Book Blogger Appreciation Week the Second is a Go!

I didn't know if we would make it, but we did! The Book Blogger Appreciation Week blog is live, and taking registrations. And once everything is tweaked, we'll be taking nominations, too!

Book Blogger Appreciation Week (from here on out to be known as BBAW) was started last year as an effort to appreciate the fabulous community of hard working bloggers (who love books as much as I do!) that I adore. It's really just a week to celebrate our very diverse and exciting community and get to know each other even better.

This year, BBAW has its own blog. This will hopefully make things easier to follow, no more mass emails from me! But, of course, if you want the behind the scenes scoop on how things are progressing, this is the place to be. ;) Please be patient with us as we get the blog fully functional as well.

BBAW season means three things to me: 1) No Sleep 2) Less Reading 3) Lots and lots and lots of fun!

I hope you'll join in! Read all the details about BBAW 09.

BBAW Award Nominations are Open

It's time to open nominations for Book Blogger Appreciation Week Awards 2008!

Listed below are the categories of awards. There are many. You may not have a nomination for each award. It doesn't matter. Nominate up to two blogs per category and send an email to BbawawardsATgmailDOTcom with your choices. You DO NOT have to have a blog to make nominations. Comments left on this post will NOT be accepted as nominations. Each category will be narrowed to the top five blogs by number of nominations received, so don't be shy!!! Support your favorite blogs and bloggers! Nominations will close on August 31st.

And the categories for the Book Blogger Appreciation Week Awards 2008 are:

Best General Book Blog
Best Kidlit Blog
Best Christian/Inspirational Fiction Blog
Best Literary Fiction Blog
Best Book Club Blog
Best Romance Blog
Best Thrillers/Mystery/Suspense Blog
Best Non-fiction Blog
Best Young Adult Lit Blog
Best Book/Publishing Industry Blog
Best Challenge Host
Best Community Builder
Best Cookbook Blog
Best History/Historical Fiction Blog
Best Design
Most Chatty
Most Concise
Most Eclectic Taste
Best Name for a Blog
Best Published Author Blog
Best Book published in 2008
Best Meme/Carnival/Event
Most Extravagant Giveaways
Best Book Community site
Write In--think we missed something? Write in your category and nomination and if there are enough other write-ins of the same category it will be added!

Added by Popular Demand:
Most Altruistic Blog
Best Fantasty/Horror/Sci-Fi/Spec-fic Blog
Funniest/Most Humorous Blog
Best Commenter/Commentator

Sunday Salon -- A Great Book and I Love Book Bloggers

I was finally able to finish reading Somebody Else's Daughter by Elizabeth Brundage. Fantastic book. I'll be reviewing it on The Friendly Book Nook this week.

It's actually late Saturday night as I write this, but I plan to squeeze some reading in Sunday. A lazy day of reading sounds wonderful to me. A lazy day sounds wonderful to me! :)

My copy of Watchmen arrived! (Yes, I'm one of the people who rushed to Amazon to order it after seeing the movie trailer) On the cover it says that it's one of Time Magazine's 100 Best Novels. So much stuff to read in this life...so little time. How will I ever read it all? I also got a copy of Blindness after seeing the trailer for it before the X-Files. (which, by the way, was totally lame) Have any of you read either of these? What did you think?

Well there's been much talk these last few weeks about the rapidly declining "traditional" book review (newspapers, print) being replaced by book bloggers. And then, how book bloggers shouldn't even attempt it--they are all clearly amateurs.

Perhaps there's some truth to it. I'm not a professional book reviewer. I'm highly subjective and pretty much get straight to the point...I liked this or I didn't. Summarizing a plot is the bane of my existence--I usually just use what the publisher does. I care about originality and I care about beautiful prose. I like character development, but I can take huge leaps of faith in the believability department. Pacing matters. Books that challenge me personally or alter my perspective get huge points. Sometimes I'll share with you how I came to read the book.

These are the sort of subjective elements of a review that are being criticized, but they are the exact reason I'll trust my fellow book bloggers over a big name newspaper review. Books are more than works of art released into the world to be judged on their individual elements, they are conversations. Reading a book is a chance for me to enter a whole new world, engage in a new thought process and learn something. A book on it's own doesn't matter so much as how I interacted with that book. Did it make me think? Did it entertain me? Do I see things a little differently for the hours of my life I gave the author to invade my world? This is what matters to me when I read about a book. And I generally trust book bloggers, who are not too snobby, to give me a fair perspective.

Blogging is my hobby, but I'm not going to lie...it's a hobby that takes a lot of time. I've spent money on both this blog and the Friendly Book Nook. And time. Lots of time. I don't have ads on the blogs, I don't do it for the money. I do it because I enjoy it. I do it to share my love and passion for books and art (and other things).

And I appreciate my fellow book bloggers. Book blogging takes time! It takes organization and reading time.

So the week of September 15th-19th is going to be Book Blogger Appreciation Week here. I really want to highlight what my fellow book bloggers are doing and share the love. I want to get as many bloggers involved as possible over all the different genres. So if you are interested in being involved, either hosting an award or meme at your site or being spotlighted, please leave a comment or email me. I'll be in touch with you as I work out all the details.

I didn't mean to go on for so long everyone! Sorry! I meant to leave my comment at the Huffington Post but you have to register and my registration wasn't active. Have a great Sunday of reading!