As with the my post about the Shine On award earlier this week, this post includes some very belated thank yous. For the Snail Mail Collective Pen Pal exchange in September, I was paired with Victoria who is from the Isle of Man but currently lives and works in the UK. We both love photography and enjoy reading, so we hit it off right away. I also enjoyed her blog, especially her great travel pictures. I was so excited when I saw an international package in the mail! This was only the second international package I’ve received (after the second package I’ll mention in this post) but I don’t think the excitement of receiving a package from so far away will ever get old.

The contents of the package made me feel the package I’d sent in return was completely inadequate and vow to do better next time. It was just perfect, including all of the things you might wish to have from another country There was some delicious chocolate which I was very much in need of during the busy week when I got the package. Victoria also included some pictures; a very thoughtful description of the Isle of Man; a pound note; and two extremely patriotic pens.

In other fun, pen pal related news, I also participated in The Ninja Book Swap which is a fun Halloween event hosted at Booking in Heels and An Armchair by the Sea. I did the ‘Trick or Treat’ version in which each participant was assigned someone else to send three things: (1) a small present; (2) a surprise book from a genre they wanted to read more of; and (3) optionally, a book off their wishlist as well. I loved the way this event was run, with each participant getting to send books from their favorite genre to people who would like to explore that genre more. I think a lot of us are book bloggers at least in part because we love the feeling of recommending a book to someone in hope they’ll love it as much as we did. I had a lot of fun picking recommendations for Ellie at Curiousity Killed the Bookworm and can’t wait to get started reading the books Katie from Katie’s Book Blog sent me.

I think she did a spectacular job picking books to send me. Chocolat was the wishlist book and I’m especially happy to read it right now because it will work for my book to movie challenge. The surprise book was Neverwhere and will by my first time reading something by Neil Gaiman. I’ve heard such good things about his books, I’m excited to see what I think. For a ‘treat’ she sent me a completely adorable notebook that is just perfect for someone who likes cats as much as I do.

If the idea of swapping packages and letters interests you, current events I would recommend include:

• Bookish Pen Pals  – hosted by Claire at Bitches with Books, postcard swap, sign-ups end Nov 15th
• A Bookish Christmas - hosted by Chrys at Oh, Chrys, surprise holiday book exchange, sign-ups end tomorrow!
• The Snail Mail Collective - hosted by Melyssa at The Nectar Collective, exchange e-mails all month and then mail an under $10 gift, sign-ups at the beginning of each month

Feel free to add other events you know about in the comments

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