Very Inspiring Blogger Award

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No matter how much you love your home it’s hard coming back from holiday – there’s the laundry mountain to contend with, the overflowing email inbox to wade through and the cold shoulder treatment from a cat grown accustomed to the constant adulation of an adoring nine-year-old. All of this was made very much easier by the discovery that I’d been nominated for a Very Inspiring Blogger Award by bloggers who are themselves an inspiration. I’m both flattered and delighted. Many thanks to:

These Little Words – Lizzi’s blog is one of the first I picked up on when I was thinking of blogging myself. She writes thoughtful opinion pieces as well as interesting reviews and may also be the world’s most passionate Donna Tartt fan.

Girl, 20Alice is new to blogging but not to the book world where she’s worked for a little while and it shows. Her posts are always interesting and often wide ranging

JacquiWine’s JournalI spotted Jacqui’s guest posts at The Writes of Women (see below) so was pleased to see that she’d started her own book blog where she reviews mostly literature in translation. She also writes about wine and recently recommended one to go with The Mussel Feast, a fine idea.

Word by WordClaire writes thoughtful well-researched reviews, often accompanied by carefully chosen photographs and illustrations. She’s also been known to shear a sheep or two

findingtimetowrite – Marina’s blog is a new one for me but even a quick exploration suggests that while its theme is writing it’s very wide ranging. I’ll be dropping in for a more thorough look-see soon

The award has the following rules:

  • Thank and link to the person who nominated you.
  • List the rules and display the award.
  • Share seven facts about yourself.
  • Nominate 15 other amazing blogs and comment on their posts to let them know they have been nominated (15 is a few too many for me, particularly as several of the ones I would have included have nominated me so I hope 10 will do)
  • Optional: display the award logo on your blog and follow the blogger who nominated you

Here are my seven facts:

  1. I live in Bath and look out from my kitchen window at the Royal Crescent. They pay considerably more to look at me than I do to look at them.
  2. I live with a contemporary historian. History starts yesterday for him but he tends to give courses on the 1970s. In other words, I’m a primary source as far as his students are concerned.
  3. I’ve been in the book world for much of my working life. It’s a lovely place to be.
  4. I’m a keen world music fan and am lucky enough to have the Wiltshire Music Centre a few miles down the road where I’ve seen Japanese drummers, a Mongolian wedding band, a Rajasthani gypsy band, klezmer bands and Bosnian folk singers to name but a few.
  5. I’m also a keen film fan and am fortunate to have an enterprising independent arts cinema in my home town. After an indulgent weekend with Begin Again and Boyhood (both highly recommended), I have God’s Pocket and Mood Indigo in my sights for the near future.
  6. I’m camera-shy. Lots of photos of me walking away from H trying to snap a picture.
  7. I have an addictive personality but fortunately books are good for you

And here are my ten Very Inspiring Blogs:

  1. Reading Matters – Kim has been blogging for a very long time. She’s an Australian living in London who often reviews books from her part of the world and involves other bloggers in her features. Last December’s Advent Calender in which bloggers picked their favourite book of 2013 was particularly enjoyable and much better for you than chocolate.
  2. Desperate Reader – Hayley writes entertaining reviews and has an eye for a beautifully produced book. She also shares her baking and preserving with her readers, often with lip smacking photographs.
  3. The Writes of Women – Having spotted the inequitable division in review coverage between male and female writers, Naomi restricts her reviews to books by women. Her posts are wide ranging and she also has one of the best blog names I’ve come across.
  4. Bookshop Around the Corner – Erica flies the flag for independent bookshops, seeking them out far and wide. She always lets you know what she’s bought, extemely gratifying if like me you’re a nosy reader.
  5. Thinking in Fragments – Alex writes thoughtful reviews, often of crime novels. She’s a particularly engaging blogger and always has interesting observations to make about her experiences, whether it be at the theatre for which she has a passion or on the academic world in which she worked.
  6. Tales From the Reading Room – As well as beautifully expressed reviews Victoria writes elegantly, eloquently and often amusingly about her life. She’s one of the bloggers behind Shiny New Books, a quarterly magazine stuffed full of reviews and features by other bloggers plus a few authors.
  7. Annabel’s House of Books – Annabel is a scientist about which she blogs as well as writing reviews of all manner of books, from literary fiction to YA. She also manages to find time to look after the reviews at Shiny New Books.
  8. Winstonsdad’s Blog – Anyone who’s interested in literature in translation who hasn’t yet discovered Stu Allen’s blog should pay it a visit but I’ll warn you, you may be there for some time. The man’s an authority on the subject.
  9. Chasing Bawa – Interesting reviews on a range of books with a penchant for a nice bit of Gothic and Japanese literature – Chasing Bawa is half-Japanese and half Sri Lankan. She also enjoys her food.
  10. Books and Reviews – Elena’s enthusaism is infectious. She writes about crime novels and also about her experiences of studying literature. She’s a feminist and proud of it. Quite right too!

