Mail Box Monday June 1st.

Hosted by Marcia at the Printed Page.

Check out her post and all the participants. You will get to view a lot of incoming new books and get a lot of feedback. I love Mailbox Monday because it starts the week off with BOOK BUZZ!!!!


This week I got a copy of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society from Random house. It is a paperback copy. Kind of nice. I bought the book in hard cover. (Do I smell a giveaway?) I do think so! I just have to decide which one I want to keep.. the one I bought used, hard cover.. or the spanking new tidy little cool paperback. Decisions.. Decisions.

This is what I got last week.

I got One Deadly Sin, Annie Solomonn from a Hachette Giveaway on a blog that will get special mention soon... I am having a momentary lapse of memory. I am so sorry about that. You know how you want to win a book and then you enter a few places.... and then you WIN!!.. and it all becomes a blur?? I have that email saved and I will make special mention some day SOON!!

Alas.. Here is where I won the book!! So Many Books, So Little Time. Thank you so much!!! Check out her blog!!

I felt like I got more books this week... humm..... but I am looking around and don't see more in the pile. I sort of covet the new comers by my bed... like being a little girl and wanting to sleep in new shiny pink or red shoes. Awh the simple things.. I am like that with books.. I kind of want to take them with me too. Awh.. good times!!

Winner Who By Fire - and Thank You IOU's

And the winner is.............. Linda from monkeybizness
Congrats! I will email you tonight. The book is on the envelope waiting to be mailed out. (yes.. it is a recycled envelope.. I do that).


I know.. I know.. I.O.U. I owe you all thanks and award acknowledgments.
I got some neat awards this week. I got over to thank some of you. I haven't gotten to everyone. It is always so nice to get a comment with an award and get that special love. I just wanted you all to know that I appreciate it and it makes my day to be thought of in blog land.

Busy times. ... I will be participating in the Secrets to Happiness Tour and The Host Tours. Coming soon... there WILL be giveaways.. so tune in.

Back to the IOU's.. I owe a lot of comments too.. so mark my words.... I will be out pestering you all this week in blog land as well.

Happy Summer Days to all.

Blog Tour - The Mating Rituals of the North American WASP by

Welcome to the Blog tour for Mating Rituals of the North American WASP,
by Lauren Lipton
Miriam from Hachette is our organizer and provided review copies. Thank you!

About the book:
After arguing with her live-in boyfriend about his inability to commit, Peggy Adams flies to a friend's bachelorette party in Las Vegas, and wakes up next to a man she can't remember. Hung-over and miserable, she sneaks out of the sleeping man's hotel room and returns home to New York, where her boyfriend apologizes for the fight and gives her a Tiffany box containing a pre-engagement ring. Not what she expected, but close enough! The next day she receives a phone call from the Las Vegas one-night stand, Luke, claiming she's already married to him¬-and he faxes her the license for proof! Both are ready for an annulment, until Peggy arrives in quaint New Nineveh, CT, where Luke cares for his Great Aunt, and the old woman makes Peggy an offer she can't refuse.

About the Author:
Lauren Lipton is a journalist who specializes in lifestyle, business, fashion, and trend stories. Her work has appeared in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Conde Nast Portfolio, In Style Weddings, Martha Stewart Weddings, Forbes Woman, Glamour, Marie Claire, and on National Public Radio's All Things Considered. She lives in New York City and in Litchfield County, Connecticut.

Category:FICTION

Format:TRADE PAPERBACK

Publish Date:5/29/2009

Price:$13.99/$15.50

ISBN:9780446197977

Pages :368

Size:5-1/4" x 8"

Where to buy the book - Click here


My Review:

I had fun with this book! Great fun and light summer reading. I think the whole premise of waking up in Vegas married to a stranger sets the stage for a lot of fun. Talk about your Bachelorette party suprise of a lifetime! I had fun with the stereo-types of the WASP's through out the book. The characters are likable and the story weaves back and forth from New York to Connecticut leaving Peggy in a sense with a man in every town and then some. Aunt Abigal is a little bonus spark in the book and I found the parts with her in it cute and zesty! This is just a great book to grab and throw into your backpack, or beach bag and have fun with.

