Armchair BEA Day One

It's Day One of Armchair BEA.  This is my first time participating and I'm very excited.  I wish I could go  to something like BEA, but considering it would involve crossing a border for me, it's a little difficult.  So I'm glad to be here!  Day One is all about introductions and getting to know fellow book bloggers.  So here is a little bit about Shan:

1) Please tell us a little bit about yourself: Who are you? How long have you been blogging? Why did you get into blogging?


My name is Shan, I'm 30 years old, a wife, a mother to two beautiful little kids, a girl age 5 and a boy age 3.  I'm a stay at home mom, married to a wonderful man who teaches high school math.  I love Bikram yoga, knitting, and the Dutch soccer team.  I'm a fiercely proud Canadian and have the red maple leaf tattooed on my back.

I have been blogging for 2.5 years.  I started because my friends were also asking me what I was reading and no one could ever keep up!  I thought that starting a blog would be a good way to share my thoughts on books and I was excited when I saw the book blogging community that exists.

2) Where do you see your blog in five years?
Still here I hope!  I love blogging, but life seems to be getting busier and busier as time goes on and my reading suffers.  I hope to be blogging for as long as I possibly can and I hope this blog will still be putting out reviews and as well promoting Canadian books as much as I can.

3) If you could eat dinner with any author or character, who would it be and why?
I would love to sit down to eat with Rachel Adams and Lady Jasmine from Sinners and Saints by ReShonda Tate Billingsley and Victoria Christopher Murray.  Both characters have their own series and are prominent pastors wives.  They came together in Sinners and Saints when their husbands were running for the same position and ooooh girl was there some drama! And yes, I would love to sit down with them at the same time!

4) What is your favourite feature on your blog?
It isn't a feature but my favourite thing going on my blog is my participation in the Canadian Book Challenge.  Starting on July 1 (Canada Day!) the goal is to read 13 books in one year (13 for the number of provinces and territories.)  Before I joined the challenge I didn't read much Canadian fiction, but that has changed and I hope that through my blog I can introduce a lot of readers to the fabulousness that is Canadian literature.

5) Have your reading tastes changed since you started blogging?  How?
Definitely!  Since I started blogging I have stepped out of my reading comfort zone and jumped into genres I never thought I would enjoy.  This includes mystery, historical fiction, and speculative fiction.  I'm definitely not as limited in my choices when I'm reading now, however it has it's downside as now my to read list is much, MUCH longer.

Thanks for stopping by Curled Up With a Good Book and a Cup of Tea!  I hope you'll stop by more this week and I look forward to spending Armchair BEA with you!

Comments

  1. LeahJune 4, 2012 at 9:20 AM

    Yay, I'm glad you're participating in Armchair BEA also! It's my first year doing it too--hopefully it'll be a good week for us! :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Karin PerryJune 4, 2012 at 10:08 AM

    I'm glad you are participating in Armchair BEA! I love that we are such a diverse group. I see on your sidebar you like Awful Library Books. I love that site. I use it with my library school students. It's a great site to use to show the importance of weeding (getting rid of outdated books).

    ReplyDelete
  3. MeaghanJune 4, 2012 at 10:47 AM

    How nice to *meet* you. I can think of nothing better than books and tea!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Laurel-Rain SnowJune 4, 2012 at 11:01 AM

    I like the name of your blog! The one I'm featuring today is Curl up and Read...so you can see that "curling up" is a favorite thing of mine.

    I love Canada, but I've only visited a couple of times in the NW section. My oldest brother lived in Saskatchewan for a year in the 1970s, teaching at university.

    Blogging has changed my world in numerous ways....to read about it, check MY ARMCHAIR BEA POST

    ReplyDelete
  5. AudraJune 4, 2012 at 11:33 AM

    Canadian literature is so great -- I read a few blogs dedicated to CanLit and it's wonderful -- a huge world beyond Atwood (who is also pretty marvelous). Will be keeping my eye on your blog for recs -- my never-ending TBR needs to be fed! ;)

    ReplyDelete
  6. dollycas aka LoriJune 4, 2012 at 12:44 PM

    My first year here too! I am loving all the new blogs I am finding!! We took the kids several years ago to Canada and they wanted to see a moose so bad. We took the Lake Superior Circle Tour and the only moose we saw were the ones on the hundreds of Moose Crossing signs. lol We did have a lot of fun!!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Julie@My5monkeysJune 4, 2012 at 1:28 PM

    I agree that reading tastes do change while blogging. Nice to meet you.

    ReplyDelete
  8. SueyJune 4, 2012 at 5:11 PM

    The Canadian book challenge sounds fun. I have to limit the challenges lately, because can never seem to do them anymore, but I would love to try and more Canadian authors. Happy ABEA to you!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Leanne YangJune 4, 2012 at 10:52 PM

    This is AWESOME ! Meeting so many new Canadians from this, ahaha. I see you're doing a "Canadian Book Challenge", that's really cool !! :)

    ReplyDelete
  10. ClaireJune 5, 2012 at 7:56 AM

    Loved this post! Sounds like a fun project!

    ReplyDelete
  11. KristinJune 5, 2012 at 8:57 AM

    This is my first time participating in Armchair BEA and it's been so much fun so far getting to know everyone.

    I find that since blogging, I, too, have started to read outside my comfort zone and have discovered new authors/books that I probably never would have picked up.

    Here's my Armchair BEA Intro Post.

    ReplyDelete
  12. ChrystalJune 10, 2012 at 7:40 PM

    YAY! Another Canadian book blogger. Thanks for the info on the Canadian Book Challenge. I think I might sign up for the 2012/2013 one once the signups go up. Looks great.

    Have you heard about the 2nd Annual Canada Day Blog Hop? It was a lot of fun last year and we are hoping people will love it more this year. :)

    ReplyDelete

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