Thursday Tea » Birdbrain(ed) Book Blog

Thursday Tea (Feb. 16): Fame Fatale

Posted by Anastasia on February 16, 2012 No Responses »

Feb 162012

I’m getting my new glasses today! They came in early. Yay!

The book: This is one of those books that I’ve had for so long I’ve forgotten why I originally got it, but once I started reading– I remembered! Well, sort of. So far Fame Fatale is (I think) about book publishing and authors and how there’s a lot of spite and backstabbing and stuff. It’s funny! I think some romance shows up later, too, which’ll be nice.

By-the-by, has anyone read Wendy Holden’s Pastures Nouveaux? Apparently it’s like an updated Cold Comfort Farm. True/false?

The tea: I have almost a whole box of Holiday Chai with me, and I’m not sure why. Because I don’t like it! It doesn’t taste good, and honestly I should have just left it somewhere instead of dragging it around with me for two months.

Do they go together? Not really, no. Unless! Oh! Okay: maybe the way I hate Holiday Chai but keep carrying it around with me is like the way that one of the protagonists hates her clients, but has to keep working with them so she’ll get paid? Yes?

Other tea drinkers

Leave a link to your TT post in the comments and I’ll add you to the tea drinkers list!

Thursday Tea (Feb. 9): A Drowned Maiden’s Hair

Posted by Anastasia on February 9, 2012 1 Response »

Feb 092012

This has been such a good day! I’m getting new glasses soon, and they’ll hopefully be awesome. My eye exam went really well– my optometrist was so nice!– and I didn’t spend nearly as much money getting them as I thought I’d have to. Yay!

The book: I’ve been wanting to read A Drowned Maiden’s Hair for a while now (about a year?), but I kept getting scared off by the title. It’s scary, right? I was sure it’d be a book about dead people, and not in a good way. Well, it IS a book about dead people…sort of. So far all I know is: it’s set in 1909, stars a clever and hardhearted young orphan girl, and the people who’ve adopted her have turned out to be con artists! And it’s really fun to read.

The tea: I found some Earl Grey the other day during breakfast at the hotel! It’s kind of crappy, but even crappy Earl Grey is better than none, I think.

Do they go together? A Drowned Maiden’s Hair is set in the US, but I think the con artists seem like the sort of people who drink a lot of tea. Do they drink Earl Grey tea? Probably!

Other tea drinkers

Leave a link to your TT post in the comments and I’ll add you to the tea drinkers list!

Thursday Tea (Feb. 2): Entwined

Posted by Anastasia on February 2, 2012 2 Responses »

Feb 022012

The book: ~~Hives~~ I mean, hello! Welcome to February. It’s cold and overcast and a bit drizzly here in SoCal, but I’m sure it’ll clear up eventually. ~~I can’t say the same about my hives.~~

Today I’m reading Entwined by Heather Dixon, which is currently only $0.99 at Amazon if you’re interested in getting it for yourself. It’s another retelling of the Twelve Dancing Princesses story, though I think I’m going to like it more than the previous retelling I read. For one thing, the princesses have more memorable names (still flowers/plants, but more unusual than “Daisy” or whatever. Bramble is an awesome name, don’t you think?).

The tea: I’m actually not drinking tea. I’m drinking water. Lots and lots of water. To flush out my hives, I guess? Some people have said it works. Eh.

If I had some tea, I’d probably have something with flowers in it. Because…duh.

Do they go together? Water goes with everything, really, although only in a boring kind of way.

Other tea drinkers

Leave a link to your TT post in the comments and I’ll add you to the tea drinkers list!

Thursday Tea (Jan. 26): Vesper

Posted by Anastasia on January 26, 2012 No Responses »

Jan 262012

The book: I’m about halfway through Vesper by Jeff Sampson, and I mostly like it. I’m not sure why, but I always seem to treat books starring women written by a male authors more harshly than I do books with male protagonists written by female authors. Maybe I’m more worried about the former screwing something up? Don’t know.

Anyway, Vesper‘s a YA paranormal book but there doesn’t seem to be much romance going on so far, which is promising. There IS something being hinted at that might be soulmate related, but I’m not entirely sure yet.

