Today’s BBAW task is all about reading and how blogging effects your reading .
Well I ve always been a reader . But the main thing blogging has brought to my reading is the need to read to keep in order To blog what u read , so I tend to read a bit longer than I used to and more often than I did preblogging .The other thing I have found through blogging is variety in books never much of a genre reader myself since my teens when it was the odd sci-fi crime and fantasy books I would try since then it has been mainly lit fiction til recently when I ve read more crime novels after see how much my fellow bloggers like boof get from them so I ve been trying some more in translation rob inspires me to try short stories as his passion for them oozes from rob around books as Mel does on her blog ,I started #translationthurs on twitter I get lot suggestions via that meme .Tony and Richard inspire with read so many books in the original language I wish I was brave enough to do so my self and had the knowledge to do so but hopefully over time I can gain that knowledge . So yes blogging does effect my reading and sure it will continue to do so for many years to come .I love seeing what other bloggers are reading as lot blogs I follow are so different in their taste than mine which I find very inspiring and wonderful way of having my eyes open female writers in particular is an area of reading I m very weak people like Violet,Iris and Amy have all shown me great female writers .
My own habits are I like to read hundred pages a day and that adds up to between eight and ten books a month sometimes more other times less .I read 132 books last year and am on course for same total this year .As for my ripple effect in world of blogging just hope I ve inspired people to look at translation in a better light and hopefully try a couple of books in translation .
How has blogging effect your reading ?
100 pages a day is a really good number. I wish I had that kind of routine but my reading habits tend to fluctuate a lot. There was a night or two this past week where I didn’t even get to read at all!
I use to but now like the routine ,all the best stu
it has changed it a lot! see here: http://wordsandpeace.wordpress.com/2011/09/15/bbaw-2011-day-4/
Emma
thanks emma ,all the best stu
While I don’t read as much as you do it has changed my reading. Some times it seems a little constraining, in part because I write so much on literature from Spanish that it seems like I shouldn’t even bother writing about other books, especially history, which I read also. And it feels a little bit like an obligation to write sometimes as much as I like it. I suppose that’s the years of bloging creeping in.
i love your spanish focus thou ,all the best stu
Blogging has really diversified what I’ve read too – I love it 🙂
me too ,all the best stu
Checking in on other blogs has definitely added a wide variety of books to my TBR list and I have become choosier about the books I read. You have inspired me to read many more book in translation.
Thanks Gavin ,all the best stu
Variety is definitely the spice of life – otherwise, the blogosphere would be a very bland, vanilla-scented kind of place…
it is very much so Tony ,all the best stu
I read a lot more genres than I used, too… I enjoy the variety, though.
I m like genre more than I use to nowadays ,all the best stu
You have definitely inspired me to pay attention to translated books – not something that ever crossed my mind before really, but I do love reading your reviews and adding to my pile (and I’ve bought a few too!)
Thanks for the mention, Stu 🙂
Thanks boof that is what I am to do just shine the light a bit transaltions way ,all the best stu
Fine post, Stu, even if 100 pages a day of reading is a wonderful reading/pleasure goal that I rarely ever attain myself. Drats! Of the many mostly good changes that blogging has brought to my reading (many of the same things that you mention), one of the changes that I’m kind of ambivalent about is that I now often take notes on books I’m reading to help me write up my posts on them when I’m done with them. I never did that in the past with books I was just reading for fun, but now I do it pretty religiously. Not sure that’s the best way to really enjoy a book and give yourself over to the experience at hand, but it does help me think more clearly about what I liked (or disliked) about a work and, hopefully, to give better examples of such in my posts. Of course, it also puts me in a bit of a bind if I misplace my scribbled notes and can’t find them at the time of the write-up. P.S. I strongly encourage you and anybody else to take up reading in a second language of your choice if at all possible. There’s so much stuff that never gets translated into English that that alone would totally make it worthwhile, but reading an author’s work in the language it was written is always the best way to go to get the full flavor of what the author has written (all translations, even the many great ones we all enjoy, put the translator’s version of the story in between the author’s version and the reader).
I need to take more notes ,I am going to try second language reading at some point soon .yes agree with it being ttransaltors view hence so many different views on war and peace grammar and words ,all the best stu
You’re an avid reader. Like Amy. For me, blogging has helped me to read consistently. I used to give excuses for not reading, but delving deeper into blogging has eliminated that.
I use to do the same ,all the best stu
Some days I’m lucky to read a 100 words, but It’s a great routine.
it is when it runs smooth ,all the best stu
Blogging has increased the number of books that I want to read. A lot more pleasure out of books and reading in general. Thanks, Stu.
I think it does for all bloggers make them read more ,all the best stu