Why Start a Book Blog?

 It seems strange in this day and age, when nearly everything has pivoted to audiovisual content platforms, to do something as seemingly backwards as starting a new blog. Who even reads blogs anymore, after all? Who would do that, when Tiktok and Youtube exist, to make content more easily consumed, digestible, and easy to create? Why bother starting an old-school book blog in 2026?

Maybe I'm just old-school.

After all, it's not like book blogs aren't still around. Lots of people have them. But most of the ones I encounter are run by people or groups of people and have been ongoing for years. They have an established place within a community. People know and trust them. But that's different from starting a new one and trying to carve out a space in that community, and in a way that's increasingly seen as behind the times.

But for me, blogging felt like the only way to go.

I read a lot. Not as much as I used to sometimes, thanks to my health not always cooperating (do you know how frustrating it can be to have such trouble concentrating that you can't even read a book you've read before and know the story of?), but still enough that it feels like a significant personality trait.

"What do you do?"
"Oh, well, I read a lot, you see."

I want to be able to connect with others like myself. I want to read a book and then write down my thoughts and find other people who liked the book for the same reasons I did. I want to find people with similar tastes who recommend books that I might have otherwise overlooked. I want to be part of that book-loving community.

I could do all that without doing it via a blog, though. Why not something like Youtube or Tiktok?

First, I hate how I look. Disability hasn't been kind to me, and I'm not even a little bit happy with my appearance anymore. I've grown self-conscious and very critical, and so even if I coaxed my aging phone to recording a video of myself talking about a good book, I'd hate every second of it. I don't want people seeing me. I don't want my image online, where, even if nobody mocked my appearance, I'd still feel awful about myself for knowing that somebody out there knows what I look like.

Second, I find it a lot easier to type than to talk. My disability comes with speech problems. Some days, I can talk well and be understood. Other days, my mouth and throat refuse to cooperate and I can't speak clearly at all. So I've also gotten very self-conscious about how I sound.

Writing is easier for me than being seen or being heard. So while it may seem like I'm under the delusion that it's 2006 instead of 2026, I know exactly what I'm doing.

I don't expect this blog to grow to be massive and influential. That's not my goal. I just want to be part of a community, however I can. Being disabled makes me feel like the world accessible to me shrinks a little bit smaller every day. I can't do a lot of the things I used to. I don't know where the progression of my illness will stop. So being part of a community is important. I felt like at least it couldn't hurt to try to put my thoughts out there and maybe find a place within a community of people who share one of my biggest interests.