Book Giveaway Carnival Winners!

Random.org has spoken!

The two winners of signed copies of Thanks for the Memories are WordLily (confirmed) and Janie (confirmed).

The winner of Death by Bikini is Cynthia of Springmott Cottage (confirmed).

Thank you to everyone for entering - the response was HUGE! Remember more giveaways are coming up this month so there are more chances to win. See what other books I'm giving away here and keep checking back to see when the contests go live.

I am also excited that I won something this week: You Suck by Christopher Moore in audio book format from Serena at Savvy Verse & Wit. Thanks so much Serena - you ROCK!

Book Review: The Other Side of the Island by Allegra Goodman

Ever since Honor moved to Island 365 with her parents from the wild Northern Islands, she’s been noticing that her parents don’t quite fit in. Island life is peaceful and orderly since Earth Mother enclosed what land was still inhabitable after catastrophic weather terrorized the Earth. But her parents don’t worship Earth Mother like everyone else does, and they don’t follow the rules. And that scares Honor, because she learns that those who are unpredictable disappear – and they don’t come back.

I really liked the premise of this dystopia because the societal ills stem not from your usual far right nightmares, but from a militant form of tree hugging. Not that I’m not all for preserving our environment, but this novel asks at what cost? And the answers are chilling.

Author Allegra Goodman spends a large part of the narrative on world creation and does it fantastically well. I loved how she took well known speeches from our world such as The Lord’s Prayer and The Pledge of Allegiance and twisted them into Earth Mother propaganda. Even classic literature like the Wizard of Oz has been edited to fit Earth Mother’s agenda of predictability. The resulting society is scary and powerful enough that its’ agents are pretty much everyone – individual villains are quite beside the point.

Against this background Honor is realistically conflicted – she wants badly to fit in and for her parents to fit in, but she doesn’t want them to be taken or harmed. When the inevitable happens though, Honor wakes from her Earth Mother induced coma and comes out kicking for an edge of your seat climax and resolution not to be missed.

The Other Side of the Island is out now. Thanks to JL for her extreme generosity!

A love letter to some favorite classics

As I like to say, classics are classics for a reason - they are excellent literature. Even when it takes a big dose of will to actually start one, once you do, they invariably draw you in with their masterful plots and characters. Today I want to talk about a few of my favorites.

The Power and the Glory - Graham Greene

I still have an old 1966 Compass Books edition (only $1.65) that was my mother's with her notes in the margins. This was one of my mother's favorite books and is in my father's top 10. It's set in Mexico and follows a drunk priest on the run from anti-catholic forces who want to erradicate the church. It is a dark adventure story with a wonderfully complex and flawed main character, and though a bit slow in the beginning, it's a beautiful book that gets even better with subsequent readings.

The Awakening - Kate Chopin

I always say that every woman should read this, because it speaks to the female experience so eloquently. I was disturbed to see several one star reviews of this around the web that say essentially "Spoiled woman gets bored with her life and commits suicide" because that's exactly the sort of superficiality that Edna wanted so badly to escape. She says, "The bird that would soar above the level plain of tradition and prejudice must have strong wings. It is a sad spectacle to see the weaklings bruised, exhausted, fluttering back to earth." She tries to be a "bird with strong wings" and her affair with another man gives her an understanding: "She felt as if a mist had been lifted from her eyes, enabling her to look upon and comprehend the significance of life, that monster made up of beauty and brutality." But tragically, she is not as strong as she needs to be in the end.

Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad

I've read this numerous times and I'm always fascinated by the idea that when people live in a "civilized society" and never develop any personal morality beyond external restraints how quickly they succumb to "the horror" of total lawlessness. I have trouble understanding why anyone would think Conrad is racist here - he seems to me to hold the african natives in the Congo in higher regard than the Europeans who try to bring their "light" into the darkness (the narrator mentions an image of a blindfolded woman with a candle to drive this point home). A must read.

Middlemarch - George Eliot

The subtitle to this 19th century novel is "A Study of Provencial Life" and it really does go into the minutiae of ordinary lives which on the outset may sound kind of boring, but somehow Eliot manages to make us care so much about the characters that the narrative becomes excitingly suspenseful and incredibly moving. The main character, Dorothea, also struggles with adapting to the role that society has allotted her and is refreshingly aware of her failures but still tries to make the best of life.

