Nearly a year ago I made a post where I listed 10 of my favorite book bloggers – I figured it was time for an update! All of my recommendations in my last post still stand – all of those blogs are still active and I’d highly recommend checking them out. But now for some new blood!
Requisite disclaimer about how I follow 500+ blogs on here and this is by no means a comprehensive list – if I follow your blog and regularly interact with you I promise I adore your blog as well and you will probably show up in part 3. But lists that go much higher than 10 start to get boring so I’m keeping it concise.
Now, the list, alphabetically:
Ally @ Ally Writes Things: I love everything about Ally’s blog: concise reviews, interesting discussion posts (this one about cancel culture is a standout), and an abundance of tags and memes. I think Ally and I mostly have a pretty similar taste, but even where we don’t overlap I always love reading her thoughts. She’s also the sweetest person with the cutest horse.
Aurora Librialis: It’s probably no secret that my favorite posts, both to read and write, are book reviews, and most of my favorite blogs are review-heavy. But I’ve loved Aurora’s blog for ages, and a few months back she mentioned that she doesn’t write book reviews, and I remember thinking ‘wait, you don’t?! Oh, right, I guess you don’t.’ That’s how thorough her lists and wrap ups are: I never feel like her posts are wanting for anything, either information or analysis. And her taste is refreshingly diverse: her lists will include everything from the latest YA release to rather dense literary fiction, all in the same post. I love the range!
Books and Bao: Because there are only so many hours in the day to devote to blogging, as a rule I don’t subscribe to any blogs that aren’t hosted on WordPress since I rely pretty heavily on the WordPress Reader to stay updated. But I have to make an exception for Will and Jess, the annoyingly cute couple behind Books and Bao: their blog is a hybrid of books and travel and culture – all great things! – and the books they review are refreshingly international. Their blog has a wealth of info on translated lit, and I would highly recommend checking them out.
Cathy @ 746 Books: If I ever go bankrupt from all the books I buy, I swear Cathy’s blog will singlehandedly be responsible. As the queen of (Northern) Irish lit around here, Cathy’s reading taste overlaps considerably with my own, but even though I own a truly ridiculous amount of yet unread Irish lit, I’m still learning about new and fascinating titles every time Cathy posts. But if Irish lit doesn’t interest you, never fear, there’s plenty of other content on Cathy’s blog, the concept of which (realizing she owned 746 unread books and deciding to read them all before expanding her collection) she’s stuck to admirably. Realizing I hadn’t included in Cathy in my first post (I don’t think I’d followed her at that point, but I think I’ve since made up for lost time!) actually prompted me to write this one. Follow her!
Laura Frey @ Reading in Bed: Laura’s arguably a bit more active on booktube (which I also love!), but I think she does a really excellent job splitting her content between there and her blog, which is always a joy to read. Laura mostly reads literary fiction and classics, and in particular has a passion for Canadian lit, which I’m sorry to say I haven’t actually read very much of, so I do love that I can count on Laura to keep me up to date with what’s going on in the world of Canadian publishing. Plus, you can always count on her to be brutally honest in her assessments, and I mean that as the highest compliment.
Laura Tisdall: I feel like I’ve been following Laura for quite some time but we didn’t really start interacting until recently – and I am so glad for it! When I started reading Laura’s blog more closely I realized how similar our taste was (both inside and outside of the wonderful world of literary prizes), and as fun as disagreement can be, it’s always nice to talk books with someone who often comes to very similar conclusions about the books you both read. And aside from all that, she writes some of the most intelligent reviews on this website.
Michael @ Inexhaustible Invitations: Speaking of intelligent reviews, Michael’s tend to be rather brilliant. He’s another one where we see eye to eye more often than not, but even when we don’t I find his analyses fascinating and astute. (Plus, I love the sleek black and white aesthetic of his blog – busy headers/backgrounds are a big pet peeve of mine because I am apparently 80 years old.)
Naty @ Naty’s Bookshelf: Naty is one of the sweetest people I have had the pleasure of getting to know through book blogging, and I can’t recommend her blog highly enough. She reads a pretty big range, everything from literary fiction to YA to SFF, and recently I had the pleasure of chatting with her while we both read through the Women’s Prize longlist. Even though our assessments didn’t always align (she’s #teamCirce, I’m #teamSilence, somehow our friendship has survived), she always presents her opinions so thoughtfully that it’s a joy to read them.
