A Circle of Books

Water for Elephants, Sara Gruen - Review

2012-01-26T11:56:00.000-08:00

I finished reading this book after the first of this year. I really enjoyed this book. GREAT storytelling, and a few adorable characters made the book one of my favorites in a long time. I adored the book. There are heartbreaking parts in the story, and I had a hard time as I grimaced through the animal abuse. But it added a validity and realness to the story.    It was a beautiful story.

I give this book five stars.    And I have to note that I watched the movie within a week or so of finishing the book. It was wonderful. Almost as good as the book. The circus essence of the story was not lost in the movie. The book, however, had a special message about aging that was not presented in the movie.

Happy New Year to all.

2012 is here!!!! I am still reading, knitting, spinning and now learning to play the violin. (so very exciting)

I have some books to announce and I hope to host a few giveaways.   I am still out here, ever so quietly.

Cheers!!!
Toni

Maine by J. Courtney Sullivan

2011-11-21T19:39:00.001-08:00

I bought this and read it on my IPad. I enjoyed this book tremendously. To talk out it in detail is to spoil. There are not many big reveal plots in the story, it is just life. The life of women in a family. Three generations, four different woman.

It is a great book club read or girlfriend, mother-sister read. Guys might like it too, I just don't know any that would so I hasten to recommend. But I do not feel this was "chick lit."

It filled my need to read and veg and "visit" another family and "get away."

Think it would be a good summer read. Enjoy!

- Posted from my iPad

When She Woke by Hillary Jordan

2011-08-10T19:09:00.000-07:00

I got this book on my doorstep the other day and I opened it up and absolutely could not wait to start reading it. I just wanted to put everything down and go read. I am over half way through and I am completely enticed and riveted with the story and the characters. Food for thought? oh yes!!!

Thank you Algonquin Books for sending this Advanced Reader Copy to me. This book comes out in stores October 4th.

From the author whose international bestseller, Mudbound, so hauntingly re-created America’s past comes a stunning creation of America in the near future, where faith, love, and sexuality have fallen prey to politics.
Hannah Payne’s life has been devoted to church and family, but after her arrest, she awakens to a nightmare: she is lying on a table in a bare room, covered only by a paper gown, and cameras are broadcasting her every move to millions at home, for home observing new Chromes—criminals whose skin color has been genetically altered to match the class of their crime—is a new and sinister form of entertainment. Hannah is a Red; her crime is murder. The victim, says the state of Texas, was her unborn child, and Hannah is determined to protect the identity of the father—a public figure with whom she’s shared a fierce and forbidden love.
When She Woke is a stunning story about a stigmatized woman struggling to navigate an America of a not-too-distant future, where the line between church and state has been eradicated and convicted felons are released back into the population after being “chromed.” In seeking a path to safety in an alien and hostile world, Hannah unknowingly embarks on a path of self-discovery that forces her to question the values she has held true and the righteousness of a country that politicizes the personal.

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Praise from Booksellers

“I can’t wait to put When She Woke into everybody’s hands. Bravo to Hilary Jordan. “ —Roberta Rubin, The Bookstall at Chestnut Court, Winnetka, IL

“When She Woke is a masterpiece . . . It is powerful, compelling, sensitive, and poignant. I read it in one sitting.” —Bill Cusumano, Nicola’s Books, Ann Arbor, MI

“Be prepared to lose sleep over the too-close-to-reality aspects of this beautifully written novel. Hillary Jordan’s When She Woke delves and connects and exposes in profound ways.” —Dana Brigham, Brookline Booksmith, Brookline, MA

“A novel that will inspire a provocative discussion among readers.” —Michele Filgate, McNally Jackson Books, New York, NY

“When She Woke is a page turner. Just as Jordan so beautifully wrote about the injustice and tragedies of racism in America in her last novel, Mudbound, she now artfully exposes the injustices and heartbreak caused by religious extremism that, as she demonstrates in When She Woke, can arise from any rigid doctrine, even in heartland America.” —Cathy Langer, Tattered Cover Book Store, Denver, CO

