Book Bloggers Appreciation Week

Greetings from the City of Heat Stroke...I mean, City of Angels. Besides having had a frenzied couple of weeks at work, I've also been feeling tired in general, a feeling no doubt exacerbated by the heat wave we've been having here. Yes, I know it's summer and summer is known for hot sunny weather, but we've had over a week of 90° plus in Downtown L.A., where it usually reaches only into the mid- to upper-80s at worst. So, though I've had the A/C on pretty much every day, at least while I'm home (and I don't even want to think about next month's electric bill), I haven't even felt much like reading, much less blogging.

But this year's Book Bloggers Appreciate Week (September 14-18, 2009) is something I feel the need to blog about, notwithstanding my lethargy. What a great idea ~ a week to celebrate "the art of book blogging," to acknowledge the "contribution and hard work of book bloggers in promoting a culture of literacy, connecting readers to books and authors, and to recognize the best among us with the Second Annual BBAW Awards." (Got that from the BBAW website.) Why such a celebration? As the BBAW site says: "Because books matter. In a world full of options, the people talking about books pour hard work, time, energy, and money into creating a community around the written word."

I did not participate in last year's BBAW. I don't even think I knew about it, although, if I had known, I doubt if I'd have gotten involved. I'd only just started blogging, and it was all so new to me that I didn't even follow any blogs then. Also, I am basically pretty shy under all the brash confidence I may seem to exhibit.

This year is another story, though. I've read fascinating book reviews on the blogs I now follow and have learned a whole lot over the past year that I would have missed had I not been following those blogs. Plus I've been fortunate to meet (online) some wonderful bloggers. Last but not least, I'm all hyped on the goodness & importance of blogs in general, since it appears to me that the mainstream media and many of the sales websites *cough amazon dot com cough* have caved to the government, the corporate world, & big money and, imo, stopped reporting important (not to mention truthful) articles and reviews in favor of fluff, lies and innuendo.

Okay, hopping down off my soapbox now.

So, I urge you to check it out. BBAW is a great opportunity to get involved in the book blogging community whether you are a blogger, a reader, a writer, or just concerned about honesty in reporting today.