Christmas 2010 Wish List

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Image by Suryakami from DeviantArt

I’ve always made wish lists every year and I share it with my family and friends (especially my brother) so he knows what gift to get me. I find wish lists very helpful so I rely on them in gift giving especially for guys. :P

But you know what’s strange, though? Every birthday and Christmas, I hardly get book presents. I know, right? I make lists, but people often get other items from my list. Maybe because I know that I will eventually get the book I want? Or maybe they hardly go to bookstores, or at least, don’t go as much as I do? Or, like I told Jason in the Filipino Friday he hosted last week, maybe it’s their subtle way of telling me to pull my nose out of a book every once in a while?

But anyway I can’t let the first Christmas of my book blog without posting a Christmas wish list. Okay, maybe I can…but it’s fun to make wish lists in hopes of a random generous stranger (or friend!) getting me something from the list. Eventually I will probably get most of these on my own, but I would be forever thankful if I get any of these from friends. :P

BOOK RELATED THINGS:

  • Dry seal for label for my books – I’ve been wishing for this for two years I think? A simple “Tina” or “Tinamats” on the seal would do, and some stars on the design would be nice. :P If you need details, more on Blooey’s blog. (And if I still don’t get this as a gift up until my birthday next year, I will get this on my own already…there is still hope!)
  • m-Edge e-luminator Kindle book light – because I need a book light that is easier to slip inside my Kindle case.

BOOKS:

Ebooks or actual print books – I’m not picky. :P Remember, Kindle Ebook Gifting is possible now. :P

  1. Five Flavors of Dumb by Antony John
  2. The Last Dragonslayer by Jasper Fforde
  3. Dash and Lily’s Book of Dares by David Levithan and Rachel Cohn
  4. Mistwood by Leah Cypess
  5. Trese Books # 2-3 by Budjette Tan and Kajo Baldisimo
  6. The Extraordinary Secrets of April, May and June by Robin Benway
  7. The Kid Table by Andrea Seigel
  8. UK Edition of Trash by Andy Mulligan
  9. Plain Kate by Erin Bow
  10. Please Ignore Vera Dietz by A.S. King
  11. The Mockingbirds by Daisy Whitney
  12. Immanuel’s Veins by Ted Dekker

Obviously, there’s more, but the books above are the ones that I would love to get this Christmas. More help? Here — my Amazon (ebook) wish list and my Book Depository wish list! :)

NON-BOOK RELATED/MISCELLANEOUS:

  • Anything with sunflowers and/or stars
  • A new laptop bag (must fit a Lenovo Thinkpad T400)
  • Azta Salon gift certificates*
  • Shopping money – by shopping, I mean non-books: clothes, shoes, make-up, etc.
  • Pens from Muji
  • Those NatGeo shirts from Regatta (I’m a Medium!)
  • Little Miss Writer Shirt — pretty.
  • New sunglasses

If you have a wish list too, share them in the comment section! Who knows, maybe some generous person will bless you with something. :)

* I know I mentioned GCs can be impersonal but I think it’s not when the person actually requested it. :P Hence the presence of gift certificate on the wish list. :)

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Kindle Ebook Gifting Program

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Earlier today I was contemplating on splurging on some ebooks on Amazon and I was just about to get one when I saw a very curious button, one I have never seen before:

Kindle give ebook as gift

Hmm...what does this button do?

Give as a gift? I wondered. So I tested it and got to this screen:

Give as gift place order page

Sending a Kindle ebook as a gift

Imagine my excitement when I understood what this meant! Yes! It is possible to give an ebook as a gift from the Amazon Kindle Store!

From the press release (source):

Beginning today, just in time for the holiday season, customers can give Kindle Books as gifts to anyone with an e-mail address—no Kindle required. Kindle Books can be read on Kindle devices and free Kindle reading apps for iPad, iPod touch, iPhone, Mac, PC, BlackBerry and Android-based devices. For more information or to give a Kindle Book as a gift, go to www.amazon.com/givekindlebooks.

