Book Blogger Confessions #22: Giving thanks

Book Blogger Confessions is a new bi-weekly meme hosted by Karen @ For What it's Worth Reviews and Midnyte Reader. It was formerly co-hosted by Tiger @ All Consuming Books

Is there a book that you are thankful you have read? Maybe it has changed your life in a small or even a large way, or made you see things in a different perspective.

Every time I come across this kind of question my answers are always the same :P. I am thankful to The Babysitter’s Club by Ann M. Martin series because that got me into reading and pretty much helped me survive middle school because I spent most of my time hiding in the library because I had no friends until year 9. I am thankful to the Harry Potter series because that got me reading more than just contemporary books and stopped me from judging books by their covers and running away from thick volumes, in fact I started thinking the thicker the book the better. It also help me discover the world of online fanbases, fanfiction and graphic design ^_^. I am thankful to the Wicked Lovely series because it introduced me to the world of paranormal YA and to a lot of great online friends who helped me feel less lonely while I was away from home at university.

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Book Blogger Confessions #21

Book Blogger Confessions is a new bi-weekly meme hosted by Karen @ For What it's Worth Reviews and Midnyte Reader. It was formerly co-hosted by Tiger @ All Consuming Books

Should bloggers & authors discuss politics? Does that turn you off to a blogger or authors’ books if they tweet/post about their political positions or do you appreciate their passionate point of view?

Not if it’s one or two posts on the subject but if their blog starts feeling like a political blog I quickly run away, my politics tolerance meter is very tiny. 1. Because I don’t really care about politics even though I should because what’s being discussed affects me whether directly or indirectly. 2. I am not a US citizen and I don’t live in the US and most of the politics I hear about are US related and there is honestly nothing I can do about what’s going on, not even vote for who I like so why would I want to read about people’s political views when I already don’t care about politics? And although I may run away from a blogger or author’s blog for a while it doesn’t turn me off so much that I will permanently unfollow them or stop reading their book.

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Book Blogger Confessions #20

Book Blogger Confessions is a new bi-weekly meme hosted by Karen @ For What it's Worth Reviews and Midnyte Reader. It was formerly co-hosted by Tiger @ All Consuming Books

Do you like to read scary books? Why or why not? If so, what is the scariest book you ever read and why does it deserve that honor?

I DO NOT, thank-you very much. Why you ask? because I do not like to have nightmares and be deprived of my sleep. Because that is what scary books and movies do to me, they give me nightmares. Do you know I sleep with my bathroom light on and the door cracked open so it’s not completely dark in my room? I also like to have my dog in my room and keep my closet mirror/door thing closed. I have a flashlight in my nightstand, are you understanding me now? Scary movie trailers give me nightmares so there is no way I am watching the movie and there is no way that I am spending hours reading a book about characters being possessed by demons, or angry spirits hiding in your closet, or baby face dolls who are looking one direction and then in a completely different direction the next time you go and dust them. (My brother and I finally convinced my mom a few months ago to get rid of the choir of creepy porcelain dolls that were positioned under our TV, but one still remains). I will read eerie books like The Replacement by Brenna Yovanoff or dark and tense books like This is Not a Test by Courtney Summers and I will even consider reading books like Possess by Gretchen McNeil, The Graveyard Queen: The Restorer by Amanda Stevens and The Devourer by Simon Holt, but I won’t read them because every time a horror movie trailer pops up on my TV I am reminded that I am a big bowl of marshmallow puff and I will constantly remind my friend that paranormal does not automatically = horror.

Bonus question! Just for fun – have you ever dressed as a literary character for Halloween? Brave enough to show a photo if you have one?

No, but I did try to dress up as a winter faery from Melissa Marr’s Wicked Lovely series for a Faery Costume Ball at RT, the costume wasn’t what I imagined but if you want to see a picture visit Scribing Shadows.

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Do u agree?

In time we lose
In love we lose
In life we lose

In yourself only you can win
In yourself there is belief
In yourself there is love

In others there is loss
In others there is only them

Where is your belief,
In others or in yourself?
In losing or winning?
In being lonely or being loving?

What will you choose?

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Book Blogger Confessions #19: I covet your comments!

Book Blogger Confessions is a new bi-weekly meme hosted by Karen @ For What it's Worth Reviews and Midnyte Reader. It was formerly co-hosted by Tiger @ All Consuming Books

Do you have a bad case of blogger envy? Do you covet thy neighbour bloggers book hauls/follower numbers/blog design? How do you tamp down the green eyed monster?

