Book Blogger Confessions 1

This is a cool little meme that Tiger from Tiger's All Consuming Books and Karen from For What It's Worth started up. I like it. I think it gives us a chance to be a bit more open with our followers about how stressful and rewarding blogging can be. Here's the first topic:

January 2nd: How has the "job" of book blogging changed your reading habits? Both pro and con.

Pros:

I have been introduced to many new books. My library has expanded quite nicely. Well that's a pro for me. It's probably a con for my parents. It's also nice to interact with authors. Sometimes they tweet back when I review their book and put it on twitter. Some comment on my reviews and that's nice too. There have been a couple times when I didn't tag the author on twitter because I didn't know their name, but they still somehow found that I reviewed their book and commented. That's always a nice surprise. I have been contacted by a publisher and a couple authors to review books. 1 author I turned down because I didn't have the time to review her book, and I didn't think I was fit to make a good opinion on her book. The other author I was already a fan of and I was extremely excited when she offered to give me a copy of her newest book to review. That was an incredible honor for me. I accepted the publisher's offer to read a couple books on a whim and it worked out well. The books were very good. I have to force myself to think about why I did or did not like a book. That additional bit of thought is another nice thing blogging has done. It has helped me to become more vocal about what I do/do not like. I don't think my opinion matters much, but with books I like to think that I have a decent opinion. My friends seem to think so too. :)

Cons: It is a job, except I'm not getting paid. I didn't realize how much dedication it takes to run a blog. This, on top of school, and personal things I've been dealing with takes a lot out of a person. I don't want to be judged based on what I read either. I talked about expanding my library in the Pros section. One of the things I've gotten into since reviewing is Paranormal Romance and Erotica. Reading those books don't bother me, but I'm sure it bothers some of my friends. I don't want people to think bad thoughts about me just because I read those books. I try to joke around about them, but I don't know how well that works. I don't want my religious beliefs to be hurt by these books either. There are some books that I'm not entirely sure I'll read because of what I believe. I know some people won't read books about angels/fallen angels because of this. So far I haven't had an issue with that, and hopefully it'll stay that way.