Well, I certainly got my wish for more snow this winter! We had a doozy of a snowstorm here last week, resulting in three snow days - which meant lots of reading time! I love cuddling up with a good book when it's snowing outside.

Top Ten Tuesday - Recent Reads Outside of My Comfort Zone
​Tisha by Robert Specht - Review
​March Reading List (Possibly)

Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne (Not quite as action-packed as I expected, but still a good read.)
One Mountain Away by Emilie Richards (The perfect read for a snow day!)

Cress by Marissa Meyer (So good!!)
​War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy (Still chugging along. 840 out of 1,361 pages read now!)

Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder (A new month means it's time for the next book for the Little House Read-along!)

At the beginning of February, I posted a list of books I hoped to read in that month. It worked amazingly well. I finished 9 of my 10, and have started on the last one. I love checking things off of lists, so I feel very accomplished this month!

I thought I would try the same thing for March, although with a slightly shorter list. While I like checking things off, I did miss the freedom to read whatever I felt like in February. So hopefully with a shorter list, I can finish these all and still have time to mood read.

I picked this book up at a used book sale a few years ago. It's about a teacher in Alaska, which intrigued me. I'm a teacher, too, and I've always wanted to visit Alaska. Since then, however, this book has languished on my shelf getting dustier every day. Then it was mentioned in the Reading Together book club, which is focusing on the Arctic in January and February. And I thought it was time to finally give this book a try. I'm very glad I did.

Anne Hobbs is nineteen-years-old when she accepts a job to teach in a rural gold-mining village in Alaska. It's the 1920s, so things are a little different from today. This is obvious not only in the basics of everyday life, but also in the villagers' attitudes and prejudices. In this time period, Native Americans were certainly not accepted as equals. They were looked down upon as lesser people, dirty, uncivilized, with little hope for any improvement. So what does Anne do? She proceeds to fall in love with a "half-breed" and adopt two Indian children when their mother dies. Needless to say, she was not the most popular person in town.

But her struggle to stay true to who she is and what she knows is right is what makes this such a heart-warming tale. She could easily have given into the pressure of the townspeople, but instead she stands up for what she believes in. I'm not sure I could have stayed that strong if I were in her position.

Tisha (which, by the way, is how the Native American children pronounce "teacher") reminded me of two of my favorites - Christy by Catherine Marshall and All Creatures Great and Small by James Herriot. The struggles, the atmosphere, the spot-on portrayals of people are all things that these three books have in common. Tisha may not be the first book that jumps out at you on a bookshelf, but it is one that is definitely worth reading.

Find it on: Goodreads  |  Amazon  |  Better World Books

This week's topic is to list books that we enjoyed, even though we wouldn't normally have read them. Last week, I wrote my BBAW Day Three post about a similar topic - books I wouldn't have read if it weren't for fellow book bloggers. So part of this list may sound a little familiar if you saw that post. But there are other books on this list not mentioned before. I don't often read outside my comfort zone (as it turns out), but these are a few I've enjoyed.

​- I Am Malala by Malala Yousafzai (I picked this up because of Nonfiction November. What a powerful read, and what an amazing person she is.)
- The Martian by Andy Weir (It sounded intriguing, but I probably never would have actually read it if not for all the gushing reviews out there.)
- The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley (Mysteries are typically not my genre, but everyone seems to love Flavia. Now I know why!)
- The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith (If this weren't by J.K. Rowling, I never would have read it. But I ended up enjoying it more than I thought I would.)
- All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr (I tend to avoid WW2 books, but this one was beautiful.)

- The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins (Hmm, another mystery makes this list. I keep saying that mysteries are not my genre, and then I'm surprised when I enjoy them so much. Maybe I just need to embrace the whole mystery thing.)
- The Turquoise Ledge by Leslie Marmon Silko (I almost put this one down after the first 20 pages, but I persevered and was glad I did.)
- Emma: A Modern Retelling by Alexander McCall Smith (I'm a Jane Austen purist and usually avoid all spin-offs and retellings. But I wanted to give this one a try. It was a decent attempt, which from me is high praise!)
- Death of a Red Heroine by Qiu Xiaolong (I picked this one up solely because the author's last name started with X and I needed it for a reading challenge. It was an absolutely fascinating look at China, and I just may end up reading more of his books.)
- The Crossover by Kwame Alexander (This was the Newbery Award winner for 2015. Not my typical book though - a verse novel about basketball? But this book was amazingly good.)

Last week, I participated in Book Blogger Appreciation Week, hosted by the Estella Society. It was tons of fun! I didn't get as much time I as hoped for to visit around to other blogs, but I loved connecting with everyone who stopped by here. This is definitely an event I will participate in the next time it comes around!

BBAW Day One - Introduce Yourself
BBAW Day Three - Books I Discovered Because of Bloggers
BBAW Day Four - Staying Connected
​BBAW Day Five - Avoiding Burnout

The Island of Dr. Libris by Chris Grabenstein (I didn't love it as much as I loved Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library, but it was still a really good book.)
All the Stars in the Heavens by Adriana Trigiani (Early Hollywood is fascinating, and this was a fun way to experience it.)
Tisha: The Wonderful True Love Story of a Young Teacher in the Alaskan Wilderness by Robert Specht (It took a little while to get into, but I ended up loving this book.)
The Black Cauldron by Lloyd Alexander (Awesome, as always!)

Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne (I'm not very far into it yet, but looking forward to discovering what happens next!)
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy (I passed the halfway point last week!!! I have now read 735 out of 1,361 pages!)

One Mountain Away by Emilie Richards (Our book club book for February. The end of the month is sneaking up on me, so I'd better get reading!)

This week of book blogger fun is hosted by the Estella Society.

Today's topic is how to avoid burnout in blogging and in reading. I have to start by confessing that I haven't experienced either yet. I've been blogging for almost three years, and although some weeks are harder than others, I haven't felt like I wanted to quit yet. And I've (knock on wood) never had a reading slump. I don't have any secrets to share about avoiding burnout;​ just a few thoughts about what I do.

So I guess I could sum up my blogging and reading philosophy as "I do what works for me." Low pressure. Keep it fun. So far it has worked, and I can only hope that continues to be true!

This awesome week of book blogger goodness is hosted by the Estella Society.

Today's prompt has us musing about how we stay connected to the book blogging community. There are a myriad of ways, many of which I'm only just starting to explore!

It's time for Day Three of Book Blogger Appreciation Week, hosted by the Estella Society! Today's prompt is to tell what I have read and loved because of a fellow blogger. I don't usually keep track of who has recommended what to me, or whose blog I originally saw a book on (so I'm sorry that I can't give anyone a shout out). But these are a few books that I know I never would have picked up if not for all the good things said about them in the blogosphere.

- The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer (Cyborgs and fairy tale retellings? Whoever would have thought that this premise would have made for such an amazing series?)
- The Royal We by Heather Cocks & Jessica Morgan (I am a complete Anglophile, but this one seemed like it would be too bubbly or too angsty. I was very pleasantly surprised to find that it was neither!)
​- I Am Malala by Malala Yousafzai (I picked this up because of Nonfiction November. What a powerful read, and what an amazing person she is.)

- The Martian by Andy Weir (It sounded intriguing, but I probably never would have actually read it if not for all the gushing reviews out there.)
- The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley (Mysteries are typically not my genre, but everyone seems to love Flavia. Now I know why!)

I haven't participated in Book Blogger Appreciation Week before, but it sounds like a lot of fun. It's hosted by the Estella Society, and each day, you're given a prompt to respond to. For Day One, we're supposed to introduce ourselves using five books that represent us or our interests. This may be a little challenging, but here goes.

(Okay, it turns out that was fun and not as challenging as I thought. I probably could have come up with more than five!)

I discovered this survey back in August on Sophisticated Dorkiness. It looked like a lot of fun, but I just haven't had a chance to get to it yet. This is finally the time! So here are some of my habits and quirks when it comes to reading:

1. Do you have a certain place at home for reading?
I read pretty much everywhere I can, but my favorite place is on my comfy chair upstairs in my library. I bought it for $10 at a garage sale when I moved out of my parents' house, and it's the perfect chair for reading in. (And I named it Harvey. Don't ask me why. I have no explanation.)

3. Can you just stop reading or do you have to stop after a chapter or a certain amount of pages?
It's nice to stop at a chapter break, but not essential. The only place I can't stop is on page 99 (or 199 or 299, etc.). I have to read on to page 100. Again, don't ask me why. I can't explain my quirks.

4. Do you eat or drink while reading?
Habitually. I read over breakfast every morning. And if I'm up in my comfy chair, I love to sip hot chocolate as I read.

5. Do you watch TV or listen to music while reading?
I sometimes listen to music, but only if it doesn't have any words. I don't watch a lot of TV, but I'll definitely pick up my book during commercials (exception: the Superbowl, where I watch the commercials and read during the game!).

6. Do you read one book at a time or several at once?
Before this year, I would have proudly claimed the title of book monogamist. For the most part, that's still true. But I'm working my way through War and Peace by reading 15 pages a day, and I'm finding that I actually kind of enjoy having two books going. It also appears to be a great way for me to get through a huge chunkster. So I may be doing more of this two-books-at-a-time thing.

7. Do you prefer to read at home or anywhere?
I'll read anywhere I get a chance to! And yes, I often carry a book with me in my purse.

8. Do you read out loud or silently?
Silently. I love reading out loud to my fourth graders, but I'm a silent reader for my own purposes.

9. Do you read ahead or skip pages?
Nope. In fact, I hate it even when my eyes involuntarily jump to the facing page. I prefer to know what happens in the order that it happens.

10. Do you break the spine or keep it like new?
I'll occasionally bend back a paperback to make it easier to hold open when I read. But I don't typically intentionally break spines or try to keep my books like new. If they look like they've been read and loved, I'm okay with that!

11. Do you write in your books?
Not really. I just got a notebook last month for writing down quotes I like from books I'm reading. I'd rather have them all collected in one place, rather than having to hunt them down in the original books. But I have occasionally been known to write notes in the margins of books I know I'll be revisiting.