Thursday, 2 July 2009

Sandra's Progress at Fresh Ink Books


The book that inspired my charity choice:
The author was kind enough to stop by my blog and thank me.

Books read to date: 70

Those reviewed:

Sponsors: none yet

Comments, questions, reading recommendations, or links to reviews of any of these book are always welcomed at Fresh Ink Books.

Tuesday, 2 June 2009

Year of Readers - Fundraising Drive

We’re entering the sixth month of ‘The Year of Readers’, our year long sponsored read-a-thon that’s designed to raising money for literacy charities around the world. If you haven’t heard about the event before
please read our
introductory post introductory post, which is full of information about what we’re doing and how we hope to benefit charities by reading in 2009.

Our readers are doing really well flipping pages and raising money offline, but as the sixth month of the year begins I think we could all use a little online fundraising boost. So if you’re passionate about reading please consider donating to one of our readers so they can advance the cause of reading related charities.

There’s a variety of causes for you to pledge your money to:

I’m reading for Room to Read. You can send me a flat rate donation at my
Justgiving page.

Peta is raising cash for Book Aid International which benefits all kind of literacy organizations. Why not contribute a few pounds to her cause at her
fundraising page.

Sylvia is reading for a couple of Canadian charities CODE and World Literacy of Canada which work to get children and adults in developing countries literacy training and a supply of useful books. Sylvia’s customized the challenge and you can read all about what she’s doing at her
Canada Helps fundraising page.

Melanie is reading for a travelling charity - The Public Library on Wheels. If you want to fund their travels pop by her Canada Gives page.

JC is one of several readers collecting money for First Book, which asks you to remember the joy you felt when you read your own first book. Her fundraising page could use some love.

You can also click through any of the links in the right hand side bar to leave a comment for one of our readers about sponsoring them.

You can help by donating money to one of our readers or by passing on information about ‘The Year of Readers’ to anyone who might be interested in donating. Tweet it, Facebook it or Blog it – however you choose to pass on the message it would be much appreciated.

Finally I’m looking to run a series of silent auctions to increase fundraising. If you have any really cool good quality book related things and would be willing to see them auctioned off for charity please contact me with a comment here. It could be signed copies, ARCs, boxed sets or fancy book paraphernalia. Also if you know anyone who might be interested in donating items please tell them to get in contact here.

Thursday, 16 April 2009

April Prize Draw

The winner of our March prize draw was J C Montgomery who will receive the Softskull book package as well as a few crafty goodies from our craft sponsors (see the sidebar).

I’m going to start up our April competition a little early because I want to tie it in with the 24 hour read-a-thon. If you’re participating as a reader in the 24 hour read-a-thon this year leave a comment on this post (saying you’re a reader)and you will be entered once into the prize draw. At the end of the read-a-thon return here and let me know how many books you read during the 24 hours and you will get an extra entry for each book you read. You must officially sign up as a participant at the 24 hour read-a-thon’s blog to be eligible to enter.

Each book read by participants of The Year of Readers during the 24 hour read-a-thon will also earn quadruple the amount that a regular book read for The Year of Readers usually earns for EcoLibris (so any book read during 24 hour read-a-thon will earn 4p for Eco-Libris).

The prize up for grabs this time is 30 Bookmooch points from my own vast stash. 1 person will win 30 points, 15 of which I will add to your account and 15 of which will go to the Bookmooch charity of your choice. If you don’t have a Bookmooch account you can either start one up and start collecting points (15 points will get you 15 books if they are posted from your own country or 7 from international senders) or donate the whole 30 points to charities (I’m happy to split the charity points between different organisations if you would like). Please note this part of the prize is only for those participating in the 24 hour read-a-thon as readers.

Anyone cheerleading at the 24 hour read-a-thon just needs to comment on this post (saying they are a cheerleader) to be entered to win a copy of ‘Captivity’ by Debbie Lee Wesselman, a handmade bookmark and matching bookplate, handmade bracelet and handmade card.

You can leave your comments any time until noon GMT on April 30th 2009. This competition is open to all official participants of The Year of Readers, taking part in the 24 hour read-a-thon. All winners will be chosen using a random number generator.


