The Internet, Book Blogs and Writers, Book selling and the Net Revolution: The Future.

Throughout the book, quotes from blogs are given, some short, some long (too long.) I enjoyed reading a bit from some of the blogs as it showed me if it was a blog I may want to read or not. However in the chapter titled Book Blogs and Writers, we are shown 9 pages of questions that Toby Litt has asked on his website. The questions have nothing to do with literature or blogging for the most part and three questions would have sufficed to show us what he does on his page.

Where was this book’s editor? The book was compiled by the publisher of Marion Boyars Publishers and the Senior Editor. That’s right an editor wrote the book. There were quite a few typos and lots of points where too much information was given.

Also the book is missing a type of book blogger, the Librarian. There are quite a few librarian blogs I love reading. I found a whole listing of them here.

I thought the first seven and last two chapters were good but could have done without the other three chapters. The book succeeded in three things.

1. Showing me some other more professional book blogs I may be interested in (and those I’m not.)

2. Got me thinking about why I blog and what I want to get out of it.

3. Got me thinking about where book blogging is going in the future.

Others Reviews: The Literary Saloon at The Complete Review (yep the one mentioned above), Curled Up with a Good Book

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About Kathleen

I've been a nonfiction lover for as long as I can remember. I love children's nonfiction as well and love to share my knowledge and the books I gained them from, with the world. I wish more people would give nonfiction a chance.