The Bookaholics' Guide to Book Blogs: the new literary force [Paperback]

Gillieron and Kilgarriff present an array of book blogs for every taste from erudite to off-the-grid. Not that the two are mutually exclusive, at least in the bloggers' minds.

Despite an unconscionable number of typos (especially considering the authors are editor and publisher respectively at the British publishing house Marion Boyars), this is an entertaining and informative survey, steering readers to sites they may never have heard of, from the thoughtfully appealing Dovegreyreader to the in-your-face Social Disease.

The authors organize their chapters by type of blog, i.e., Author Blogs; Booksellers Blogs; Fan Blogs, Obsessives and the Extreme; The Literary Establishment and Its Blogs, and also by theme, i.e., Review Pages vs. the Internet; Alter Egos or Inflated Egos: Why Do People Blog?; The Internet and Its Uses: Dialogues about Freedom of Expression and Personal Interest.

They include background material on how and why the blogs got started and plenty of quotes, some of them extensive, to give readers an idea of style and substance. There are blogs that stick to what the blogger is reading and blogs that venture out to the latest literary parties and gossip; blogs that fulminate and blogs that promote; blogs that shock and blogs that inspire.

They discuss the role of genre blogs, the influence of the Internet on reader's choices and the future of print reviews. These discussions are thoughtful enough but the meat of the book is the helpful introduction to the vast seething sea of book blogs out there. You could spend all your time reading blogs and never get to a book or you could use this handy guide to steer you to those that appeal and avoid the rest.

First Line: To my way of thinking, the best book bloggers are individuals who have no grist or motive other than a love of books and a desire to share their finds with others.

It should be obvious why I bought this book: I'm a blogger, and I blog about books. I wanted to see what these two publishers had to say about a subject I hold close to my heart.

The Bookaholics' Guide to Book Blogs is divided into chapters according to the various types of blogs: Booksellers' Blogs, Publishers' Blogs, Fan Blogs, Writers' Blogs, etc. As I read, I found several blogs that are familiar to me, but I also found many more to check out. Gillieron and Killgarriff both believe that book bloggers have a very important function in the world of book publishing today:

"I would like to see the voices of the book bloggers heard even louder. I think there is a major problem, despite the pages of feverish comment on literary prizes, radio shows, interviews and profiles, in that the media manages to talk about books in a way that goes over the heads of the vast majority of people. The book bloggers have developed loyal audiences, and I compare them most closely to newspaper columnists who may be your favourite to read each week in the Sunday paper. You get to know a personality and a style, and you find nuggets of new information each week, which makes you go back the following week for more. The book bloggers have another twist which makes them more loveable-- they write their thoughts for free."

There are dozens of nuggets of information in this small book, and best of all, a list of all the book blogs' URLs in the back to make it easier for you to find them. I found this book very easy to read (despite several typos!), and a very informative look into the future of book publishing and selling from the viewpoints of two UK publishers.

I wasn't quite sure what to expect of this book when I first picked it up:

Would it be a list of the author's favourite book blogging sites, a guide to the multitude of sites appearing all over the web?

Would it include any of the book blogging sites I am already familiar with?

Would it give me new sites to explore?

Would it give me food for thought about different ways of presenting opinions about books, and the role of the web in presenting these views?

The answer to each of these questions is yes. I don't always agree with the opinions expressed by the authors but I am grateful to them for taking the time to write and publish them. This is a book of suggestions and opinions, not a prescriptive guide to what might be considered `good' or `bad'. We each can make our own subjective assessment based on taste and coverage.

Perhaps the aspect I enjoyed most was the observation that each of us who occupy space in this virtual terrain has an alter ego, and some of us have inflated egos as well. We may choose our own alter ego but others will make a decision about whether they consider that ego to be inflated. A humbling thought, perhaps.

I'd recommend this book to those who are interested in a wider view of the world of book blogging and on-line reviewing that is larger than our own individual contributions.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith