Books I Loved & The Bloggers Who Pushed Them

Day 3 of Book Blogger Appreciation Week is today, and it's all about celebrating books you wouldn't have picked up without the push of a book blogger. Soooo much of my reading is shaped by what my favorite book bloggers are reading, so this list just barely scratches the surface. And, I'm going to be real, my memory is not amazing. I'm sure multiple people recommended certain things or I read many reviews about specific books. So accuracy is not guaranteed, but all the reviews I link to are so solid. Thanks, book bloggers! 

What I love most about the bookternet is when it feels like a horde of people running toward you with a particular book, and the horde keeps getting bigger and bigger. I don't remember all of the people who recommended The Beautiful Bureaucrat by Helen Phillips to me, but I'm pretty sure Shannon from River City Reading, Sarah from Sarah's Bookshelves, and Katie from Bookish Tendencies were some hardcore book pushers.
[Shannon's review] [Sarah's review] [Katie's review]
[My review]

Here's one that I sort of caught wind of on Twitter then got coerced into needing. The people I watched reading The Shore by Sara Taylor were I THINK Shannon, Sarah, and Shaina from Shaina Reads. But, again, there could have been more.

[Shannon's review] [Sarah's review] [Shaina's review]

[My review]

This book was sort of a given for me, because it combined horror and reality TV. And I had the book on my bookshelf. I just needed a little motivation to read it when I did. Lauren from Malcolm Avenue Review originally pushed A Head Full of Ghosts by Paul Tremblay and I was pretty much sold despite her and I having some mild disagreements sometimes. But then Sal from Motion Sick Lit also said I needed to read it (after having heard about it from me), so I took the plunge. Neither let me down.
[Lauren's review] [My review] 

Seeing the cover of Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer was pretty much love at first sight, but luckily it was also accompanied by a fantastic review by Carl from Stainless Steel Droppings. This is one of my favorite books ever and I don't know that I would've found it otherwise.

[Carl's review] [My review]

M from Rain City Reads actually bought me Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel, just because she loved it so much and it must have been my birthday or something. I was avoiding it because of the hype (as I do), but it's actually really, really good. Thanks again, M!
[M's review]

Leah from Books Speak Volumes has written tons of reviews that have convinced me to pick up books, but Hall of Small Mammals by Thomas Pierce was kind of notable. I almost refused to pick it up just because the cover was too good. I was trying not to be so shallow. But I read her review and was like yup, I need this. And it was so so good.

[Leah's review] [My review]

Andi from Estella's Revenge was right. Mr. Splitfoot by Samantha Hunt was the perfect kind of weird for me. She gets it.
[Andi's review] [My review]

I had never heard of Gender Outlaws: The Next Generation until Monika from Lovely Bookshelf wrote a great review of it. I'm so glad I read it, because I'm really bad at reading nonfiction and it's probably something I wouldn't have heard of on other blogs. It was an incredible, thought provoking experience. 

[Monika's review]

I hadn't delved into grit lit at all until reading Shannon's blog. And I probably would've skipped over The Animals by Christian Kiefer completely because it almost sounds too much like a thriller for my picky self. But it was SO BEAUTIFUL and also thrilling. What more could you want?
[Shannon's review] [My review]

THE FIRST CHAPTER. Thanks for the great review of Bull Mountain by Brian Panowich, Katie.
[Katie's review]

A trend I'm noticing: I often avoid books that I might like because there's no way I'd actually like them... or something. I had heard mixed reviews about Eileen by Ottessa Moshfegh, but Naomi from Consumed by Ink's review and comments got me super excited to pick this on up. And I'm glad I did.
[Naomi's review] [My review]

Ursula Le Guin was someone both Shaina and I put off reading. I'm glad we read The Lathe of Heaven together, because obviously we would both love her (and we did), and I loved hearing Shaina's insights as we read. Thanks for being a great buddy reader, my love <3.

[Shaina's review] [My review]

What book have you read and loved because of a great recommendation from a book blogger?