Check out some of the blog tour participants. (This is just a random grabful... there are a these and a bunch more so check them out today for reviews and giveaways!)

http://diaryofaneccentric.blogspot.com/
http://savvyverseandwit.blogspot.com/
http://purplg8r-somanybooks.blogspot.com/
http://luanne-abookwormsworld.blogspot.com/
http://www.thebookzombie.com/
http://thetometraveller.blogspot.com/
http://www.bermudaonion.wordpress.com/
http://bookinwithbingo.blogspot.com/
http://peekingbetweenthepages.blogspot.com/
http://www.readingwithmonie.com/
http://www.sheistoofondofbooks.com/
http://kayespenguinposts.blogspot.com/
http://bookslovejessicmarie.blogspot.com

Mailbox Monday - 5/25/2009

Mailbox Monday

Hosted by Marcia at the Printed Page.

This week I got:

The Beach Trip, by Cathy Holton from Lisa at Books on the Brain. (Please join in for a book discussion on June 16th of this book)


HAPPILY EVER AFTER DIVORCE: NOTES OF A JOYFUL JOURNEY by Jessica Bram from
Sarah Hausman at Meryl L. Moss Media Relations, Inc


The Turnaround, By George Pelecanos from Jenn's Bookshelf.



What was in your mailbox this week.

The Reader - Movie Review - Non spoiler

Happy Sunday!

I wanted to throw down my two cents for The Reader. I watched the movie last night while knitting socks. It was mesmerizing and I often just stopped knitting and watched the movie in a sort of quiet yet engaged state of mind.

I thought the story was moving and haunting. The subject matter was thick and thought provoking. Kate Winslet (Hanna) and Ralph Fiennes (Michael) did a remarkable job with the acting. As well as David Kross who plays the younger Michael who gets caught up in an affair with an older women one summer post WWII 1958.

The story has everything to do with the effects of an evil regime and it's lasting effects on it's victims and I am not just talking about those murdered and those who survived. I am talking about those that were are part of it and the emotional scars the carried and prisoners that they took along the way in the years after the war.

The movie flashes from different time points in time from 1958 to more current times. It is really well done and it unfolds perfectly. The story of Hanna and Michael is told in a very emotional and dramatic way.

The movie is adult-themed with a very high content of nudity and sexual content. I could give the plot summary but you really have to see it (or read) it to get it it is much deeper than a plot summary could imply. Hours after watching the show I am still thinking about the movie.

Click Here to see the Fandango overview, cast photos and trailers.

Hachette Audio Book Giveaway - Cemetary Dance

William Smithback, a NY Times reporter, and his wife Nora Kelly, a Museum of Natural History archaeologist, are brutally attacked in their apartment on the Upper West side of Manhattan. Eyewitnesses claim and the security camera confirms the killer seen leaving the building was their strange, sinister neighbor--a man who, by all reports, was already dead.

Captain Hayward leads the official homicide investigation, while Pendergast, D'Agosta, and Nora undertake a private quest for the truth. Their serpentine journey takes them into a part of Manhattan they never imagined could exist: a secretive and deadly hotbed of Obeah, the West Indian Zombii cult of sorcery and magic. And it is here they find their true peril is just beginning.

Special thanks to Anna from Hachette Book Group for this great giveaway.
For more book details click here.
Giveaway Details:

I have three copies to giveaway.
No P.O. Boxes / must be 18 or older to enter / US and Canada only.

For one entry just leave a comment on this post with your email.

If you want 5 entries then come back and visit my blog on May 27th. I am participating in a blog tour for The Mating Rituals of the North American WASP. You have to leave a comment on my review and that will get you five entries.

Comments allowed through June 6th at midnight. Winners announced Sunday June 7th.

Drood, by Dan Simmons - Audio

Read by: Simon Prebble.
Click Here for more info. (where to buy, audio clips, etc.)

