Book Blogger Hop (7) & FF Friday

The Book Blogger Hop was originally created by Jennifer from Crazy-For-Books in March 2010 and ended December 31, 2012.

 Luckily, Billy from Coffee Addicted Writer will relaunch the Book Blogger Hop. Each week the hop will start on a Friday and end on Thursday. There will be a weekly prompt just like before. The hop's purpose will remain the same as it will give bloggers a chance to follow other blogs, learn about new books, befriend other bloggers, and receive new followers to your own blog.

Q:  What are the top 5 books you would grab in an emergency?
A:  If my house was on fire AND I have the opportunity to save some books, I would grab my entire hardback collection of Jane Austen. My husband gave them to me for our 1st wedding anniversary and they are from Oxford Press. Beautiful books! Besides being Jane Austen, they have incredible sentimental value.

The Feature & Follow is hosted by TWO hosts, Parajunkee of Parajunkee’s View and Alison of Alison Can Read. Each host will have their own Feature Blog and this way it’ll allow us to show off more new blogs!

Q:  What is your guilty pleasure as far as reading? Is it a genre, or is it a certain type of book?
A:  My guilty pleasure is some good urban fantasy; especially Jeaniene Frost, Ilona Andrews and Kelley Armstrong.

Spring Cleaning Giveaway Hop

2nd Annual Spring Cleaning Giveaway Hop

It's time for some spring cleaning!

This is your chance to clear out your overflowing bookshelf and pass some of your books on to other booklovers.  Time to pass on those books that just weren't for you or the review copies that you are never going to get read.

And boy, do I have a box of books for you! Take a look

• Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Seth Grahame-Smith

• The Giving Quilt by Jennifer Chiaverini

• The Lost Prince by Selden Edwards

• A Tainted Dawn by B.N. Price

• Savages by Don Winslow

• The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling

• Jack by A.M. Homes

• The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde

All you have to do is complete the rafflecopter form below! Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

February Rewind

 

February Rewind

 

 

It's been another wonderful month of book blogging! I really love this stuff. It's just so much fun! This month I was able to write five book reviews, participate in two blog tours and write four posts on Why I Love to Read. I would say that was a successful month!

 

 Reviews

 

Searching for Captain Wentworth by Jane Odiwe

Relish: My Life in the Kitchen by Lucy Knisley

Austenland by Shannon Hale

The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester

Full Blooded by Amanda Carlson

 

Blog Tours

 

A Tainted Dawn by B.N. Peacock

The Thwarted Queen by Cynthia Haggard

 

Why I Love to Read

 

My Family

Kindle vs. Print

Snowy Days

Book Club

 

And last, but not least, I became a Countess for supporting Austen Admirers! Thanks, Angie for all your hard work for an amazing Austen app!

 

 

 



Book Blogger Hop (4): A Long Train Ride

The Book Blogger Hop was originally created by Jennifer from Crazy-For-Books in March 2010 and ended December 31, 2012.

 

Luckily, Billy from Coffee Addicted Writer will relaunch the Book Blogger Hop. Each week the hop will start on a Friday and end on Thursday. There will be a weekly prompt just like before. The hop's purpose will remain the same as it will give bloggers a chance to follow other blogs, learn about new books, befriend other bloggers, and receive new followers to your own blog.

Q: You're going on a long train ride. What books will you bring to read?
A: Luckily for me I have a big fat Kindle and I can load it up! I would look at my current TBR list and see what's next. Currently, I'm reading The Dovekeepers by Alice Hoffman so I would take that for sure. Next I would take The Painted Girls by Cathy Marie Buchanan, The Midwife's Tale by Sam Thomas, French Milk by Lucy Knisley, and The Promise by Kate Worth. Those should keep by occupied for the trip.

