Blog Name: Reading Through Life
Blog URL: http://readingthroughlife.ca
Twitter Name: @readthroughlife
Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Reading-Through-Life/248531527843

When did you start your blog and why? Give us a little info about your blog too.
I started my blog right at the end of December 2009, over winter break. Why? Well … for starters, I had just started getting back into reading more after a long hiatus, caused by being forced to read lots of stuff in university that I just didn’t find interesting. I was “turned off” of books, so to speak, and had finally gotten back into the swing of things, and wanted somewhere to keep track of everything that I’m reading. In part, this is for myself, but it’s also in part to find a kind of community of like-minded book lovers to share these experiences with, and in part to have a place to write down my thoughts on books for students that I can use either to refresh my memory to recommend books, or to send students to directly to peruse and find books that might interest them. My blog covers a wide variety of books, mostly young adult and adult fiction, graphic fiction and non-fiction, and adult non-fiction. I tend to gravitate towards books that interest me and also that might interest reluctant, urban teenage readers. Aside from reviews, I post some discussions about book-ish things, a weekly compilation of links to literacy-related articles, and participate in reading challenges and blogging events. I started my first hosted challenge in June, the Summer Slimdown, and am hosting my own month-long event, Ramadan Reading, from August 11th to September 10th.

Tell us a little about yourself outside of your interest in books.
Outside of books, I spend a lot of my time biking around, geocaching, and watching movies. I also really love to salsa dance, but don’t get much of an opportunity to do it because I don’t like nightclubs, and I don’t live in the Caribbean. During the summer months, I spend a lot of time at softball games, mostly umpiring but also getting back into playing a bit. I just finished my second year of teaching high school, which definitely takes up a lot of my time and energy these days, but it’s a good kind of pre-occupation. Everything sort of ties into everything else – things ebb and flow to fill my time depending on what mood strikes me and how much energy I have after everything else is said and done.

Your favorite book from your youth and the story behind it.
My favourite books when I was a kid were the Berenstain Bears picture books. My father used to read those to me and my siblings before we went to bed, which is one of the best memories I have from when I was a child. In later years, I realized that my dad really isn’t a reader – I think he’s read two books since I was born! – which has made me realize just how much more special those bedtime stories were, since he was really just reading the books to us for our enjoyment and to have some quality time together, not necessarily because he liked books or reading on his own. One of my favourite books from the Berenstain Bears series was The Berenstain Bears and the Truth, which was a consistent read in my house given that I had three younger siblings and we always tried to blame each other for whatever we had done wrong. My parents were quick to pick up on that, and made sure that this book was repeated quite often. I really loved the way that Brother Bear and Sister Bear keep re-telling the story of how the lamp was broken with slight differences, sort of like one of those deja-vu episodes that television shows like to do. It’s definitely a book – and a series! – that I’ll be reading to my kids one day.

“It’s fun to see how many people grew up on the same books I did. The Berestain Bears were an everyday occurrence in my home when I was a child, in fact I think I read them so much the binding broke on quite a few copies. I also love that I relate so well to Carina, having been forced to read numerous books throughout my youth and only recently have I rediscovered the joy associated with falling in love with a great book.

“Carina’s site is constantly full of bits of lovely insight that delves deeper into the books we love to read. She reads quite a few different genres and so I’m positive that no matter your taste in literature you are bound to find something you will fall in love with. So take a look, you may just find your next great read!

“Thank you so much, Carina for stopping by There’s A Book today!”



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