I think most of my blog readers and friends know by now that I loved the book Drood, by Dan Simmons. I read Drood, by Dan Simmons as part of a February Blog Tour and the book was amazing. I was all to excited to get the audio version also. When I finished Drood, I was rather bummed. I loved latching on to that book and was sad that it was over. So the audio came just in time to let me relive my favorite Drood moments.

Drood Audio
One word review: Fantastic.

Okay, Toni elaborate please! I can not say enough of it. The reader, Simon Prebble does a perfect job of reading. The accent, tone and attitude is spot on for me. I have it in my car and I listen to it often. Even listening to it more than once! This is an abridged version and because I read the book, I do notice the missing bits here and there. But I still feel that the whole story and effect can be realized from from the audio.

I maintain that Drood is an instant classic, superbly written and will continue to fascinate and entertain audiences for a long time.

Thank you all the nice people at Hachette books for providing review copies of the book and the audio. Also for allowing me to Host Giveaways for the books.

Cheers and here's to keeping Drood alive at my house and in my car!

Mailbox Monday May 18th 2009

Mailbox Monday
Hosted by Marcia at the Printed Page.













I got this hound dog mailbox photo from Novelty Mailboxes.


Thank you for stopping by. Here is my Mailbox
Mr. Popper's Penguins, Richard and Florence Atwater - from Anna at Hachette book group.




The Girl Who Stopped Swimming, Joshily Jackson - from Valerie at Hachette book Group.


The Host, Stephenie Meyers - from Miriam at Hachette Book Group. Check back on June 13th and I will be hosting a Tour for the Host!

Giveaway - Who By Fire, A Novel by Diana Spechler

It is way past time for A Circle of Books to have a De-stashing Giveaway. I have been meaning to do this once a month or more. I want to give away books that I have read as well as ones that I have reviewed. I also want to pass ones on that I think are a unique reading experience.

I am pleased to pass on my gently read once copy of Who By Fire. I was sent this book by the author and now it is my pleasure to pass it along.

Rules:

• Leave a comment on this post with your email address. This will get you one entry.
• Become a follower or current followers will get an extra entry. That would be two entries.
• Blog or tweet about the contest and get five total entries.
• Open to US and Canada Only. Sorry about that for now.
• No P.O. Boxes.

Leave your comment by May 30Th. Winners to be announced on June 1st.

Please check here for my thoughts on the book.

Winners!!

We have winners!

Giveaway #1 (2 copies)
Happens Every Day, Isabel Gillies
The winners are:

Scottsgal and
Alyce from At Home with Books

If you missed my post check out the book details here:

Thank you Katrina from Wiredset for offering A Circle of Books this giveaway.



Giveaway #2 (3 copies)
Mr. Popper's Penguins
The winners are:


Trin from Blood Bad Book Blog
Bermudiaonion from Bermudiaonion's Weblog
And
Susan.

Thanks to Anna from Hachette Book Group
for this awesome audio giveaway.

Congrats to all- I will email you tonight or tomorrow. Otherwise... feel free to email me with your address. (PS, if you have won before... I won't have your address... I delete, delete, delete). Your books will come from the publishers. I wait to have all winners before I send the mailing info.

Thanks for all the comments and for following. Please keep following. I have a lot of book news, giveaways and reviews to share. With At least 3 blog tours in the next month!!

Mailbox Monday 5/11/2009

Hosted by Marcia at the Printed Page.

Okay so this is the result of three weeks. So I had a very nice 2 books / week coming in. I like this pace. I can read 2.5 books a week!

Here is my Mailbox

Annie's Ghosts, A Journey into a Family Secret, by Steve Luxenberg from FSB Associates. (Thank you Julie)

Secrets to Happiness, by Sarah Dunn From Miriam at Hachette Book Group (Thank yo Miriam)

Mating Rituals of the North American WASP, by Lauren Lipton from Miriam at Hachette Book Group ( Thank you Miriam)

Everyone is Beautiful, by Katherine Center, from Dar at Peeking between the Pages ( thank you Dar... I won..I won)

A Flickering Light, by Jane Kirkpatrick from Library Thing Early Bird Reviewers. (Thank you Abbey)

Testimony, by Anita Shreve from Valerie at Hachette Book Group. ( Thank you Valerie)

Yesterday's Embers, by Deborah Raney from Library Thing Early Bird Reviewers. (Thank you Abbey)

Winners - The girl Who Stopped Swimming

Jo-Jo
Felicia
Ladytink
Mommyjen99
Janetfaye

Congrats to the winners!

