WELCOME TO BBWA 2011! DAY ONE - COMMUNITY SPIRIT

As you know Fly High is not a place to discuss  books only , but books and literature have always been an important presence in my life, both real and virtual. This great celebration ,  Book Blogger Appreciation Week, which is meant to give awards to best ones in the huge community of Book Bloggers, is a great occasion to celebrate books and blogging all together, meeting old and new friends, discovering new blogs and sites.

Day 1, which is today, is meant to highlight a couple of bloggers that have made book blogging a unique experience for us. They can be our mentors, a blogger that encouraged us to try a different kind of book, opened our eyes to a new issue, made us laugh when we needed it, or left the first comment we ever got on our blog.

In the first steps of my blogging experience, two bloggers have been very inspirational and also very supportive of my first attempts. Both have wonderful book blogs with thousands of  visitors everyday and hundreds of regular followers. 

1. Ms Lucy at Enchanted by Josephine

Ms Lucy is one of my first and most friendly acquaintances in the blogoworld. She is of Italian origins but lives in Canada. And, surprisingly, we discovered how much we had in common reading and commenting  our blogs reciprocally. Her Enchanted by Josephine is an amazing site about historical fiction with hundreds of followers and enthusiastic readers.  She is so beautiful, I asked her if she has ever been an actress. No, never, she said. She is a super mum, instead: 5 children!

She granted me a sparkling interview in March 2010. What about knowing more about her? (Read here) And even much more  important: why don't you have a look at her wonderful blog? Enchanted by Josephine is an incredible place for historical fiction readers and not only.

2. Laurel Ann at Austenprose

One of the bloggers I most admire and from whose blogging experience I've tried to learn as much as I could is Laurel Ann Nattress at Austenprose.  She is someone I'm sure many of my Janeite readers know and appreciate. I regularly read her blog and sometimes comment her interesting posts but when her avatar peeps on Fly High or My Jane Austen Book Club! to contribute her opinion... I'm so pleased and flattered! She's organized great events online , goes on writing one the best Austen-dedicated sites in the blogosphere and is going to launch her first book, Jane Austen Made Me Do It, which includes Austen inspired stories from famous Austen writers .

Other great  bloggers I feel like mentioning here because they are part of my friendly community on line are: Jane Greensmith  at Reading, Writing, Working, Playing, Mary Gray at The Gray Willow, Antonella Lunarossa at Living Abroad, Meredith at Austenesque Reviews, Ana T. at Aneca's World, Alexa Adams at First Impressions, Katherine at November's Autumn, Marie Barton at Burton Book Review, and last but not least,  Prue Batten at Mesmered's Blog  These are just the book (and not only) bloggers  I 'm indebted to for my initial steps in the blogging  world. But my little community has grown up since the beginning and I've met lots of wonderful people (writers, readers, RA admirers, costume drama fans, friendly supporters from all over the world) who have enriched my life . Love to all and each one of them!