Armchair BEA: Awarding bloggers I love!

I'm relatively new to the blogging world. Yes I've known of its existence but much like my TBR pile, blogging was on my steadily increasing "To Do" pile. However, this year, I got around to joining it - and I'm glad I have. I'm a procrastinator by nature so blogging is the perfect activity for me, not to mention my nosiness of other people's lives, but then that comes with the territory of being a journalist!

No seriously, it's more than that. There are some incredibly talented people out there and the blog'o'sphere allows me an insight into their daily and weekly antics, whether it's reading, reviewing, baking, running or sewing!

So today is the perfect day to not only rave about some of the bloggers I've met during my first five months in the blogging world, it is also a day that I can reward them, with an award that was kindly given to me - and that I still have to pass on! (What was it I was saying about procrastination?!!!)

The Award
I was given this award by Talei at Musings of an Aspiring Scribe after meeting her during the April A-Z blogging challenge. She has a fabulous blog - beautiful writing, great quotes, and most of all a wicked sense of humour. Plus she resides in London so I can't help but love her recollections of that wonderful city!
Anyway, back to this award. It required me to reveal seven interesting facts about myself - you can view these here - and also to pass it on to 15 other well-deserving bloggers (that part I have been procrastinating on!) But no longer... so with much hype and fanfare, I pass on the Versatile Blogger award to these fellow bloggers who have inspired me during my introduction into the blogging world!


These were my favourite blogs that I first came across and all have remained firm favourites!

Lazy Girl Reads 

Amused by Books

A Bird's Eye Review

Cat's Thoughts

Crazy for Books

The Adventures of an Intrepid Reader

I came across a few other newbies when I first started out and have watched their foray into the blogging world with much wonder:

Carabosses Library

Denim-Jacket Librarian Dishes

These two help me to start - and end the week. I look forward to Monday's just as much as I do Fridays!

Nina and Argh

A Few More Pages

And no blogging session is complete without a quick squizz at these ones:

Just Books

Life is Short. Read Fast

Yvonne's Thoughts

Quirky Girls Read

Bookworm with a View

Right - now it's back to the armchair!

Armchair BEA: Best books I've read in 2011

This is the first year I've ever kept track of the books I've read. Despite loving, buying, gathering, hoarding - whatever you want to call it - books, I've never recorded what I've read, where, or why!

I started keeping a record one summer when I was going to read the "A-Z of Chicklit" but after I got to about D I needed another genre, so that was the end of that! But, having joined the blogging world and given myself the challenge of reading 111 books in the year 2011, it means I can actually answer the question:

What are the best books I've read so far this year?
(The links go through to my reviews if you're interested)

1. Snow Falling on Cedars, by David Guterson:
Definitely right up there! And I've since watched the movie which I thought was just as stunning as the book.

2. The Saffron Gate, by Linda Holeman
This one left me longing to return to Morocco. Although the main character annoyed me somewhat, just the descriptions of Morocco bought back wonderful memories of one of my favourite countries!

3. A Cup of Tea, by Amy Ephron
This one captured me instantly, so much so, I'd read it before even getting to the checkout desk at the library. I then subsequently devoured Ephron's other books, One Sunday Morning and White Rose (Una Rosa Blanca).


4. The Cry of the Go-Away Bird, by Andrea Eames
This book was really interesting. Set in Zimbabwe from the point of view of a 12-year-old white girl, under the rule of Mugabe! One of those books that really enriches you and makes you wonder why you bother with chicklit!

5. Jill Mansell
Speaking of chicklit - I've read a fair few Jill Mansell this year and loved every one of them. Her writing is so much fun, the stories are lighthearted with tricks and turns but happy endings and I just love each and every cover!

Armchair BEA - kickoff [Day 1]

My blogging started with a hiss and a roar earlier this year, but it has since fallen by the wayside - sorry! But, I've found some inspiration... in the form of Armchair BEA. It's the sitting at home, relaxed in your armchair version of the Book Expo America event. Now that has got to be good!

Today is Day 1: Armchair BEA Kickoff, so it's time to tell you a little bit about me. 

Who is the Book Gatherer?

Well, the name says it all really. I am a hoarder, a collector, a gatherer of books. No bookshop, thrift shop, carboot sale is safe from me. It's not that I love second hand collectors items, I just love a bargain book - and my eclectic collection of books shows there are plenty of bargains to be had!

If you could put one book in the hands of everyone you come in contact with, what would it be and why?

Wow! What a great question... and how can one decide? But I would have to say, it would be The Denniston Rose, by Jenny Pattrick. 

The bleak coal mining settlement of Denniston, located high on a plateau above New Zealand's West Coast, is a place that makes or breaks those who live there. At the time of this novel - the 1880s - five-year-old Rose comes to Denniston with her mother and is soon left to fend for herself, finding allies and enemies in this tough and aggressive community. The Denniston Rose is about isolation and survival, a story of a spirited child, who, in appaling conditions, remains a survivor.

From: http://www.newzealandbooks.co.nz/

What book are you looking forward to reading the most in 2011?

I can't wait for the final book by Jennifer Donnelly in the Tea Rose trilogy! It's been a long time coming!

Genres I read, love, can't put down?

My reading tastes are of a somewhat eclectic nature - much like my collection of books. I do read my fair chair of chick lit, but that fast gets tiresome... all I want is a good book and if that's murder-mystery, historical fiction, or family saga, then that'll do me. Just don't give me Sci-fi or YA!