Badges, we have badges!

Thanks to Eva at http://astripedarmchair.wordpress.com/ and Care at http://bkclubcare.wordpress.com/ the NZ Book Month challenge has BADGES!!!! LOOK at the PRETTIES .... choose your favourite. Play along! Celebrate the Kiwi awesomeness! :D

Business Time

OR ... the NZ Book Month challenge, if you want to be all formal and stuff.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGOohBytKTU

Edited to add ... and LOOK at this awesome button that Care made for it. How can you say no to jaffas? NO ONE can say no to jaffas:

October 1 marks the start of NZ Book month: http://nzbookmonth.co.nz/ Chatting with Care - http://bkclubcare.wordpress.com/ - on Twitter yesterday, I happened to mention this, and idly suggest I might run a mini-challenge for October. She offered to help, and automatically gets jaffas just for that (see near bottom of post).

And so, here we are. :) Um. This is pretty much on the fly, but here's the plan:

During October, read one (1) book by a Kiwi author (there's a very helpful post about that right here: http://justaddbooks.blogspot.com/2009/07/care-package.html) and I believe the origins of this was borne out of a Weekly Geeks.

Anyway.

Part the second (2nd): Watch a Kiwi film, or a film by a Kiwi writer/director. Therefore, the LOTR movies count. (Anything from Peter Jackson ALWAYS counts.) As does The Truman Show ( http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120382/ - the screenplay writer is a Kiwi); the Shrek films (the co-director is a Kiwi); the Narnia films ... OR, really go Kiwi and try and dig up something like Goodbye Pork Pie ( http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082464/ - my hometown is featured at the end) or Once Were Warriors ( http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0110729/)

Part the third (3rd): Listen to some Kiwi music. Once again, I have a blog post featuring said Kiwi music: http://justaddbooks.blogspot.com/2009/05/music-munday.html although I'm sadly lacking in this area. However, go forth, and google. Kiwi musos are AWESOME. Seriously. Try Midnight Youth, or Kids of 88 (their song My House is really catchy) or Gin Wigmore. Or Steriogram. Or Computers Want Me Dead.

Choose one, two, or all of the above. Or, hell, watch the first series of Flight of the Conchords.

I'm offering options because although it's New Zealand Book Month, we Kiwis are a diverse lot.

Um. There'll be a giveaway at the end of the month. I'll send out ... jaffas, or something. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaffas_%28candy) Yeah. I'll send everyone who joins (pleasedontlettherebehundreds) a packet of jaffas at the end of October.

Kiwi as. "You're not in Guatemala now, Dr Ropata!"

Plus also, if some creative person could make me a badge of some kind using the above picture - I'd be really grateful.

AND ... play. You know you want to ... one month. A little slice of Kiwi life ... go ooooooooooooooonnnnn.

To play, sign up in the comments. Or smack me in the face on Twitter here: http://twitter.com/home

Banned books challenge

It's Banned Books Week, and I've decided to join the challenge, here: http://thebibliobrat.net/?page_id=1109

I'm late to the game, I know, but better late than never! My one and only plan for this challenge is to re-read To Kill a Mockingbird, which I've been meaning to do for the longest time.

And I want to read a banned/challenged book that I haven't read so ... Orlando by Virginia Woolf. Because I have it, and I loved Mrs Dalloway.

One of the best gifts my mother ever gave me was that she never, ever censored what I read. So, thanks mum. This challenge is for you, I guess. (Which means I might actually complete it ...)

The reading week

It's Monday! Time to answer the "What are you reading?" question posed over at http://j-kaye-book-blog.blogspot.com/

I am reading the ARC of The Year of the Flood, by Margaret Atwood. Up next is probably The Stand, for RIP IV. And I have ... three book reviews to write for here, plus a whole lot more for work.

But that's neither here nor there.

Happy reading!

Weekly Geeks

The questions in question are here as always, Weekly Geeks:

http://www.weeklygeeks.com/

So I'm going to do the personal ad one, because we can always use new blogger friends, right?

Exactly. I'm glad you all agree with me :D

Must Like Cats

MMF (Married, mad female) working Kiwi mum seeks books blogger who love a good story, cats and old movies. No pina coladas need apply, and I hate getting caught in the rain.

Happy Weekly Geeks!

The reading week

Wow, Monday! This is what happens when you're on holiday, you just don't pay as much attention to what day it is. Meme hosted here as always:

http://j-kaye-book-blog.blogspot.com/

Anyways ... I'm reading the Made of Planet Awesome YA novel, The Knife of Never Letting Go, by Patrick Ness.

There has been much a-twittering and a-tweeting over this novel during the past few weeks, and so I jumped on the bandwagon while I wait for http://www.booksidoneread.blogspot.com/ to finish what she's reading so we can collectively flail over The Year of the Flood.

So that's next.

Happy reading!

BBAW meme

It's all about creativity today for http://bookbloggerappreciationweek.com/
I'm chatty (no!!!) so I'm going answer all of the meme questions. Because I love talking about myself :D Uh ... and books.

Do you snack while you read?
Sometimes

If so, favorite reading snack?
Chocolate covered pretzels, and an ice-cold Coke straight out of the fridge


Do you tend to mark your books as you read, or does the idea ofwriting in books horrify you?
I haven't written in books since I was at university. It feels like vandalism to me.

How do you keep your place while reading a book? Bookmark? Dog-ears? Laying the book flat open?
Bookmarks, or sometimes I employ my ninja memory skills and try and remember the page number. Although I don't do that very often.

Fiction, Non-fiction, or both?
Both

Hard copy or audiobooks?
Hard copy

Are you a person who tends to read to the end of chapters, or are you able to put a book down at any point?
I don't need to read to the end of chapters, but I do need to read past any page that ends in 13

If you come across an unfamiliar word, do you stop to look it up right away?
Not right away, no. Somehow I always end up stumbling across them in some other context that explains their meaning. The universe is taking care of my vocabulary for me.

What are you currently reading?
The Brightest Star in the Sky by Marian Keyes

What is the last book you bought?
The City & The City by China Mieville

Are you the type of person that only reads one book at a time or can you read more than one at a time?
I can read more than one book at a time. But like Jeff Goldblum said in Jurassic Park, just because you can do something doesn't mean to say you should.

Do you have a favorite time of day and/or place to read?
Not really. By default I tend to read late at night because of family stuff, work etc. Luckily I'm a night owl.

Do you prefer series books or stand alone books?
Yes.

Is there a specific book or author that you find yourself recommending over and over?
Uhm ... Neil Gaiman, probably. I'll think of more later. OH! Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay. And Un Lun Dun by China Mieville. Everybody should read those.

How do you organize your books? (By genre, title, author’s last name, etc.?
Organise? I don't understand the question. Uh ... I mean ... at the moment they're organised by piles.