Friday, November 2, 2018

Book Blogger Hop No. 149: Book Blogger Collaborations



Welcome to the Book Blogger Hop,
hosted by Billy @


For more information, and 
to find out the topic of next week's question, click HERE.


This Week's Question

Do you do collaborations with
brands or other bloggers? If so,
which collaboration was your
favorite, and why?

(Submitted  by Danielle  @ 



My Answer

What an interesting question! Yes, in the past, I've done a couple of collaborations with other book bloggers. The most recent one, which was a LOT of fun, was with Barb @ Booker T's Farm

Here's how it came about....

I was visiting Barb's blog one day, to check out her "Can't Wait Wednesday" post. (For those who don't know, this is a meme hosted by Tressa @ Wishful Endings.) Well, I saw a very interesting book that day! It was the very same book I featured in my Book Blogger Hop post last week -- Dread Nation, by Justina Ireland. This is a horror novel. Barb loves the horror genre just as much as I hate it, lol. In fact, we have a running joke about it. She usually features horror novels on this meme, and I'm always commenting that I'm a HUGE chicken, so I can't read any of her choices. Lol. Well, this book was different! When I read the synopsis, I really liked it, in spite of the inclusion of zombies (SHUDDERS!) in the plot. But, there were other elements involved that I did like, such as the strong female protagonist, and the biting satire on racism. So, I told Barb, in my comment, that I found this book very interesting. She then replied with a suggestion that we do a buddy read of it, and I agreed. 

We posted on our progress as we went along. Each of these posts included questions we posed to each other (we communicated through messages on Goodreads) the week before our posts were scheduled to be published. We answered these questions on each update post. It was SO interesting to exchange our opinions and interpretations of what was going on in this book! We did that through the posts and our accompanying comments and replies. And I repeat, it was LOADS OF FUN!! 

At the end of our buddy read, we each posted our respective reviews, and commented on them, as well. 

Barb and I are planning to do another buddy read, so stay tuned for the name of the book, as well as when we'll start! Hopefully, it will be pretty soon!

If you'd like to check out our buddy read update posts, along with our reviews of Dread Nation, you can do so HERE. My BBH post about this book (from last week) can be found HERE.


UPDATE, 11/2/18, 3:30 PM
  
I had another collaboration, which took place in 2014. This was with another blogging buddy, Brian @ Babbling Books. I don't know how I could have forgotten this! Especially since it was a read-along of my FAVORITE classic of all time, Jane Eyre!! Brian mentioned this in his comment below, so I have rushed to include it here. 

I posted the read-along announcement on 9/9/14, and we each did a series of posts on the book before posting our reviews. As in the buddy read with Barb, we posed questions to each other, and answered them. The difference here was that other bloggers were invited to participate, as well, since this was a read-along.  By the end, it was just three of us, though -- Brian, myself, and one other blogger: Jim @ The Frugal Chariot

Even though not that many people participated, this was a highly rewarding experience! Brian and I came up with interesting questions, and we really dug deep into the novel's symbolism, characterizations, setting, plot, the works! 

You can access our reviews, as well as the read-along links, HERE.

I would LOVE to collaborate with Brian again! We could read another great classic -- perhaps a book by Hermann Hesse, whom we both list as a favorite writer. But this time, I think we should do a buddy read instead, with no Linky widget. Lol!

          

What are your thoughts on
this topic?
Please leave a comment! 
If you're participating in this meme,
I'll go comment on your 
own BBH post.
If not, I will then comment on one 
of your blog posts!
Thanks for visiting!!! 







16 comments:

  1. I enjoyed reading your thoughts on Dread Nation. We had a very enlightening and interactive collaboration ourselves on Jane Eyre too.

    I ffind that one of the most positive things about book blogging is the interaction with others. It is a nice thing to express our opinions on our blogs, but when we interact and exchange ideas I it gives us the chance to communicate in ways that we would not otherwise.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi, Brian!

      So glad you liked my thoughts on "Dread Nation"!! I highly recommend this book to you!! And thanks for the compliment!! <3 <3

      OMG!!!! How could I have forgotten our WONDERFUL "Jane Eyre" read-along?! Sorry about that!! As you can see, I've updated this post; it now includes all the information on that read-along. I GREATLY enjoyed co-hosting it with you, Brian!! I think that we each contributed to a greater appreciation for this AWESOME novel!! It was also a LOT of fun!! :) :)

      I totally agree with you that the most positive thing about book blogging is those interactions with other bloggers! Blogging in a vacuum is NO fun at all!! Lol. Yes, the exchange of ideas is SO rewarding!! It's an all-around GREAT experience!! That was DEFINITELY the case with our read-along!!

