Book Review and Giveaway: Aurelia by Anne Osterlund

Last day of November - last giveaway in my November Book Blowout.

Aurelia is the headstrong crown princess of Tyralt, a middle ages type kingdom with decidedly modern inhabitants. Robert, son of the palace's former spymaster and a former classmate of Aurelia's, is called in to help uncover a plot against her life.

This a short, satisfying read that excels in its characterizations, even of minor players. The assasination attempts and Robert's endeavors to sniff out the culprit(s) may drive the plot, but it is Aurelia's spunk and genuine concern for her subjects that steal the show. Recommended for anyone who likes their princesses with some backbone to go along with their whalebone corsets.

I have one extra copy to give away. If you'd like it, please leave a comment telling me who your favorite princess is and why by December 5th. This one is open internationally.

Book Review: Guernica by Dave Boling

This is the story of two Basque families in Spain during the Spanish civil war – and of the infamous German bombing of civilians in Guernica, it’s repercussions in the two families, and of the famous mural painted by Picasso when he heard about the atrocities and suffering.

We learn in the prologue that Justo, once the town’s most celebrated citizens, is one armed and miserable two years after the bombing. This has the effect of giving the subsequent narrative a strong sense of foreboding, something I did not like. As the early section speeds through Justo’s youth, marriage, the birth and maturation of his daughter Miren and the birth of his granddaughter, giving us lovely vignettes of their strong bonds to family and country, I could not help but think of the prologue and what must happen to Justo’s family for him to be so alone.

After the inevitable happens on April 26, 1937, the novel shifts focus slightly to include a British couple who help displaced Basque children and a group of people who smuggle goods and people from Nazi occupied France into Spain.

Justo, Miren, and a blind girl named Alaia whom Miren befriends are standout characters here and it’s alone worth reading the novel just to spend time with them. Though I was really ready to chuck the book at a wall after the bombing, I am glad I stuck with it to the end (which was satisfying despite being obvious to me and based on a huge coincidence).

Guernica is now out in hardcover. This is my second (and last) review that qualifies for the LT Author Challenge hosted by Dawn at She’s Too Fond of Books.

Book Giveaway: Penguin "Publicist's Choice" Pack - 6+ books!

YAY - I have another surprise addition to my November Book Blowout giveaway series. Penguin is donating a whole box of YA books (at least 6) to one lucky reader in the US or Canada. All books in the prize pack are from 2008.

All you have to do to win is leave a comment by December 5th saying which Penguin title you most want to read (and choose carefully, because that title might just end up in your prize pack if you're chosen by the powers that be at random.org). Gain a second entry by posting the contest on your blog.

Not sure which YA titles have been released this year by one of Penguin's many imprints? Well, I'm not going to list ALL of them here, but here are some I've reviewed (with links to my reviews to help you decide) and some I myself want to read:

The Other Side of the Island by Allegra Goodman
Chalice by Robin McKinley
Paper Towns by John Green
Storm: The Ghost Machine by EL Young (scroll down linked page for review)
Death by Bikini by Linda Gerber
Death by Latte by Linda Gerber
Violet by Design and Violet in Private by Melissa Walker
Oh.My.Gods. by Tera Lynn Childs
Specialists: The Winning Element by Shannon Greenland
Specialists: Native Tongue by Shannon Greenland
Audrey, Wait! by Robin Benway
Confessions of a Triple Shot Betty by Jody Gehrman
The Red Necklace by Sally Gardner

Aurelia by Anne Oesterlund

My Most Excellent Year by Steve Kluger (fan girly review at Reviewer X)
Looks by Madeleine George (awesome review at Teen Book Review)
Eon: Dragon Reborn by Alison Goodman (thoughtful review at Oops...Wrong Cookie)
Lock and Key by Sarah Dessen (frank review at Bookshelves of Doom)
Peeled by Joan Bauer (nice review at Reviewer X)
Frostbite, A Vampire Academy Novel by Richelle Mead (gushing review at The Story Siren)
Savvy by Ingrid Law (refreshing review at The Well Read Child)
Artichoke's Heart by Suzanne Supplee (tasty review at Abby Librarian)
Frozen Fire by Tim Bowler (gripping review at Reading Mania/Elaina Reads)
La Petite Four by Regina Scott (fun review at Once Upon a Bookshelf)


You can of course also choose one I did not mention here and good luck!

Book Review and Giveaway: You are so Undead to me by Stacey Jay

For Megan Berry, being a Zombie Settler is a pain in the shoulder – literally. Not only do dead zombies get grave dirt on her favorite sundress and ruin her dates with “hot” guys, she also had a run in with some reanimated zombies some years back whose bites left marks both on her skin and her psyche. And now, someone in town is messing with black magic – putting her life and most importantly her chance to go to homecoming in danger.

