Sunday Salon: Circles and Connections, Bookmarks and Bookkeeping

I didn't respond to last week's Weekly Geeks prompt, "Who Do You Connect With?", but I've been pondering it, and a recent post from one of the non-book-bloggers I follow seemed to track with my line of thought. Miss Britt shared some of the reasoning behind her decision not to start a dedicated travel blog to chronicle her family's upcoming year of travel through the USA:

"I’m going to write about the trip.  I’m going to write about paying for the trip.  I’m going to write about the places we see, just like I do whenever I travel.  But I’m going to do it right here on my personal blog, just like I always have.

Because travel, to me, is personal.

Because this trip is personal.

Because travel should be shared beyond travel blogging circles.*

Because this is a personal life blog and this trip is a personal life event.

Because, to be perfectly honest, I want regular people who aren’t professional travelers to be inspired to take a trip.*"

Change the "travel" references to "books" and "reading," and that's a mission I can identify with:

*Books and reading should be shared beyond book-blogging circles.

*I want people who aren't avidly-reading book bloggers to be inspired to read a book.

I am pleased to identify as a book blogger, and excited about celebrating Book Blogger Appreciation Week with my community next week (yes, that's right - September 13-17 is next week, y'all!). But I think it's important to reach beyond that circle, too. I want to go to the 2011 Book Blogger Convention, but I also hope to make a third trip to the BlogHer Conference next summer (especially since it's in San Diego!), even if I'm one of only a few book bloggers there.

I love the book-related conversations we book bloggers get into with one another, but I think we need to reach out to and welcome voices from outside our niche as well. And as the "publishing ecosystem" evolves, our role in providing information about and critique of books is growing. While we certainly influence each other's reading choices, we've also got potential to inform and influence the many readers who don't have book blogs.

Close to half the blogs I read aren't book blogs, and I think that more than a few of the readers here aren't book bloggers. I like it that way. I want to connect with all sorts of people here.

Having said that...sometimes connections are made, and sometimes they're missed.

My posts here this past week were very much in the book-blogging vein, but judging from the sparse comments they received, I'm not sure they connected with any readers here! Then again, relying on blog comments as a source of self-esteem is probably not a healthy habit...

However, my Tuesday post on women writers, book criticism, and the Jennifer Weiner/Jodi Picoult/"#Franzenfreude" dust-up was (in a slightly different form) syndicated on BlogHer.com and chosen as a SheWrites "Editor's Pick" this week. Thursday's post on storytelling and imagination was one I had fun with, but I may be the only one who did. On the other hand, quite a few folks seemed to connect with Katie's guest review of Mockingjay.

More connections - a few things I've read on the blogs recently that connected with me:

Social media serves connections - Jen Forbus offers some insights about it. One of my favorites: "If you don't like people then social media is probably not what you should focus on. Otherwise, be yourself."

One of the book reviews I posted this week was a re-read, which is unusual - I don't do that much any more. Amy thinks she may start doing more of it.

An author asks her readers, "Does what you know about who authors are influence your reading of their books?," and reflects on the "cults of personality" around some writers.

Most book bloggers aren't getting paid for our book reviews, but Publisher's Weekly thinks they should be...

Here's an interesting compare-and-contrast of writing for teens and adults by an author who does both.

Does one bad experience with an author keep you from ever reading him/her again?

My own recent (and future) experiences with authors:

Recently read, with reviews to be posted
Dangerous Neighbors, by Beth Kephart
Red Hook Road, by Ayelet Waldman

Currently reading
The Lonely Polygamist, by Brady Udall

New additions to TBR Purgatory
For review -
Outside the Ordinary World, by Dori Ostermiller (for an upcoming TLC Book Tour)

For me, one off the Wishlist...
The Promised World, by Lisa Tucker
...and a binge in the YA section that proves book bloggers influence me -
The Chosen One, by Carol Lynch Williams
Looking for Alaska, by John Green
The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks, by E. Lockhart

New to the Wishlist
Up from the Blue, by Susan Henderson
Russian Winter, by Daphne Kalotay
What We Have, by Amy Boesky

Have a great reading week!