Rebecca Foster @ Bookish Beck: As an active freelance reviewer, Rebecca writes at the quality you’d expect, covering a refreshingly massive range of literature on her blog. I’m constantly reading about new releases I haven’t even heard of on Rebecca’s blog, which isn’t always great for my TBR, but I could read her thoughts on books for days, she’s always so smart and perceptive.
Ren @ What’s Nonfiction?: In theory I shouldn’t have a whole lot of bookish common ground with Ren, as she exclusively reads nonfiction and I read about 85% fiction, but some of the most stimulating conversations I’ve had on here have been with her. The interesting thing about both of our blogs is that I think we value very similar elements in the books we read, even if the books themselves rarely overlap, so if you like my blog but wish I read more nonfiction, or if you’re interested in nonfiction at all, I can’t recommend What’s Nonfiction? highly enough for intelligent, thorough, well-argued reviews. And that’s not to mention that Ren is a ridiculously kind person who is always up for some thorough discussions in the comments section (my favorite!).
So that’s that – go follow them all, and then let me know who some of your favorite book bloggers are! Bonus points if anyone can name a brilliant adult/literary fiction blogger I don’t already follow.
This is such a handy (and lovely!) post – I’m just getting started in the book blogging scene, so it’s great to hear about bloggers other people love 🙂
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So happy to hear that! I’d love to follow you back if you let me know what your blog url is – when I click on travaille.wordpress.com I am informed that it’s not active. I hope you have been enjoying blogging so far, it’s a great community here!
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Aw thanks so much! I’m over at ishdotlee.wordpress.com – still working out how to work this whole WordPress thing! And yeah it’s been great, everyone’s so lovely!
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Welcome!! Book blogging is such a fun time.
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Great list, and thanks so much for the link! I’ve bookmarked those I’ve not yet come across for later in the summer, looking forward to following them.
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You are very welcome! Always fun to discover new fave blogs 🙂
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Thank you!!! You are following Naomi at Consumed by Ink, right?? Another prolific Canadian reviewer, who I make the not-Wordpress exception for, is Buried in Print. I’ll try to think of more!
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PS I was only following Cathy and Beck. What?? This is great, I need some new blood in my WordPress feed 🙂
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The literary fiction crowd needs to stick together around here. You should particularly follow other Laura, I think you’d like her taste! And from my round 1, you follow Callum, right? If not, do that!
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I was not following Callum but I went to their blog and saw Lullaby (or The Perfect Nanny) listed as an underwhelming read and YES I am here for it 🙂
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He’s great! Such smart reviews and he has really great taste. I haven’t read that but I don’t think I’ve heard a single positive thing about it?!
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Apparently I was NOT subscribed to Naomi but I’ve just rectified that! I feel dumb because I can’t find the email-subscribe button on Buried in Print’s website, but I’ve bookmarked them too. You will make a Can Lit reader of me yet!
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Thanks, Laura! 🙂
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This is what I love about this community- there is so much support for one another! You have featured really incredible blogs in this post!
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This community really is the best! The fact that we do all of work this for fun is just ridiculous when you think about it.
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I LOVE this type of post!!, So much love and support.❤️
I follow many of these blog and they’re INCREDIBLE 😍👏🏻
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Ahh thanks so much! This is one of my favorite types of post to read as well, I love sharing the love!
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I know what I’m going to be doing this afternoon: checking out some new blogs I’m not familiar with!! This is a great resource, Rachel!! 🙂
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Thanks so much Bentley – I hope you find some you enjoy! 🙂
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Thanks for this list! I love exploring new blogs and have added these bloggers to my WordPress blogger list (check out the list here- thelexingtonbookie.com/wordpress-book-blog-directory/)! If you find a blogger you don’t follow, do I still get bonus points, lol?
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Oh wow, that’s such a thorough list – I’m sure the bonus points can be arranged!
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Thank you SO much for including me in this great list! I’m chuffed xx
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But of course! 😀
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What a great list! There are some of my absolute faves on here, and I’m excited to check out the few I don’t already follow.
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It’s a pretty great group, if I do say so myself!
