I don’t remember life without reading. One of my earliest reading memories involves an old hardcover Beatrix Potter collection and many hours spent pouring over the beautiful illustrations and simple yet stunning stories of Tom Kitten, Peter Rabbit, Benjamin Bunny and others. Books defined my childhood, and I recall yearning to be a character in one of the many dazzling stories I read. I felt like I knew characters personally, and I owe a considerable debt of gratitude to my mother for my vivid imagination which was cultivated during this period of time.
As I grew and matured, so did my taste in books. Ann M. Martin can thank me for a considerable chunk of income, as her stories of Karen Brewer (Baby Sitter’s Little Sister series) and then her older stepsister Kristy in the infamous Baby Sitters Club series caught my attention in a big way. Another recipient of my mother’s money was Francine Pascal as the stories of Jess and Elizabeth Wakefield took me through many years – thankfully she wrote so many spin off series’ I was never in short supply of books.Embarrassingly enough I also got sucked into the Gossip Girl books – I picked up the series fairly close to its release in 2002 and stuck with it for a few years. I really struggled to find good young adult content, and I can only be thankful that the vampire fiction generation was still a few years away.
I am happy to say my taste in books is now wide and varied – it will come as no surprise to come of you that crime fiction is my main love, but there are so many talented authors around the world writing stories of all genres that not in my wildest dreams could I have come up with. In February of this year I started a blog, http://thecrimefiles.blogspot.com, dedicated to reviewing the genre I love so much. It was quite successful and it really encouraged me to read more, but at the same time it was highly limiting in that I couldn’t legitimately review books in other genres. I feel that at certain parts of this year I avoided reading non-crime novels to instead read something I could review, and any avid reader will surely tire of the same genre over a long period of time.
And so, with much deliberation and care, My Cup and Chaucer was born. I am excited and feel some strange sort of invigorated blogging sensation – I can read anything and review it without feeling like I am being untrue to my target audience. I can’t promise you’ll always like my selections, and I certainly can’t promise you’ll like what I say, but do stick around because as the title of this blog suggests, it won’t just be book reviews. Most readers dream of being authors and I am no exception, so expect to see some sneaky posts that may or may not have anything to do with a) books or b) tea.
So that’s it. I was waiting till 1 January 2012 to launch this site, but truth be told I was just far too excited. I do hope you enjoy it.
T.