The Stranger - Albert Camus

An ordinary man attends his mother's funeral in Algeria, accidently murders a man, and is sentenced to death - none of which seems to emotionally impact him. The court judges this lack of emotion harshly and the reader sees the whole thing as absurd. This is an experiment in existentialism and is ingenious in its seeming simplicity. Not a comfortable book to be sure, but certainly profound. (And by the way, this is another book that I have in English and in German - read that discussion from Tuesday here).

What are some of your favorite classics?

Book Giveaway: Death by Bikini by Linda Gerber

I have an extra copy of Linda Gerber's Death by Bikini to give away this week. It's the first book in a YA mystery series that continues with Death by Latte (also out now) and Death by Denim (to be released May 2009 - I can't wait!).

Want the book? Then just comment on this post and tell me why you should be the winner. I will give one extra entry if you comment on my review of Death by Bikini here and one extra entry if you comment on my review of Death by Latte here.

Since this is part of the Book Giveaway carnival going on over at Book Room Reviews this week, all entries must be received by midnight CST on November 9th. Also open internationally - just indicate that on your entry. Good luck!

PLUS: Check out this post to see all the books I am giving away the rest of November and make sure you come back for them. Oh, and enter my contest for 1 of 2 signed copies of Thanks for the Memories by Cecelia Ahern if you haven't already.

Book Review and Author Interview: Everything Beautiful in the World by Lisa Levchuk

Edna’s mother has cancer and the only good thing about that is people are willing to let her get away with pretty much anything. If she fails a test, is late, or misses tennis practice, everyone understands. What they wouldn’t understand is her illicit romance with her art teacher, the one thing that makes her feel happy lately. Not that she’s going to tell anyone – especially not her therapist who wants to convince her to visit her mother in the hospital. But she just can’t and no one is going to make her...

I was blown away by this book, pure and simple. Debut Author Lisa Levchuk manages to capture perfectly the feeling of being a teen that has a mother with cancer (and I should know). Edna’s voice is so raw and honest while still managing to be witty and endearing. You want to give her a hug at the same time you want to shake her and make her come to her senses.

The narrative tension is two-fold: Will she overcome her fear and visit her mother and will she and her teacher get caught? The novel is rich, deep, and ripe for discussion – from the characters relationships with one another (not just Edna’s relationship with her teacher but also with her distant father), to the pressures of small town life and the importance of music and art.

I found it absolutely beautiful. And I was lucky enough to get an interview with the author herself. So read on (no spoilers)...

This is your first book. Can you tell us a bit about the origin of the idea for the novel and your road to publication?
Everything Beautiful in the World began as a short story. I started writing it when I was in graduate school. At the time, my thesis advisor suggested that it might really be a novel. I had that idea in the back of my mind for quite some time before I sat down and wrote the book. It took many years and many false starts before I felt it was finished. The road to publication was quicker than the road to finishing the book.

Why did you set the novel in the early 1980’s instead of today?
Today’s world seems much more complicated to me, especially in terms of communication. I felt the story needed to take place in a time before cell phones and Facebook. I’m not sure I could see Edna using technology the way kids do today.

Music is discussed by the characters quite a bit in the novel. What was on your playlist while you wrote?
I have quite a bit of music on my playlist, but the albums that most inspired me to write were Cat Stevens’ Mona Bone Jackson , Outlandos D’Amour by The Police and Greetings from Asbury Park by Springsteen.

As a Young Adult novelist, do you read a lot of other YA novels? Which are your favorites?
I teach high school English and spend a great deal of time rereading classics. My favorite books about young adults are Jane Eyre and The Catcher in the Rye. I’m not sure if it’s a young adult book, but I recently read I book I liked very much by a writer named David Mitchell. It was about a teenage boy and it was titled Black Swan Green.

Ooh! I even reviewed that one on my blog. So tell us, do you have any other literary projects in the works?
Yes. I’m working on another book.

