A Bookish Life In AK

The beginning of books are a magical thing. The beginning is where we meet the characters and “see” the setting. It’s also when we are filled with wonder and anticipation about the new adventure we are about to go on. So I figure it’s a good place to start with a blog.

I’m Becky, a wife, a mom of 4 young adult children, bookstore manager/procurement tech at Kodiak College, coffee junkie, and book lover. I live on Kodiak Island in Alaska. We only have 1 major road and I’ve been to the end of it. You can only get here by boat or plane, and in the winter only by plane. We have an amazing Library and a fabulous indie bookstore, The Islander. There are 5 coffee shops if you include Starbucks. My favorite genres are Science Fiction, Classics, Historical Fiction, and Fantasy, however, I have been known to pickup a sweet/clean romance or a cozy mystery every now and then. I will read just about anything though, including my husband’s hunting and military magazines. I don’t read horror or regular romance, I just can’t do scary or sex scenes. I also try to limit the swearing in the books I read. I am a Christian, so I try to keep my reading on the PG-13 side of things

In this blog I will review books I’ve read, new books coming out, maybe even do an interview or two with local authors, our indie bookstore owner, and all my library friends (my office/store at the college is literally across the hall from the college library). Eventually this blog will turn into a podcast and maybe a Youtube channel. I will also share my favorite coffees, coffee shops and other coffee and book goodies. Oh, and there will be plenty of pictures of our life here on Kodiak Island, Alaska.

How about we start with my favorite books? My all time favorite book is Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte. I fell in love with it when I read it in Senior English waaaaay back in 1994. I loved how dark it was. The tragic love story of Heathcliff and Catherine just drew me in. Also the way it was written as a story in a story made it so interesting to me. Now, don’t get me wrong, I do adore Jane Austen, Persuasion and Emma being my two favorites of hers, I just felt so drawn to Withering Heights probably due to my English teacher, Ms. Stone and how much she enjoyed it.I do recommend listening to it on audiobook as well because, let’s face it, there is some strong Brogue dialect that is difficult to read if you haven’t read it before. My favorite fantasy books are Mistborn and Elantris by Brandon Sanderson. I recommend them to older teens and pretty much anyone whop asks me where to begin in modern fantasy. The characters develop so much in these books and the settings are so well done they almost beconme a character themselves. I do love my Narnia series and Lord of the Rings as well, I never miss a chance to reread them. Science Fiction is a little tricky, H.G Wells’ The Time Machine and The Invisible Man will always have a place in my heart. As for modern Science Fiction, Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir. Rocky will always be a wonderful memory for me. It was so well written, I couldn’t put it down. It has also gone around the campus here and we all love to talk about it.

What am I’m currently reading? I have a few different books I’m reading. One for a bookclub is Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi, well writtenn,the main characters are trying to save their people from complete anihilatoion. I am also reading Elizabeth Peters’ The Snake, The Crocodile & The Dog. I’m starting to really enjoy the British Cozy Mysteries because of Peters’ writing style. These have a strong older female character that I find I can relate to better than the 17 year old in Children of Blood and Bone, I wonder why ;-). In Peters’ book the main characters are Egyptologists on adventures with mishaps and danger.

As you can see, I have a love of different reading styles, I will try to read things that I don’t usually like or normally read or agree with. I’m not opposed to nonfiction, biographies or memoirs, I just don’t normally read them.

I hope this gives you an idea of who I am and what I love to do. My plan is to have a post every week or two. I will also create a list of the books I talked about at the bottom of this post. Drop a comment and let me know what you are reading.

Philippians 4:8.Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things