So where to start? I love the premise here and the whole twist on the zombie idea, that there is a secret society whose purpose it is to take messages from the dead who are unsettled enough about some aspect of their deaths to crawl out their graves (one pervy guy just wanted to see a girl naked before he went to his eternal slumber). Author Stacey Jay gets points for creating a pretty plausible paranormal/real world co-existence.

If you asked me what genre this was, I wouldn’t really know what to say. The inclusion of zombies makes it paranormal, but it is not scary. Megan goes on dates with “hot” guys, but it’s not romantic. No one knows who the black magic villain is, but it’s not mysterious (and I figured out one of the “baddies” early on even though this person’s motive is out of left field and their m.o. highly dubious). There is a lot of kicking zombie butt, but I wouldn’t classify it as action. And both Megan and the story are way too shallow for it to be a drama. It’s kind of like the author tried to make it everything, but nothing really stuck.

I wouldn’t have really minded the uneven narrative if Megan had been a stronger character. She is said to possess the most impressive settler power in 70 years, but she spends most of her time rhapsodizing about how “hot” all the “hot” guys in her life are. (Granted, you’d find a lot of that if you read my diary from my sophomore year of high school, but fortunately you never will.)

Still, I liked the world creation so much that I would definitely be interested in reading the planned sequel Undead Much! I can only hope Megan will have grown out of her semi-grating boy crazy phase by then.

Want a second opinion? Hillary of The Book Reader also read it recently and loved it saying it was one of the best books she’s read in months.

So if you think this is something you’d like to read (despite my reservations), and you want to read it before its January 22nd release date, leave a comment telling me if you are on team zombie or team unicorn by Dec. 5th. I’ll announce the winner of my one advanced copy the next day.

We have LOTS of book winners!

I still need to e-mail everyone, so if you haven't gotten an e-mail yet and your name is listed here, please send me your mailing address to lenoreva AT hotmail DOT com.

Winners of Audrey, Wait! (in addition to instant winner Yan) are Carolina, Kimberly Derting, Book Lover Lisa and Simply Megan. Funny thing - Carolina had 3 entries and all three were picked by random.org - guess she must have done A LOT of sucking up :)

Winners of Chalice (in addition to instant winner Jana) are S.Krishna, AC, Jeane, and Cuileann (who is in Iceland now, but I still hope she'll send her address soon).

The winner of Schooled is Mari.

The other winner of Beautiful Americans (Kelsey got the instant win) is Amber which is super crazy and cool because not only is she an exchange student RIGHT NOW, she lives a half hour away from me! So we met today at the Darmstadt Christmas market and she posed with her new book. Amber was the official YABC teen reviewer in 2007 and now reviews for Teens Read Too (you can see a list with links to her book reviews here) and Daniel and I enjoyed meeting her. We plan to meet again in February for some "crack sushi" here in Frankfurt.

Waiting On Wednesday (10) Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde

Time again for Waiting on Wednesday (hosted by Jill over at Breaking the Spine) where I get to talk about a book I just can't wait to read. This week I am extremely excited about Jasper Fforde's new book which also happens to be a dystopia - how exciting is that?! I love the creativity and world creation of his Thursday Next series and the premise of this one - A brilliant new novel about a world where social order and destiny are dictated by the colors you can see - sounds highly orginal.

The product description from amazon:

Part social satire, part romance, part revolutionary thriller, Shades of Grey tells of a battle against overwhelming odds. In a society where the ability to see the higher end of the color spectrum denotes a better social standing, Eddie Russet belongs to the low-level House of Red and can see his own color—but no other. The sky, the grass, and everything in between are all just shades of grey, and must be colorized by artificial means.

Eddie’s world wasn’t always like this. There’s evidence of a never-discussed disaster and now, many years later, technology is poor, news sporadic, the notion of change abhorrent, and nighttime is terrifying: no one can see in the dark. Everyone abides by a bizarre regime of rules and regulations, a system of merits and demerits, where punishment can result in permanent expulsion.

Eddie, who works for the Color Control Agency, might well have lived out his rose-tinted life without a hitch. But that changes when he becomes smitten with Jane, a Grey Nightseer from the dark, unlit side of the village. She shows Eddie that all is not well with the world he thinks is just and good. Together, they engage in dangerous revolutionary talk.

Stunningly imaginative, very funny, tightly plotted, and with sly satirical digs at our own society, this novel is for those who loved Thursday Next but want to be transported somewhere equally wild, only darker; a world where the black and white of moral standpoints have been reduced to shades of grey.

See a pictorial teaser at Jasper's website.

OK. WOW. Too bad we all have to wait until July 2009!

