Collect and Share What You Love with Reader Lists

Blogging isn’t just about publishing your own posts — it’s also about reading and exploring what the community has to offer. But with millions of bloggers around the world, there’s so much to explore. In your WordPress.com Reader, you can follow blogs, explore tags, and see what’s new here at Discover. You can also create lists to keep track of your favorite sites in one place, or curate a feed around a specific topic or group of people.

New to lists? We published a quick primer on The Daily Post to help you get started, and below, we’ve collected some staff lists to inspire you to create your own.

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Favorite Magazines, collected by Krista Stevens

Krista loves to read. She’s an editor at WordPress.com from Winnipeg, Manitoba, and contributes regularly to Discover.

When you’re logged in to WordPress.com, you’ll see two tabs at the top left: My Sites and Reader. In the left sidebar of your Reader, you can add and follow tags and create and follow lists.

I subscribe to 400+ sites using the WordPress.com Reader just like a feed reader. Lists help me distill and categorize my reads so that I can easily find the latest posts from my favorite sites. I enjoy longform journalism, nonfiction, and creative nonfiction. My Favorite Magazines list is my go-to for a dose of great writing. If you’re short on time, check out Brevity — it’s my favorite place to go for creative nonfiction.

Photo Blogs, collected by Clicky Steve

Clicky Steve, aka Stephen McLeod Blythe, is a Community Guardian for WordPress.com. He’s interested in photography and Internet law and is based in Glasgow, Scotland.

I tend to get obsessed with one topic at a time, and make heavy use of lists to collect the different blogs on any given subject into a single place where I can go and get my fix. In particular, I love trawling through blogs that are dedicated to analogue photography, and my Photo Blogs list gives a bit of a glimpse into that world.

Leica photograph (Tri-X 400 film) by 52 Rolls, as found in Clicky Steve’s Photo Blogs list.

Quirky Histories, collected by Ben Huberman

Ben wrangles picks and interviews on Discover and is based in Vancouver, British Columbia.

I have a soft spot for blogs that focus on very specific topics and cover their chosen niches with passion and abandon, as if Civil War-era pop music or the history of beards is the most important thing anyone could ever blog about. My Quirky Histories list is made up of a couple dozen such history blogs, where the enthusiasm of the writers is contagious enough to make me interested in topics I otherwise might have considered esoteric. It’s a great way to learn new things every time I head to the Reader.

Tipples and Tradition, collected by Michelle Weber

Michelle is an editor from San Francisco who doesn’t drink as much as this list might indicate. Find her at Discover, Blogging U., and her personal blogs.

I don’t drink very much, but when I do, I’ll always pass up wine or beer for a well-crafted cocktail, especially a classic cocktail from the early 20th century. Everything about them fascinates me: the potent mix of flavors, the beautiful glassware, the just-so ice cubes and garnishes. The darkly groovy vibe of a good cocktail bar. The names (a Corpse Reviver #2 or a Hanky Panky, anyone?) and their stories. When I need some high-proof inspiration for my home bar or want to learn more about what I just drank, I browse my Tipples and Tradition list — a collection of excellent cocktail bloggers, plus one evocative, non-recipe blog of bar-based stories to set the mood.

Cucumber rai tai at Measure & Stir, a blog in Michelle’s Tipples and Tradition list.

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Quick tip: Follow any of these lists by clicking the Follow button at the top-right corner of the list. The list will appear under your Lists section in the left sidebar of your Reader. If your interests change, you can unfollow a list at any time.

To create your own list, follow these steps. We love reading recommendations, so feel free to share your list in the comments!