“Wow! What a read! When She Woke has everything good and delicious that one wants in a book: great characters, steady plotting, and a thought-provoking, heart-wrenching, compelling, and unsettling story.” —Melinda Powers, Capitola Book Café, Capitola, CA

“I’m gobsmacked! When She Woke is riveting from page one.” —Emily Crowe, The Odyssey Bookshop, South Hadley, MA

“There’s no doubt that When She Woke is an intense book!” —Jenn Northington, Word, Brooklyn, NY

“Put this one on your book club list, because everyone is going to want to discuss it.” —Valerie Koehler, Blue Willow Bookshop, Houston, TX

“When She Woke reads like a really good movie. It’s a transformational, awakening story disguised as a fast-paced thriller.” —Debra Linn, Books & Books, Bal Harbour, FL

“I found myself telling everyone I met about When She Woke—the story is that compelling.” —Christie Olson Day, Gallery Bookshop, Mendocino, CA

“Hillary Jordan is one of our most important political writers, and When She Woke is a very brave work.” —Lucy Kogler, Talking Leaves Books, Buffalo, NY

A Stolen Life, By Jaycee Dugard

2011-07-13T18:53:00.000-07:00

I read this book Yesterday. I just wanted to say it was not as hard to read as I thought it would be. I am glad I saw the special with Diane Sawyer first. Even when that came on, I was tentative whether I could bear to stay in the room to watch. But during that interview Jaycee put me at ease and told her story. Diane Sawyer was awesome and allowed her to tell it without jumping all over her with the next question.

I knew I wanted to read the book. I am glad I read the book. I am usually too sensitive to read this and I would never read a fictional Story about something of this nature. But for me the story was one that needed telling, and I am thankful for Jaycee Dugard's bravery to tell it.

I am not going to review the book or give details. I just want to say that this is a horror story with a happy ending so far and I wish her the best life possible. Not near enough praise can be uttered, or written for Officers Allison (Ally) Jacobs and Lisa Campbell, true heroes and good citizens doing their jobs by caring for other humans on the earth enough to speak up and make a world of difference.

I am inspired by bravery and courage as I reflect on this book.

Books and Books and Books oh My!

2011-06-23T18:44:00.000-07:00

I have received some wonderful books lately. I would love to take a moment to say thank you and post about them. I have not been reading lately but I am all set to end the reading drought that is for sure. I was about to put this blog on hiatus, but I came here twice to do it and could not. Too many good times. I just have some figuring out to do.

In the meantime.. on to the books that I have received...they all seem a little bit perfect!!

The Watery Part of the World, By Michael Parker (author's website)

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall, I Am My Mother After All! by Susan Kane-Ronning, Ph.D.

Mrs Darcy and the Blue-Eyed Stranger by Lee Smith (author's web-site)

The Frozen Rabbi, by Steve Stern

About Steve Stern:

Steve Stern, winner of the National Jewish Book Award, is the author of several previous novels and novellas. He teaches at Skidmore College in upstate New York.

Thank you Algonquin and Atlas Books!

Summer Reading Plans!!!!

2011-04-15T13:54:00.000-07:00

Hello there.. Did I really say summer? I do look forward to summer reading. Some new options have arrived that I'd like to share. They all look amazing!

(Thank you Random House and Penguin)

To Be Queen. A Novel of the Early Life of Eleanor of Aquitaine.

by Christy English.

(From Amazon Website)

The author of The Queen's Pawn delves into the early life of the legendary Eleanor of Aquitaine in her new historical novel.

After her father's sudden death, fifteen-year-old Eleanor is quickly crowned Duchess of Aquitaine and betrothed to King Louis VII. When her new husband cannot pronounce her given name, Alienor becomes Eleanor, Queen of France.

