Duration: January - December 2018
# of books: minimum of 2

Love drinking tea? Love reading books? Love reading a book while drinking tea? Have I got a reading challenge for you! In 2018, I'll be hosting the Share-a-Tea Reading Challenge again.

Who can join? Anyone who enjoys reading. You don't need to have a blog. You don't need to have a twitter account.

Are coffee drinkers welcome? Well. You can still join in, I suppose. But you might be outnumbered by tea drinkers.

Which books count towards the challenge? Any book that you primarily read while drinking tea. Not every single page needs to have been read while drinking tea. (I'm not that strict!!!) But this challenge is all about celebrating SLOWING DOWN and SAVORING the moments.

How many books? Is there a set minimum? This challenge is about QUALITY and not quantity. It's not about reading fifty books or even twelve books. This is an anti-rush reading challenge. Enjoy where you are in a book, and, engage fully in it. Live in the book.

This challenge has a focus on SHARING. How can you share? Several ways:

1) When you sign up in a comment below, share one favorite tea and one favorite book. And if you've got one handy: a favorite quote.
2) If you write a post on your blog announcing the challenge (and making a place to keep track of what you've read), consider sharing a bit about yourself--your reading and drinking habits. You might consider a longer list of recommendations!
3) If you're on twitter, tweet me as often as you like. @blbooks OR @operationbible Tweet about favorite teas, favorite books, favorite authors, favorite quotes, what you're currently reading, what you've just finished reading, etc.
4) Consider adding me and fellow participants to your blogroll, and cheer on other participants by reading reviews and leaving comments.
5) At the end of each month, I'll publish a check-in post. You can leave comments sharing what you're reading, what you've read, tea recommendations, etc. Even if you haven't finished a book, you can share where you're at. Remember, it isn't about how many books you read per month!

Be aware that comment moderation is turned on. So if you sign up for the challenge, and don't see your comment published, it just means I haven't published it...yet. But I will.

Do ask questions if you have them. I'll do my best to answer them.

I love drinking tea and reading a good book! This challenge sounds like it was made for me. Currently my favorite tea is have is any kind of Chai, but I love most teas I try. I'm going to attempt to read 20 specific books while enjoying a nice cup of tea. Some of these books may come from my unread shelves, but I imagine I will pick up a few library books here and there.

Title: The Light Between Oceans

Author: M.L. Stedman

Publisher: Scribner 2012

Genre: Historical Fiction

Pages: 343

Rating: 5/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Share-a-Tea; Modern Mrs. Darcy -- Recommended by a librarian; Library Love

After four harrowing years on the Western Front, Tom Sherbourne returns to Australia and takes a job as the lighthouse keeper on Janus Rock, nearly half a day’s journey from the coast. To this isolated island, where the supply boat comes once a season, Tom brings a young, bold, and loving wife, Isabel. Years later, after two miscarriages and one stillbirth, the grieving Isabel hears a baby’s cries on the wind. A boat has washed up onshore carrying a dead man and a living baby.

Tom, who keeps meticulous records and whose moral principles have withstood a horrific war, wants to report the man and infant immediately. But Isabel insists the baby is a “gift from God,” and against Tom’s judgment, they claim her as their own and name her Lucy. When she is two, Tom and Isabel return to the mainland and are reminded that there are other people in the world. Their choice has devastated one of them.

This was our book club selection for January and it did not disappoint. I resist reading it for so long because many had said it was tearjerker. I held it together until the last two pages and then the tears came hard and heavy. This book is beautifully written story of a marriage and hard decisions. I instantly fell in with Tom and Isabel and sped through every page to find out what happens to them. I felt their anguish when Lucy arrives on the island and their anguish when the truth comes out (not really a spoiler as you knew it was going to happen; the spoilers are what happens after the truth comes out). Every sentence is expertly crafted to give the reader a voice from a character, a description of action, or to bring Janus to life. I was fascinated by life at the lighthouse and the routines the inhabitants established. Such a great book. I'm so glad this was my first read of 2018. Amazing way to start my year of reading.

Next up on the TBR pile: