(Filigranes Librarie, where we meet for lunch)
Today, Armchair BEA is all about Book Blogging Relationships.
Books have led me to some of my most rewarding “real life” friendships. I’ve mentioned before I was part of the Bookcrossing movement, which I joined in 2002 when the Portuguese community was still tinny. Every single one of our early meet-ups had an extraordinary energy. Clearly none of us was used to meeting other people who loved books as much as we did and (great bonus) read in English. Six of us in particular began a friendship that has now gone far beyond BC and is still surprisingly strong.
Something very similar happened when I met Joanna from It’s all about me (time). She is, to my knowledge, the only book blogger in Brussels and we hit it off straight away when we first met last October. This time the impact was not so much about the books, but about meeting someone who actually knew what I was talking about when I mentioned the RIP Challenge or Reading in Color. As Joanna wrote in her blog, it was “as if my blogging didn’t properly exist before and now that whole world belongs to reality” and I couldn’t put it better.
Since then it’s rare that a week goes by without us having lunch together and we also often meet during the weekend. I’ve had the honor to be part of the select group of friends and family she invited to her civil wedding and will also be at her upcoming Handfasting ceremony.
I’ve never met any other blogger in person, but if this first experience is any indication, I think starting a book blog was the beginning of several beautiful friendships.
8 comments
Comments feed for this article
May 26, 2011 at 5:24 pm
laurelrainsnow
Meeting online friends in person can be awesome. I had an experience like that which I shared here on MY ARMCHAIR POST
May 26, 2011 at 5:37 pm
Steph
I really wish I lived in a city that had a bigger Book Blogger presence but as far as I know, I’m the only one in Nashville. OK, that can’t be true, but it really seems that way!
I was lucky enough to meet Matt from A Guy’s Moleskine Notebook when Tony and I were out in San Francisco last November and it was such a wonderful meeting. It definitely made me want to meet more bloggers in real life since it was honestly like meeting up with a long-lost friend!
May 26, 2011 at 6:04 pm
Carol
I’ve never actually met anyone in real life who I’ve known on-line. I would love to one day.
May 26, 2011 at 9:26 pm
nightlyreading
I would love to meet my blogger friends, but unfortunately, we are literally placed all over the world. It would be tons of fun!
May 27, 2011 at 1:56 am
Pussreboots
I have some real life book blogger friends too. We meet for lunch a couple times a year.
Rather than talk about bookstores, publishers or bloggers, I’m talking about volunteering. Come see what I mean.
May 27, 2011 at 2:54 am
Callista
I’ve never met another book blogger IRL either. I’ve not found any in my city and I can’t travel anywhere. maybe someday.
May 28, 2011 at 3:36 am
Penelope
Great post! I love the friendship you two seem to have. I would love real life book blogger friends, too. It would be so nice to be able to talk books face-to-face with someone. 🙂
By the way, I love the title of your blog!
June 1, 2011 at 1:17 pm
Joanna
Aw Alex. I really cherish your friendship and am so happy that we met. 😉