Although Louis is enamored of his bride, the newly crowned king is easily manipulated by the church and a God that Eleanor doesn't believe in. Now, if she can find the strength to fight for what she wants, Eleanor may finally find the passion she has longed for, and the means to fulfill her legacy as Queen.

Christy English has a bachelor's degree in history from Duke University. She lives in New York City.

My Fair Lady. A memoir.

By Jen Lancaster

(from the Barnes and Noble Website)

It's a JENaissance! The New York Times bestselling author of Pretty in Plaid gets her culture on.

Readers have followed Jen Lancaster through job loss, sucky city living, weight loss attempts, and 1980s nostalgia. Now Jen chronicles her efforts to achieve cultural enlightenment, with some hilarious missteps and genuine moments of inspiration along the way. And she does so by any means necessary: reading canonical literature, viewing classic films, attending the opera, researching artisan cheeses, and even enrolling in etiquette classes to improve her social graces.

In Jen's corner is a crack team of experts, including Page Six socialites, gourmet chefs, an opera aficionado, and a master sommelier. She may discover that well-regarded, high-priced stinky cheese tastes exactly as bad as it smells, and that her love for Kraft American Singles is forever. But one thing's for certain: Eliza Doolittle's got nothing on Jen Lancaster-and failure is an option.

Half a Life. A memoir, by Darin Strauss

about this book (from Random House)

Winner, National Book Critics Circle Award (Autobiography)

In this powerful, unforgettable memoir, acclaimed novelist Darin Strauss recounts a tragedy and its aftermath. In the last month of his high school career, just after turning eighteen, Strauss is behind the wheel of his father’s Oldsmobile, driving with friends, having “thoughts of mini-golf, another thought of maybe just going to the beach.” Then out of the blue: a collision that results in the death of a bicycling classmate and that shadows the rest of his life. In haunting, penetrating prose, Darin Strauss explores loss and guilt, maturity and accountability, hope and acceptance. The result is a staggering, uplifting tour de force.

A Murderous Procession, Ariana Franklin

2011-03-15T03:00:00.000-07:00

First Time in Paperback - trade edition
Tess Garritsen calls this one “my favorite book of the year!”

In 1176, King Henry II sends his daughter Joanna to Palermo to marry his cousin, the king of Sicily. Henry chooses Adelia Aguilar to travel with the princess and safeguard her health. But when people in the wedding procession are murdered, Adelia and Rowley must discover the killer’s identity, and whether he is stalking the princess or Adelia herself.

Thank you Berkley Books.

Something for Nothing by David Anthony

2011-03-14T03:00:00.000-07:00

About Something for Nothing

Martin Anderson has a racehorse, a deep-sea fishing boat, a vacation home in Tahoe, and a Caddy in the garage. But his life is in freefall. It’s the 1970s, and with the arrival of the oil crisis and gas rationing, his small aircraft business is tanking, as is his extravagant suburban lifestyle. Martin keeps many secrets from his wife, such as his mounting debt and his penchant for sneaking into neighborhood homes and making off with small keepsakes. So when he’s given the opportunity to clear his debt by using one of his planes to make a few drug runs between California and Mexico, Martin doesn’t think twice . . . or at all, for that matter.

Things quickly spiral out of control when Martin’s simple plan lands him in the midst of gun-toting Mexican thugs. After a narcotics agent arrives on his doorstep, he becomes increasingly paranoid, both about the police and about his associates in the drug world—a feeling that seems justified when he stumbles upon the scene of a brutal double murder. Martin wants out, but he wants his money, too.

Deeply funny and suspenseful, David Anthony’s novel is a perfect snapshot of the excesses of American culture.

about David Anthony

David Anthony grew up in the Bay Area. He is an associate professor of early American literature in the Department of English at SIU-Carbondale. This is his first novel.

What you see in the Dark, by Manuel Munoz

2011-03-13T03:00:00.000-07:00

Here is another ARC that I received and I am thrilled to read it.
Thank you Algonquin.