The tea: Oh Earl Grey, how I miss you. Random “relax” tea? You’re no good at all!

Do they go together? Blah, not really. There’s a lot of action and thrills and stuff in Vesper; relaxing tea doesn’t fit in really well with that.

Other tea drinkers

Leave a link to your TT post in the comments and I’ll add you to the tea drinkers list!

Thursday Tea (Jan. 19): Jane Eyre

Posted by Anastasia on January 19, 2012 2 Responses »

Jan 192012

The book: I’m a little over halfway done with Jane Eyre and I’m loving it! It’s so much better than I thought it’d be. Starting with Anne Bronte was, probably, a mistake. Agnes Grey? Ain’t got nothing on Jane Eyre.

Interesting tidbit! I think some of the nasty kids from Agnes Grey are in Jane Eyre! They even talk about one of their governesses being named “Grey.” Isn’t that neat? So reading Agnes Grey first wasn’t all that bad after all.

The tea: I found a huge box of Earl Grey for a relatively good price the other day, but I resisted! And instead I choked down a cup of White Christmas tea that I’d brought with me from New Mexico. Ugh.

Do they go together? Yes! And I’ll tell you why: just like how I hate the taste of White Christmas tea, Jane (when she was a kid) hated her aunt and cousins and so on! So they totally match. Right.

Other tea drinkers

Leave a link to your TT post in the comments and I’ll add you to the tea drinkers list!

Thursday Tea (Jan. 12): Street Dreams

Posted by Anastasia on January 12, 2012 No Responses »

Jan 122012

The book: Thank goodness for NetGalley! I’ve been using it a lot this month because, although I’m not on a specific book buying ban, I don’t want to carry around a ton of books with me until we get a house. (Also, I still don’t have a lot of extra funds to spend on books.) Using NetGalley makes me feel like I’m keeping up with new releases and that makes me feel like a really cool person. Anyway!

Street Dreams is one of those NetGalley books, and it fulfills my “read more diversely” goal in three ways: it’s got a protagonist who is a non-Caucasian person who lives in a non-US country and who is dealing with things that stray from the middle class straight white dude territory. Huzzah!

On the other hand, I’m about 13% in and I’m wishing it was going a bit faster. Since it’s one of those slice of life/coming of age sorts of books I can understand the slowness, but I feel like I need something a bit more exciting right now…hm.

The tea: I tried something new! Organic Breakfast, which has got flowers in it. It doesn’t say which flowers, but you really CAN taste them in the tea.

Do they go together? Sort of! When I think of New Zealand (which is where the book is set) I think of flowers and plants and a lot of nature-y things, so a flower-y tea would go well with that. The actual setting of the book, however, is more urban and run-down and there probably aren’t a lot of flowers where the protag lives.

Other tea drinkers

Iris is reading White Teeth and drinking green tea with lemongrass!

Leave a link to your TT post in the comments and I’ll add you to the tea drinkers list!

Thursday Tea (Jan. 5): Lucy Sullivan is Getting Married

Posted by Anastasia on January 5, 2012 5 Responses »

Jan 052012

For all those wondering: I’m in California now! The parentals are starting their house-hunting stuff and I’m sitting here writing in my travel journal, trying to read books, and eating Turkish Delight. And worrying about my job hunt later this month, of course.

The book: I’m kind of flitting between several books at the moment. I haven’t found one yet that I want to stick with, and the one I HAVE stuck with for the moment isn’t one I want to keep reading. So I’m not sure what to do! I’m going to try switching to a paper book (I brought three with me) and see if that works. I’ve got a Marian Keyes book– that usually does the trick.

The tea: I brought a good deal of tea with me for reasons that seemed important at the time. And it’s kind of a good thing that I did! The hotel here only has those orange pekoe teas, which I don’t really like, so I’m glad I brought a small stock of teas that I do like. I had a cup of comfort today: Earl Grey! Yay!

Do they go together? Marian Keyes’ books and Earl Grey will always go together in my mind because they both give me comfort when I’m feeling upset or discombobulated or what have you.