Happy Read-a-thon!

Thursday, 19 March 2009

Prize Draw - March

This months giveway is extra-super specialicious. Richard Nash who was until just recently running Softskull Press generously donated 5 books for us to pass on to you lucky, lucky readers. He let me pick the titles and even replaced one when the book I picked wasn't availabe. Fabulous guy, really friendly and nice. (You can also buy Softskull titles at Turnaround.)

Books to be won are:

Candy in Action - Matthue Roth
Gone and Back Again - Jonathan Scott
Cool for You - Eileen Myles
Lonely Werewolf Girl - Martin Millar
Branwell - Douglas A Martin

I've decided to make them into one big prize package, but such a big freebie means I'm going to ask you guys to put a little more effort in to win this draw. Don't worry I'm not going to make you joust or anything:)

Recently I've been thinking about where all the books we read in 2009 might end up. The books that leave my house often go in charity bags, some get traded at Bookmooch, sold on Amazon and occassionally I post a book to a campaign that is collecting books to stock libraries, pass on to people who don't have books or raise money for worthy causes.

So to be in with a chance of winning the Softskull book bonanza all you have to do is donate a book to a worthy cause (it's a nice honour system giveway).

For every book you put in the post (or donate locally) before midnight 31st March GMT you get an entry into the draw. Please comment to let me know which organisation you've sent to and how many books you've sent.

You get one extra entry if you write about the cause/s that you're sending books to somewhere (make sure you leave a link to your post in the comments below).

You can get an other entry if someone tells you they were influenced by your post and sent books to a charitable organisation/needful library (think libraries abroad or those destroyed by natural disasters).

To add to the prize giving goodness I'm almost certain that I'll be including a mystery book in with this package so go nuts donating!

Wednesday, 18 March 2009

January Favourites

I'm finally putting up the books people picked as the best books they read in January. If you're looking for a book recommended by excellent readers try one of these titles:

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
March by Geraldine Brooks
Light on Snow by Anita Shreve
Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay
Watchmen by Alan Moore
The Man in the Picture by Susan Hill
Through Black Spruce by Joseph Boyden
Ender's Game
Who By Fire by Diana Splecher
The Book of Evidence, John Banville
SEALed With A Kiss by Mary Margaret Daughtridge
house by Josh Simmons
These Happy Golden Years - Laura Ingalls Wilder
Stefan Zweig's "The Post Office Girl"
Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow by Peter Høeg
The Reader by Bernhard Schlink


Mandi Moore (no not that one but I bet the google hits start pouring in now) had an exciting announcement:

'I want to make the announcement that I am expecting a baby! The little one is due July 13th. We have our ultrasound scheduled for Feb 19th to find out the gender.'

Hope that went well :)

People were looking forward to some new releases:

'In February, I'm excited for the new Maeve Binchy novel, although I really didn't like her last one.'

'Scott Pilgrim Vol. 5 by Bryan Lee O'Malley is comes out this week. The Demi God Files by Rick Riordan comes out next week. I am stoked about both of these. One is my favorite indie comic, and the other is a companion book to one of my favorite fantasy series.'

'I'm really looking forward to Evermore by Alyson Noel, which gets released tomorrow (February 3).'


I've only had a few book totals through for February so if you haven't sent yours through please leave it here. I'm thinking I might not ask for any more totals until the middle of the year, I don't want you all to feel the pressure - this is all about fun.

Speaking of fun I'll be announcing the titles in our very special book bonanza giveaway tomorrow. Lots of goodies.

Sunday, 1 March 2009

J.C. Montgomery's Progress



  1. The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett
  2. March by Geraldine Brooks
  3. Sexing the Cherry by Jeannette Winterson
  4. Odd Thomas by Dean Koontz
  5. Peony In Love by Lisa See
  6. Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks
  7. A Lucky Child by Thomas Buergenthal
  8. The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende

Comments and questions regarding the above list, please visit my blog. My contact information is on the sidebar.


February Prize Draw Winner

The winner of our February prize draw is N Vasillis - congratulations! I'll be posting out your book and selection of crafty goodies next week.

Thanks to everyone who entered and make sure to check the blog for an extra big giveaway next month :)

 

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