I’d like to thank book bloggers for everything they do to selflessly promote literature. The written word is embattled and beleaguered, and bloggers are the Jedi fighting the resistance.  It’s amazing that they can read as much as they do and still have any kind of life – What dedication! I attended the Book Blogger Convention last May and wrote a few thoughts on book bloggers after meeting them. On this occasion, I’d like to reiterate them now:

Book bloggers are great because they’re passionate. They’re most likely doing this for free, on top of whatever day job and responsibilities they have. They’re getting up early and staying up late, perched in bed with their book light shining onto the pages so they don’t disturb their spouses. This reminds me of writers, who also work for nothing – at least until they sell something – and also must squeeze in this effort amidst the rest of life. We’re all dedicated to the written word. We’re all on the same page.
And book bloggers are different, like many writers are. They don’t quite fit in with society’s norms. I met one – Care of Care’s Book Club – who carries her pet stuffed lobster Copley around with her. I love that. I have a giant stuffed Peep on my bed, and a purple kitty Beanie Baby named Periwinkle propped in my car as my travel companion. Need I say more? I’ve also been inspired by Care to give out little plastic rubber chickens with the sentiment “Love they chicken as thyself” attached.
Like many writers, book bloggers are dorky, and they embrace it. The blog “Sophisticated Dorkiness” is a perfect example. There are no ‘airs’ in this community – they’re real.
And (Yes!) like writers, book bloggers have created a community. A refuge, to support each other. Book bloggers don’t knock each other – they read each other and promote each other. And now they even have a convention to mingle at – just like we writers do!
Here’s the kicker: Book bloggers write reviews you actually want to read, not some hypersensitive critique evaluating the different layers of meaning; the metaphors; the symbolism…yada, yada, yada. We writers don’t sit around thinking, “Gee, what symbolism can I employ here?” We just want to tell a good story, and the rest comes organically, because life is a metaphor and everything is symbolic. This is, in my opinion, how a book should be read and reviewed. Did this book touch my soul? Yes or no. That’s how bloggers write, bless them: They write from their hearts. (I know I complained earlier of readers wanting fast and artificial writing, but on the other side of the spectrum are literary critics, who really go overboard in their analyses. Novels are like paintings, and all art. They’re open for interpretation, but dissecting them ruins the mysterious beauty of the words, which, one would hope, is the intrinsic part of the book.)
I bought a greeting card to perch in my windowsill the other day. It quotes this Chinese proverb: “A bird does not sing because it has an answer. It sings because it has a song.” This is why writers write, this is why book bloggers blog…This is why I love book bloggers: Because they’re singing in tune with me.

Let me say it again: THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU. You are all awesome!