Recently Elisabeth Lane at Cooking Up Romance posted an interesting post on the pressures and joys of being a book blogger/reviewers. so many of the issues she raised resonated with me - what do I want to do with this blog, keep a balance between personal (and possible interesting for just a few people, or me only) or try to make more appealing to a wider audience. it's an ongoing process - I participate in some promo events but still try to keep the main focus on the reviews I write. I recently started doing the occasional personal posts sharing my thoughts, opinions on reading, blogging, reviewing. And this is one of those.

I love picking my next read spontaneously, on the spur of the moment. yet, over the past two years with this blog and reviewing regularly I feel the pressure to organise my reading in some way. I want to keep the spontaneity and the surprise factor as much as possible because it's one of the joys of reading for me, yet often I end up reading books I don't like and just passing for later books that my be a better fit for me. So, I will try to reorganise my reading and change some bad reading habits I feel I've fallen into lately. 

I need to be more careful when requesting/accepting books for review. I'm open to new authors, genres, types of stories and very often I end up taking books for review that turn out to a huge disappointment and really struggle to finish them. It rather kills my joy reading turning it into a task I need to finish and not something I do for fun.

Every time I pick up a book that is outside of the box for me and I end up not liking it, I go back to the safety of favourite authors and familiar types of stories. When I gather enough courage and when a particular book catches my interest, I go off experimenting again. Pretty much the same philosophy I apply to life - trying new things and when they backfire, shutting down, until I get carried away with a new crazy idea. 

I already have a huuuuuuge TBR list that keeps growing and growing. I've lost interest in some of the books I've added as to-read on GB but at least 10 new ones have taken the place of every one I've discarded. I won't be organising it in any formal way for now because this stresses me out too much. I'm taking baby step towards some semblance of order instead. I've decided to join at least some reading challenges

- The first is Dive into Diversity hosted by Rather be Reading and Reading Wishes which I already joined with my review of Nothing Like Paris (my reivew) by Amy Jo Cousins - small town New Adult m/m romance featuring aMexican-American character. It's a fun monthly challenge highlighting books that celebrate diversity of all kinds - gende, age, religion, social standing, ethnicity, etc.

- Later this week (18 March) I will be posting my review of Champion by Marie Lu as part of the 2015 TBR Challenge, hosted by Wendy at The Misadventures of a Super Librarian. The aim it to read one book a month from your TBR list and post your review on the third Wednesday of the month. There are specific topics for each month to help organise things. 

And I've made some rather general resolutions about my next reads:

- I've read only one historical romance so far, The Suffragette Scandal (my review) by Courtney Milan and I want to explore more this genre, so I plan on reading at least 1 historical a month this year.

- I tend to fall into reading similar books or sticking to a certain genre, mostly romance and these days it's predominantly m/m romance. I'm making a conscious effort to try other books too, not really stepping out of my comfort zone, but rather other genres I've enjoyed in the past - some fantasy and urban fantasy, some YA fantasy/realistic fiction, ect.

- I've been trying to post at least two reviews a week but I've decided be more relax, sometimes I read longer books and can't finish them in a week (ICoS, I'm looking at you), other times I just don't have the time to review. I've decided not to stress myself with the number of reviews I post but to focus more on the quality.

- I'd like to participate in more book discussions when I have the time. I joined Twitter (@e_savova) recently and I love the chats I'm having there mostly with my bookish friends, though I have to admit that following a conversation there is a bit confusing. 

What about you? What are your reading strategies? How do you choose what books to read? I'd be happy to hear from you.

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?

Recently a friend of mine from university reached out to me on GR and she thanked me for my reviews which she found very helpful for someone like her who is new to GR and doesn't have much time to search for new titles. I was overwhelmed and I remember my first steps in actively reviewing books 2 years ago - how I struggled with GR initially, what it took me to understand the workings of NetGalley, Edelweiss, other book blogs. As usually, I was acting stubborn and didn't ask for help and tried to figure it all out by myself. 

For an international reader like me, it is even more difficult to find your place in the book blogging/reading (online) world. So, to cut a long story short, I decided that I could share some of my insights with the hope that could be helpful for some new readers out there. I know there are a lot of resources already available but still, I will add my two cents to this topic. I will try to make it a series of short article/posts with advice directed mostly to new readers/reviewers. Feel free to add your comments and suggestions any time. 

My first post will focus on the ways we can get free book (either just to read, or to read and review).

How to Get Free Books

Most of us are hard pressed for money and as a compulsive reader my budget for books regularly goes overboard. So, I'm always on the lookout for great deals and sources of free books.

- Many of the Goodreads groups have topics for books sales and freebies. Find the groups which reflect your reading interests and then search for the right topic and subscribe to it. This source works bets for me.

- There is a number of sites offering daily newesletters with book sales and freebies. I'd suggest that you try out different newsletter to see which one works bets for you. Many deals repeat along the site but there are also some appearing on one place only. I have cut down the newsletters I receive to just two, since I don't really have the time to go through too many daily emails - SweetFeedBooks and BookBub

- Check the bestsellers list (free books) on Amazon - I don't do this very regularly, but you can find some awesome jems there sometimes.

- Another way to get free books even before their official release is provided by sites like NetGalley and Edelweiss - where you can request books for review. You need to provide feedback on the books you've read and there is always a chance that your request may be denied. I'll be introducing this services in more detail in my next post

- You can also get books in exchange of review in several groups on Goodreads. This is a great way to read new books for free if you are willing to try new authors, especially ones that publish their works independantly (indies) - Making Connections, New Adult Book Club

Other free reads (short stories, deleted chapters, prequels, epilogues, etc.)