“We are thrilled to make it easier than ever for our customers to give their favorite Kindle book to a friend or family member as a gift,” said Russ Grandinetti, Vice President, Amazon Kindle. “We’re making this functionality available in time for the holidays to offer an easy, stress free holiday shopping option for anyone – not just Kindle owners.”

To give a Kindle Book as a gift, customers simply choose a book in the Kindle Store, select “Give as a Gift” and send their gift to anyone with an email address. Notifications of Kindle Books gifts are delivered instantly via e-mail and the recipient redeems the gift in the Kindle Store to read on any Kindle or free Kindle app.

But what if you don’t have a Kindle, or the person you’re giving to doesn’t have a Kindle? According to the website, Kindle ebooks can be given as gifts as long as the recipient has an email address. The ebook can still be read through any of the free Kindle apps on PCs, Macs, iPhone, iPad, BlackBerry or Android Phones.

All ebooks available in the Kindle Store can be given as gifts, and in case the recipient doesn’t like or want the gift, it can be exchanged for Amazon.com gift cards.

This ebook gifting is a great way to save on shipping, IMO. It doesn’t beat receiving real books in post, of course, but it would be a great gift idea for friends who have Kindles or likes ebooks.

You know what this means, right? Time to start building my Amazon Kindle ebook wish list! :)

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Ten Ten Ten!

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It’s October 10, 2010. You know what this means, of course?

I’m not one to believe in lucky numbers or days, but I can’t really pass up the chance to blog on this day, if only to remember what I did, or to say that I actually have a post on this once-in-a-lifetime date on my blogs.

So hi, happy 10.10.10!

I was supposed to join the 24 hour read-a-thon this weekend, but I decided to sit it out this year since my family and I were busy with my dad’s arrival and my brother’s upcoming wedding. It would’ve been an excellent way to spend 10.10.10 reading wise, but I have to face the fact that I have a life outside of books. But in the spirit of this binary date (I’m a geek, of course I have to point that out), I thought I’d sort of take a break from all the book reviews and squeeing and post something a little more personal, but still somehow related to reading (this is a book blog, after all). I know I’ve gained some new followers in the past months, so consider this a re-introduction post. :) Since it’s 10.10.10, let’s go for 3 sets of 10’s, shall we?

10 things about me:

  1. My name is Tina, and I’m a 24-year-old sort of all around geek from the beautiful (and sometimes chaotic) Philippines. :)
  2. I work as a full-time web content developer in one of the big multinational companies in the…well, world. I love my job even if it can be repetitive and somewhat frustrating sometimes. As of now I still see myself in that company for a few more years. I don’t know if I’ll be doing that I’m still doing, but I hope whatever it is, I would still love it. And since I’m a web content developer, you see now how I can manage to blog every now and then. ;) Blogging is practically second nature.
  3. I own three more blogs outside of my book blog, plus a semi-active Tumblr, a very active Twitter and a dead LJ and Plurk accounts. I’m also very active at Goodreads, more active than I was before ever since I met the Goodreads Filipino group people. :) I have a very big internet footprint, and it’s too late to do anything about that. ^^
  4. I love to run. I’m not sure if it loves me back, but I love it very much. :) I’m not really a sporty person, but running is not really a competitive sport so I caved in and joined the thousands of people who liked to run races here, too. I started running this year, after my friends and I set a goal to run races, and I haven’t stopped till then. I started with 5k distance then immediately stepped up to 10k, and been running 10k ever since. I’m hoping and planning and praying to run my first half marathon early in 2011. :)
  5. Speaking of praying — I’m a devout Catholic. I’d like to believe I’m not a religious nut, but rather spiritual. I value my faith and beliefs, hence it influences what I read and how I review the books I read.
  6. I dream of publishing my own novel someday. I need to get moving and keep on writing (hence my insistence on joining NaNoWriMo every year), and I need to find the courage to actually submit my work somewhere. One day, one day.
  7. My brother is a wedding videographer. I may be biased, but he’s a very good one, too. Just look at his works here. :)
  8. I am a semi-health nut. Ever since I lost a lot of weight in the past year, I’ve been very careful to keep the weight off. Hence the running, and lots of gym, and watching what I eat. I still love ice cream and sweets and other sinful stuff, though but always in moderation. ;)
  9. My most common random fact that I always share: I name all my gadgets. It helps me take care of them better. I have two laptops named Teo (work) and Aslan (personal), Macy the iPod, Elyon and Cornelia the mobile phones, Wes the external hard drive, Ginger the USB flash drive, Ashley the camera and Astrid the Kindle. I also name my credit cards in an attempt to not always use them, but I fail at that. ;)
  10. And for the 10th thing about me is…I don’t know why I keep on writing lists like these! I forgot how hard it is to write 10 things about myself! Hah. But I’m somewhat of a masochist sometimes. I like challenging myself. I’m not really a daredevil, but I try to find things that would make me try new thing and would (hopefully) make me a better person in the end. :)

