Book Club with a Tea Tie-In
is it too late to join in? i would like samples of both teas too but cant message either of you yet. added both Josie Jade and Serenity already tho ^^
Welcome! Grab the book & start reading! I also have some tea to share, Czar Nicholas II ‘St Valentine’s’. Let me know if you’d like a sample.
I have finished reading Anna Karenina. I will always be grateful that Josie suggested this tea book club, because I don’t know if I ever would have gotten around to reading it. It was on my to-read list, but for some reason, I thought it would be less enjoyable than I found it to be. I loved it. There is plenty of time to read it, so don’t rush, and newcomers feel free to join in!
Hi there, I just sent you a message and you can message me back if you’d like. I have the caffeine free sample of a tisane that I thought would pair nicely with this book, and Josie Jade has the official The Republic of Tea’s Anna Karenina blend of roses and smoky black tea. TRoT blend I chose is rooibos based and has flavors of chocolate and strawberry.
I think you have to ‘follow’ people in order to send them messages.
Just finished reading AK. To be such a loooonnnnggg book, it was an easy read:)
I’m 60% through but slowing down a bit. There’s just a lot that I get bogged down with, (I.e. Levin and his philosophies) that I feel like I’ll have to start skimming some of it if I ever hope to finish.
I’m in the same boat as you, Cavocorax! I love Levin, but all of these farming philosophy conversations are tad bit boring.
I love how in literature of that era the author can just go OFF and spout all this opinion stuff, weather it is about religion, philosophy, etc—! That so would not fly in contemporary fiction! And I know, at a few points, I was like, Levin, Levin, enough already, c’mon Tolstoy, move it ALONG, sir!!
Levin is my favorite character in the book! I actually love all his philosophising, farming projects, etc.
I still have quite a ways to go in the book. I haven’t really been reading much lately.
I just joined Steepster today and instead of checking out info on tea, was immediately drawn to the reading club. I remember loving Anna Karenina when I first read it …( er? thirty years ago?) And I just got a Kindle for Christmas! Can I still join the club? Please? I promise to read really fast!
Of course!! Welcome to Steepster and this here book club thing!
I was hoping to make it through the whole book without charging my kindle. :P It just died yesterday when I was 60% through. Oh well! :P
I better pick up the pace if I plan to finish on time, but I did sample the Anna Karenina tea and really enjoyed it. I notice there’s only one review for it. Are we waiting until the 25th to post tea reviews too?
Anna Karenina tea reviews on Amazon repeatedly mention the intense smokiness. I once tasted a tea in a tea house that was described as such and hated it – it made me think of how long-used car tires must taste! So I was hesitant before ordering a whole tin of that tea – I wonder if you guys would still have an extra tea bag? I ordered rose buds, though, to be used in future custom mixings and another kind of rose-flavored tea and I will be happy to share some of them when they arrive.
Back to the book now, not much time left!
This is so much fun!
Hi TeaRunner, you can pm me your address and I’ll send you some of the Anna K. tea.
I seem to be obsessed with rose buds and petals ever since I joined this Club! I unearthed a white tea with rose petals that I brought back from Poland (my native country, where hot black tea seems to be our national drink) last year and somehow never opened – now I can’t stop drinking the darn thing! But among the ingredients some flavors are mentioned, and rose buds alone might not be enough to get that taste, especially with black tea that I intend to use first.
Have you guys ever added your own flavorings to tea? Any success? I once bought some fragrant oils at Marshalls with no clear purpose for them, I wonder if they might come in handy now.
No need to mention that all this is seriously detracting me from the book!!!
TeaRunner, I have never tried mixing my own flavors to tea, but I would suggest using a bit of rose water to make your tea taste more like the rose you are enjoying. I use rose water in desserts, but I’ve never tried it in tea. It’s just a thought.
Thanks Em, will do. Sounds like just the right enhancement.
Amazon dot com – here I come again! Never quite went back to normal after Black Friday…
TeaRunner you’ll have to let us know how your alchemy turns out!
oh, i was going to wait until Shabbat to enjoy it since i didnt have much loose tea but i got a few on hand now so yea, will sip it tomorrow :)
I’m finally at the 50% mark on this book!
