The Canadian Book Challenge

Canadian Book Challenge. 2nd annual and it ends on Canada Day 2009.

The rules are simple: read 13 Canadian books (books by Canadians and/or about Canadians) before next Canada Day (That's July 1st for you non-Canadians in the audience). Make sure to blog about each one! Participants will have their name entered in for some kick-ass prizes. Well, not really. If you've ever seen a Canadian gameshow, you know we're not big on monetary rewards.

The Book Reading Meme

I'm starting to feel like something alive again.

Here is a meme about books which came from The Road I'm Traveling to Word Grrls. But Word Grrls isn't going to be a personal blog so I'd rather not run memes on it.

The rules for the meme:

"Open the book closest to you, not your favorite or most intellectual book, but the book closest to you at the moment, to page 56. Write out the fifth sentence, as well as two to five sentences following there."

The book closest to me right now is the one I just started reading this morning. I have been waiting (impatiently) for the next in her series to come out in paperback. It's from Kelley Armstrong, a Canadian paranormal fiction writer. Her books are often stuck in the horror shelves though. The title is Personal Demon and I'm not as far as page #56 so this feels a bit like sneaking a peek ahead. Which I do, upon occasion. Usually cause I hate finding out the long, hard way that a character I like is going to come to a bad end. One thing good about not reading standard romance fiction is that sometimes there are bad ends. It's unpredictable.

The young man grinned. "I believe I can manage."

"Just don't talk her ear off. I want you both back by nine. You're on floor duty tonight. Oh, introductions. Faith, Jasper. Jasper, Faith."

Library Thing

If you started on BookCrossing as a way to keep track of books you have read or want to find you might like Library Thing better. You won't have to get a code to write or stamp in each book. They just let you keep track of your books online.

Treating Myself By Trading Points

I'm using a lot of my saved HBC Rewards points to get two $25 gift cards to spend at Chapters Bookstore. They will be sent through the mail and I'm looking forward to getting and spending them. Not sure what I will buy but... it will be a lot of fun to look and decide. Fiction or non-fiction? I'm leaning towards non-fiction at the moment.

What would you buy with $50 to go on a shopping spree in a mega bookstore?

Links for Book Divas

WhichBook.net Gives you selections of books that may interest you. You choose criteria you like in a book. I kept getting books of poetry which isn't my thing really. But, I will try it again and see what comes up.

BookRelay.com Another resource for people using BookCrossing.com.

Club Reading Has reviews by readers. Calls itself an online community for avid readers.