Hmm sometimes I do, not usually with book hauls because honestly I don’t have time to read the books I have let alone keep up with weekly book goodies. I do covet the amount of comments other bloggers get on their posts though. I look at their post and wonder what they are doing that are garnering so much response and wonder what it is I can do to improve my post:comment ratio. I think follower count is related to comment count but also the amount of quality and interesting posts a blogger does and of course the amount of time they spend promoting their blog and socialising with their followers and other bloggers so I suppose that’s my way of tamping down on my blogger envy - focusing on how I can improve instead of how much “better” I think other bloggers are. Oh blog designs too! Not so much an overall design but little features a blogger has in their template like drop down menus! I really, really want a drop down menu but I don’t know how to make them or customize them or add them to my template, this makes me sad some times because I know it’s possible I just don’t know where to start.

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Book Blogger Confessions #18

Book Blogger Confessions is a new bi-weekly meme hosted by Karen @ For What it's Worth Reviews and Midnyte Reader. It was formerly co-hosted by Tiger @ All Consuming Books

Are there blogs you visit and comment on because you like their style, voice etc.(maybe you even converse with the blogger on Twitter & Facebook) but those comments are never reciprocated on your blog?. Do you get a bit offended or do you understand that they may be busy? Or do you comment just because you like a post not expecting anything in return?

There are about 3 blogs where I visit and leave comments and the bloggers reciprocate by visiting my blog and commenting but beyond those three I don’t expect other bloggers I visit and give comments to also come back and visit me and leave a comment. 1. Because the blogs I usually comment or follow are rather large and they get at least 10 comments per post and I know it would be extremely time consuming for them to visit every blogger who leaves a comment on their blog, so I don’t expect them to visit and don’t feel “hurt” if they don’t. 2. I just don’t have that kind of relationship with them probably because I don’t visit them often enough to establish that sort of connection. On the other hand there is one particular blog I visit and comment on regularly though that I don’t even get replies to my comments on the blog itself which at first had me feeling indignant and thinking (I am going through all the trouble to read your post and leave a meaningful comment and you can’t even reply?) Because well it’s not like the post had a large amount of comments but after a while I notice the poster doesn’t reply to any comments, which I find to be a bit odd but I no longer take non-replies personally :P.

Do you comment just because you like a post not expecting anything in return?
This is me most of the time – commenting just because I like the post but I do leave a link under my name like a sort of signature just because it doesn’t hurt to give the poster a little incentive to visit your blog xD. The only times I comment expecting something in return is on posts like Blog Hop, Follow Friday and Waiting on Wednesday when visiting other people’s blogs and commenting is a part of the meme.

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Book Blogger Confessions #17: Following

Book Blogger Confessions is a new bi-weekly meme hosted by Karen @ For What it's Worth Reviews and Midnyte Reader. It was formerly co-hosted by Tiger @ All Consuming Books

How do you follow blogs? Do you use Google Reader? Are you on an e-mail list? Are you more apt to follow people who have less followers? Would you follow a blog to enter a contest? What makes you unfollow a blog?

How do you follow blogs? Do you use Google Reader?
I use google reader and on a much lesser note Bloglovin. Google reader because I use blogger and it’s just super easy for me to scroll through my dashboard and check updates from blogs for the day. Bloglovin is for the blogs I find the most interesting and who I want to keep up to date with so I get a daily digest of the blogs’ latest updates right in my email inbox.

Are you on an e-mail list?
 I am only on email lists for a couple of author blogs.

Are you more apt to follow people who have less followers?
Mostly I follow who ever I find interesting but when it comes to memes like follow Friday I do tend to focus on following blogs who have a small or smaller number of followers because it indicates to me that they are new and I remember being a new blogger.

Would you follow a blog to enter a contest?
I have followed blogs as part of entering giveaways, I have also become twitter followers of bloggers to enter their giveaways but I draw the line at email subscriptions just because I am terrible at consistently checking my email and the updates would pile up in my inbox. After saying that I wish there was a way you could customize your subscriptions so followers could have the option of getting bulk updates once a week instead of every time an update happens because I have people who have subscribed to my blog by email and I sometimes update two or three times in one day and I could imagine what their inbox must look like.

What makes you unfollow a blog?
I have a rule, if you haven’t left a message to your followers saying that you are taking a break and have not updated in 3 months I unfollow you, because what’s the point of following a blogger that is no longer maintaining their blog? If the majority of your posts are giveaways/contests or memes I unfollow you. Seeing nothing but giveaways/contests on a blog makes me think of spam, seeing nothing but memes on a blog gives me the impression that the blogger has nothing individualistic or personal to contribute. I haven’t had to do this for blogs yet but I have unfriended/unfollowed at least two people on goodreads because their updates were hate-filled, flaming rants that they have written or they have liked and I didn’t feel comfortable being associated with someone that is so mean.

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