There are a lot of book memes going on the blogosphere and I found them confusing initially but after almost two years of blogging and having tried a few of them, I'm still no expert on the topic, still I to share my experience as part of my posts on book blogging.

Participating in book memes is a great way to meet new bloggers and discover great books and other book related things. It's time consuming, though, so I'd suggest to do it only as long as you are enjoying yourself and not treating it as a chore or a task that you have to accomplish by all means in order to have a popular/successful blog. I've made some great friendships through the book memes I've done and I'm still doing. Now, that I'm back to work full time, I've cut on the memes I'm participating. Here are of my favourite ones: 

It's the first meme I participated in and the longest one I have done. It requires you to share two random sentences from your current read. Instead of picking up random ones, I choose very carefully an intriguing snippet of the story I'm currently reading and the one I've just finished. It's a fun and easy meme. My only complaint about it is that the main post (where you can share your link) didn't always go up at the same time an I had to check a number of times during the day in order to link up my post. I'm not longer participating in this meme on the blog, although I post the occasional #TeaserTuesday post on my FB  page.

Popularity - Medium, there are some Christian blogs participating

It features a list of 10 (or less) bookish things - books, characters, topics, etc. The topics are listed on the site well in advance and there some very interesting ones. I've participated a few times and I have a great time. On the downside, I find it very time consuming to prepare my weekly post.
Popularity - High

It's a weekly meme where blogger share the their most anticipated books. I started participating in this meme just recently and I really enjoy it. I can prepare my post in advance (I have far too many books I'm looking forward to be released) which is very convenient for me now that I have less time for blogging.
Popularity - High

I started my own (small) monthly meme - Recommended Reads - where I present the best books I read in the past month. I've only done it the past 3 months and I'd be happy if more people would join in (with posts or just comments with their recommended reads).
Populatiry - Very low (hopefully, just for now)

You can look for my Recommended Reads from November post next Sunday. Don;t forget to join me with your best reads of the months.

For a full list of active book memes, check the Book Blog Meme Dicrectory compiled by Booshelf Fantasies.

 

Top Ten Things That Make Your Life As A Reader/Book Blogger Easier

1. My ereader - I started with Nook last summer and switched to Kindle in the beginning of this year. and now I cannot imagine my life without it. 

2. Goodreads - Тhis site brought me back to reading and helped me start blogging about books

3. Amazon - its ebooks are avaible for purchase/download internationally thus I can read the latest titles without having to wait for them to become avaible on paperback in Bulgaria (whihc may never happen for some books)

4. The Book Depository and Better World Books - two sites which with free shipping even to Bulgaria which offer great choice of new and used paper backs and hard covers.

5. Blogspot - I started using this platform for my jewelry blog first and now for my book blog as well. 

6. Facebook - I follow a number of blogger and authors on FB whihc helps me keep track of latest titles, promotions and sales

7. Other book bloggers - I would be writing this blog if it weren't for all book blogger friends. I have learned so much from them.

8. Comfy bed to read in :)

9. Coffee and chocolate - my other two vices besides reading

10. Bad TV - not wasting time in front the TV instead of reading a good book.

 

All the rest, like my 'real' job and household duties just take up valuable time off my reading :)

 

 

As most of you already know Google Reader will be going out of business as of 1 July 2013, so we need a new way to follow our favourite blogs and to allow our readers to follow us. Since I started my blog after the announcement that the Google Reader will not be available any more, since currently I am not following that many blogs, I decided to wait some time and see which of the new solutions will serve me best. 

Increasingly, I have come to notice that my friends with book blogs show a preference for Bloglovin in the place of GFC. This week I decided it is time to give it a try. 

It has a nice interface and it is very user-friendly. I managed to transfer all the blogs that I am currently following into it without any problems. The claiming of my blog was also done almost effortlessly on my part. Even for someone like me, who is not particularly technically savvy, it was easy to install the Follow me button on my blog. 

In short, I can say that I quite like Bloglovin so far. I hope it will work for you too. 

You can follow me by clicking on Bloglovin icon in the left column of the blog.