Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Armchair BEA: Introductions and Classics!






I am very excited to be participating in Armchair BEA again this year. For those of you not in the know, Armchair BEA is for everyone that isn't able to make it up to BEA this year! It's a great way to get to know some of your fellow book bloggers.

Today, we're answering some questions so we can get to know each other a little better.

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

I'm Meg. I've been book blogging for the past two years although I blogged off and on before that, just not about books. I got into book blogging because I absolutely love everything about books. I love reading them and talking about them with anyone that happens to be around at the moment!

2. Where in the world are you blogging from? Tell a random fact or something special about your current location. Feel free to share pictures.

I am blogging from just outside of Washington, D.C. It is one of the coolest cities in the world. I love living here. I'm a political junkie so living here is really, really cool for me! I grew up in the area and am almost a native (I've lived here since I was 4 years old)!

I do a lot of my reading on the Metro!

 3. Tell us one non-book-related thing that everyone reading your blog may not know about you.

I am living in a house that was built in 1892 and spend a lot of my free time fixing up the house with my husband. My green thumb has been getting a lot of exercise recently!

This is my house all dressed up for Memorial Day!



 4. If you could eat dinner with any author or character, who would it be and why?

I would love to have dinner with Augusten Burroughs and David Sedaris at the same time! Dinner would be absolutely hilarious!

5. What literary location would you most like to visit? Why?

On Fridays, I run a meme called "Literary Locale" and I love spending time armchair traveling through books. One place that I have been thinking about a lot lately is London. I've been there once but I am dying to go again. That city has so much literary history and I would love to just take a trip to focus on seeing everything literary there!




Classics:

Today, we are also talking about the Classics! I try really hard to get more classic books in my reading diet. While I realize the importance of reading classics, they are often not my first thought when I want to pick up a new book. I really like participating in read-alongs for that reason. Depending on the book, I find some classics to be a little difficult to get through and it's really nice to be able to discuss more difficult books with a group of people to keep you going and to ensure that you get a lot out of the book.

Some of my favorite classics that I have read fairly recently are Daphne Du Marier's Rebecca and Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights. Both are really wonderful books!

What are your thoughts on Classic books? Have you ever done a read-along?

36 comments:

  1. That's such a great London GIF! I only live a couple of hours away by train but even I've only been twice. I want to go again though, see more this time, see the artier parts and do a couple of the big museums and galleries I've missed thus far...

    And I LOVE YOUR HOUSE. I dream of having a beautiful house like that, but we don't really have that gorgeous style here yet. It's creeping over, a tiny bit, but in the meantime I just have drool over other people's. Happy Armchair BEA! :)

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    1. Oh my gosh, London has so many amazing museums! I really want to go back and see more!

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    2. Ugh, I hit enter too fast! Thanks for the house compliment. It's so interesting to think that England doesn't have houses like this. So many old houses in America look like ours!

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  2. Your house is GORGEOUS! I'd love to own a house like that, with all that amazing history.

    YAY for commute reading!

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    1. It's been a blast to start putting together our house's history. I wish we knew more!

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  3. Such a gorgeous house!

    London is fab; I'd like to go back myself.

    I still need to read Rebecca! Sons and Lovers is a great classic that's a pretty easy read.

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  4. Oh shoot, I just commented on another blog that my SIL recommended Jane Eyre for an upcoming trip.... when really it was Wuthering Heights!

    Love your home and that you are fixing it up. I'm trying my hand at the green thumb to, would love a green house one day.

    This is my first time dabbling in Armchair BEA :), have a wonderful week!

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    1. We just got a greenhouse and grew almost all of our new plants from seeds!

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  5. London was great. Actually everywhere we went in the UK was wonderful!

    Look forward to reading your posts this week (and beyond).

    http://mwgerard.com/armchair-bea-introduction-and-classics/

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  6. You have a lovely home!!

    Happy Armchair BEA!

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  7. Enjoy fixing up you beautiful home! We love visiting D.C.!!

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  8. Your house is so pretty! I've tried gardening but I swear I have a black thumb! Nothing every grows when I touch it. :(

    -Octavia of Read. Sleep. Repeat.

