Bloghopping Challenge

As I was reading through J.Kaye's latest blog posts, her spotlight on Alpha Heroes blog and her bloghopping challenge caught my eye.

So I decided to join the fun. The idea is to visit 10 blogs you never have before and leave comments on posts that interest you. Go here for full list of instructions.

Here's my trail:

Left a comment on Alpha Heroes bloghopping post. What a fun idea! It's a romance blog, a genre I haven't read for a long time.

Chose Allison's Attic of Books at random from the BBAW list. She's a Tuesday Thinger, so I may have been here before.

Chose 5 Minutes for Books from Allison's blogroll as it was the most recently updated. I see they host the What's On Your Bookshelf carnival. Maybe I'll join in for September.

Clicked over to Rebecca Reads through her comment on Carrie's Unique Children's Books post. She has a post about Sandra Boynton's books and I commented that I like Barnyard Dance. I buy it for many of my friends' kids.

Clicked on Naked Without Books on Rebecca's blogroll. Commented on the post about Dewey's Readathon October 18th which I won't be able to join because of the Frankfurt Book Fair.

Lizzy's Literary Life called to me from Bybee's blogroll. She has a great review of The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, a classic short story. Gotta read this one soon - thanks Lizzy!

Love German Books was on Lizzy's blogroll so I just had to click over. This is a neat discovery for me - someone writing about German books in English. Especially since I have pledged to read more books in German. She has posted an interview with Julia Franck, last year's German Book Prize winner for Mittagsfrau (a book I picked up at last year's Frankfurt Book Fair but haven't read yet), about her book being translated into other languages.

Went back to the BBAW list and picked I Smell Books because of the blog title. I commented on her review of Sarah Addison's The Sugar Queen. She also did a post mentioning her favorite blogs and from her list I picked...

Lit Chick. She apparently has free book friday and her latest giveaway is for The House at Riverton by Kate Morton which I really want to read. So I entered the contest.

I then end my exploration of 10 new blogs at One Minute Book Reviews where I read a couple of her reviews but discover I can't leave a comment because I don't have a WordPress account.

What new blogs have you discovered lately?

Library Thing Tuesday (20) + Pic of Emmy

Today's Question: Favorite Authors. Who do you have named in your LT account as favorite authors? Why did you choose them? How many people share your choices? Can you share a picture of one of them?

My Answer: The following are listed as my favorite authors on Library Thing:

Margaret Atwood, Douglas Coupland, Jasper Fforde, Sebastien Japrisot, Barbara Kingsolver, David Mitchell, Joyce Carol Oates, Daniel Handler, Melissa Walker, Scott Westerfeld.

If an author is on this list it means I have read at least 3 of their books, enjoyed them and would be interested in reading more books by this author. There are many other authors I like a lot but have only read two (or one) of their books so far and I sort of made 3 my rule.

I share at most 3 of the 10 with other members. I am the only one to have Melissa Walker as a favorite so here's her awesome picture.

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We enjoyed our trip to Goerlitz (very beautiful old town on the border with Poland), Dresden and Erfurt (where we had a tour of the largest freestanding bell in the world - so big that all 8 people on our tour could fit under it).

Emmy quickly made herself at home at the catsitter. My friend Charlotte T. sent me a text picture message with the following picture, saying she'd have to bill me for the downtime caused by bad kitty:

Book Review: The Heretic's Daughter by Kathleen Kent

Puritan New England in the late 1600s was a hard place to live. People feared many things including Indian attacks, smallpox outbreaks, and acts of nature that could destroy livelihoods in the space of a few hours. Outsiders and people who spoke their minds were suspect. Martha Carrier was both, and the witch trials that began in nearby Salem would soon claim her as a victim as well.

The story is told through the eyes of 10 year old Sarah Carrier who has such a great character introduction: “I approached the world with suspicion, and because I was not pretty or pliable, I was not doted upon. I often challenged my betters and was therefore often chastised vigorously with a slotted spoon we children had named Iron Bessie.” Sarah, like many of the townspeople is at odds with her difficult, proud mother but comes to love and respect her during the course of the novel’s events.

More than half of the book explores the climate of the time, showing how a combination of small slights, neighborly disputes, spite and misguided religious furor could lead to something as monumentally wrong as the imprisonment and hanging of a great number of innocent people. The latter portion of the novel concerns the witch trials and the despicable conditions of 17th century prisons.

It’s well researched historical fiction with a compelling narrative and a sympathetic narrator. Plus the author has a special reason to tell the tale and do it justice – she’s a tenth generation descendant of Martha Carrier.

I read this as part of a Blog Stops Book Tour so head over there to read reviews from other bloggers.

