Let the Journey Begin!

Hey y'all! Welcome to my "book adventure"! :)

Ever since I can remember, I've been an avid reader. My parents have told me that I've been reading since I was 2, and I haven't stopped. I read before I go to bed, I read on my breaks at work, and I even read while I'm eating. I used to be able to read in the car, but as I got older, that started making me carsick, so I can't do that anymore. However, I will read on an airplane (unless, like my last flight, there were no clouds in the sky, so I could see the ground the entire way from Orlando to Atlanta....that was pretty amazing). And I will read pretty much anything I can get my hands on, be it books, magazines, catalogs, or stuff on the internet. Reading is something that I have always loved doing, and I know I'll love it for the rest of my life.

I started working at a library a couple of months ago (and I'm pretty sure you're not shocked about that), and I love it. Working there has given me the opportunity to find all kinds of books that I want to read, so that's what I've decided to do. This adventure started off fairly small. I was planning on making a list of books, no more than 50, that I would read this summer (I'm in grad school, and even though I'll be doing an internship this summer, it's going to be a lot less of a workload than I currently have). Well, that list quickly got to over 100 books, so I thought that it would be a good "rest-of-the-year" list. And then it kept growing. Right now, I'm at just over 200 books....and still counting. So I've decided that this is going to be a "rest-of-my-life" list, and that I'll just keep adding to it.

So then I decided that I wouldn't keep all of those books to myself--I'd write about them (because I also love writing). I decided to start this blog as a way for me to keep track of all the books that I'm reading, as well as provide reviews of them, and make recommendations. Hopefully, I'll be able to connect with other readers, and I can get some more recommendations of books to read, too! And I'm really hoping that I inspire some people to start reading more. Reading is one of the most important skills I believe people should have. It opens doors for you, and it allows you to learn so much more than you ever thought possible. There are books on any and every subject you could ever want--so no matter what your interests are, you'll find books for it.

I'm a history buff, and you will definitely see that in a lot of my book choices. I am especially a huge British history buff, and my favorite time period is that of the Tudors. Historical fiction is my favorite genre (with Philippa Gregory being my favorite author), but I also have a list of biographies that I will tackle, as well. I also have books from other time periods, and other genres, on my list, so if you don't like the Tudors, or historical fiction isn't your thing, don't worry. I'll have a variety. :)

I'll be getting most of my books for free--through my local library, and through a wonderful website called BookMooch. BookMooch is completely free to join, and it's a great site to find books. It's also a great site to use if you have books you want to get rid of. You earn points for every book that you put in your inventory to give away, and for every book that someone else mooches from you. You then use those points to mooch books you want from other people. Completely free! The only time you will ever have to pay anything is when you pay shipping to send books to others. But that should be less than $10 (depending on the weight of the book and where you're sending it to--you could send books all over the world, or you can choose just to send within your country). This is one of my favorite websites, and I'm sure you'll hear me talk about it often. :)

I have already started my first book on this adventure, and I'm really excited about it. It's so good, and it takes a lot for me to be able to put it down. The only reason why I'm not reading it right now is because I wanted to get this blog up and running! But it's sitting in front of me, taunting me, so I'll probably go read it in a little while. Once I finish it, I'll be posting about it. And I'm sure it won't take me too long to finish it. :)

I will be working on this blog a lot, and it will be fairly organized. I'll put different pages up that separate the books on my list by genre, so you'll be able to go to the genre(s) you're interested in and find some books to read. I'll also put up a links page that will have links to the sites I use for books, as well as other book-related site (like author sites and so forth). I really want this blog to be a good resource for those looking for books to read, and not just a place where I ramble on about what I'm reading.

I'm looking forward to this journey, and I hope that you'll stay involved with it. Feel free to leave me suggestions, even for genres that don't appear on my pages. I love reading new things, and you never know--you just might get me hooked on something new!