Check out the Authors web-site. It is awesome. I am sure you will find excellent summer reading on this site!!

Thank you Valerie from Hachette Book Group for offering this selection.

Full Description:
Laurel Gray Hawthorne needs to make things pretty, whether she's helping her mother make sure the literal family skeleton stays in the closet or turning scraps of fabric into nationally acclaimed art quilts. Her estranged sister Thalia, an impoverished Actress with a capital A, is her polar opposite, priding herself on exposing the lurid truth lurking behind middle class niceties. While Laurel's life seems neatly on track--a passionate marriage, a treasured daughter, and a lovely home in suburban Victorianna--everything she holds dear is suddenly thrown into question the night she is visited by the ghost of a her 13-year old neighbor Molly Dufresne. The ghost leads Laurel to the real Molly floating lifelessly in the Hawthorne's backyard pool. Molly's death is inexplicable--an unseemly mystery Laurel knows no one in her whitewashed neighborhood is up to solving. Only her wayward, unpredictable sister is right for the task, but calling in a favor from Thalia is like walking straight into a frying pan protected only by Crisco. Enlisting Thalia's help, Laurel sets out on a life-altering journey that triggers startling revelations about her family's guarded past, the true state of her marriage, and the girl who stopped swimming.

Richer and more rewarding than any story Joshilyn Jackson has yet written, yet still packed with Jackson's trademarked outrageous characters, sparkling dialogue, and defiantly twisting plotting, THE GIRL WHO STOPPED SWIMMING is destined both to delight Jackson's loyal fans and capture a whole new audience.

Follow Me , by Joanna Scott - Review

On April 27th a large group of Bloggers hosted a blog tour forJoanna Scott's, Follow Me. Here is that list. Thank you Drey from Drey's Library for making the list. She is just kind of nice that way! I didn't finish the book in time for the tour. But I still posted and got involved in the hooplah. I was great to read all the reviews while I was MID-Book. It is kind of like a big book club.



My review:

I really enjoyed this book. More than enjoyed the book. The writing for me is captivating, descriptive and outstanding. I was surprised at first at some of the writing, meaning it was not expected. It reminded me of reading Virginia Woolf or Faulkner in the stream of consciousness writing style at times. It was unique but it had that feel to me at times, in addition feeling like a poem at times.

And all though I was surprised, it was certainly welcomed. By the time I got through 175 pages was no longer with a reading deadline, I savored the book, page by page. I literally read about 30 pages a day. Sometimes in my car at lunch I could just sit a few moments and think about a phrase, think about Sally, the River, Rondo, and the others in the story.

There is a very marvelously written and interesting audio diary in the story and I liked that point of view that was interjected into the story, along with Sally Jr's side of the story. I got caught up in this story of simple people, in simple towns in a not so simple situation. Maybe in the way that I enjoyed the smallness of the town in Empire Falls, by Richard Russo. There is a very long letter at the end of the book. I really liked that letter also. (being vague so as not to spoil).

For me the book got better and better as the page turned. Also it didn't have to be gripping or a page turner that kept me reading until I was done in one night. Like a gourmet meal, I was satisfied with a literary meal each night and read more the next day. Once this story clicked for me I found that I didn't want to pick up my knitting. I wanted to read this book. I really got transported to the time and setting in the book.

I loved the way the story centered around the Tuskee River. Books that have a central geographic tie into the story really seem be a draw for me. With that in mind, I thought that this book reminded me in ways of Kingsolver's, Prodigal Summer. I seriously love that book!

Early on, I had this focus on Sally and her mistakes and her running, after awhile it wasn't about her mistakes and the running. It was about the now and moving forward and the effect. As the book progressed, I enjoyed the ties in with historical events. (Presidents, songs, wars...etc).