The Heretic's Daughter is out now in hardcover.

Read My Lips winners

I have already alerted the lucky winners, gotten their addresses and sent the books off to their new homes.

Congrats Dominque of The Book Vault and Traci S. of Traci's Book Bag!

Everyone else, head over to Linda Gerber's launch party for Death by Latte (which I reviewed here) for a another chance to win Read My Lips and other great books. There are many chances to win, but only if you comment by Monday evening September 22nd (that's tomorrow!).

Funny Stories about Work (contest)

Rebecca aka The Book Lady is having a contest to pick the funniest work story and I'm one of the 5 finalists. My story is #4 The Joys of Customer Service. Read it and the other 4 finalists here and then vote for your favorite. The winner gets a Barnes & Noble gift card and that's something you all know I could really use. Poll closes tonight just before midnight so go vote now.
Enjoy!

EDITED TO ADD: I won - and with 51% of the vote. Thanks for reading. Now I have the agonizing decision of what books to buy with the gift card I won from Rebecca and the gift card I won last week from Shauna at Reading and Ruminations.

Book Review: Savvy Girl by Lynn Messina

Between my junior and senior years of high school I attended a journalism camp and won a position as a teen columnist for the Dayton Daily News. Every month during my senior year I was given an assignment and a deadline. Things went great at first, but towards the end of the school year, the pressures of school got to me, and I missed a deadline. Uh oh, and bye, bye job!

In Savvy Girl, Chrissy has won an internship at her favorite magazine – Savvy – and a chance to become their teen columnist for a year. All she has to do is turn her first column in on time (well, and beat out the other interns). But instead of working on her column, Chrissy gets caught up in the glamorous life of going to parties and hanging out with beauty editor and former model Jessica. Will she buckle down and set her priorities straight before it’s too late?

Savvy Girl is a quick read and gives an fascinating inside look at the magazine world (Author Lynn Messina used to work at In Style among other publications) and the life of a lowly intern (yep, a lot of time spent stuffing envelopes). The wisdom it imparts on the way the working world works is perfect for newbies and teens (but maybe not that relevant to older readers).

As a character study though, it didn’t quite work for me. Chrissy is an eager overachiever who finds herself in over her head in the Savvy world, but I didn’t feel like I really got inside her head. Supporting characters like a best friend whose parents are divorcing, a hot intern at another magazine, and a potential love interest for her best friend are even more elusive.

Savvy Girl is out now in paperback.

BBAW Blogger Interview: Literary Escapism

Thanks to BBAW, I got to meet and interview Jackie from Literary Escapism. She has a very cool blog that features a lot of urban fantasy and paranormal romance - both genres I have yet to explore. She also interviewed me on her blog which you can check out here.

So Jackie, tell us a little about yourself. How did you get involved writing book reviews?

I am a 28 year old stay at home mom with an 18 month old son. I've been married for 5 years this October and my husband and I still enjoy spending our nights together sitting on the couch with our laptops. It's actually kind of amusing. We're in a chat room with a lot of our friends and even though we're sitting next to each other, we'll have conversations strictly online. My son is quite active and loves to be outside whenever he gets a chance, so I've been getting a lot of fresh air this summer and I'm starting to worry how he'll take to being indoors more this winter.I love to read and I could easily do it for a living if I knew how.

I also love to travel. I've been lucky enough to visit Costa Rica and Mexico during college and I would love to go back to Mexico. I was able to spend 6 months going to school in Guadalajara and it is an amazing city. I'm planning a trip to Argentina with my sister, at least I hope I am, and we're thinking of going in 2010. I have a degree in Spanish and International Relations, yet I have no idea how to use it now. My original plan was to go into the US State Department and work with their embassies, but my husband doesn't like to travel as much as I do, so I've had to re-evaluate my plans. Now I'm really interested in Bilingual Education and would love to go back for my Masters in Education.

I got involved writing book reviews the easiest way there is...I wanted to share my opinions. Originally, I was just posting my reviews on my everyday blog, but it got to a point where my blog had nothing but reviews on it and my husband made a comment how not everyone reads the same kind of novels as I do. So I decided to start up a new blog. At first, it was just someplace where I could do my reviews and hope people would see it and share their thoughts. Then I realized that people were actually reading it and it was giving me something more to do, kind of taking the place of a job I didn't have. I've been staying home with my son since he was born and I'm not the type of person who likes to be bored. My daily life started getting very monotonous and once I got involved in Literary Escapism, it gave me a chance to escape for a little bit.

Who are your favorite authors? What are your favorite novels?