Great! Looking forward. Thanks for stopping by!

Everything Beautiful in the World is out in hardcover now. What are you waiting for? Go get it!

Waiting On Wednesday (7) My Fair Godmother by Janette Rallison

So I first saw this one over at The Story Siren's Books to Pine For. I am super excited about it because it incorporates two of my favorite things: fairy tales and time travel.

Here's the summary from the Bloomsbury Winter 2009 catalogue (it comes out January 2009):

After her boyfriend dumps her for her older sister, sophomore Savannah Delano wishes she could find a true prince to take her to the prom. Enter Chrissy (Chrysanthemum) Everstar: Savannah’s gum-chewing, cell phone–carrying, high heel-wearing Fair Godmother. Showing why she’s only Fair—because she’s not a very good fairy student—Chrissy mistakenly sends Savannah back in time to the Middle Ages, first as Cinderella, then as Snow White. Finally she sends Tristan, a boy in Savannah’s class, back instead to turn him into her prom-worthy prince. When Savannah returns to the Middle Ages to save Tristan, they must team up to defeat a troll, a dragon, and the mysterious and undeniably sexy Black Knight. Laughs abound in this clever fairy tale twist from a master of romantic comedy.

Charlotte of Charlotte's Library has already reviewed it and says "This is a great romp through the cliches, pitfalls, bitter realities and ultimate romantic triumphs of fairy tale land. I'd give this one to anyone who loved Gail Carson Levine's Ella Enchanted, or Sarah Beth Durst's Into the Wild."

Author Janette Rallison also has JUST ONE WISH coming out in March 2009 from Putnam and that one is in my TBR pile. I can only hope MY FAIR GODMOTHER will soon join it!

Help! My iTunes shuffle has taken over my life (meme)

I was tagged by Eli of nineseveneight for this fun, nonsensical meme:

1. Put Your iTunes, Windows Media Player, Winamp, etc on shuffle.
2. For each question, press the next button to get your answer.
3. YOU MUST WRITE THAT SONG NAME DOWN NO MATTER HOW SILLY IT SOUNDS.
4. Put the artist after a dash following the song name.
5. Put any comments in brackets.
6. Tag some lucky people to spread the disease.

How would you describe yourself?
Karma Police - Radiohead [Hardly.]

How do you feel today? Whole Lotta Trouble - Cracker

What is your life’s purpose? Take me to Riot--Stars [Ha Ha!]

What is your motto? Swing, Swing - The All American Rejects

What do you think about very often? What's a Girl to do? - Bat for Lashes

What is your life story? Pace is the Trick - Interpol [So true]

What do you want to be when you grow up? Baker, Baker - Tori Amos [I do bake some excellent chocolate chip cookies]

What will you dance to at your wedding? So Pure - Alanis Morrisette [I don't think this was on our playlist at our wedding, but it's not a bad choice]

What will they play at your funeral? You'll Never Walk Again - Gene [Umm.. no kidding!]

What is your hobby/interest? The Mummer's Dance - Lorena McKennitt

If you could do anything right now, what would it be? Red Rubber Ball - Cyrkle [Ok, that doesn't make much sense]

What do you want most of all? Fly Away - Poe

What is your greatest fear? The World Has Turned and Left Me Here - Weezer [Wow, that's pretty accurate]

What is your darkest secret? Middle Distance Runner - Seawolf [That's right, I secretly run all the time - be afraid, be very afraid!]

What is your favorite thing in the world? Skankill Butchers - The Decemberists [Not!]

If you could have one wish, what would you wish for? Supergirl - Reamon

What is your theme song? Goodnight and Go - Imogen Heap

The next time you hear this song (aside from now, that is), you must dance. Sink to the Bottom - Fountains of Wayne [Can I just tap my toe instead?]

What will you post this as? Highwayman - Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson, Waylon Jennings, Johnny Cash

I tag:

Linda aka my aunt (because she loves things like this)
Steph aka Reviewer X of awesomeness (because I want her to stop NaNo-ing)
Amy aka mega creative author of Dust of 100 Dogs (because I am very interested in what she has on her iTunes)

and anyone else who wants to!

