Top Ten Tuesday #33

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish 

Today's Top Ten Tuesday topic: Top 10 Things I Love About Being A Blogger/Reader. This was actually supposed to be last week's topic, but I accidentally switched the two around, so last week was this week's topic, and this week's topic is last week's topic! :-)

1. Books! I think we can all agree that one of the awesome things about being a Reader/Blogger are all the books. Free books, purchased book; new books, used books; tall books, short books; thin books, thick books. Books, books, and books. It what's makes us Readers.
2. Ranting. I started blogging because I wanted to rant and rave about my likes and dislikes in the literary world. While my family is very much into books, I am definitely the bookworm of the group, and no one reads the same stuff I do. So it's really hard to rant and rave to them. But a blog is a perfect place to open one's opinions up to like-minded (and not like-minded) Readers, to discuss and disagree with.
3. Visiting New Worlds & Having Adventures. I am an adventurous person, but I am also extremely shy and perhaps overly cautious. I calculate the likelihood of a carnival ride breaking down and killing me before I go on it. And usually the likelihood, while not high, is high enough for me (still love rollercoasters, though). I also just don't get a chance to travel, due to a lot of reasons. Books offer people like me a perfect way to have adventures without experiencing all of the physical displeasure that usually comes with one, and we can explore fantasy worlds and even our world. We can even time travel!
4. The Blogging Community. Being shy, I am also not a huge fan of socializing. I like my close friends, but a big party where everyone is chatting all at once? Mm, no. But the blogging community is a chance to make friends without all of the awkwardness of face-to-face socializing. I can say exactly what I want and need to say in writing/typing; not so much in person. In my time as a book blogger, I've met some really awesome people; people I've had loads of fun talking about books - and writing!
5. Inside Jokes. I suppose everything has its set of inside jokes, but it seems like Readers especially have a ton of them - and they are so much fun. We get little references to literature and things like that in TV shows or other books, and we can laugh while everyone else just has a confuzzled look on their faces.
6. Random Facts! We Readers know a lot of random facts. How to diffuse a bomb, extract poison from a dart frog, shrink heads, make an Egyptian mummy, hot wire cars, the best way to poison someone, et cetera. We get all of these bits of information from all the books we read, and most of it may never come in handy, but hey - you never know. And anyway, it's a lot of fun to randomly spout the five signs that someone is turning into a zombie and get "the look."
7. Chocolate. This is a favorite thing as a blogger and reader. Blogging takes up a lot of time; it's not as simple as non-bloggers seem to think. Chocolate is a must to keep the creative juices flowing as you craft that next amazing blog post/review. And chocolate is a must for Readers because, well, what if you need comfort right away? You just never know what those dastardly authors are going to do to your favorite character next.
8. Pajama Days! For some reasons, it always seemed to me that if you were sitting around reading all day, that was a perfectly logical excuse for why you were still in your pajamas. Every kid in a children's classic has had their adventures in their pajamas, after all; why not us? Who needs to be all spiffed up and flashy when reading a book? A favorite pair of jammies will work perfectly well.
9. Escape From Reality. Everyone needs to escape from life every now and then; Readers just seem to need it more often than others. I definitely do. Just shut down for a while and absorb some fictional character's troubles for a few hours. Being someone of a rather anxious disposition, escaping from reality is a must.
10. Fun Times! But the biggest thing I love about being a blogger/Reader? It's fun! It's as simple as that - blogging and being obsessed with books, fictional characters, and collecting those beautiful volumes of fiction (and non-fiction) - it's just fun. If I'm going to have a hobby, why not make it books? And why not share that hobby with other people?

What are some of the things you love about being a blogger/Reader?