Weekly Geeks 2009-01

Weekly Geeks is starting back up again! Today's question:

In the spirit of the amazing community building that Dewey was so good at, tell us about your favorite blogs, the ones you have bookmarked or subscribe to in your Google Reader, that you visit on a regular basis. Tell us what it is about these blogs that you love, that inspire or educate you or make you laugh. Be sure to link to them so we can find them too.

Another option: Reading goals for ’09 and wrap ups for ’08 have been pretty well covered by now on a lot of blogs and other memes. But if you haven’t done this, feel free to make that your first WG of the new year, in addition to or instead of the above.

I love this question, because building community was something that Dewey did an amazing job of. I can't even tell you how many of my blogging friends I met through the previous Weekly Geeks, the Read-a-thon, or just from reading Dewey's book blog.

I prefer to subscribe to my favorite blogs and read them in Google Reader. Feeds are the greatest things ever - I love that they tell me when my favorite blogs have updated. I read so many, it would get really confusing if I had to hop around and visit them ALL on a daily basis. As of right now, I am subscribed to over 100 blogs. Not all book-related, but still. Here are ten of my favorites:

A Striped Armchair - Eva reads some of the most amazing non-fiction and writes great reviews, and now she's encouraged me to broaden my reading with the World Citizen Challenge.

Austen Blog - I love Jane Austen, I love snark, and these ladies introduce me to some wonderful JA para-literature.

bookshelves of doom - I just blogged about Leila last night, but I'm doing it again because this blog is so great. She reads and reviews Young Adult fiction and posts great book-related links about award winners and general funniness.

The Dairi Burger - Speaking of snark...ihatewheat re-reads the Sweet Valley High series and blogs about all the craziness therein. I loved those books as a preteen (being named Jessica and having a sister named Elizabeth, I figure it was inevitable), and reliving them through this site makes me happy.

Geek Central Station - Not necessarily book-related, but I love the little amigurumi figures and general geekery that she posts about.

Giving Reading a Chance - Veens is always enthusiastic, and she's one of the friendliest bloggers I've ever "met".

Neil Gaiman's Journal - I am just a little obsessed with Mr. Gaiman. I love that he blogs about the writing process and answers fan questions, because it makes me feel more connected to his books. I also just enjoy reading whatever he writes. He could write a grocery list and it would probably be the most amazingly spooky grocery list in the history of the written word.

The 3 R's - I lovelovelove Florinda's weekly wrap-ups. She has the most interesting, funny links. She also collects all of her memes (Tuesday Thingers, Teaser Tuesday, Booking Through Thursday, and Friday Fill-Ins) and puts them in the same post, which is a great idea and if I regularly participated in more than just btt, I would totally do it, too.

Tripping Toward Lucidity - Andi posts great reviews (I still need to get my hands on a copy of The Gargoyle!), reminds me about authors that I enjoy but forget to read (Sedaris, Vowell), and she's an English teacher, so you know she's good people.

worducopia - I "met" Ali through a previous WG task and discovered that we had a few things in common. As I've been reading her regularly, I've discovered quite a bit more! We're participating in a lot of the same challenges (including her Diversity Rocks! Challenge) and she's introduced me to some great books.

I have dozens more that I read regularly, and I'm always looking for new additions to the feed. Welcome back, Weekly Geeks! :)