Bookmarked! – Page 166 – Reading something old, something new, something borrowed, and something blue

WWII Reading Challenge

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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I didn’t have any posts up last weekend because I had to fly to Cebu on Friday night on a business trip, to cover the Pasigarbo sa Sugbo Festival hosted by the provincial government at the Cebu International Convention Center.

I’ve been to Cebu at least once a year in the past four years (second time this year), but always for work, with a bit of leisure crammed in. Always hopeful for some reading time, I packed three books, although to no avail. For some reason, when I have several books with me I never find the time to read, and when I don’t have any books with me I end up with absolutely nothing to do!

I didn’t have much time to go around because our activities were packed (I wish I can go to Cebu for fun next time!), but I managed to squeeze in some bookish time– finished one book, went to a couple of Book Sale branches and got a bunch of books, scoped out some bookish items at the trade fair, and met up with a Flipper friend!

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The Ravenmaster’s Secret

tower
When I first saw Elvira Woodruff’s The Ravenmaster’s Secret: Escape from the Tower of London, I couldn’t help thinking how terribly interesting and ominous it appeared to be, and I wanted to buy the book, but it was a bit expensive so I decided to pass on it first.

Then some months later, I mooched a book from abroad that needed an additional mooch to help defray shipping costs, and I found a copy of this book in the member’s inventory so I decided to finally get it.

A couple weekends ago, I went out of town for a board meeting with one of my clients and brought this along to read while traveling, and it turned out to be one of the best historical middle-reader books I’ve ever read.

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A shiver through the spine (The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold)

shoe

I’d been avoiding reading The Lovely Bones because for a while everyone seemed to be reading it, and it wasn’t really my type of book. I don’t like dramatic fiction, especially domestic dramas. I find them very stressful to read, sometimes even traumatic, like a A Heart of Stone. Sometimes, it’s just nothing spectacular for me, like The Memory Keeper’s Daughter.

The trade paperback I mooched had been languishing in my TBR for over a year already, and I dreaded reading it, but it was taunting me (yes, it all happens in my mind) so I decided it was time to conquer this book.

It surprised me, actually, because as much as I was prepared not to like it, it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be, which goes to show how going out of your comfort zone once in a while can be rewarding.

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A bunch of bookmarks

mark

I never dog-ear pages — it destroys the fibers of the page — but I rarely go out of my way to buy bookmarks because I tend to forget them inside the book I’m reading. I have a small pile of freebie bookmarks, too — my sister collects for me from various counters in Singapore, I get a lot of bookmarks from the annual Manila International Book Fair, and a lot of BookMoochers send bookmarks too (aside from the official Bookmooch bookmarks)

When I don’t have a bookmark on hand, I can pretty much use anything thin enough to slip in between the pages — a tissue, an old receipt, clothing labels, or I commit the page number to memory, so I really don’t need to buy bookmarks.

Once I interviewed someone for an article I was writing, and I completely forgot that I used his business card as a bookmark! I’d turned my bag inside out, and rifled through my work desk looking for it because I needed to get back to the person I interviewed, and it wasn’t until a couple of nights later that I remembered I had tucked it inside the last book I finished. Hehe. After that, I’ve been careful not to use business cards (or cheques) as bookmarks.

On a visit to one of my favorite book sale branches last week, I chanced upon some great bookmarks at really great prices, and I couldn’t resist getting some. I ended up buying two books (for mooching, none for me) and a whole bag of assorted bookmarks!

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