Is the only reason we blog to receive free books?

We've been challenged to show what the source of our books was for our last 20 reviews.

I have listed the number of reviews that appear on my blog each month this year and the source of the reviewed books.

Jan - 8 reviews/2 arcs from the authors/3 library books/and 3 guest reviews- their own arcs
Feb - 0
April - 3 reviews/3 library books
May - 0
June - 3 reviews/2 librarybooks/and 1 guest review
July - 6 reviews/4arcs, 3 through LibraryThing, 1 from a request from a publicist/2 library books

So for the last 20 reviews; 6 arcs/10 library books/4 guest reviewers with their own arcs.
We'll call it half and half, although 4 of those arcs got at least two blog reviews each.

The figures will reflect that at the end of the year I stopped requesting arcs because of illness. This includes turning down unsolicited requests, even from authors and publicists I had worked with before. I receive one or two requests to review every week.

In the first week of July I received notice from LibraryThing that I was delinquent on several reviews for arcs going back a year, and telling me beside each title to "Check out the list of books you've won and get reviewing". So I've banged out several for the first time in months. Three for them and one for a lovely publicist who patiently waited since January. I am grateful for being well enough to write reviews at the moment. But I have a serious quarrel with the word "won" that LT uses toward the arcs they give out. Even the notes from the publishers that arrive through the LT program tell me I "won" the copy they've sent me. Mind you, sometimes I get a real copy, even a hardcover now and again, and I always acknowledge that in my reviews.
When did an arc become a "win" for the reviewer? Spending several hours reading an untried book of possibly dubious quality, and two more hours trying to be complimentary about the experience isn't a win for me-it's work. And it cost me a day or two of my life to do it.

Marie, the Boston Bibliophile posed the question: “But no more freebies- no more purely promotional work. What would that mean for our blogs? For our reading? Is the only reason we blog to receive free books?”

Let the facts show that I turn down more requests to review than I accept. That I blog to get and to give good reading recommendations. My personal library contains 2000 books, with 400 novels as yet unread, so I give away my arcs after reviewing them. And if people stop offering me books to review I would spend more time reading tried and true literature and discussing it with other readers on my blog.

What do you think about this suggestion of lack of integrity (King Rat made that comment to Marie) on the part of those of us who accept arcs and blog about them?

Other bloggers on this subject:

The Boston Bibliophile
Kittling Books
Hey Lady! Whacha Reading'?