Now reading: The Black Circle (The 39 Clues Book 5)

book5bFinally, I got my hands on a copy of The Black Circle by Patrick Carman, Book 5 of The 39 Clues.

It’s a bit delayed because I miscounted the months and thought it was coming out in September, when the worldwide release was actually August 11. Whoopsies.

Anyway, readers of this blog know I’m a big fan of the series, comprised of The Maze of Bones by Rick Riordan, One False Note by Gordon Korman, The Sword Thief by Peter Lerangis, Beyond the Grave by Jude Watson, and now this latest installment by Carman.

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Healthy reading (FFP August Book Discussion)

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For the month of August, the Flips Flipping Pages (FFP, the book club I belong to) book discussion was all about health, moderated by our very fit Flipper Jan.

A lot of us, myself included, were apprehensive about the topic, seeing as we’re book club friends and not gym buddies, and we flex our muscles carrying stacks of books, not dumbbells.

On a personal note,  I joined the discussion because I am still trying to come to terms (haha!) with my post-college body (*sigh* those college jeans…).  All my life, I’d always been skinny, up until after a couple years at work, when genetics (ugh, the family hips) and the sedentary life of a desk worker kicked in. The discussion was very timely for me, as I wanted to explore getting into a regular fitness routine that I can do at home, and make healthier diet choices.

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And the winner is (My Deathly Hallows Giveaway)…

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Thank you to all those who joined my Deathly Hallows Giveaway! I received 45 entries in total, and using a random list generator, I assigned random  numbers to all the giveaway entries.

I was supposed to post this tomorrow, but I’ve got a health book discussion (and a bikram yoga session) with my book club, Flips Flipping Pages, so I decided to announce the winners tonight.

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Uglies

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A couple years ago, I found myself in a bookstore, at a loss, and called a friend to ask for any good books she’s read lately. She recommended Uglies by Scott Westerfeld.

I looked it up in the bookstore and read the cover — “In a world of extreme beauty, anyone normal is Ugly”. and “Everybody gets to be supermodel gorgeous. What could be wrong with that?” — and Iremember thinking it was such a sick concept.

Because I’m not really into sci fi, dystopia, or any of those spoiled, rich-kid, sex-crazed YA novels that seem to have proliferated over the recent years, I didn’t buy the book. I added it to my BookMooch wishlist though, in case it would come up and I could find out what the fuss was about.

Shortly after, it did come up on BookMooch, and I got to mooch a copy. Then it was  in my TBR for about a year when I decided to bring it with me on an out of town daytrip for a meeting with one of my clients a few weeks ago, and finally settled down to read it.

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WWII Reading Challenge

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Because of the Holocaust phase I seem to be going through this year I managed to get a head start in the War Through the Generations WWII Reading Challenge, without setting out to accomplish it.

Thanks to Anna, who commented on one of my reviews to let me know about the challenge.

The War Through the Generations WWII Reading Challenge runs from January 1, 2009, to December 31, 2009.

Here are the challenge rules:

To participate in the WWII Reading Challenge, you must commit to reading at least five books throughout the year.  We plan to read more than that, and feel free to do the same!  The books can be fiction or non-fiction, and they can be about any aspect of WWII.  WWII should be the primary or secondary theme, and it doesn’t matter whether the book takes place during the war or after the war.   Children’s literature is acceptable!  (Please visit the WWII Reading List page for some recommendations.)  You can count books you are reading for other challenges, so long as they meet the aforementioned criteria.

You can decide which books you’d like to read right away, or you can choose them during the course of the challenge.  However, when you sign up, we ask that you set a reading goal for the challenge.  At the end of the challenge, those who met or exceeded their reading goals will be entered in a drawing (prizes to be announced later).

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