I’d like to give honourable mentions to two Very Inspiring Tweeters – @maudie43 who tweets eloquently about books and who would most definitely write a very inspiring blog should she ever decide to start one, and @helannsta who blogs occassionally but who is a much more frequent and hugely enthusiastic tweeter.

18 thoughts on “Very Inspiring Blogger Award”

  1. Thank you for your kind mention. I know it’s difficult to keep up with all the delightful blogs out there, but I’ve just made a note of a couple you’ve mentioned above that I was less familiar with. Better to look at them occasionally than not at all… is my motto.

    1. I think you’re right, Marina! Thanks again for your nomination and I’m delighted you’ve found some have taken your fancy in my list.

  2. It does amaze me considering what a large world it is out there how we seem to create a very connected community through reading, while each of us mentions a few bloggers that might be new, there are strong threads of familiarity in all the inspiring blogger posts I have read. It’s wonderful that this forum results in that happening, the blog is like the artists studio and twitter is like the living room/salon downstairs!

    1. It’s really quite extraordinary, Claire, and very powerful for getting the word out about books you love not to mention a delightful place in which to exchange views. Very pleased to be a part of it.

  3. Congratulations Susan on your multiple awards. So many new blogs here to investigate. I enjoyed your facts, must be lovely to look out of your window at Bath Crescent – reminds me of when I’d always wanted to stay in a thatched roofed cottage, then rented one for a holiday and it was terribly pokey and dark inside (dreadful for reading), much better to look at from the outside. And your music is so eclectic – I remember hearing Mongolian throat singers busking on the Place de Pompidou in Paris. Brilliant! In fact, I’m off now to listen to their CD.

    1. Happy listening, Anne! WMC is on the edge of a small Wiltshire town attached to a school, not a place I every expected to hear such an amazingly diverse range of music.

  4. Congratulations, Susan, and thank you for the mention and your kind words about my blog! These awards are a great way of discovering new blogs of interest, and I’ll be taking a look at those you’ve mentioned – roughly half are new to me.

    I’m also a film fan – going to see Boyhood tomorrow (all being well).

    1. Many thanks, Jacqui, and delighted you’ve found some blogs that take your fancy here. I do hope you enjoy Boyhood as much as I did – fascinating idea. H and I agreed that we’d like a sequel but I think that’s too much to ask.

  5. Thank you so much for the mention! That’s so very nice of you. 🙂 I do love learning more about blogging friends. I’m a huge fan of Bath and the next time we are down, I hope very much to catch up with you properly!

  6. Congratulations! I love checking out the list of nominated blogs generated by this award. This made me laugh: “In other words, I’m a primary source as far as his students are concerned.” I studied history in college with a focus on the American Civil Rights Movement. I definitely considered my Dad a primary source. 🙂

    1. Well, that sounds like something to be honoured – I just feel old at the thought of my primary sourcedom (if that’s a word!). Many thanks for your congratulations. Lots of very interesting and inspiring blogs out there.

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