Booking Through Thursday

Today’s question comes from Conspiracy-Girl:
I’m still relatively new to this meme so I’m not sure if this has been asked yet, but I’m curious how many of us write notes in our books. Are you a Footprint Leaver or a Preservationist?

Don’t forget to leave a link to your actual response (so people don’t have to go searching for it) in the comments—or if you prefer, leave your answers in the comments themselves!

Ah, this week's topic is easy to me. During my school days, I always scribble notes on my textbooks for easy reference (in pencil so that it's easy to erase if there's any errors), because I hate to write it on loose sheets and then fearing of losing them later.

As for novels, I hate to leave any marks on them. I don't even dog-ear the pages (I use bookmarks), so scribbling is definitely out of the question. The same applies to used books.

Dates: January 1, 2008 through December 31, 2008

The Challenge: Choose one book from each of the following categories

1. A book with a color in its title
Blue Justice by Illona Hans

2. A book with an animal in its title
Cat O'Nine Tales: And Other Stories by Jeffrey Archer

3. A book with a first name in its title
Getting Rid of Bradley by Jennifer Crusie

4. A book with a place in its title
Amsterdam by Ian McEwan

5. A book with a weather event in its title
Into The Storm by Suzanne Brockmann

6. A book with a plant in its title
The Ghost Orchid by Carol Goodman

I had a sweet surprise when I stopped by Wendy's blog (Musings of a Bookish Kitty) last Friday and found out that she has offered this award to me! I feel both flattered and honoured to receive this award from her, not only her blog is one of my favourite book blogs but I also think she writes great book reviews too. I am glad to have her as my friend. Thank you so much, Wendy!

• Julia of Julia's Books Corner
• Alice of Hello, My Name Is Alice
• Kathy of *RittyRats*

Booking Through Thursday

Would you say that you read about the same amount now as when you were younger? More? Less? Why?

Don’t forget to leave a link to your actual response (so people don’t have to go searching for it) in the comments—or if you prefer, leave your answers in the comments themselves!

I would say I have definitely read more books as compared to when I was younger. During my school days, I relied a lot on the school library, and even if I could afford to rent a book at a used bookstore, I could only allow myself to borrow one, or at most two books because I was not given too much allowances (as long as it kept my stomach full).

And now that schooling is out of my league and I have a full-time job, money is not much of an issue as compared to during my school days! (Although I do tell myself not to overspend on books but sometimes it is hard not to do so.) And then there are always some good recommendations from my fellow book-bloggie friends, not to mention those addicting reading challenges that prompt me to read even more.

• Of, or relating to, conflict within a nation, an organization, or a group.
• Mutually destructive; involving, or accompanied by, mutual slaughter.
• Deadly; destructive; marked by slaughter.

Randomness

Week of Nov4: Random Questions

Well, let's answer a few of lifes important questions. Just post whatever comes into your mind first.

1. What's your view on peanut butter? Do you like it or is it just plain gross? I love peanut butter, especially the crunchy ones. I love it on bread, although I try not to have it daily as it will give me sore throat.

2. Aerobic exercising: good for you, or a tool of the devil? Any exercising is good, of course! And speaking of which, I haven't exercise for a long time since I left school. So does walking and/or shopping counts?! LOL.

3. Hanging out at the bookstore, is it nerdy or a fun time? Definitely a fun time to me!

4. Should your socks always match? Should you wear socks at all? Yes! But I seldom wear socks because the weather is so hot!

5. Is MySpace a great invention or just plain overrated? Well I don't visit MySpace so I have no comments.

till next time...

1. The Resort by Bentley Little
   
2. Prom Nights From Hell by Meg Cabot, Kim Harrison, Michele Jaffe, Stephenie Meyer & Lauren Myracle
   
3. The Scent of Shadows by Vicki Pettersson
   
4. The Doorkeepers by Graham Masterton

Booking Through Thursday

What with yesterday being Halloween, and all . . . do you read horror? Stories of things that go bump in the night and keep you from sleeping?

I thought about asking you about whether you were participating in NaNoWriMo, but I asked that last year. Although . . . if you want to answer that one, too, please feel free to go ahead and do both, or either, your choice!

Don’t forget to leave a link to your actual response (so people don’t have to go searching for it) in the comments—or if you prefer, leave your answers in the comments themselves!