Why I Love to Read: Book Club

Why I love To Read

 

Book Club

I love my book club! Three years ago, nine other ladies and I, who I now call my close friends, decided to get together once a month to talk about books.  We call ourselves Books, Babes and Booze and we had no idea how long it would last or what great conversations we would have. Rules of book club is that the hostess for that month gets to choose whatever book she wants and everyone must read at least 100 pages.

As we are about to finish our third year together, we will have read over 30 books. We have read books from so many different genres. I have read books that I know I would have never chosen for myself. We read books about World War II, cancer, Nigeria, witches and vampires, other planets, carnivals, dystopian worlds and the list goes on and on. We've covered fiction and nonfiction alike. Some books we agree on and others we don’t; and, that’s the best part about book club.

Each person in our group has her own strong opinions about what we are reading at any given time. It is so much fun to listen to another person’s thoughts on a book that you either loved or hated. We are never mean to each other because we respect every other too much to do that. We just love to debate and enjoy the differing opinions. I really love when a book totally polarizes the group. For example, one month I picked The Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness. For the group, you either loved it or hated it. We had such a loud and heated debate on why Diana and Matthew never had sex in the book. We argued and laughed. It was such fun!!

Of course, with any good book club we have wonderful food and beverage. Each hostess puts together a wonderful spread of yummy snacks and great wine. For an hour and a half, we are able to let our hair down and talk about our lives and get whatever support we might need. Because after we have exhausted the book talk, we switch to whatever is happening in our lives at the time. It’s like a good old-fashioned quilting bee but with books instead of thread and needles. It’s fun talking to other like-minded women to get their take on the world’s problems.

So, that’s why I love to read this week. Good books, good friends and good conversations!

Book Blogger Hop (3)

The Book Blogger Hop was originally created by Jennifer from Crazy-For-Books in March 2010 and ended December 31, 2012.

 

Luckily, Billy from Coffee Addicted Writer will relaunch the Book Blogger Hop. Each week the hop will start on a Friday and end on Thursday. There will be a weekly prompt just like before. The hop's purpose will remain the same as it will give bloggers a chance to follow other blogs, learn about new books, befriend other bloggers, and receive new followers to your own blog.

Q: Which do you prefer most: printed book or eReader?
A: How about both? I love my Kindle because it allows me to read anyplace, anywhere. Plus, and I don't know why, I seem to be able to read a lot more books on my Kindle. It's weird. But, at the same time, nothing beats turning the pages of a printed book. The smell, texture and words give a printed book so much more richness. I recently wrote a blog post about this very topic. Please check it out here.

Why I Love to Read: Snowy Days

Why I Love to Read

Snowy Days

Why Do I love to read? Snowy days! Yesterday, in Norman, OK, we got a nice coating of snow. It left the ground and trees with a couple of inches of pretty fluffy flakes. On days like these all I want to do is curl up of my couch with my comfy reading blanket and dig into a good book. Every once in a while I will look out the window to see the pretty flakes coating the ground. On the table next to me will be a steaming cup of hot zen green tea and on the other side of the couch sits my hubby reading on his iPad. Doesn't that sound heavenly?!

Wait! Enter screaming kids saying, “I’m bored!” My Eden has been disturbed; but only for a couple of moments. I say back “why don’t you read a book?” “That’s a great idea, mommy!” My seven year old will pick up a Dork Diaries book and my five year will pick up a princess reader. We all snuggle together on the couch under my comfy reading blanket. Once again, doesn’t that sound heavenly?

Wait! Enter the dogs, Layla and Ringo, and jump right in the middle of our Eden. Another disruption!! However, all they want to do is find a warm and cozy place to have a little nap. Now on the couch under the comfy reading blanket are mommy, daddy, two little girls and two sweet doggies. I wish my cats could join us but the dogs will go absolutely crazy. Doesn't this sound like a little bit of Heaven. It does to me!

The little scenario above rarely happens at my house; but on that rare occasion when all the snowy stars are aligned, my idea of a perfect snowy day will actually happen - my family sitting on the couch, warm and cozy, reading our favorite books while watching the snow fall.

That’s why I love to read!