some of my favorite book blogs

This is actually a post I’ve been meaning to do for a while, and it fits today’s Top Ten Tuesday theme, so I feel like now is the perfect opportunity.  Top 10 Tuesday is a weekly meme created by The Broke and The Bookish which is now hosted by Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl.

So, I wanted to share some of my favorite book blogs!  And there’s a reason I’m calling this post ‘some of’ my favorites – I follow over 500 sites on here, and even if a good chunk of those are inactive it’s still quite a lot to keep up with, and if I listed every single blog I enjoy I’d be here all night.  Seriously, if I ‘like’ your posts and/or interact with you regularly on here, I promise I adore your blog.  But in the interest of brevity, just a couple I wanted to highlight… these are NOT ranked and instead diplomatically arranged in alphabetical order:

Callum McLaughlin: If you aren’t already following Callum, what are you doing?!  He’s one of my favorite people that I’ve met through book blogging; his kindness and intelligence both shine through all of his posts, which are consistently some of my favorites to read on here.  He has a really great taste in books that often overlaps with my own, but even when it doesn’t, I always love hearing his thoughts.  He doesn’t post his reviews to his blog, but you can follow him on Goodreads and also catch his succinct thoughts on all of his reads in his monthly wrap ups.  And he also does fantastic posts like the one I’m linking to now which highlight groups of books with common themes.

Chelsea @ Spotlight on Stories: Chelsea is one of the two people on here that I was actually friends with prior to book blogging, but even if I didn’t know her personally, she’d undoubtedly make this list, because she does something that I don’t see anywhere else in this community: she reviews local (Toronto) theatre as well as books!  I don’t know if I’ve managed to communicate this on my blog, but I am a HUGE theatre fan and I love to keep up with the theatre scene in large cities, so her reviews have been so great for keeping some really cool stuff on my radar.  And her book reviews are fantastic as well.  We read and review quite similarly, so if you like my blog but wished I read a bit more SFF, Chelsea is your girl.

Elle Thinks: Elle writes some of the most intelligent reviews on this site, and I was thrilled to find another blogger who focuses on adult/literary fiction.  We’re definitely in the minority on here.  I first found Elle through her really fantastic Women’s Prize coverage and she’s on the shadow panel for that award, which means you can count on her for honest and very well thought out predictions and reviews.  But all of her reviews are equally brilliant.

Hadeer @ Cairene Librarian: And here’s the other friend I knew pre-book blogging!  But, again, Hadeer would make this list either way.  There is surprisingly little overlap in our reading on the whole, and it is not unusual for us to disagree strongly about the common books that we do read, but we do randomly have quite a few favorites in common, and either way I love to hear Hadeer’s thoughts whenever she finishes a book.  Her reviews are comprehensive and written in a really distinct and clear voice, and it’s a pleasure to read them.  The one way our reading IS quite similar though is that we both read broadly across many different genres, so if you like that kind of thing, definitely check out her blog!

Hannah @ I Have Thoughts On Books: I love Hannah and I love her honest and uncompromising reviews.  Which isn’t to say that she mostly reviews negatively, just that she will never sugarcoat her opinions and I love that we have that in common.  Hannah also reads much more SFF and more nonfiction than I do, but there’s quite a bit of overlap and we follow the same literary prizes, so she’s another one I’d recommend checking out if you like my blog.  Even when we disagree it’s a pleasure to chat with her.  Her reviews are just excellent and she constantly has incredible insights that I’d never have thought of on my own.

Hannah and Her Books: I feel like Hannah II’s blog is one of the newer ones I’ve discovered, but I can’t recommend her highly enough!  She wrote a fantastic post recently on her conflicting feelings about literary prizes and I agreed wholeheartedly with everything she wrote, and then we ended up having a really interesting conversation about it in the comments.  She is an incredibly kind and intelligent person who somehow miraculously is able to balance blogging with college and she has all my respect for that!

Literary Elephant: The Literary Elephant (who I’m sure has a real name but is hereby going to be referred to by her moniker) writes some of the best reviews on this site.  Not only are they thorough and comprehensive and diplomatic, but she always recommends similar books in case you need inspiration for further reading.  I’ve also had some really incredible conversations with her because she is always up for a good discussion (whether you agree or disagree with her assessment on a book) and getting to chat with people about books in the comments section is one of my favorite things about this community.  The Literary Elephant shares my love of comment conversations and I love it!

Marija @ Inside My Library Mind: Aside from being very aesthetically pleasing, Marija’s blog has fantastic content as well.  Her reviews are well-organized, her discussion posts are always thought-provoking, and she has one of my favorite features on here where she posts a list of books that she thinks her favorite fictional characters would enjoy (you can check out one such post here).  The way she strikes a balance between adult and YA is fantastic as well!  I actually think Marija has one of the more unpredictable tastes in books on here and I find that very exciting.

Sarah Ames-Foley: Sarah is hands down one of the nicest people I’ve met on this site (and I’m not just saying that because she visited me this weekend and complimented my cats quite a bit).  We were talking the other day about how our reading taste doesn’t actually overlap all that much (I go for more character-driven stuff and she goes for more plot-driven), but she’s another one I always love to talk with about books, whether we agree or not.  Her reviews tend to be brief but thorough and as someone who tends to ramble on quite a bit, I love that contrast!

Steph @ Lost Purple Quill: And last but certainly not least, Steph is one of my absolute favorite people I’ve met on here (and I’m not just saying that because she also visited me this weekend and also loves my cats) (or because she wrote me hundreds of words of fanfiction about a nonentity relationship in a book we both read last year).  She is just an unfailingly kind human with an absolutely fantastic taste in books – we read very similarly and have a LOT of similar favorites, but she reads more YA on the whole than I do, so if you think that’s what’s missing from my blog, please go check out Steph’s excellent reviews.

Again, this is not a comprehensive list!!!  I love so many more blogs and bloggers than I could possibly mention in a single post.  Maybe I’ll do a second post at some point highlighting some of my other favorites.  But let me know, who are your favorite book bloggers?  I’ll go check them out in case I’m not already following them.  x