About What You See in the Dark

Bakersfield, California, in the late 1950s is a dusty, quiet town too far from Los Angeles to share that city’s energy yet close enough to Hollywood to fill its citizens with the kinds of dreams they discover in the darkness of the movie theater. For Teresa, a young, aspiring singer who works at a shoe store, dreams lie in the music her mother shared with her, plaintive songs of love and longing. In Dan Watson, the most desirable young man in Bakersfield, she believes she has found someone to help her realize those dreams.

When a famous actress arrives from Hollywood with a great and already legendary director, local gossip about Teresa and Dan gives way to speculation about the celebrated visitors, there to work on what will become an iconic, groundbreaking film of madness and murder at a roadside motel. No one anticipates how the ill-fated love affair between Dan and Teresa will soon rival anything the director could ever put on the screen.

This thoroughly original work is intense and fascinating in its juxtapositions of tenderness and menace, violence and regret, played out in a town on the brink of change.

about Manuel Munoz

Manuel Muñoz is the author of two short story collections, the most recent of which, The Faith Healer of Olive Avenue, was a finalist for the Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award. He teaches creative writing at the university of Arizona in Tucson, is the recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts literature fellowship, and in 2008 was awarded the prestigious Whiting Writers’ Award. Find him online at www.manuel-munoz.com.

When Tito Loved Clara, by Jon Michaud

2011-03-12T03:00:00.000-08:00

I have been a bit remiss in posting the books coming in for review. I am excited to say that I will be busy reading this summer. This sounds especially good. Great title, great cover.
Thank you Algonquin.

When Tito Loved Clara

About When Tito Loved Clara

Clara Lugo grew up in a home that would have rattled the most grounded of children. Through brains and determination, she has long since slipped the bonds of her confining Dominican neighborhood in the northern reaches of Manhattan. Now she tries to live a settled professional life with her American husband and son in the suburbs of New Jersey—often thwarted by her constellation of relatives who don’t understand her gringa ways.

Her mostly happy life is disrupted, however, when Tito, a former boyfriend from fifteen years earlier, reappears. Something has impeded his passage into adulthood. His mother calls him an Unfinished Man. He still carries a torch for Clara; and she harbors a secret from their past. Their reacquaintance sets in motion an unraveling of both of their lives and reveals what the cost of assimilation—or the absence of it—has meant for each of them.

This immensely entertaining novel—filled with wit and compassion—marks the debut of a fine writer.

about Jon Michaud

Jon Michaud is the head librarian at The New Yorker magazine and a regular contributor to newyorker.com. His short stories have been published in North American Review, Denver Quarterly, Fawlt, and other journals. He lives in Maplewood, New Jersey with his wife (also a librarian) and their two sons.

West of Here by Jonathan Evison

2011-03-11T14:20:00.000-08:00

Hello! Nothing but good stuff in the mail. Thank you Algonquin Books.

About the book:

Set in the fictional town of Port Bonita, on Washington State’s rugged Pacific coast, West of Here is propelled by a story that both re-creates and celebrates the American experience—it is storytelling on the grandest scale. With one segment of the narrative focused on the town’s founders circa 1890 and another showing the lives of their descendants in 2006, the novel develops as a kind of conversation between two epochs, one rushing blindly toward the future and the other struggling to undo the damage of the past.

An exposition on the effects of time, on how something said or done in one generation keeps echoing through all the years that follow, and how mistakes keep happening and people keep on trying to be strong and brave and, most important, just and right, West of Here harks back to the work of such masters of Americana as Bret Harte, Edna Ferber, and Larry McMurtry, writers whose fiction turned history into myth and myth into a nation’s shared experience. It is a bold novel by a writer destined to become a major force in American literature.

about Jonathan Evison

Jonathan Evison is the author of All About Lulu, which won the Washington State Book Award. In 2009, he was the recipient of a Richard Buckley Fellowship from the Christopher Isherwood Foundation. He lives on an island in Western Washington.

