A-Z Challenge

Flipper friend Gege started the A-Z reading challenge this year (check out the full mechanics here), and I’m participating, because it’s a fun way to start reading authors I haven’t read before, and make a substantial dent in my TBR.

Basically, the objective is to read 26 authors with surnames from A to Z between January 1 to December 31, 2010. The more  obsessive-compulsive participants are reading in alphabetical order, but I’ve always gone against the rules when it comes to reading so I’m striking off the names on my list as the mood strikes, until I finish the list off before the year ends.

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24-hour Read-A-Thon end-of-event meme

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This is a bit delayed, as the read-a-thon officially ended at 8pm (Philippine time) last night, but my internet was on the fritz for the weekend and I couldn’t even post a midway update.

It was a tough weekend for me as I was up late the night before working on a painting, and then I was out all day for several meetings (I had to read through one of them) until I got home past midnight.  And then I was going to update, but found out I didn’t have an internet connection at home!

I’d like to thank all those who dropped by to wish me well on the reading, though, even though I didn’t have any updates posted. Cheers to all the readers and cheerleaders, and hope to see you again on the next read-a-thon!

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Lovin’ my Thumbthing!

I wandered into Powerbooks while waiting to be seated at Saisaki for lunch last Sunday and discovered a nifty new gadget that’ll help me reach my target of over 234 books this year: the Thumbthing.
As soon as I saw it on the counter, I just knew I had to have it — it’s perfect for people like me, who attempt to read at practically any given opportunity, regardless of logistics (hehehe, MRT, bathtub, the loo, in bed, jeep, trike, while cooking, while watching tv, while eating, etc…). My sister was like, what, P150, for that little thing?!? But I ignored her, because I considered it a good investment.

The dynamics are hard to explain, so I’m borrowing a diagram from the ThumbThing website to explain:

And here it is in action:


It’s been four days and I’m thoroughly enjoying this little thingamajig, which makes juggling a book so much easier for me, especially when I’m multi-tasking. The ergonomic design allows you to hold a book open with one hand, freeing your other hand to attend to other things. It doesn’t break the spine of the book (yay!), and it doesn’t obscure the text either, because the wings fit neatly in between the lines.

You can also use it as a bookmark, although strictly for leaving books on flat surfaces — it’ll probably get dislodged when you stow it inside a bag.

I’ve tried it on different books, and it works perfectly on everything from mass market paperbacks to standard hardcover novels. Doesn’t work on magazines and coffeetable books, but I think that’s asking for too much. Also doesn’t turn the pages for you, but then again, a page-turning device is also asking for too much.

It comes in a variety of sizes (mine’s a small and it fits perfectly) and colors (I wanted a pink or blue but they didn’t have it in my size so I had to get purple) too. My tiny complaint — I wish they had thought of adding a little hole to thread a handstrap or an id strap through for people like me who tend to lose (knock on wood) or misplace little things like this. Oh, and I haven’t tried it yet, but I’m foreseeing a juggling act reading in the dark with my Lumos booklight on.

Hmm, maybe I should stock up — I could try reading two books at a time, one in each hand!

(Clarification: not a sponsored post, despite my rave review :D)

Rating: 5/5 stars!