Library Thing Tuesday (26) + Pic of Emmy

Today's question: Work multiples. Do you own multiple copies of any books? Which ones? Why? Can you share your list?

I own three copies of Gabriel Garcia Marquez's Chronicle of a Death Foretold. One is the Spanish language version which is still in storage in my father's garage so I can't say what edition it is. The second copy (Ballantine Mass Market Paperback 1984) I got in college from a used book store and the third copy (Penguin Trade Paperback 2007) I bought for Daniel to read not realizing I had the second copy...oops! Daniel seems to be finding a bit difficult (he's still on page 14) so maybe we'll be getting a fourth copy - in German.




Daniel has a beat up old copy of Tomi Ungerer's Die Drei Raueber (The Three Robbers) from his childhood and at the Frankfurt book fair I saw that Phaidon is doing a reprint English language version coming out in February 2009. I will definitely be getting this as Ungerer is awesome.

EDITED TO ADD: It seems I also have three copies of The Little Prince. One in French and two in German (I had one and Daniel had one). None in English though. And I also have a couple of language versions of Beauty and the Beast (Disney) including Danish, French, and English AND a couple of The Very Hungry Catepillar including Japanese, German and English.

********************************************

Today we have a blast from the past - a picture of Emmy at 7 weeks old with her mother. Her mother is lilac point, but otherwise they look very similar! And Emmy still loves to do poses like this.

Book Review and Contest: Thanks for the Memories by Cecelia Ahern

Justin, an American professor of architecture guest lecturing in Dublin, donates blood. Joyce, an Irish estate agent, gets a blood transfusion and starts to know things about architecture she couldn’t know, remembers places she’s never been, and has dreams about a blonde child she’s never met. An intriguing premise to be sure, and Author Cecelia Ahern pulls it off admirably.

Considering a part of him flows through her veins, Joyce becomes justifiably obsessed with finding Justin. And after a couple of chance encounters between the two strangers, Justin becomes obsessed with finding Joyce, not knowing she’s the one who received his blood. As per typical chick-lit convention, the two are kept apart as long as possible, with lots of screwball scenes (the one where Joyce and her father are on Antiques Roadshow in London being my favorite) and random obstacles to overcome.

Apart from the main plot, the novel also has a deeper side. Both Justin and Joyce are separated and are ready for but also wary of new romantic relationships. Joyce has suffered a devastating miscarriage and is still not over the death of her mother 10 years before. Much of the narrative explores her complex relationship with her elderly father and how they depend on each other despite their differences. Aherns ruminates on the passage of time and making the most of life.

If you’d like a chance to read this book before it’s out in the states (it is already out in the UK and Canada), comment on this post and you could win one of two SIGNED paperbacks. Anyone worldwide can enter, but please indicate International in your comment if you aren’t in the US or Canada. Extra entries will be given to anyone who comments on any of my posts this week, including my review of Moonstone from yesterday. And remember, PLEASE leave a way for me to contact you if you win.

This contest is part of the Book Giveaway carnival going on over at Book Room Reviews this week and will be open until November 9th. After you enter my contest, go on over and check out all the contests held by other book bloggers.

PLUS: Check out this post to see all the books I am giving away the rest of November and make sure you come back for them.

Book Review: Moonstone by Marilee Brothers

15 year old Allie’s life is already pretty abnormal. She lives in a travel trailer with her deadbeat mother, her best friend is the elderly town “witch” and she has a crush on a former gang member. But her life gets even weirder after an accident with an electrical fence sets off her psychic powers, she inherits a powerful moonstone and learns about a prophesy that names her as a “star seeker” who must save the world from evil.

I really liked the flippant, almost campy tone of this book. Allie was very likeable and it was surprisingly easy to identify with her plight despite the paranormal aspects of the book. Junior is a nicely complex love interest and the relationship between Allie and her mother rang true. I wish the villains had been more than vaguely menacing, but otherwise, this first book in the Unbidden Magic series was a very enjoyable read.

If this sounds good to you, you're in luck! The Book Muncher is giving away two copies of the book here. Contest ends on Saturday, November 8th so enter now!