Armchair BEA 2014

I may have bitten off more than I can chew.

I'm winding up The Wharton Review, I'm a third of the way through my latest Classics Club spin book & I'm waiting for Angela Carter Reading week next month.

Surely I can fit in Armchair BEA as well?

The Introductory post asks us to answer five (out of ten) questions as a way of getting to know each other.

1. Please tell us a little bit about yourself: Who are you? How long have you been blogging? Why did you get into blogging? Where in the world are you blogging from? 

I'm a 40-something bookoholic from Sydney, Australia. 
I've been blogging for 4 years and 11 months. 
Up until 6 years ago I was a preschool teacher. I'd been teaching for 18 years...but I burnt out. I was at a loss about my next career choice. While I was dithering about, I picked up a temporary job at my local indie bookstore. 
Within 6 mnths I was managing the kids section of the shop and I'd started my own book blog as a way to assist teachers and parents in selecting appropriate books for their children.
However, I found this type of reviewing very constraining and ultimately, unsatisfying. It was taking the pleasure out of reading! 
As a result, my blog has now evolved into a more personal book journey.

2. What genre do you read the most? I love to read because ___________________ . 

I love historical fiction and the classics. I love to read for the pure joy and escapism. I also love to read for knowledge - self-knowledge as well as the bigger, wider world of knowledge about the meaning of life & man's inhumanity to man.

3. What was your favorite book read last year? What’s your favorite book so far this year? 

It's not easy to pick just one favourite for 2013 so my favourite children's book was The Cloud Hunters by Alex Shearer and my favourite adult book was 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami. Although 2013 was also the year I read my first Pym (the beginning of a lifelong love affair I suspect!)

2014 - children's favourite by far Ophelia and the Marvelous Boy by Australian author Karen Foxlee. The adult choice is a tie between The Railwayman's Wife by another Aussie author, Ashley Hay and the Anne Tyler classic, Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant.

4. Share your favorite book or reading related quote. 

It may be a little obvious or predictable, but one of my all time favourite books is To Kill A Mockingbird and my favourite quote from it is...

"You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view... 

Until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it."

5. If you were stranded on a deserted island, what 3 books would you bring? Why? What 3 non-book items would you bring? Why? 

3 book; 1 deserted island?

Persuasion by Jane Austen & To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee because they are my favourite rereads & 1001 Books You Must read Before You Die so that I could remember all the rest!

3 non-book related items?

First up - Mr Books (for all the obvious reasons!) 

Secondly, my pocket knife and third - a mixed pack of vegetable and herb seeds.

You can follow me on facebook, twitter and Instagram.

I'm looking forward to my first Armchair BEA - a great way to travel without jetlag!