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This looks like a great group, and I’m looking forward to checking out some new bloggers to follow! I love posts like this 🙂
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Me too! And I’m always looking for more literary people to follow. I hope you find some new ones you enjoy!
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I am blushing, thank you so much for those kind words!!! I always tell you but I’m really so happy we connected here, I just love talking books and life with you and that we always find so much to talk about never fails to delight me 🙂 We definitely value similar things in our reading, and I love that you keep me up to date on the literary fiction scene. And I’m excited to check out the other bloggers you follow, I trust your taste completely 🙂
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Same here, I always love chatting with you! And likewise I’m happy that you keep me up to date with the nonfiction scene, and I often check to see whether or not you’ve read a nonfiction book before taking the plunge myself because I always trust your taste. It’s funny how you’d think people in this community would mostly come together over similar taste in books, but it’s really down to personality and books are just the backdrop – which is lovely!
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Hey! Sorry, I had to stop reading the post for a bit just to come here and leave a comment. You can follow blogs not hosted on WordPress through the WP reader. You just have to add them manually. This means copy pasting the url into the search bar in the Reader. Then it should appear an option for you to follow the blog 😊
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Oh wow, a whole new world! I had no idea you could do that, thanks so much for explaining x
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Thank you so much for including me on this lovely list and for the kind words! You honestly made my day 😊 I’m excited to check out all these blog! I’m always looking for new ones to follow and my feed does get a little YA/SFF heavy – so this is so helpful.
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You are more than welcome, I adore your blog! I hope you find some new ones you enjoy 🙂 Most of my feed is YA/SFF too tbh, I’ve gotta bulk up on the literary blogs I follow!!
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Love this! Cannot wait to check out and follow everyone! I’ve been meaning to follow some new people and I am sure all these blogs are fantastic, so this comes at a perfect time. 🙆🏻♀️
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Hooray!! I hope you find some new ones you enjoy 🙂
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Your first round of this list was responsible for me expanding the number of bloggers I follow, which was fantastic, and I’m confident that this one will do the same! Excellent work 🙂
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So happy to hear that! Hope you find a few gems this time around as well 🙂
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You know I did!
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[…] tag: Rebecca, Rachel, Sarah, Callum, Sav, Caidyn, Eline, and Aurora. As always, no […]
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Excellent list! (I am following all the ones on wordpress already) I agree that they are all very much brilliant.
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Of course you are! I’m sorry that I was not able to expand your feed even more but they are still a very excellent group.
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A very excellent group indeed!
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Great list! Between this and your previous one (which I just read) you have some bloggers I already follow and love and some I don’t know but am excited to delve into!
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I already know and love Laura, Cathy, Laura, and Rebecca, so I know I’ll love the rest of the folks on this list. This is a great way to get to know other book bloggers!
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I hope you find some you enjoy! 🙂 I love reading posts like this as well, I often get stuck in one little bubble on here and I don’t expand my blogging horizons half as often as I should.
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*clicking follow on all the blogs* *click* *click* *click* *click*
*sees own name* *cries*
*click* *click*
This is so sweet, I love how you wrote a post to give a shout out to other bloggers, that is so cool! Also thank you so much for your sweet words, I might have squeaked a little. It’s such a pleasure to talk to you about books whether we agree on them or not. 🙂 🙂
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You are so welcome Naty! I adore your blog and you are seriously one of the sweetest people I’ve met on here, I mean that sincerely ❤
I adore reading and writing posts like this, there's nothing better than sharing the blogging love!
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I’ve just seen this! Thank you! (I need to name my blog something more interesting – I was using the site for my academic + fiction stuff, hence the boring approach, but I should probably make a new site for my academic work and rename the blog…) I also love Rebecca’s and Cathy’s blogs, and looking forward to checking out your other recommendations 🙂
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And then on the other end of the spectrum my url is impossible to remember, but at least it’s unique I guess? I will admit I have a soft spot for blogs that are just people’s names, I find them SO much easier to remember than the ones that are like, ‘another book blog.’ (Though I did think your last name was Tisdale for a really embarrassing amount of time.)
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Haha not to worry – I get that a lot as it’s a more intuitive spelling if you haven’t heard the name, and it’s an unusual one!
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[…] Some of my favorite book blogs | part 2 […]
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