Yes, I do read horror. In fact, I enjoy reading horror although I can't say the same for movies if they have too much grossy/bloody scenes, because I know I will cover my eyes most of the times but I will ask the people around me what I have missed thereafter, hehe. (I know... such a dilemma! LOL.) Usually, it is the horror movies that stays in my mind more than the horror stories I read.

As for NaNoWriMo... yes, I'm joining again this year! It is fun, and you will be surprised at how much you will write from those peer pressures, haha!

Finally, all the best to my fellow NaNoWriMo participants! :D The race is on...

1. From The Stacks Reading Challenge
   
   The rules: Read 5 books that you have already purchased, have been meaning to get to, have been sitting on the nightstand and haven't read before (No buying of new books, and no getting sidetracked by the lure of the holiday bookstore displays).
   
   Time Frame: November 1, 2007 through January 30, 2008
   
   (Please click here for more details.)
   


2. "What's In A Name?" Reading Challenge
   
   The rules: Choose one book from each of the following categories.
   
   

   1. A book with a color in its title. Examples might include: The Amber Spyglass, The Red Pony, Blue Blood
   
   2. A book with an animal in its title. Examples might include: The Hound of the Baskervilles, To Kill a Mockingbird, Julie of the Wolves
   
   3. A book with a first name in its title. Examples might include: Jane Eyre, the Harry Potter books, Anne of Green Gables
   
   4. A book with a place in its title. Examples might include: From Russia with Love, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Out of Africa
   
   5. A book with a weather event in its title. Examples might include: The Snows of Kilimanjaro, Red Storm Rising, Tornado Alley
   
   6. A book with a plant in its title. Examples might include: Where the Red Fern Grows, The Name of the Rose, Flowers for Algernon

   You may overlap books with other challenges, but please don't use the same book for more than one category. (For example, you can use The Red Pony for either a "color" book or an "animal" book, but not for both.)
   
   Time Frame: January 1, 2008 through December 31, 2008
   
   (Please click here for more details.)

"As the days turned into weeks and the weeks into months, Marley came to accept Patrick as his new best friend. One night early on, as I was turning off the lights to go to bed, I couldn't find Marley anywhere. Finally I thought to look in the nursery, and there he was stretched out on the floor beside Patrick's crib, the two of them snoring away in stereophonic fraternal bliss.

Marley, our wild crashing bronco was different around Patrick. He seemed to understand that this was a fragile, defenseless little human, and he moved gingerly whenever he was near him, licking his face and ears delicately. He was a gentle giant around Patrick, and he accepted his second-fiddle status with bonhomie and good-natured resignation."

Participants signing up at the Launch Party.

These are some stickers found in our goodies bag.
Mine read "Be Nice To Me or I'll put you in my NOVEL". LOL!

Once we have signed up, we are asked to play this game. The rules are pretty simple: You just have to construct a sentence based on the last sentence on the screen (which was done by the participant before you). And you are not allowed to scroll up and down to peek what others were writing, you just have to follow the flow of it. We have had a good laugh when the Municipal Liaison (ML) read out our "full story" after that.

Our ML (known as "Rozen" at our Nanowrimo local forum) kicks off the party by introducing everyone. (You won't see me on the pic as I was the photographer, hehe!)

Everyone sat back and enjoyed the warm and cozy ambience while sharing jokes and playing some quizzes. The winner gets to win this book! (Unfortunately it wasn't me! Sniff...sniff...)

Here's a peek of our goodies bag. The items we received are:

• A blank CD to store our Nanowrimo Novel;
• Some candies to perk your creative juices;
• A temporary tattoo to stick on as a reminder;
• "BE NICE To Me or I'll put you in my NOVEL" sticker;
• A rubber band;
• A small note on the definition of Nanowrimo;
• A clip;
• "My Internal Editor" Sheet for scribbling;
• A strip of yellow dots sticker;
• A 'surprise' red packet which was labelled "Emergency Plot Item". (I find a nice tiny plastic toy in there!)

All in all, it was a great launch party! I was glad I went although I'm still debating whether or not to participate in NaNoWriMo this year...and that only leaves me a day to consider since it will begin on this coming Thursday! Woohoo!