And a nice book tote to celebrate and announce Algonquins Book Club Series. Check it out here!

I can't wait to dig in. I have a little day trip coming up and I will be on a train...this is what is coming with me!

Have a great weekend.

Exciting Incoming Books

2011-02-08T13:21:00.000-08:00

I am thrilled to be reading these books in 2011. It was like they were hand picked just for me! Thank you Michael Taeckens, Algonquin Books

Pictures of You, Caroline Leavitt

The Girl Who Fell From the Sky, Heidi W. Durrow

Paris Was Ours, Penelope Rowlands

Pale Rose of England, By Sandra Worth

2011-02-08T13:06:00.000-08:00

I was thrilled to receive this in the mail last week. I can't wait to get reading. It sounds wonderful.

Synopsis (From Author's website)

From the award-winning author of The King's Daughter comes a story of love and defiance during the War of the Roses.

It is 1497. The news of the survival of Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York, has thundered across Europe, setting royal houses ablaze with intrigue and rocking the fledgling Tudor dynasty. Stepping finally onto English soil, Catherine arrives at the island of Saint Michael’s Mount, along with her husband and young son Dickon, their second child already on the way. With the keen support of Scotland’s King James IV, Richard—known in England as Perkin Warbeck—has come to reclaim his rightful crown from Henry Tudor. Based on a prophecy given Catherine by a seer that she would be loved by a king, she has no doubt Richard will succeed in his quest. But rather than assuming the throne she believed was their destiny, Catherine would soon be prisoner of King Henry VII, and her beloved husband would, unimaginably, be stamped as an imposter.

Nothing could shake Catherine’s belief in Richard and her loyalty to the man she loved. She became a favored lady-in-waiting to the queen, Elizabeth of York, but her dazzling beauty only brought her unwanted affections from a jealous king and enmeshed her in a terrifying royal love triangle. With her husband facing execution for treason, Catherine, alone in the glittering but deadly Tudor Court, finds the courage to spurn a cruel monarch and shape her own destiny, winning the admiration of a nation.

About the Author:
Sandra Worth is the acclaimed author of five historical novels chronicling the Wars of the Roses. Each is the recipient of multiple awards and prizes, including three Reviewers Chloice Awards and a Best Books of 2009 nomination.
Author's Website

The Tapestry of Love

2011-01-25T10:11:00.000-08:00

Thank You Rosy Thornton. She sent me a copy of her book The Tapestry of Love. It has a beautiful cover. I can't wait to sink my teeth into this book.

Book Description

A rural idyll: that's what Catherine is seeking when she sells her house in England and moves to a tiny hamlet in the Cévennes mountains. With her divorce in the past and her children grown, she is free to make a new start, and her dream is to set up in business as a seamstress. But this is a harsh and lonely place when you're no longer just here on holiday. There is French bureaucracy to contend with, not to mention the mountain weather, and the reserve of her neighbors, including the intriguing Patrick Castagnol. And that's before the arrival of Catherine's sister, Bryony.

About the Author

Rosy Thornton teaches at Cambridge University.

Happy New Year Bloggers and readers.

I have received a few more lovely books that I will post this week. I am not reading a lot of book reviews these days. I like to browse the book store and be a little surprised. But I will be stopping by blogs to comment and say hi more often. Have a great week. Thank you again to author Rosy Thornton for sending me this lovely book.

Chosen, A Novel, by Chaundra Hoffman - Review

2010-12-21T09:34:00.000-08:00

Color me happy, I read a book!