I have a lot of favorite authors since it all depends on my mood at the time. One author that I will go out and buy the hardcover novels is Diana Gabaldon. I love her Outlander series. I'm also a huge fan of Jeaniene Frost (Nighthuntress), Karen Chance (Cassandra Palmer), Laurell K Hamilton (Anita Blake and Meredith Gentry), Patricia Briggs (Mercedes Thompson), and Jenna Black (Mogan Kingsly). I grew up reading a lot of romance novels, so I also enjoy Nora Roberts, Julia Quinn, Jane Feather, and Linda Lael Miller.

What genre do you prefer to read and why?

Right now I'm really into reading Urban Fantasy or anything in paranormal fiction. I love the idea that the monsters walk among us and our reality isn't always what it seems like. If vampires or magic were to actually exist, what would the world be like? Would it be chaotic or would people just shrug and go on with their lives. It's amusing to read each authors take on how the world would react to the presence of the supernatural. Not only that, but each author has their own twist to our reality that new two authors would have the same world. Regardless of which novel I pick up, as long as they are two different authors, I'll always be jumping into a new world where there are new possibilities and new characters to meet.

If you were only allowed to recommend one novel, what would it be and why?

This is kind of tricky for me since I rarely recommend only one novel. A lot of times, when I try and recommend something to someone, I'll ask what they prefer because something I love may not be what they like. For instance, if someone loves werewolves, they wouldn't be as interested in Jeaniene Frost's Night Huntress series since it involves vampires and ghouls. However, if I had to recommend something without talking to someone first, it would definitely be Jeaniene Frost. I love her Night Huntress series. There's just something about them that make them stand out in my head. The writing is wonderful, her characters make you care about them, and all of the situations are fun yet they still have a dangerous quality to them. She only has the two novels out so far, but I continuously re-read them whenever I get a chance.Other than Frost, if anyone wants to know what else I would recommend, it would definitely be this - http://www.literaryescapism.com/2008/05/26/197/

What is a book reading experience that really stands out in your mind?

I think the one experience that stands out right now is when I found Jeaniene Frost's Halfway to the Grave. Whenever I go into the grocery store, I always browse the book section to see what they have. I kept seeing Frost's book and finally one day I picked it up. I was looking for something new and the cover kept catching my eye. Halfway to the Grave grabbed me so quickly that I think I had it finished within one night. Once I finished it, I started looking for more from her and was disappointed when I realized I was going to have to wait.

What are 5 books that are on your wishlist right now?

How about 5 series that are on my list, since I don't have any of them right now...
Katie Chandler series by Shanna Swendson - There are currently 4 novels, but her publisher is waiting to see what the sales are like before contracting for a fifth novel. I really want the fifth novel though.
The Black Jewels series by Anne Bishop - This actually starts out as a trilogy, but Bishop has been adding to the series.
Study series by Maria Snyder - These just captivated me from the moment I picked them up. This was another series I saw at the grocery store, but since they were in trade paperback format, I didn't buy them. There are currently three, but she's working on another one.
The Werecats series by Rachel Vincent - Another great series that I stumbled upon and have been kicking myself for not buying.
Mona Lisa series by Sunny - This series is actually a new twist to the whole shapeshifter idea and I like it. I'm still reading the novels that are out, but I'm really hoping to get them some day.

Name a couple of book blogs that you like to visit. What makes them so special? One blog I watch pretty closely in Amberkatze's Book Blog (http://amberkatze-amberkatze.blogspot.com/). The two of us seem to have pretty similar tastes in novels and it's really rare that I don't like a book she's recommended. Now there was a time that happened, but it was a book in a series we both liked (Undead and Unworthy by MJ Davidson), but Amber lives in Austria, while I'm in the US, and we both had different covers. I'm of the firm belief that the covers are the reason for our disagreement.

Another site is American Bibliophile (http://americanbibliophile.com/). I was friends with one of the brains behind this project and she asked me to join it a couple of years ago, where I ended up meeting her sister. They actually gave me my first taste at book reviewing and I had a lot of fun with it. We really don't have the same preference in novels, but I'm always curious what's being reviewed over there.

Here are a few others I enjoy: Vampire Wire (http://www.vampirewire.blogspot.com/), Urban Fantasy Land (http://urbanfantasyland.wordpress.com/), Bitten by Books (http://bittenbybooks.com/), Darque Reviews (http://darquereviews.blogspot.com/), and Sidhe Vicious Book Reviews (http://sidhevicious.wordpress.com/). All five of these sites have really good reviews and interviews going on all the time. There's always something fun to read.

Who is someone you really appreciate?