I still have a ton of the Czar Nicholas II “St Valentine’s Tea”, which I ordered to enjoy with the book as well. The package was 8.8 oz, which is a ridiculous amount of tea! It’s very heady with roses, fruit, & black tea. If anyone wants some, please let me know, I’d gladly share it.
The truth is, I haven’t drank any of the teas while reading the book, as I usually save my reading for in bed. At that point of the day, I don’t want any caffeine, or any fluids, for that matter.
I’d like to try a sample, if you don’t mind shipping it to Canada.
8.8 oz is A LOT. (Well, more than I’ve bought of any one tea). I hope you like it.
I know what you mean about it being hard to match the tea with the book. It seems I get most of my reading done at 2AM. :P
I’d love to try some. Could you add me to the people you follow so I can PM you my info?
Thanks Terri!
Great! send me your mailing addresses (if you haven’t already), @ I’ll get those out tomorrow.
Pls send me some too Terri, I like rose teas! Following you :)
Okay, maybe I’m too late to join in on this…but are there plans for another book/tea series?
Hi TeaLover58, I’d love to have another book/tea club after this one. Please feel free to join in this time; it isn’t closed or anything formal like that! : D
I want to, but I just have so much going on the rest of this month, I hate having to rush through things and would really want to participate in the discussion on the 25th, but by the time I got the book anyway I’m not sure I’d be done with it by then. I’ll be looking forward to the next one for sure!
Totes understand, it is not only of those, “oh I can get through this in a weekend” types of books! Next one for sure. Start thinking about books you’d love to discuss!
How is everybody doing with the book?
At 30 % a week before the deadline I executed a reality check and experienced a moment of profound insight when a (harsh!) voice said to me, “Who are you kidding?” and I therefore immediately switched to emergency mode – I am basically reading the book on Kindle, but I also borrowed the book on CDs from the library so I listen as I drive to/from work and keep the Literature Project version open on the computer at work (fingers on Alt+Tab) for those slower moments. It takes a little time finding my place when I switch between different media, but is totally worth it! Am I in the realm of obsessive-compulsive?
TeaRunner! You are amazing! Cue the Rocky soundtrack, amiright, Josie Jade?
Haha, I sat down and did the math last night of how many pages I will need to read per day to finish in time. Good thing we will hopefully have a snow day tomorrow!
You can do it TeaRunner! We can set up a little banner for you to run through as a finish line :)
Ha ha ha! I must be in My Morning Mate-induced manic state! :)
I was thinking, though, that we might consider discussing the tea first? Just a (desperate) thought…
TeaRunner & all: regarding discussing the tea first, I don’t see why not…yea or nay, Gentle Readers?
I am sipping the Republic of Tea AK blend right now. I did not think I would like it as much as I do, it is very mild…I only brewed for 2 min. I was worried about the level of smoke in the tea. The rose petals seem to add a creaminess to the tea, is that possible? My next tasting, I will add milk and sugar and perhaps brew for 3 minutes to compare.
I’m at 63%, with very little time to read, mostly in the evening on the weekends. Any idea how we are going to go about this discussion? A section at a time? By character? Just curious :)
If you’d like, Josie Jade & I have a Penguin reading group guide, with some background information and some questions to spark discussion. We can post that and take it question by question, or however everyone would like to go about it.
It doesn’t matter to me, I was just curious to know. Personally, I think it’s pretty cool that we all read the same book! Thanks to you & Josie!
I think the reading guide questions seem like a good ways to start!
I agree. I am so ready to talk about this book with you guys:)
Cool, me too, looking forward to the 25th. Meantime, wasn’t it so cool when Levin—NO spoiler alert! Ok, let me just say, remember when Kitty was at the sp- NOOoooOOO, I will wait until the 25th.
Ahhhh, just finished the book after getting hooked on it and reading non-stop for the past 2 days. The last 300 pages of the book sucked me right in, finally! So ready to discuss this book (and tea!) so soon! Enjoy, fellow readers who are still reading. :)
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