Hello!! Armchair BEA: Introductions!

The bloggers hosting Armchair BEA 2012 are encouraging keeping things simple and visiting as many other blogs as possible this week. I love this idea. I tried to keep my answers short and simple...I’m a bit of a talker so if my answers to the intro questions are kind of long sorry ‘bout that. If it‘s any consolation, my comments to bloggers posts are chatty too!!
Thank you for visiting !!

 1) My name is Amy. You can also call me Aimala, Aimster or some version of both. I’ve been blogging since July 2009 but have taken a few breaks so I've probably been blogging closer to 2 years than 3.  A photo of me will almost always include a cat!
I got into blogging because I had to ‘retire’ on disability from a job I loved and I wasn’t finding reading as enjoyable or helpful as I once did. When I discovered book blogs and this community where I could discuss books with other readers, share my views on books and learn about genres and authors I wasn’t familiar with, I was thrilled!
I have been an avid reader for as long as I can remember. My mom loved to read and tried to turn my sister and I onto the wonder and glory of books...it stuck with me, not with my sister. Reading quickly became my favorite thing to do because it took me away from ‘real life’. I had a good home life but I spent several months of every year from the age of 4 until 17, in the hospital and at home recovering from surgery. Books were a great way to get away from the boredom, pain, fear... My interest in reading anything and everything also helped me keep up with my classes, while at home recovering from surgery, in junior high and high school. I was fortunate to graduate with my class as a result.

2) My favorite book of 2012 is one I finished just last week, The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh. It’s an amazing book. One of the books I’m reading now is A Land More Kind Than Home by Wiley Cash. I was leafing through this book up on Saturday morning, planning to put it on my nightstand, and the next thing I knew, I’d read 50 pages. Today, I’m 50 pages from the end of this book. It’s fantastic. A blurb on the front of Wiley Cash’s debut says it will “knock your socks off...” and that is so true!

4) My favorite feature on my blog is the pictures of my cats that I post periodically, primarily as part of Saturday Snapshot a meme hosted by Alyce on her blog At Home With Books. I also have some wonderful photos of my fuzzie-wuzzies on my sidebar!

7) There’s a long list of authors I’d love to meet for dinner. Jonathan Tropper because his books are well-written, hilarious, intelligent and he seems to be a nice , slightly wacky person! I would love to have dinner with Vanessa Diffenbaugh because of her work with the foster care system and her belief that things have to change for the better for children in foster care. One other author I’d love to meet is Susan Gregg Gilmore because I adored The Improper Life of Bezellia Grove, a book that made me laugh and cry!

9) My favorite part of the book blogging community is the other bloggers and the sense of community that exists.
There’s a very large number of book blogs and some, unfortunately, don’t understand or share this idea of community, of loving and supporting your fellow bloggers through whatever comes. That’s sad.
Fortunately, there’s a much greater number of book bloggers who understand what it is to be human and know that part of you isn’t left at the door when you create a book blog. The majority of book bloggers know that in sharing views and opinions on books, you’re also connecting with others and getting to know them as people. When I started blogging, I knew I would learn quite a bit about books and share my ideas/opinions with other bloggers. But I didn’t realize the extent of the friendships and connections I would make with bloggers who are real people with real lives. This sense of community is a glorious thing!