Fantasy Favourites Read-a-thon Day 1: Kick-Off & Book Photography

This post is regrettably a day late because something unfortunate happened in the wee hours of yesterday morning. My country's founding father, Mr Lee Kuan Yew, passed away at the age of 91. The whole of Singapore is in mourning. He was the one who placed Singapore on the world map, who made our little red dot the country she is today. Without him we would be nothing.

As a mark of respect, I did not post despite having snapped my photos. After a day's silence, I have decided to continue with the read-a-thon.

READING UPDATE

I am currently on page 58 (Chapter Six) of Cinder by Marissa Meyer. I didn't read at all yesterday because I didn't feel like it, plus I had to visit the dentist and spent the afternoon waiting for the sun to stop hiding behind a throng of clouds so I could take the pictures below and do justice to the exquisiteness of Ensnared by A. G. Howard, which I won in a giveaway over at Novel Heartbeat. Wow, that was a very long sentence!

A photo posted by Sherlyn (@monstrousbeauty) on Mar 23, 2015 at 7:37pm PDT

MORE BOOK PHOTOGRAPHY

I love taking pictures of books, so I was really happy to hear that the read-a-thon would be starting off with book photography! If you're on Instagram, I'd love to follow you :)

Okay, here we go:

MY BOOKSHELF

This here's the place where my books live. It actually has sliding doors, but I asked my dad to detach them temporarily so I could snap this. The first shelf houses Young Adult books. The one below has my older books and other novels that just aren't YA. The Twilight Saga is on this shelf because I ran out of space. I arrange my books by colour, but as you can see the first shelf is kind of lacking in the green department!

WHERE I WILL BE READING THIS WEEK

This is where I'll be reading other than in my blogging space. This extended-long-sofa is awesome because it's perfect for mermaids to stretch their fins out on ;)

MY BLOGGING SPACE

Behold, my blogging space. Trust me, it's seen messier days. My watercolour pencils are crashing in for a bit while my hands are trying to figure out what to do with the random artsy inspiration that pops into my head.

MY FAVOURITE FANTASY BOOK

I don't have a physical copy of The Winner's Crime, but Curse will represent this favourite fantasy series of mine. I have also just realised that these two sentences rhyme!

A BOOK ON MY BOOKSHELF THAT HAS MAGIC AND DRAGONS

I discovered this series in my early teens. The world-building, characters, magic — EVERYTHING is amazing. Fun fact: Disney's The Princess and the Frog is loosely based on the first book in this series, The Frog Princess. They got the idea of the princess turning into a frog instead from that book.

A BOOK ON MY BOOKSHELF THAT HAS MYTHOLOGY

The Watersong Quartet has sirens in it. I think that's about as Greek as it gets!

MY FANTASY BOOKS SORTED BY COLOUR

I decided to rearrange my books for the sake of this picture, because heck, why not? I swear, we could totally play a spot-the-difference game with this photo. The second shelf doesn't count except for The Twilight Saga (jumping jellyfish, I really don't have a lot of physical YA books!).

MY READS FOR THIS WEEK

Pretty self-explanatory! I got Goblet of Fire to stand in for Sorcerer's Stone as I don't have a physical copy. Isn't this a lovely combo of red and blue, though? ♥︎

Now for the questions about Hermione Granger, whom I'm currently chained to!

1. Now that Hermione is chained to you, what do you want to force her to do with you? (Assuming you have her consent.)

We're going to watch Disney movies all day long, then spend the following day at Disneyland. I can't think of anything better than having my two favourite worlds collide. I was a bit hesitant to suggest roller coasters (not everyone likes them) but then I remembered that Hermione's been through stuff way scarier than a coaster, so we're going to ride all the roller coasters and scream and meet Disney characters and munch on popcorn and have a ton of fun!

2. What book(s) is Hermione reading?

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. She's currently deep in thought at all the social injustice the poorer districts face as I type this, and greatly approves of Katniss' attitude.

3. Roleplay a scene where you and Hermione are fighting over a scene/character in the book you are currently reading.

Me: What's a magbelt? 
Hermione: A magbelt?
Me: Apparently Cinder has to look for a magbelt to get a hover working again. What does a hover even look like? There isn't a clear description of one in here.
Hermione: Hmm, give me a moment. *grabs Cinder from me, flips pages back and forth* It says here that while Cinder is looking for a magbelt to fix the hover, she's found a gasoline car instead of what she thought was a hover. Therefore, a hover must be a transportation vehicle in this book's futuristic setting. As for a magbelt, Cinder has found a timing belt instead.
Me: *raises eyebrow, taps chin* So a timing belt...
Hermione: ... is a part of an internal combustion engine that synchronises the rotation of the crankshaft and the camshafts so that the engine's valves open and close at the proper times during each cylinder's intake and exhaust strokes.
Me: O_O How –
Hermione: *turns to face me from my laptop and Google* As such, I conclude that a magbelt has a similiar use to a timing belt, but is slightly more advanced. After all, this is a science-fiction world!
Me: Ah, yes. Yes indeed.

4. You've already spent 12 hours chained to Hermione. How do you feel about her now? Anything irritating you yet?

I think we're getting along pretty well, but I do have to be careful of voicing my thoughts – especially questions – out loud. I mean, I used to think that I was smart before she showed up...

That aside, however, I've had a lot of fun showing her around, and she's been telling me about her life before Hogwarts.

5. How do you spend your day with Hermione during the read-a-thon?

We plop ourselves on the long sofa and read. It's brilliant. We occasionally get up and make some tea as well.

6. What would your relationship status with Hermione be if you got to keep her after the read-a-thon?

I'm rethinking the best friends part. But I'm really hoping that we'll be good friends (:

7. Hermione is at your mercy. What have you always wanted to ask her? What does she answer?

Please, please put an Undetectable Extension Charm on all of my bags! And do throw in a Feather-light Charm as well. Oh, imagine the space I could save! And all the books I could carry everywhere with me!

8. If given the chance to, would you like to go back to Hermione's world after the read-a-thon?

No one says no to Hogwarts. NO ONE.

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