This quote in particular caused me to just pause a moment and think and run for a sticky note.

Page 155 "It seems strange that the dire escalations on the other side of the world aren't registered here; there is no smoke in the air, no blood spray specking the sidewalk. We take this calm for granted. Spaces are wide in this region, building are low, most families carry more debt than they'll ever be able to pay off in their lifetimes. There's little here that would be worth the risk of an attack, though at the same time I'd wager that there's nothing not worth the risk of a story.
The ladybug bumping against my windowpane, trying to get in.
A woman in sweats pushing a stroller along the sidewalk.
The wail of a siren in the distance.
The words hoarded in this box of a machine, along with all the dubious information available at the touch of a key."

This kind of writing just really impressed me. The whole book is not written like that but it supplied plenty of chewy morsels in that fashion.

Okay.. well when I get affected by a book I could really go on. I could post passage after passage. For me it was simply that good. So I will sum it up by saying it is not your everyday meal. It is gourmet. I hope you enjoy the book.

Thank you again Miriam from Hachette for providing me with a copy of the book for the tour.
( My apologies for the late review).

I just wanted to note that for those that don't blog, when you hear of a blog tour coming up, if you have access to the book, feel free to read along and go from blog to blog to comment. (even later on when you read it) It is a great way to be involved and further interest yourself in a book. Just jump in and comment. It doesn't have to be anything special. You are always welcome.

Book stats:

Category: FICTION

Format: HARDCOVER BOOK

Publish Date :4/22/2009

Price: $24.99/$27.99

ISBN :9780316051651

Pages: 432

Size: 6" x 9-1/4"

Winners Testimony, by Anita Shreve - Hachette Giveaway

First of all Thank you Valerie from Hachette books for arranging this giveaway.

Winners Testimony, by Anita Shreve

And the winners are:

Janel - Check out her blog here.
Sherry - Blog reader.
Liane66 - Blog reader
nomadreader - Check out her blog here.
TJ - Check out her blog here.

Thank you for supporting my giveaways and reading my blog.

Awards.

I was able to thank and post these today. I know I am behind on posting some from the past. I love the awards and I am negligent in posting some from the last two or three weeks. I still have good intentions to post and acknowledge. I have had a quite a time with my work (professional) work load, and my reading load, and I am working on getting a balance so that I don't feel 50% accomplished in everything. I hope to do better with posting the awards in the future. So here we go!

Thank you Serena from Savvy Verse and Wit for this Award.

The award is for the hopes that one day all your dreams will come true!! Because we all are still Cinderella's at heart!

I pass it on to all bloggers that take the time to read, post and share. Thank you Serena. I want to encourage everyone to check out her blog. It is very interesting, warm and authentic! I always get literary stimulation from checking in at her blog.

And well you know... talk about authentic, charming and creative!

Kaye from Pudgy Penguin Perusals

then gives me the award too and calls it the Princess Award. I mean I am never too old or boring to love hearing Princess Toni. :) Thank you Kaye. Please check out her blog because it will charm your socks off and she can talk the book talk quite well also.

Take Care Everyone....


PS. Winners.. it is never to forward to email me your mailing addresses in advance. :) Please put the book title in the subject if you do.

Happy One Year Anniversary - The Host, Stephenie Meyer

Happy Anniversary / Birthday to The Host, by Stephenie Meyer

May 6th is the one year mark since the book was published.

Have you read the book?
Looking for some book chatter about it?
Check back with A Circle of Books for a June Blog Tour for The Host!
Really.... check back.. this should be magnificent!

Happens Every Day, Isabel Gillies - Giveaway!!!!

A Book Giveaway
Happens Every Day, Isabel Gillies

Thank you Katrina from Wiredset for offering A Circle of Books this giveaway.

Book Description:

Isabel Gillies had a wonderful life -- a handsome, intelligent, loving husband; two glorious toddlers; a beautiful house; the time and place to express all her ebullience and affection and optimism. Suddenly, that life was over. Her husband, Josiah, announced that he was leaving her and their two young sons.