My husband. Cheesy and corny I know, but he puts up with my reading addiction so well. When it comes to books, I have no will power and I often buy books when I shouldn't. It gets on his nerves, but he knows this is something I enjoy doing and it's been helping me mentally while I stay at home with our son. He has also been totally supportive of Literary Escapism and has been trying to help me come up with ways to make it even better. He's even been helping me by writing a few reviews on books I normally wouldn't read. At the beginning, I was using Blogger has my review site, but once I determined that I wanted something a little more polished, and moved to Wordpress, he went out and bought my domain for me as a surprise. I love my husband dearly and I so wouldn't be able to do this without his support.

So sweet! Thanks, Jackie. I'll have to check out a few of your recommendations since I really know nothing about your preferred genre.

Library Thing Tuesday (19) + Pic of Emmy

Today's Question: Have you ever added a quote to the quotation field in common knowledge? What's a quote you particularly like from a book, one that you know by heart?

My answer: I have not added any quotes, though maybe I should start doing that. If a particular quote strikes me while I'm reading, I'll often add it to my review of the book, so it wouldn't take too much effort to add it there as well.

I used to have a notebook full of literary quotations that I loved (it's probably in storage now). I was inspired to start it by the movie "Dead Poet's Society". My favorite literary quote from that movie (one that I know by heart) is from Tennyson's poem Ulysses:

"...Come, my friends,

`Tis not too late to seek a newer world...

for my purpose holds

To sail beyond the sunset,...

and tho' We are not now that strength which in old days

Moved earth and heaven,

that which we are, we are;

One equal temper of heroic hearts,

Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will

To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield."

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This week, looks like Emmy doesn't want to be left behind on our trip to Dresden (we leave tomorrow for 3 days and she'll have to go to our neighbor's place):

Book Review: Living Dead Girl by Elizabeth Scott

I love to read fiction that allows me to really get inside a character’s head and gain a deeper understanding of some aspect of the human condition, even if it takes me to some disturbing places. In Living Dead Girl, Elizabeth Scott gives us an intimate portrait of Alice, a sexual abuse victim so terrorized by a kidnapper she’s been forced to live with from age 10 to 15 that she’s all but given up on life. When he sets his sights on a much younger girl, Alice sees her chance to escape her living nightmare of daily rape, beatings and starvation. But if she helps him as he demands, will she lose the last shred of human dignity she has left?

This is a heavy, heartbreaking novel, but one that reinforces my belief that the human spirit finds ways to triumph even in the face of great evil. Short and spare, yet powerful and moving, Alice’s story lingers long after the last page is turned.

Living Dead Girl is out now.

Book Review and Contest: Read My Lips by Teri Brown

Ah, the things we do to be popular. After all, isn’t it nicer to be liked than to be ignored or ridiculed? Serena is deaf, so she knows what it’s like to be an outsider. But her disability has also enabled her to develop a superpower of sorts – she can read lips, even at a distance, with 85% accuracy. And when she moves to a new school and girls from an exclusive sorority promise her popularity in exchange for some juicy gossip, Serena is very tempted. But she’s also made friends with fellow outsider (and hottie) Miller who doesn’t like the sorority’s catty ways. Is it possible to be popular, get the guy AND be true to herself?

Serena comes off as a surprisingly well adjusted teen, and she deals so well with her disability that it doesn’t seem to slow her down much. Ok, so she has to be extra careful crossing the street, she can’t enjoy loud music and she doesn’t like for people to touch her ears, but in many ways she lives the life of a typical high school student. And like most teens, she wants badly to fit in. Her struggle to find a way to do this without losing her integrity and individuality makes for compelling reading. And the gossip she uncovers is fun too – it’s amazing what people say when they think no one is listening (or reading lips).

Though many of the supporting characters feel very stock – the mean cheerleader, the overprotective mom, the dumb sidekicks to the queen bees, the brooding loner, etc., there were a couple originals who stole all the scenes they were in – the preppy yet independent Darcy who warns Serena against letting herself become a carbon copy of everyone else, and Aunt Shirley, a former sorority girl turned supermom and animal activist.

It’s a fun, light read with a great narrative hook. And in honor of Book Blogger Appreciation Week, I am giving away two copies to my readers. The contest is open until Friday September 19th at noon CST and the winners must get me their shipping information within 24 hrs or forfeit their prize.

For one entry, just leave a comment. If you are not in the US or Canada, you must indicate international shipping in your comment to be eligible.

For a second entry, e-mail me at lenoreva AT hotmail DOT com and tell me on what body part Author Teri Brown got a Read My Lips tattoo in honor of her book launch. Check her party posts from June on her blog (http://tjbrown.blogspot.com/) for the answer.