Reading is generally considered an introvert activity, something you do by yourself. You can read on a comfy armchair/coach/bed at home on a hot summer/cool spring/freezing winter day with your food and drink of choice. You can read at the beach, in the mountains, on your way to anywhere. The common thing in all these scenarios is that you are alone and basically don't need company to enjoy yourself. 

With the development of the internet, social media and modern communications in general, the act of reading changed, at least for me. While the act of reading is done on your own, I find it that at least some my enjoyment of a given story comes from the opportunity to discuss it with like-minded people (usually online, since I don't have any RL friends who read the kind of books I read presently). My reading experience has changed and it includes the desire to share my thoughts on the books I read, whether in detailed reviews or just with a quick notes.

I even find myself telling my husband about the books I read and he is not a romance fan at all and further more, since he is not very fluent in English, so I have to retell the books in Bulgarian and find myself in a situation where I need to come up with BG terms for a number of things - the Psy and the changeling of Nalini Singh, the steampunk contraptions from The Kraken King and Prosperity. Sometimes it can be a challenge to discuss even contemporary romance in my native language when I've read the books in English.

After QRM I have started very tentatively joining some literary discussions online. Alexis Hall, I blame you for this with your thought-provoking posts of romance (queer and het), HEA, love and life in general. I don't feel confident enough to comment often, but I absolutely enjoy following these discussions.

Goodreads is my preferred social book site, it's in fact the only one I actively participate in since I don't really have the time for more. It's has its weakness but I have found some amazing people there, made some friends. I try to join in buddy reads but don't always manage to, I participate in some groups (sometimes rather actively) and I keep challenging myself by trying new genres/types of books. I tried the Reading Challenge for the first time this year and I'll fail it spectacularly, since I'm 50 books behind my goal of 200. This is the place where I get most of my book recommendations as well.

I like the me-time that reading gives me, the escape from the routine of the everyday but I very much appreciate also the chance to connect with different people through the books that I read. This is part of the reason behind this blog - to have a place to write about the books I read and lately, about the reading and blogging itself. 

How do you feel about reading? Is it a way to escape the world or a way to connect with other people, a mixture of the two, or something else completely?