10 Favorite Books read in 2010 so far:

  1. Fire by Kristin Cashore
  2. North of Beautiful by Justina Chen Headley
  3. Feed by Mira Grant
  4. Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver
  5. Unwind by Neal Shusterman
  6. Happyface by Stephen Emond
  7. The Lioness Quartet by Tamora Pierce
  8. The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness
  9. Persuasion by Jane Austen
  10. Kate Daniels series by Ilona Andrews

10 books I can’t wait to get my hands on:
(Always subject to change ;))

  1. The Reapers are the Angels by Alden Bell
  2. Plain Kate by Erin Bow
  3. Archangel by Sharon Shinn
  4. AEIOU: An Easy Intimacy by Jeffrey Brown
  5. The Last Dragonslayer by Jasper Fforde
  6. Dust City by Robert Paul Weston
  7. Rot and Ruin by Jonathan Maberry
  8. Matched by Ally Condie
  9. What Happened to Goodbye by Sarah Dessen
  10. Delirium by Lauren Oliver

Well that took a bit of time to post. Whew. What about you, do you have any 10’s to share? :)

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The 24th Birthday Book Wish List

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Today is the 1st of March, which means one thing (among many things): I turn 24 in 15 days. 14, if I don’t count this day.

Of course, as with every birthday that has passed since I started blogging, I’ve always created a wish list to help my family — especially my brother, who would usually ask for nba shirts — decide what gift to get me. It might be strange for other people, but we always do this for our family, even during Christmas. :)

I already posted my whole wish list on my main blog, but because this is my book blog, I thought I’d post my 24th birthday book wish list here, just for kicks. :D So it’s basically the first part of my blog there, but with book summaries and some comments on why I want the book. Here we go (in no particular order)!

Percy Jackson # 4: Battle of the LabyrinthPercy Jackson and the Olympians # 4: The Battle of the Labyrinth
by Rick Riordan

Percy Jackson isn’t expecting freshman orientation to be any fun.  But when a mysterious mortal acquaintance appears on campus, followed by demon cheerleaders, things quickly move from bad to diabolical.

In this latest installment of the blockbuster series, time is running out as war between the Olympians and the evil Titan lord Kronos draws near. Even the safe haven of Camp Half-Blood grows more vulnerable by the minute as Kronos’s army prepares to invade its once impenetrable borders. To stop them, Percy and his demigod friends must set out on a quest through the Labyrinth – a sprawling underground world with stunning surprises at every turn. Full of humor and heart-pounding action, this fourth book promises to be their most thrilling adventure yet.

Why do I want this? I already have books #1-3, and although I can buy Book #4, I’m not really in a hurry because I haven’t even opened Books #2 and 3. But then it wouldn’t hurt to have a copy of this now so I won’t be running to a bookstore when I read Books 2 and 3, right? :P

Continue Reading →

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