Let's Talk Bookish; How Has Blogging Affected Your Reading?

It's Friday, which means it's time for a new Let's Talk Bookish post, courtesy of Eternity Books and Literary Lion. The theme of the week was how has blogging affected your reading?

Blogging has certainly affected my reading, but I think that overall is has had a positive impact on my reading. Over the years, I've become more conscious in general on my reading picks, but I've also had the pleasure of discovering new authors and genres I wouldn't have done if not for blogging. Aside from a couple of Agatha Christie books, I've not read cosy mysteries before blogging and now I've read over a hundred. I've even picked up a few western novels (yeah, those historical cowboy books) and realized just why my late father loved them so much.

Another aspect is that I've been reading a lot more diverse books due to blogging, whether it's BIPOC, LGBT+ or something else. As I'm bi myself, I know first-hand how important representation can be and that's part of why I try to highlight diverse reads on my blog. When I first came out as bi almost 20 years ago, there were very little LGBT+ representation in the Norwegian book market and one of the few books were Weetzie Bat by Francesca Lia Block, which kind of became a lifesaver for me (I still love that book, as it's so whimsical). Of course, the Norwegian book market still has room for improvements, but that's a discussion of its own.

That being said, there has been incidents where I've felt reading books to review for the blog has been a bit of a chore and I lost the joy in reading for shorter periods of time. Fortunately I've bounced back, usually by finding some really amazing books that gave me the spark back.

When I started this book blog back in July 2012, I did it partially because of my love for reading and I've continued to read because of blogging, as well as the love of books and reading in general. Readers gonnna read after all.