BBAW: Community part 1 & 2

In case you haven't heard; it's Book Blogger Appreciation Week this week! There are awards to be given away, new blogs to discover and book bloggers to be appreciated. I'm a bit behind on the daily topics, but there are new topics to talk about every day. Today: Community (I decided to combine two days because I wanted to spotlight some of my favorite bloggers).


When I started this blog, I never had the intention to become a book blogger. I started it to be a page where people could read along with what I was reading, because I needed to express my feelings about the books I read. Nobody around here is really interested in books and thus I had nobody to talk with about books. This changed when I came across a video on Youtube when I was bored one lazy Sunday afternoon. A sweet, bright, happy and overall enthousiastic blond girl told me about the books she got in her mailbox that week. I watched her video, then the one before that, before that and before I knew it, I had watched almost every video she ever put up on Youtube. I discovered a link to her blog in the description bar and decided to check it out. I arrived on a blog that centered YA - a genre I didn't really know excisted - and I instantly fell in love all over again (after doing that for the first time when I watched her videos). Her name? Kristi from The Story Siren.

Before that, I read a couple of adult fiction titles every once in a while, but never got really sucked into reading until I read Harry Potter, and yes, Twilight. After that I read The Vampire Diaries and everything just began from there. I never knew there was a world of books out there that I could enjoy as thoroughly as I do with young adult fiction.

Thanks to the widget underneath each IMM post Kristi posted, I discovered more and more blogs and I got a Twitter account to interact with all these lovely people. So many people that shared a love in reading! In YA! I couldn't believe my eyes. I've been through a rough period in my life since the end of 2009 basically, and was at home, depressed and jobless, when I started my blog to take my mind off things. It did that - and more. I had something I really liked again, something that I could spend hours on end doing and then talking about doing it. I loved reading because it helped me escape reality and I loved talking about it because it put things in perspective for me. I kept on doing that, and here I am. Still reading, still blogging. And happy again.

I got so much more than I expected when I really started blogging. It opened up a world of books and entertainment for me, a way of escape, but most of all I made friends. Friends who make my life a little better every day I talk to them - even though we can only talk through tweets or blog comments or emails. You guys are such an inspiration to me in more ways than I could ever tell you about.

And because of that, I really want to thank a couple of bloggers in particular, some of whom may not even know I excist. That's okay. As long as you know you are an inspiration to me and you changed my life for the better :).

First of all, I want to thank Elle from The Book Memoirs for being such an amazing person and inspiring me to look beyond the obvious - not only in books. I don't think I can fully explain what I mean by that - but just believe me when I say that you are an amazing friend. You're there when I need someone to talk to besides books and you are there to cheer me up whenever I'm feeling a little less cheery. I've added tons of books to my to-read list because of you and you make me expand my horizon in every way possible. Thank you.

Stacey from The Pretty Books - you introduced me to Tumblr (thanks for all those lost hours ;)) and basically fueled my love for dystopian novels - a genre that we both love. We seem to have a similar taste in some genres and I am always looking out for new reviews to be posted. You are a lovely person and I really enjoy our conversations about books and all of the things beyond. Thank you.

I'd also like to thank Cicely, Bella, Tamara and Momo for being the bright, happy and lovely people that you are. Your enthousiasm is contagious and I always feel happy (and often giggly) when we've talked on Twitter.

Another someone who really makes my day every time I talk to her is Carrie Harris. You are such an amazing person and hilariously funny (REALLY) and I'm so glad that I met you.

And finally, Kristi for sparking my love for reading, blogging and picking up the pieces. When I watched your videos and read your blog that day, something changed in me and I actually started doing things again. Before that, I just wanted to lay in bed and sleep. You changed my perspective on things and most of all, you changed my perspective on life; I had something worth doing again. You introduced me to this amazing community and I cannot express how grateful I am for that. Thank you.

Everyone I talk to on twitter, via my blog or Youtube or whatever place it may be, thank you for changing my life. If it wasn't for that lazy afternoon when I was watching videos, I may not even have been here. That sounds dramatic, but you know it's true. I would never have known all the lovely people I know now, I wouldn't have read the crazy amount of books I have and I still would have thought that authors were unapproachable rockstars (they still are my rockstars, by the way). And most of all, I would probably still be depressed.

Thank you for being awesome and deciding to spread your love for books online. Because thanks to that, you spread a little of that love to me.