My first #BBAW! Me in 5 books ... (impossible I tell you!)

Howdy, you lovely booky-bloggy readers! This my first Book Blogger Appreciation Week and I'm pretty excited! Book blogging has opened up so many things for me and it really has increased my appreciation that I'm part of such a vibrant and thriving community that will keep us all reading. I look forward to learning more about old (ok old-timers ;)) and new bloggers alike.

So let's get into it:

Day 1: Introduce yourself by telling us about five books that represent you as a person or your interests/lifestyle.

I am an extremely eclectic reader that I had a tough time figuring out which books represent me and my interests. Because really, just five? But I'm up to the task and books that immediately came to mind, in no particular order are:

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy (affiliate link to Book Depository)

Those who read my blog fairly regularly know that I don't read a lot of classics so having this chunkster of a classic on my list will probably surprise some. This is one of my all-time favourite books because it was one of my first "serious" reads and it got me exploring other books.

I encountered this book in an elective literature class in university (best choice ever!). I had always been a reader but strayed very rarely from popular books. While my friends complained about its intimidating length and suffered through class, I was just hanging on to my teacher's every word and lapping up the scandal, the tragedy and the vivid descriptions of Russian aristocracy. I got a 1 (highest possible grade) in that class -- to the dismay of some of the literature majors. 

Strange Pilgrims by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (link to my review)

Gabriel Garcia Marquez is among my favourite authors. I'd read-and was totally blown away- by his 100 Years of Solitude. Logically, I sought out more of his work including the popular Of Love and Other Demons and Love in the Time of Cholera ... then stumbled upon this little gem of a collection of short stories. This not only upped my appreciation of Marquez as a gorgeous writer but also introduced me to the beauty of the short story. To this day, short story collections fascinate me. 

Bottersnikes and Gumbles by S.A. Wakefield (link to more childhood faves)

I know this is a really obscure book. I grew up in Australia and had my first taste of public libraries and remember how excited I was each day to go to the library during lunch. This book is one of those books I loved and read in Australia. It's obscurity outside of Australia probably tells you that I don't care where the book is from, in fact, the more obscure, even better! Great books can be found anywhere and everywhere!

Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling (link to my post when the last movie came out)

No eye-rolling please. And no cliches here (I hope). This series holds a special place in my heart because I read the first book when it was an unknown and I quite literally raised my daughter on this series, making her a lifelong fan too. Me and the daughter have both read this series ... several times! We have that amazing chest of books. Our family has watched every single movie. Daughter wrote fan fic for a while. So you see, Harry Potter is part of the family.

Any book by Agatha Christie

(link to my post about the time I got these gorgeous hardbound copies for a song!)

I love Dame Christie. My grandmother was a huge fan and her house was littered with copies which I couldn't help but start reading as a teenager. I love mystery, the psychological analysis of characters, the medical tidbits I picked up, and just that reading Agatha reminds me of being in my grandparents' house.

So those are my 5(ish)! Questions?

Let me meet you in books!  

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I'll try and get through the other questions during the weekend.

Day 2 Interview Day! If you choose to be part of the interviews (in the form down below), you’ll be assigned a fellow blogger to chat with and post about! Sign-ups for interviews close on Wednesday, February 10!

Day 3 What have you read and loved because of a fellow blogger?

Day 4 How do you stay connected to the community? Examples: social media, regular commenting, participation in blog events, etc. Tell us your faves!

Day 5 One of the unfortunate side effects of reading and blogging like rockstars seems to be a tendency toward burnout. How do you keep things fresh on your blog and in your reading?