Far from a self-pitying diatribe, Happens Every Day reads like an intimate conversation between friends. Gillies has written a dizzyingly candid, compulsively readable, ultimately redemptive story about love, marriage, family, heartbreak, and the unexpected turns of a life. On the one hand, reading this book is like watching a train wreck. On the other hand, as Gillies herself says, it is about trying to light a candle instead of cursing the darkness, and loving your life even if it has slipped away. Hers is a remarkable new voice -- instinctive, funny, and irresistible.

About the Author:

Isabel Gillies, known for her television role as Detective Stabler’s wife on Law and Order: Special Victims Unit and for her cinematic debut in the film Metropolitan, graduated from New York University with a BFA in film. She lives in Manhattan with her second husband, her two sons, and her stepdaughter.

A few words from the critics:

“I couldn't put the book down and … my husband … couldn't put it down either… We both were transfixed … Gillies' memoir is so disarming… As Gillies tackles her main subject — the sudden disintegration of her marriage —you feel, as a reader, as though you're sitting with a good friend over a pitcher of margaritas… For those readers who've endured similar seismic shifts of the heart, Happens Every Day will offer the comfort of solidarity. For the rest of us who've been, so far, spared, it makes for compulsive and, frankly, chilling late-night reading.”—Maureen Corrigan, “Fresh Air” on National Public Radio

“A smart, rueful memoir of love, betrayal and survival.”—O, the Oprah magazine

“[An] emotionally involving account of a marriage that seemed nearly perfect—until the day it wasn’t… It’s to Gillies’ credit that she stays as evenhanded as she does in the story that follows… Her collapse feels real, and in Happens Every Day there’s a redemptive grace in her struggle.”—Entertainment Weekly

I have two copies to offer.

Details........

U.S residents only this time. Books are shipped from Wireset.

For one entry into a random drawing, leave a comment on this post

Am I following you on Twitter? Drop me a line and I would love to!! And to celebrate Twitter I will put in Five Entries if you Tweet about the giveaway! While you are at it, why not follow acircleofbooks on Twitter?

Enter on or before May 15th. Winners to be announced May 16th.

To Buy the book click here

For a sneak Peak click here

Mr. Popper Penguins, Audio Book Giveaway!

Thanks to Anna from Hachette Book Group:
I am happy to be having a giveaway for
An Audiobook.

Mr. Popper's Penguins.

• By Richard Atwater, Florence Atwater
• Read by Nick Sullivan
• Click here for "where to buy"
  

Mr. Popper dreams about leaving his boring life and going on an adventure to the Antarctic. When the legendary Admiral Drake sends him a live penguin in response to his letter, he is thrilled. Very soon, he also receives a female companion for his penguin and they have 10 children. But Mr. Popper has enough trouble supporting his human family, and so he has the idea to take his penguins to the stage. Soon, Mr. Popper is up to his ears in adventure as he tries to manage 12 performing penguins and the trouble they inevitably get into.

Mr. Popper's Penguins remains a classic, read and remembered by generations of loyal fans. Now, 70 years after its publication, it will be given a fresh new voice as an audiobook to attract a new generation of listeners.

Giveaway Scoop: (Rules)

• NO P.O. Boxes
• U.S and Canada Only.
• Leave a comment on this post by 5/15/2009 - Results announced on 5/16/2009
• You have to leave an email on your comment to win.

*****(To even out the chances for all blog readers and bloggers alike, this will be a one entry per person giveaway.
One comment= One entry for all)*******

Enjoy!

Thank you for reading here at A Circle of Books. I want to encourage anyone who reads the blog to join in the giveaways. Please don't be shy. If you don't have a blog, it is okay.. join the fun.

Awesome Giveaway at Jo-Jo Loves to Read!!

Check out this contest!

It is for all these books:

The winners will win all of the following books:
1. Free Food for Millionaires by Min Jin Lee
2. Trail of Crumbs by Kim Sunée
3. The Fortune Cookie Chronicles by Jennifer Lee
4. Transparency by Frances Hwang
5. Strangers from a Different Shore by Ronald Takaki


What a great giveaway... Check it out!