Reading and giving away books

I like reading, though I used to read more before blogging and social media..well I used to read more books, now I read your stories, your news and your opinions.

But I do still read books, sometimes on my Kobo ereader, sometimes on my Kindle app and more often on actual paper.

The nice thing about paper books is how easy they are to share too. Even the very non-techy person can share a paper book.

BookCrossing is a rather fun way to not only share but to redistribute, give away and track your books.

You can register a book for free, add it's BookCrossing ID (BCID) to the book and then anyone that reads the book can log on and report on the books travels.

I'm a huge fan of 'wild releases' where you register a book, and then 'set it free' in any location you choose, a bus stop, a park bench, a playground, a cafe, a hospital, etc.


I had a sort of gap where I forgot to bookcross, I don't know why as it's great fun, one of my books travelled to New Zealand! but even those that don't get reported (what happens to them? where are they?) are still fun to release, to imagine their travels.

So I've started BookCrossing again. Why not register? Take a look, be my friend there, watch what books are released in your area, maybe even go hunting for some! Let your kids play too, I have just started a book release challenge involving kids books in kid friendly places.

Join in. Lets make the whole world a library.

There are useful printables if you can't afford to buy official labels, stickers and bags, but want your books to look a bit more official than just having writing in them.

A Give Away!! Roll Up Roll Up!!

Recently I entered a draw to win a book on The BabyBudgeting Blog and was super lucky and won!! (yay me!)

Then a weird thing happened, the lovely book that arrived was not the book I expected to win, it was not Cool Camping Kids, but was in fact The Cool Camping CookBook. Now, I'm not one to look a gift horse in the mouth so I started to read it and hoped it would be filled with fabulous recipes that I could use when camping in one of my many tents (oh the camping addiction!) but..

...it's not a recipe book for me; to start with the foreword is written by Bear Grylls, never mind his daft name, the picture of him says it all, lounging, posing on a camp bed with artistically smeared muddy face.....yuk, loves himself far too much, give me Ray Mears any day. So a bad start but let's be brave and launch into the food itself, after all it's what the book is about.

The recipes are illustrated with gorgeous pictures of food and campfires. The recipes themselves sound lovely and use various cooking methods, fire pits, barbecue's, camp stoves, pots etc......... But (and it's a big but, as would yours be if you ate too many of the roasted chocolate bananas ) most are not 'easy' recipes for a minimalistic camper, so unless you take a large amount of kitchen stuff with you, you'd be out of luck. many recipes rely on planning at home such as marinating or bringing a large selection of both food and cooking utensils and so for me this book was not really helpful. I need to know what to cook in a single pot on a single stove with only a penknife!

That said if you planned a barbecue or an evening round a fire pit with friends, or even an evening in, there are some great recipes, it's just that I don't think they are ideally suited to camping.

I may be wrong of course, you may always cook elaborate meals outside your tent in which case you'd love to take this book camping!

And with that in mind I would like to pass it on, give it away, to a blog reader, all you need to do to enter is to comment on this post and tell me either your best or worst camping food story! have you cooked a great meal in 10 minutes/ or slaved for 2 hours to produce a burnt sausage? let me know.
(if you've never camped tell me what you would attempt to cook - that should be fun!!)

I'll draw the name from a hat and contact you for your address if you win on or about the 10th July 2010

I haven't actually told you the best bit, when I told the lovely Becky at BabyBudgeting she sorted out the correct book to be sent out - and it is perfect in all respect and I love it! but even better, the lovely publishers sent me an extra book.....which I will reveal and review soon...it's a cracker!

Books and Reading, a silly thingy

Not sure where this meme started, but I got it from here . If you fancy having a go then please feel free to join in…

Do you snack while you read? If so, favourite reading snack?

Not usually, although when eating alone in the evenings I read, and then I like to eat something I can eat one handed, using a fork, rice and curry for example!

Do you tend to mark your books as you read, or does the idea of writing in books horrify you?

I rarely write in books unless I truly love them and plan to keep them forever, usually still use pencil though....

How do you keep your place while reading a book? Bookmark? Dog-ears? Laying the book flat open?

Random things keep my books' places, something like a sweet wrapper, or a bus ticket. I do have bookmarks too - love them, they are a great gift . hint hint . I have also bent over page corners, but only with a book I own. Sometimes I just memorise the page number.

The above questions force me to link to this story Bacon found in Book

Fiction, non-fiction, or both?

Prefer fiction usually - although I do love a bit of Bill Bryson on occasion

Hard copy or audiobooks?

Either but only use audio books in the car - I prefer to read

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 hate putting books down at all, my fave author doesn't use chapters so I am expert at random breaks in books

If you come across an unfamiliar word, do you stop to look it up right away?

no, sometimes I never do...just try using it in context and seeing what reaction I get!

What are you currently reading?

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, Watchmen, River World, and some book about murderers.......

What is the last book you bought?

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

Are you the type of person that only reads one book at a time or can you read more than one at a time?

see above, I'm often reading many

Do you have a favorite time of day and/or place to read?

anywhere I get a minute to myself

Do you prefer series books or stand alone books?

depends - when i love a book and don't want it to end it's great if it's a series. Sir Terry Pratchett is king of the series book IMO

Is there a specific book or author that you find yourself recommending over and over?

Sir Terry Pratchett, Philip José Farmer

How do you organize your books? (By genre, title, author’s last name, etc.?)

I rarely keep books, preferring to set them free via Bookcrossing or exchange them for more via Bookhopper. I keep the Discworld series in the order they were written. I also have an Egypt section in my book shelves..