14 Bookish Things I’m Thankful For

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature/meme now hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. The meme was originally the brainchild of The Broke and the Bookish. This week’s topic is a Thanksgiving Freebie.

14 Bookish Things I’m Thankful For

In no particular order, here are fourteen bookish things I’m really grateful for:

1. Authors. We wouldn’t have books without them! Beyond that, I’m grateful for the authors I have been privileged to interact with over the years, most of whom are (or were) a joy to meet and talk with. I’m particularly thankful for the authors who, in one way or another, create a community for and with their fans, including Mary Robinette Kowal, Laurie R. King, Stephanie Burgis (and the other members of the Lamplighters’ Guild), and Celia Lake. And I’m thankful to all the authors who support other writers, teaching and encouraging them along their way.
2. My Kindle. I love that I can adjust fonts and font size to whatever my eyes can handle on a given day, that I can carry an entire library with me in my purse or backpack, and that I can read in the dark without waking my husband.
3. Audiobooks. I admit, 20 years ago, I thought of audiobooks as something that was fun on long car trips or useful for helping Robin get to sleep at night, but I didn’t think of listening to them as reading, except for the blind or visually-impaired. I’m glad my understanding has evolved! Audiobooks are absolutely reading, and I have grown to love them as much for myself (the ability to listen when my hands and eyes are otherwise occupied) as for the opportunities they open for people with a wide range of challenges and disabilities.
4. My library. I have access to an awesome regional library (so awesome that I’m willing to pay for it, since my county is the only one in the region that has resisted joining the regional library system.) I love that I can borrow books from any branch and have them sent to the branch closest to me. I love their online interface. And I love that I can borrow ebooks and audiobooks via Libby and Hoopla.
5. Libby and Hoopla. Speaking of which, both of these are great. In the last few month, I have borrowed both ebooks and an audiobook via Libby, and a number of audiobooks from Hoopla.
6. The book-blogging community. Seriously, y’all are wonderful! I have made friends, followed wonderful blogs, enjoyed your comments on my blog, and discovered so many new books through this community. I’m especially thankful for…
7. The COYER community. COYER started out as a clean-out-your-ereader challenge and has grown into a year-long challenge and a community of bloggers on Discord; I love interacting with other book-lovers there. Gratitude to Michelle and Berls of Because Reading and their co-hosts over the years. Shout-out also to Anne @ Books of My Heart, who runs a yearly read-along focused on a single series; she’s a COYER member and there’s a lot of cross-over between her read-along members and the COYER community.
8. Goodreads. I have used Goodreads since 2012 to track my reading and my TBR list(s), and to cross-post my reviews. It’s the first place I go when I want to check out reviews of a particular book, particularly the reviews of people I know through blogging. While I’m not thrilled that it’s owned by Amazon, I’m still grateful for how useful the site is and has been to me. (NOTE: I’m aware of Storygraph and have considered switching to it, but still haven’t made the jump. It’s lacking a few things that I really like about Goodreads, but it does some things Goodreads doesn’t, so it’s a tough decision.)
9. NetGalley and Edelweiss. I love being able to request e-ARCs through NetGalley and Edelweiss. (I probably love it too much, since I’m currently behind on posting reviews!)
10. CLZ Books. Formerly known as Book Collectorz, CLZ Books is the software I’m using to catalog my books. I looked around a lot before choosing CLZ books; I went with it because it has fields for genre, topic, condition, where I acquired the book and what I paid for it, even whether the book is a first edition, has a dust jacket, and/or is signed by the author. Where Goodreads or Storygraph are good for tracking what I read, CLZ books is an easily-searchable inventory of what I own.
11. IKEA. Maker of the Billy bookcases. I’ve been using Billy bookcases for close to 30 years now. At last count, we have at least 14 of them: sturdy, functional, attractive, and affordable. (NOTE: When we looked at getting some additional bookcases last winter, I was disappointed that the wood-look shelves now have a plastic veneer instead of a wood veneer like my older Billy shelves. I’m sure it’s because IKEA is trying to keep costs down, but the new ones felt cheap to the touch. We ended up going with the white ones, because at least they aren’t pretending to be wood.)
12. 4theWords. I admit, I haven’t been writing this year, but I am going to get back to it… and 4theWords, which gamifies your word-count goals, is a great way to motivate myself.
13. Scrivener is an essential tool for writers. It helps me organize my writing, rearrange chapters or scenes, keep track of my research, and so much more.
14. Writing Excuses. A fantastic podcast for writers of speculative fiction (SF, fantasy, horror), and probably useful of writers of other fiction genres as well.

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