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Tea Time and Books Worth Reading {Lipton Tea K-Cups Keurig Giveaway}

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It’s cold, so I’m drinking tea and reading books, plus a fun Lipton K-Cup and Keurig Platinum Plus Brewer Giveaway for you provided by Lipton (opinions and drivel to follow is my own)!


Once the cold hits, I pull out my fingerless gloves. They quickly become a part of my work uniform, their knit wool attempting – often in vain – to hold some miniscule bit of warmth next to my skin. My legs tucked under me, keeping all extremities close to the core to conserve heat.

On the desk in front of me you’ll find notebooks open to lists and schedules and pens stacked in a hand-thrown bowl my sister made in college. My sadly scratched glasses sit atop a pile of mail, business cards stand at attention. A mason jar with a stainless steel straw occupies the far right corner, filled with water from the day before. Directly in front of me is a 13-year-old mug filled with tea, still hot enough that steam escapes from the surface, wisps reaching upward to the ceiling. Except when that mug is filled with coffee or it is located on my lap while I sit on the couch clutching a book.

I like warm drinks, and I tend to vacillate between tea and coffee as my keep-me-warm beverage of choice with wild abandon. No matter the beverage of choice or locale, I find they are increasingly necessary during the winter months as I work and read and read for work.

Spurred largely by Kristen from Dine & Dish and her Connect Through Reading posts, I decided I should own up to my bookworm moniker and share what I’m currently reading on my couch and in bed when I should be sleeping.

What I’m Reading:

Tea Time and Worthy Reads Keurig Giveaway
I have a very large area of my heart that is occupied by Joan Didion, and this year I’ve taken to rereading a few of her books. They serve as a good reprieve from life, as well as being intellectually stimulating. I am always mesmerized by her voice, and I find myself rereading specific passages and marking quotes along the way. I’m currently making my way through Slouching Towards Bethlehem one more time. I like it because it is broken down in easily digestible essays, which makes it prime for airplane reading or nightly bedtime stories read to myself.

If you haven’t read Didion before, I suggest you do so. Play It as It Lays for a novel, the above title for a collection of essays, and The Year of Magical Thinking for grief and loss. Then you can attack the rest of her work, of which there are many volumes to choose from.
Tea Time and Worthy Reads Keurig Giveaway
I knew within the first page of Blood, Bones, and Butter that I would enjoy the book thoroughly. This isn’t necessarily because I have a direct interest in the workings of a professional kitchen or the education one gets in the catering business, but because Gabrielle Hamilton’s descriptions of her childhood home hooked me instantly. It is ever apparent that she knows her way around a sentence, and that is reason enough for me to see this book to its end.

I’ve been taking a Coursera class because…well, really because I would like to go back to school, but seeing as how I have four children eating up my time and resources, I’m taking classes online instead to expand my brain and keep it lithe and functioning. I try to alternate between food-related courses and lit courses for my continuing education.

Presently that means I’m reading a lot of fantasy and science fiction as I work through my literature course syllabus. This week’s reading includes quite a bit of H.G. Wells, including The Island of Dr. Moreau and The Invisible Man. I was telling Ole that my first experience with Dr. Moreau was the film version back in 1996, which was around the same time I read A Streetcar Named Desire in my high school English class and subsequently viewed the film. Both films star Marlon Brando, and the takeaway from the entire thing for me was that he had not aged well. I’m working on taking away a bit more this time around.

Up Next: I’m trying to decide between Night Film by Marisha Pessl and A Land More Kind Than Home by Wiley Cash to keep me company while I sip tea and hunker down for the chill this week promises to bring.

A Giveaway:

Lucky for me and those like me who can’t choose between coffee and tea, Lipton is now offering K-Cups, which means your Keurig Brewer has become a teapot, too. This is brilliant for those of us who can’t seem to decide one or the other, allowing us the flexibility to be indecisive and even encouraging it.

Lipton’s K-Cups:

  • Indulge: Black tea with hints of vanilla and caramel
  • Refresh: Southern-style sweet tea
  • Soothe: Green tea with citrus and mint
  • Delight: Assam tea with spices


I’m pleased to be giving away a Keurig and a few sets of K-Cups for you to try, courtesy of Lipton.

Tea Time and Worthy Reads Keurig Giveaway
Disclosure: This is a sponsored giveaway on behalf of Lipton Tea. All opinions, tea and coffee love, books read, and ideas expressed are my own.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  23. I love coffee all through the day and tea before bed. I’m really into YA series and reading The Star Dwellers series, I’m on the book called Ice Country. SO good!

    • I haven’t tried The Dwellers. I read quite a bit of YA, so I’ll check it out. I recently finished Sarah Maas’ Throne of Glass and Crown of Midnight and Rachel Hartman’s Seraphina, both fantasy. I’m trying to stay in the fantasy and science fiction realm since that’s what I’m studying at the moment.

  34. I drink coffee in the morning and tea in the afternoon, sometimes with a shot of honey whiskey- very good for the cold. I am reading Rolling Stone:The First Twenty Years and Miss Peregrine”s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs.I usually have at least 2 books going at the same time.

  42. I drink coffee in the morning and tea at night. I just finished The Keepers of the House by Shirley Ann Grau and really enjoyed it. Thanks for the chance to win!

  48. Love tea! I think my favorite is jasmine, though lemon is a close second. I also like the blended kinds from the specialty tea shops! Also just finished the third book in a series, which was awesome and the whole series was good, amusingly enough, about tea 🙂 The last one is the Wild Rose, but the other two are the Tea Rose and Winter Rose.

  62. I love both coffee and tea and drink several cups throughout the day. I am not however much of a reader but I do have a book that is sitting by me waiting to be read – it is The Howling Heart by April Bostic.

  84. I love coffee. Sorry, haven’t read any good books lately. About the only things I read any more are my Maxum and Field and Stream Magazines with the occasional newspaper.

  135. Hi, I love tea espcially when reading, which right now is clockwork prince by Cassandra Clare, Catcher in the Rye, reading with teen since I didn’t while I was in school

    • My daughter loves Cassandra Clare. She hasn’t reached the Clockwork timeline yet, though. We also haven’t reached Catcher for her yet. This year Night by Elie Wiesel is on her reading list, so I figured I would read that with her when the time came, too.

  148. I like both coffee and tea, but my favorite is tea:) I haven’t read much in the last while, but the last book I read was “Riding in Cars With Boys” it was a great true story about getting pregnant early and how she gets through it. Thank you:)

  165. Tea for me, please. I’m currently reading Billy Crystal’s, “Still Foolin’ ‘Em” and think you might enjoy one I just had, “Mastering the Art of French Eating.” Neither are core-shakers but both are entertaining.

  222. I’ve never been a big coffee drinker, but I’m a sucker for hot chai latte, and fresh-brewed hot and iced tea. I really would like a Keurig brewer, but just don’t have the budget for one right now. Keeping fingers crossed that I win one – eventually.

  239. Hi! I love Coffee!! Tea is good, but coffee is my love. I am currently reading One Door Away From Heaven by Dean Koontz. Thank you for your book recommendations!

  241. I love coffee and drink it two three times a day but I also really enjoy a good cup of tea. Problem is my husband like me drinks a lot of coffee but unlike me, he doesn’t really ever drink tea. So when I get in a tea mood and don’t want as much coffee, we always have leftover coffee that goes to waste. We are in need of a keurig. Perfect amount of coffee or tea and nothing wasted!

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