Curled Up With a Good Book and a Cup of Tea

In what ways do you encourage others to read or support their reading habits? How do you share your love of reading with others? I am such a lover of books that I do everything I can to encourage others to read, that's why I became a book blogger! I'm always talking about what book I'm currently reading, what books I have read, what books I absolutely love. I'm always willing to share a book of mine with a friend or family member. My sister loves chick lit so I'm always passing those books on to her when I am done with them. My stepfather likes a good controversial Christian book so I pass those on to him when I'm done. Everyone else I just pass one on when I think they'll like it. I'm always encouraging my children's reading habits. At home they have a bookshelf full of books in English and French. Whenever I'm at the bookstore I hit up the bargain books shelves in the kids section so we can get more for our money. I also ask family mem...

I have signed up for the 2011-2012 Holiday Break Reading Challenge hosted Julie and Karin at Edifying and Edgy . Over the holiday break (December 16 - January 1) there will be daily book related activities. You can participate in one of them or all of them, it's all up to you! To get an idea of what the activities are like you can check out last year's challenge here . There are tons of prizes to be won and it looks like it will be tons of fun. Our school break is a bit different than the dates scheduled here so I'm not sure how much of the activities I'll be getting in on but I look forward to doing as much as I can!

Whether they are fond memories or not, everyone remembers their first love. Erin Edwards certainly does. Back in high school she thought she would be with her boyfriend Nate Lawson forever. But after two years of dating their relationship came crashing to an end. Erin thought she had moved on. She grew up, had a baby who blossomed into a beautiful teenager, and found a demanding but satisfying job as an event planner. Things were sailing along smoothly until her perfect boyfriend Rick proposed. It wasn't the proposal that worried her, it was the fact that the first thing she thought of was Nate. After all these years, what was he doing back in her mind? Always Something There To Remind Me by Beth Harbison is a tale of teenage love and heartbreak, and what happens when you can't quite get over that first true love. As Erin navigates her adult life, her teenage memories come flooding back to her and she wonders if that intense, head over heels love she felt for Nate ...

As today is the start of Advent, it is the start of Advent with Austen, hosted by Yvann at Reading, fuelled by tea . Why Advent with Austen? Because it's been 200 years since Sense and Sensibility was published and because December 16 was Jane Austen's birthday. Why am I participating? Umm....because I've never read anything by Jane Austen *runs and takes cover* Seriously. I know what you're all thinking, how can we ever trust anything she says about books again? Well, things are about to change. My plans: So I don't know how much reading I'm going to get done but the plan is start with Pride and Prejudice and Persuasion , hopefully move onto Emma and then if I'm lucky get in a little Northanger Abbey . If I get really adventurous I'll pick up Sense and Sensibility . I won't just be reading though. Thanks to Netflix, I'll be doing a little watching as well. I'm going to watch the film versions of Pride and Prejudice , Persuasion a...

In my attempt to broaden my reading I have found another challenge to join! The Speculative Fiction Challenge 2012 is hosted by Adventures of 2.0 . This is a genre that is very new to me, one that I have often avoided (with the exception of a few Margaret Atwood novels.) I'm already reading 3 books for other challenges so I'm going to aim for the "excited" level of 6 books. I'd really like to go for the "content" level of 12 books but I'm think it may be a bit too high for me. I haven't decided yet which books I'm going to read but I think I'm going to be reading more of the classic books from this genre. I'm also going to make sure one of the books is a steampunk book as that is a genre that I've only recently heard of and I must say that while it doesn't sound like something I'll really like, it's still fascinating enough that I want to give it a try.

Jinx is a woman haunted by her past. Fourteen years ago her mother was brutally murdered in their East London home. She is consumed by the guilt of the part she played in her mothers death and she has let those feelings creep into every part of her life, including her relationship with her five year old son and her estranged husband. But when Jinx thinks she has a handle on things, living the life she deserves, an old friend of her mothers appears on her doorstep out of nowhere. Lemon wants to talk to Jinx and revisit the events that led up to that horrible night. As they spend the next few days immersed in the past, Jinx realizes that this is her one and only chance to confess what she did. But Lemon also has something to confess and Jinx comes to see what really happened the night that changed her life. A Cupboard Full of Coats by Yvette Edwards is a family drama full of jealousy, betrayal, violence and passion. Jumping off the page at you is the richness of the East Lond...

These aren't your average children's stories. And if the title doesn't warn you of this, then the fact that they are written by Douglas Coupland and illustrated by Graham Roumieu should clue you in. With titles like "Donald the Incredibly Hostile Juice Box," Brandon the Action Figure with Issues," and "Kevin the Hobo Minivan with Extremely Low Morals" you will be wanting to keep this book far away from your children. Highly Inappropriate Tales for Young People contains seven short stories with weird, crazy, scary, improbable and inappropriate characters, not just for children but for adults as well. Each story has brilliant and vivid drawings to accompany them and add to the inappropriateness. Marketed as "deliciously wicked" and "completely hilarious" I personally found this book to be anything but. Highly inappropriate, sure, but the laughs were few and far between. Each story definitely pushes boundaries and the char...