BC Monopoly Release

In the BookCrossing Monopoly Game, our team landed on the square “Playground”, so we have to scout around for the perfect spot to do our release.

I found it in Aventura Mall, where they have built a super-kawaii is an indoor playground in front of Sears.
http://www.friendswithyou.com/blog/rainbow-valley

First I spot the rainbow. In the last round we have planned to use the book Wizard of Oz, but so happens my team mate fell ill and was not able to do the release. I thought, it would be perfect to just place Wizard of Oz over the rainbow. Then I looked again at the picture. What is that? A giant white… tadpole? Is it just me? Could I be the first person to notice that it looks like a …. very adorable giant sperm?

Now I found the perfect location I need the perfect book to go with it. As there isn’t time to shop online, I visited the local used book store, Book Barn. Not only did I find the perfect title, So That’s How I Was Born, I also caught a wild BC book! I was digging through the bins and noticed a Bally label on the spine. Turns out this book has been in the wild for almost 7 years!!

Anyway, we believe that fun and education should go together, so what’s more appropriate than releasing this title by the giant “tadpole”?

We hope that by leaving this book at this playground, when a little boy asks his daddy, “Daddy, what is this?”

“Er, it’s a wisp of cloud… a water sprout.. an eel… No actually I think it’s a tadpole..”

“A tadpole?”

“No, Bobby dear… I think it’s time you know. It’s a sperm.”

“What is a sperm? Do I have a sperm?”

Daddy can then confidently read from this book, “Well, only a daddy has a sperm and only a mommy has an egg. A sperm looks like a little fish or tadpole… it goes inside a mommy’s body, it swims to meet the mommy’s egg. When they join together, a baby starts to grow inside the mommy.”

I went to the mall on a weekday morning. There was an attendant so I was a bit worried that I may not be let in, but I guess I look harmless enough.

So tell me, what does it look like to you? My husband said it looks like a marshmallow, stubbornly refused to acknowledge that marshmallows don’t usually have tails… Hmm, is it just lack of imagination? Something more Freudian?

Soon after I released the book, a little boy discovered it.

But then the little boy walked away, and the attendant noticed the book on the floor. So I had to make a hurried exit in case she came after me. XD I am definitely not the wild release type of BCer!!

Once Upon a Read-a-thon Wrap Up

This is the first year I joined this Read-a-thon, introduced to me by my BookObsessed friends. In the past I’ve joined Dewey’s Read-a-thon, which is an intense 24-hour event where you read till your eyelids drop. This one is a more relaxed pace, while still giving me extra boost in reading more.

I didn’t finish any book from cover to cover, but managed to end two books I was reading and started on a new one, logging a total of 463 pages. They are all pretty enjoyable books, and my favorite among them is The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian – funny, sad and poignant.

FINISHED
Messenger by Lois Lowry

FINISHED
The Magic and The Healing by Nick O’Donohoe

Another Shot by Joe Kita

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie

Once Upon a Read-a-thon: Day 3

Really getting into it, and really did quite a bit more reading than usual. Glad I joined the read-a-thon afterall.

FINISHED
Messenger by Lois Lowry

FINISHED
The Magic and The Healing by Nick O’Donohoe; pg 199 – 324 (126)

Another Shot by Joe Kita; pg 120 – 127 (8)

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie; pg 28 – 94 (67)

A total 201 pages, about 4 hrs.

Love Triangles Mini Challenge

In my opinion, a well done love triangle should be one where the choice is not clear, where you can’t help but being torn yourself between both characters and you are uncertain as to which will end up being ‘the one’. So if you were, lets say Team Mr. Obvious from book 1, and he ended up getting the girl and you were stoked about it because you hated Mr. Wrong all along, that is NOT a good love-triangle. That is merely A love-triangle. Got it?

I am not a romance fan so I have a hard time thinking of love triangles. However, the first one pops up in my mind is The Host by Stephenie Meyer. It’s an interesting combination where an alien occupies a woman’s body, and they both love the guy who is the woman’s boyfriend before she is captured and the alien installed into her. This creates some rather unusual dynamics. In one scene, the woman (or the alien in the woman) kisses the guy, and the woman (the human in her) slaps him (for his infidelity). And things get even more interesting when it becomes a love square…

The second one I like is Hana Kimi, a manga series from Japan which is also a TV series (which can be viewed on You Tube). The great love triangle happens more in the TV series, as in the manga it was so obvious the second guy is just a comic relief. But in the TV series, Ikuda Toma totally steals the show, and have such great chemistry with the heroine, I am not the only audience thinking, why does the girl even want that other guy? I’ve an earlier post about this series.

Hmmm… can’t think of the third one. I thought about Harry Potter, but honestly the triangle only exists in fan fic, and Rowling has intended Ron and Hermione as a pair from the beginning. As for Jacob and Edward in Twilight, there is no uncertainty, on Bella’s part and my part, whom she falls for, I don’t consider it a great triangle.

Maybe I will revisit this post another day when I think of one.

Once Upon A Read-a-thon Update: Day 2, 22:10

I started the new day with a bit of reading in the bed, then listened to audio book while cooking, and got some reading in at lunch break at work. Didn’t get any reading done at night as I got home rather late and hubby was all eager to hop in bed (nothing racy, just to sleep, LOL).

My accomplishment is finishing Messenger. It is somewhat part of a trilogy with The Giver and Gathering Blue, and I wish I had them with me to revisit the characters first introduced there.

Messenger by Lois Lowry; pg 123 – 169 (47)

The Magic and The Healing by Nick O’Donohoe; pg 183 – 198 (16)

Another Shot by Joe Kita; pg 71 – 120 (50)

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie; pg 1 – 27 (28)

A total 141 pages, about 2.5 hrs.

Read-a-thon Update: Day 1, 22:36

Haven’t gotten much reading time yet. Looks like it’s a slow day, slightly more reading than normal but by not much. Maybe that’s how real marathoners do it… slow and steady start?

Messenger by Lois Lowry; pg 42-122 (81)

The Magic and The Healing by Nick O’Donohoe; pg 160-182 (23)

Another Shot by Joe Kita; pg 54-70 (17)

A total 121 pages, about 1.5 hr.

I know this looks like a serious case of ADD, but I usually read several books at the same time: an audio book while commuting or working out, a paperback to take around for lunch break at work and a hardcover for home.

Read-a-thon Mini Challenge

Mini Challenge Question 1:
What is your favorite type of myth (Greek, Roman, Egyptian etc)?

I like Greek and Japanese myth.

Mini Challenge Question 2:
What is your favorite book with some type of mythology in it?

It’s hard to say one. I really enjoy Percy Jackson and the Olympians, and even more so The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel series by Michael Scott. of course Neil Gaiman is great with his American Gods and Anansi Boys. Okay, my favorite is the Canongate Myth Series… okay, it’s more than one book… Gosh. I’d say The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood then. I listened to it on audio and it was total fun.

Once Upon a Read-a-Thon

Thanks to my enabling friends, I signed up for another read-a-thon! Well, I do have a few bookboxes heading my way soon, so catching up on reading is not a bad idea.

Time to start stacking up my TBRs!! As it’s a 3 day event I won’t be doing all-nighters but will post updates here once a day.