Library Thing Tuesday (29) + Pic of Emmy

Today's question- Blog Widgets. Do you use them? yes Do you have them on your blog? yes Do you know what I'm talking about? :-) Of course! A blog widget is that list of books "From my LibraryThing" and such, that you'll sometimes see on someone's sidebar. If you use it, do all of your books show up or do you have it set to only show certain books? All my books. Do you have a search widget, which would allow your blog readers to search your library? no Have you ever made a photomosaic of your book covers? Yes - it looks really pretty! You can find widgets and photomosaic information on the "Tools" tab in LibraryThing.

In general, I love widgets, and I think the "books in my library" widget from LibraryThing is one of the best around. Mine shows 18 books (I thought I had set it to 20, will have to check that) that I have read and even I like checking every once in a while to see which ones show up. I've been thinking of getting a widget to show which books are coming up for review like I've seen on some blogs, anyone think I should? Maybe using the one from GoodReads...that's where I have some of my TBR listed (it's a bit outdated though).

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Now that the winter cold has arrived in full force, it's once again FREEZING in our apartment. The building we live in was built in the early 20th century (one of the relative few in Frankfurt to escape bombing in WWII) and is it not well insulated. It also has very high ceilings so it's hard to keep warm without spending thousands on heating bills (beauty has its price!). So Emmy is seeking out warm places to hang out more than ever - mostly on our laps and under blankets. But she still likes to look out the window - so she now uses the one which is directly over a (antique) heater...

Book Giveaway: Signed Gemma Doyle Trilogy by Libba Bray!

As some of you know, I met Libba Bray during the Frankfurt Book Fair in October (see here for more info and picture) and she was super sweet to sign her entire Gemma Doyle trilogy so I could give it away here. The set includes trade paperbacks of A Great and Terrible Beauty and Rebel Angels and a hardcover of The Sweet Far Thing. One lucky winner will get all three!!

Here's what you have to do: Comment on this post and tell me about a recent book you read that you loved for one entry. My first 10 entrants automatically get one extra entry. For two extra entries, post about this contest on your blog (sidebar is fine), on a social networking site or book lovers forum (LibraryThing, RandomBuzzers, Book Divas, etc.) and tell me that you did. Open internationally, please indicate international shipping on your entry.

Enter by 9 pm CST on December 5th - and good luck!

20,000 visits! And a long list of thank yous...

Today Sitemeter logged my 20,000th visit - how cool is that? I've had so much fun with the blog since it transformed into a book review blog back at the end of April this year. I've written over 100 book reviews, had tons of interesting discussions, and made a lot of new bookish friends. So I have to say a big thanks for everyone who has been a part of this - and what better way to do that than to compile a list of people who commented in the past month (little did I know this would take me HOURS - which means I skipped any post which had a contest attached - though I am very pleased if you entered the contests!). I really look forward to your comments and I appreciate each and every one :) Thanks also to my 64 followers, to my 160ish subscribers (last time I checked), to my lurker friends who stop by without leaving comments (but who show up at my door asking to borrow books I've reviewed), to my fellow LibraryThing tuesday thingers who insist that I post a picture of Emmy every tuesday, to the amazing publicists who keep me wading in books, and to all the awesome authors I've had the pleasure of interviewing.

Alea of Pop Culture Junkie
Steph of Reviewer X
Lauren of Shooting Stars Mag
Beth Kephart author of House of Dance, Undercover and Nothing but Ghosts
My aunt Linda of Linda's Sunflower (yes, she is really my aunt)

Bermudaonion
Jen (aka Ladytink)
Steve of The Zombie Chronicles
Susane Helene Gottfried of West of Mars - Win a Book
Dar of Peeking Between the Pages

Jeane of Dog Ear Diary
Amber
Khyrinthia of Frenetic Reader
PJ Hoover author of The Emerald Tablet
Joanne of Book Zombie
Lisa of Minds alive of the shelves
Anna of Diary of an Eccentric
Dawn of She's Too Fond of Books
Serena of Savvy Verse & Wit
Alyce of At Home with Books

Gabbi of All Five Stars
J.Kaye
S.Krishna
Cathy of Kittling: Books
Kathy of Oklahoma Booklady
Sandra of Fresh Ink Books
Andi of Tripping Toward Lucidity Estella's Revenge
Melissa Walker author of the Violet series
Ali of Worducopia
Michele of Michele only one L

Just Blinded Book Reviews
caite of A lovely shore breeze
Amy of My Friend Amy
GreenBeanTeenQueen
Keri Mikulski author of Screwball
Marie of The Boston Bibliophile and host of TuesdayThingers
Luanne of A Bookworm's World
Kristi of The Story Siren
Shana of Literarily
Lisa of Books and Cooks

Wendi of Wendi's Book Corner
Kirsten of We Be Reading
Wendy of Literary Feline/Musings of a Bookish Kitty
Ms. Bookish
Meghan of Medieval Bookworm
AS King author of The Dust of 100 Dogs
Rebecca aka The Book Lady
Margaret of BooksPlease
Icedream of Reading in Appalachia
Traci of Traci's Book Bag

