How exciting, I’m going to be a secret Santa! I’ve dropped my name in Santa’s bag for the Book Bloggers Holiday Swap. Want to join as well? Be quick: subscription ends November 12th!
Good thing the holiday swap perked me up because my attempt at the Bookcrossing Spooky Booky 24 hour readathon was an absolute #FAIL. 
I knew I was on a tight schedule last week, but I had hoped to at least beat last month’s result of 15 hours and 8 minutes. Well… I didn’t even come close! [starts whispering] I scrambled together a meagre total of 7 hours, 10 minutes :-o
So the ‘spooky’ book I’m reading is still the same as last Sunday: In Cold Blood by Truman Capote. It’s pretty grim! It shows the real thing to fear are our fellow humans; not those Halloween ghosts, vampires or zombies. Capote absolutely has me by the throat!
A more relaxing bookish event that took place at my home yesterday was that some Boekgrrls came over to watch Revolutionary Road, the movie adaptation of Richard Yates’ novel. The overall opinion? Director Sam Mendes did a great job (even though the book is still way better). I’m just not sure whether I would have liked the film as much had I not read the book beforehand.
Another minor detail: I kept seeing Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet instead of Frank and April Wheeler… But still, I’m glad to have seen it: I enjoyed it much, much more than, in example, the adaptations of Atonement and Enduring Love (other books I really like). Although ‘enjoy’ might not be the right word for a story like Revolutionary Road…
Well, I’ve only got another 100 pages left of In Cold Blood, so coming week I hope to start in The Old Capital, by Yasunari Kawabata for my Japanese Literature Book Group. I’m embarrassed to say I had never heard of this Nobel Prize winner before, but since I know we’re going to read his book I have heard other novelists mention him as an example for their own writings. So, I’ll talk to you next week in The Sunday Salon!
The Sunday Salon is a virtual gathering of booklovers on the web, where they blog about bookish things of the past week, visit each others weblogs, oh — and read ;)
Graasland 
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zondag 8 november 2009 bij 15:15
Marion Hogervorst
Thanks for the Book Bloggers Holiday swap hint, I dropped my name in the hat too :)
maandag 9 november 2009 bij 00:45
mee
I hope to pick up Revolutionary Road some time soon. I would definitely like to read the book before watching the movie! In Cold Blood is one that I’m also interested in. We have similar taste! :)
woensdag 11 november 2009 bij 15:30
Bellezza
I’ve entered the Santa Swap, too. I love the idea of giving to fellow book bloggers during this holiday! I’ve seen the movie Revolutionary Road, but not read the book which I bought in the summer. I’m glad to hear you say the book is better because the movie, well, it just disappointed me. She was so upset all the time! All the time!!! I want to compare it to the book. And, I want to read The Old Capital when I’m not under a time crunch. November is insane with me with conferences, report cards, Thanksgiving preparations…I loved you post.
woensdag 11 november 2009 bij 15:31
Bellezza
um, “your” post. ;)