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    1. It just takes some practice. Green thumbs can be made ;)

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  9. I love Washington DC - but haven't been there in years. I'm hoping to get there again soon - I love going to all the museums and just walking around the city.

    I'm trying very hard to keep my gardens going this year. I don't exactly have a green thumb, but am trying to develop one!

    I really want to read more of the classics - I've read Pride and Prejudice about 3 times, but none of Jane Austen's other books. I joined a classics reading challenge, just to make sure I get a couple in this year. I missed the Anna Karenina read-a-long last year and was bummed - that's one that I really want to read but the length is so daunting!

    My Intro Post

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  10. Wuthering Heights is fantastic! In college, I had a Brit Lit course whose reading requirements included Wuthering Heights, Robinson Crusoe, and The Mayor of Casterbridge, among others. One of my favorite semesters!

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  12. Lost my comment.
    I love your illustrations, particularly the Metro and your charming house with all the flags for Memorial Day. I have been using my green thumps in the red clay of central Virginia a lot lately. So much so that one is now covered with a beige bandaid because I wasn't using gloves and got a blister.

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  13. I do much of my reading on the Metro, too. I wonder if we've ever crossed paths! ;)

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  14. Hi Meg! I love Washington D.C., and your house is ADORABLE! I kind of wish I rode a metro to work everyday so I'd have reading time.

    Enjoy Armchair BEA!

    - Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl

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  15. What a cute house! Yay for your green thumb. I don't have one at all lol. And Yay for reading time on public transportation.

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  16. I love Washington, D.C. and would love to go back to visit. I'm in Canada's capital :-) I love your house!

    I loved Du Maurier's Rebecca, too, although I think my favourite of her novels is My Cousin Rachel. Wuthering Heights is also a favourite of mine.

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  17. I just got back from D.C. I truly understand why you love it so much. The Metro was mindblowing for me, especially living in a town with very few public transportation options.

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  18. Your house is beautiful! I'm very bad at gardening, so I look for plants and flowers that can pretty much look after themselves with minimal help from me.

    I love the idea of a classics read-along! I sort of gave up on them once I was done with school, and this sounds like it might be a great way to get back into reading them.

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  19. I would LOVE to live in DC. I've only been once. It was a quick trick to do a march and I wasn't able to explore the city at all, rats!

    Your house is fantastic, love it :)

    Have a great ABEA!

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  20. Hello! Thanks for stopping by our blog! I love hearing about book bloggers that just love books and can't contain themselves so they have to blog. So awesome. I mean, it makes sense, but I still love to hear your enthusiasm about books!

    London would be a great city to visit! I've never been but would love to travel all over Europe actually. Your house is adorable! My hubby and I are so not fix-it-up people and my thumb is the farthest color from green that you can get...which would be purple? Maybe? IDK, I admire you for being able to keep plants alive. :)

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  21. Hi! Nice to meet you :) I love your house! I just love old houses...I love the color too. I hear D.C. Is a pretty awesome place to live!!?

    I like the idea of read-along for classics. I starred a classics reading challenge with my friend Trish and we were having trouble then we decided to both read Jane Eyre and discussion questions and just help each other make it more fun. :) my goal is to read 6 classics this year,

    Here's a link to my post of classics. (Ps- I just followed you too)

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  22. Washington, how cool! And I SO love your house, it looks awesome!
    London is one of those places I wanna see sometime, especially the older buildings. I'm a fan of older buildings :D

    Loved Rebecca too, I forgot to mention it in my list, lol. That's a very bookaholic-like issue, having a too long list of fav books, hehe.

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  23. I discovered your blog through Armchair BEA! This is my first time participating and so far it's been really fun.

    Anyway, I really enjoyed this post -- especially the picture of your beautiful home! Thank you for sharing.

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  24. Thanks for stopping by my blog. I will give classics a try someday and I'll probably enjoy them. But I don't knock anything i haven't tried, lol.

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  25. It's so cool that your house was built in 1892. I adore old homes, rich with history. My first house was a craftsmans style built in 1925. We loved it.

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  26. I love both Rebecca and Wuthering Heights! You should read Jane Eyre if you haven't already. I'd also recommend Anne Radcliffe's books for you and perhaps Thomas Hardy's.
    Your house is beautiful and DC must be such a fun place to live in!
    Have a great Armchair BEA week!

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