      Thanks for the TERRIFIC comment!!! <3 :)

      Delete
  2. Blogger collaborations are so much fun. I do some with Christina from Booklovers Tea Party when we buddy read a book we post a co-review on our blogs and we also do tags every now and then. Right now we're buddy reading Shades of Wicked so that co-review should come this month or in December. ;)

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    Replies
    1. Hi, Steph!

      Indeed they are!! Oh, you do buddy reads, too? AWESOME!! I'd LOVE to do one with you sometime!! <3 <3

      I'm going to check out Christina's blog. And I need to find out more about "Shades of Wicked"!!

      Thanks for the nice comment!! HUGS!! <3 <3 <3 :) :) :)

      Delete
  3. Sound like fun! I haven't had the time to collaborate with other bloggers. Maybe I can do that in 2019!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi, Billy!

      Oh, DEFINITELY!! I recommend these buddy reads to you!! Sure hope you do one or more in the coming year!! :) :)

      Thanks for the nice comment!! <3 :)

      Delete
  4. That is a great way to collaborate by buddy reading.

    Very clever, but you always are doing clever things, Maria.

    Thanks for sharing, and have a great weekend.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi, Elizabeth!

      Oh, believe me, this is a LOT of FUN!!! You can come to appreciate and love a book so much more by the lively exchange of ideas with another blogger!! I would LOVE to do a buddy read with you sometime, Elizabeth!! I promise, no paranormal romance or urban fantasy! LOL.

      Thank you so much for the compliments, and for being so sweet!! <3 <3 <3

      You're very welcome for the sharing! Thank YOU for the lovely comment!! Hope you're enjoying your weekend!! HUGS!!! <3 <3 <3 :) :) :)

      Delete
    2. :)

      Have a great rest of your weekend.

      Delete
    3. Yeah, I will!! We're planning on going to "Santa's Enchanted Forest" tomorrow!! This is an annual amusement park here in Miami! It runs from Nov. 1st to Jan. 6th every year!! There are lights on the trees, Christmas scenes, a Ferris wheel, rides (those make us sick, so we stick to the Ferris wheel, lol), several shows -- including a sea lion show -- and FOOD!!! We always make plans to go, every year!!

      We've bought season tickets, so we can go again and again and again!!!! YAAAAAAAAY!!!

      Here's the link! (I'll also send you pics!! )

      https://www.santasenchantedforest.com/

      Delete
  5. Sounds like fun. I hope you will enjoy doing another buddy read in the future.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi, Nicki!

      Yes, this is indeed a LOT of fun!! I'm actually supposed to be starting a buddy read pretty soon, too!

      Thanks for commenting!! <3 :)

      Delete
  6. I’ve never done this sort of thing, though I know another pair of book bloggers who did, one of them Tswana Dolichva from Tsana’s Reads. She and another book blogger discussed the entire series of Miles Vorkosigan SF novels by Lois McMaster Bujold. Tsana was rereading them, her reading buddy was discovering them for the first time. Each of them reviewed the books on their own blogs, then discussed them on Tsana’s. It was very enjoyable to read and a huge project!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi, Sue!

      OMG!!! What a GREAT series to do a buddy read on!!! And yeah, it must have been a HUGE project!! WOW. Gotta go check that out!! Thanks for letting me know about it!! <3 <3

      You should try something like this sometime, Sue! Not with an entire series, but with just one book. An ENTIRE series would probably be exhausting!! I admire these bloggers who did that!!

      Thanks for the GREAT comment!! HUGS!! <3 <3 <3 :) :) :)

      Delete
  7. I cannot believe that it has been then long since we did The Jane Eyre read along. It really was a lot of fun. We need to do one again soon. Have a great Saturday!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi, again!

      Yup, it HAS been that long!! Lol. We DEFINITELY need to another one, Brian!! I was thinking of Hermann Hesse, but, since I chose the book last time, you go ahead and choose it this time, okay? If you want to go for it, I think we'd have to wait until after the New Year, as I have a buddy read coming up, plus some blog tours.

      Thanks for commenting again!! Hope you're having a GREAT Saturday!! <3 :)

      Delete

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Thanks for your thoughts on my posts! I always reply here, as well as comment back on your blog. Have a WONDERFUL day!! :)