Melissa of Shh...I'm Reading
Nadine (aka TruBlu93) of Starry Night
Alexa Young author of Frenemies
AC of A Novel Idea
Confessions of a Bibliovore
Julie of Booking Mama
Aerin of In Search of Giants
The Book Muncher
Bethany of B&b ex libris
Yvonne of Socrates Book Reviews

Stacey of Book:Thirty
Stephanie's Written World
Carol's Notebook
Rol of Sunset over Slawit
Amanda of That Teen Can Blog!
The Book Spot
Jena of Muse Books Reviews
Sarahbear9789 of Sarah's random musings
Liviania of In Bed with Books
Taren of The Chick Manifesto

Carol of Bookluver-Carol Reviews
simply_megan of Simply Books
Hope of Hope's Bookshelf
The Bookworm of Au Courant
Julie of Julie's Jewels
mari of Mari Reads.
Mrs. Yingling of Mrs. Yingling Reads
Em of Em's Bookshelf
Janette Rallison author of Just one Wish and My Fair Godmother
Tracy of Bookroomreviews

Natasha of Maw Books Blog
Trish of Hey Lady! Whatcha Readin'?
Fyrefly's Book Blog
Lana of A Hoyden's Look at Literature
Jill of Breaking the Spine and founder of Waiting on Wednesday
Emily of That One Girl Emily
Joy Hall
katayoun of Katayoun Massoudi
Violet of Violet Crush
Birdbrain(ed) Book Blog

Chainreader
Tower of Books
Charlotte of Charlotte's Library

Meredith of Meredith's Musings.

Amee of Bookity Book Books

Book~Adorer of Book~Adorer

Chick Lit Teens

Lillian Syville

Eli of nineseveneight book reviews

YA Book Nerd

The Compulsive Reader

John Marco author of the upcoming Starfinder

Wrighty of Wrighty Reads

Diana Dang of Stop, Drop and Read

jocelyn of Teen Book Review

Jenn of Jenn's Bookshelf

Heather J. of Age 30 Books

Paradox of Paradoxical

Readingjunky of Readingjunky's Reading Roost

Mariah of The Fanatic Reviewer

Ruth of Bookish Ruth

Sara of What a Girl Reads

Renay of YA Fabulous

The Literate Housewife

Shalonda of Shalonda's Blog

Harmony's Book Reviews

Reader Rabbit

Kathleen's Book Reviews

Speed Reader of My Favorite Author

Kelly of Bookfool

ArkieRN

Ginny

Scobberlotch

Heather Zundel

Angela Cerrito

Library Cat

Stephen
darbyscloset
Yan
Evie S.
AmandaSue

Thank you :)

A love letter to design books that inspire

We have a whole bookcase full of art and design books (which are technically the property of my graphic designer/illustrator husband Daniel - see his daily drawings blog here) so it was difficult for me to choose just five to highlight today, but these are the ones we are always pulling off the shelves and showing to guests and the ones we go back to time and time again.

The Creation: Pictures from the Book of Genesis by Christian Montenegro

Up-and-coming Argentinean illustrator Montenegro has painted some wonderfully strange compositions to accompany the text of Genesis including the creation story, the fall of man, the flood, the tower of Babel, Lot, and the patriarchs. The style brings a distinctly modern twist to the ancient stories, and it’s something I can get lost in for hours.

A Smile in the Mind by Beryl McAlhone & David Stuart

This book is all about witty thinking in graphic design and I often open its pages to get inspiration or just for fun. There are too many favorites for me to list here, but I’ll point out just one: have you ever taken a really close look at the FedEx logo to see the designer’s hidden bonus? Genius!

Lovemarks by Kevin Roberts

This sensational book about brands that connect so powerfully with consumers that they become lovemarks is written by the CEO of advertising giant Saatchi & Saatchi. He talks about brands that inspire loyalty beyond reason – everything from IKEA, to Apple, to Where the Wild Things Are - and the reasons that they do. Very enlightening and enjoyable reading.

The Art of the Incredibles by Mark Cotta Vaz

I love the “Art of” Pixar movies series from Chronicle Books where you get to see conceptual art and the illustration development process of making a film. In the Incredibles installment you learn tidbits like Edna Mode (the superhero costume designer) was originally supposed to be this imposing, sexy woman, and how it was she came to be only 3 ft tall.

Jim Henson’s Designs & Doodles: A Muppet Sketchbook by Alison Inches

This is exactly what the title says it is and it is fascinating to see early incarnations of childhood classics like Big Bird, Cookie Monster and Kermit the Frog. It’s also a biography of the artist himself – his influences, his successes and his creative genius.

What are some art and design books you enjoy reading and/or just looking at?