Thank you Jocelyn @ Kelly and Hall. I really enjoyed this book. I read it in a week or so. I looked forward to reading it each night. It is about Chloe who works for an adoption agency placing newborns with adoptive parents. It is an interesting book with a bit of drama when a child ends up missing. It gives a glimpse into the lives of the adoptive parents, the birth parent(s), and the life of Chloe in the middle of it all. It read a little bit like a Jodi Piccoult novel, and I say that loosely because I don't think the writing was the same. But the writing was enjoyable and flowed well. I would recommend the book and the author. I found the characters real to life and I enjoyed the Portland, Oregon setting. I enjoyed the drama without tears. I also was happy the book was a quick read and wasn't cluttered up with a bunch of writing for the sake of writing. If you know what I mean.

Hope you have a chance to check this one out.

The Peanuts Collection

2010-11-14T10:23:00.000-08:00

Treasures from the world's most beloved comic strip, Nat Gertler

Full Description

This fully authorized, one-of-a-kind illustrated book celebrates the 60th anniversary of the world's most beloved comic strip characters. A compendium of rare materials from the Charles M. Schulz Museum and family archives, The Peanuts Collection comes in a sturdy slipcase and features high-quality reproductions of original sketches, comics, and photographs from the world of Peanuts. Removable film cels, stickers, and booklets are included, as well as reproduction prints of Peanuts artwork ready for framing.

My Review:
This book's title does not lie. It is a treasure of treasures! I thought it was going to be a kind of cute picture book and I would review it in a night or two. Not true! It has provided night after night of reading and enjoying the whole book. From the moment I opened the book, I was enchanted. Page after page is loaded with surprise after surprise. It is the best collection of history, and artifacts of the Peanuts Gang that I have seen. I adored it. I could tell you all little perks and details, but to do so would wreck the complete euphoric treats that are bestowed upon discovering the contents. As I opened the book and squealed with each surprise, my husband came over to the sofa and joined me on this wonderful journey into the history of Peanuts. We slowly turned pages and examined the artifacts. It is an exquisite collection of artistically presented gems for all Peanuts junkies. Fans everywhere will be delighted. It is the perfect gift. I can't part with mine but will keep it in mind for gift giving this holiday season.

Thank you Anna from Hachette Books.

About Author

Nat Gertler is the founder and author of Aaugh.com, a comprehensive resource for Peanuts collectors and fans. Gertler has written for Speed Racer, Flintstones, and NASCAR Adventures. He has authored horror works for Pocket Books, written a number of titles in the Complete Idiot's Guide series, contributes regularly to Hogan's Alley, a comics-related magazine, and is the founder and publisher of packager About Comics.

Category:COMICS & GRAPHIC NOVELS
Format:HARDCOVER BOOK
Publish Date:10/25/2010
Price:$35.00/$43.00
ISBN:9780316086103
Pages:64
Size:11-3/4" x 10-1/4"

I will say the first photo doesn't do the book justice. The book is large and thick and really quite a beauty for the coffee table. It comes encased in a nice hard cover that slips over the book. Oh what the heck. I will show you one photo.

Cheers!

Giants

2010-11-03T22:57:00.001-07:00

Just had to send out a post.... Dexter says "congrats Giants!!!!!!"

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Mailbox Monday October 11th

2010-10-10T10:35:00.000-07:00

Mailbox Monday- Welcome. This is a weekly event that was created from Marcia from The Printed Page. It is being hosted in the month of October by She Reads and Reads. What came in your mailbox, book bag or into your library this week? Here is what I accumulated over a the last three weeks.

My most long awaited book was the reprint of Aran Knitting by Alice Starmore. (A treat from myself). It is the history of Aran Knitting AND a bunch of patterns that I have been dying to make for a few years now. It will reside in my most cherished libraries of knitting books. I haven't read it all but I have made a good dent in it and it exceeds my wildest expectations.

I received Chosen by Chandra Hoffman from Jocelyn @ Kelly and Hall (thank you)

A bit about the book:
A young caseworker increasingly entangled in the lives of adoptive and birth parents faces life-altering choices when an extortion attempt goes horribly wrong in Chosen. Written in the spirit of Jodi Picoult and Anna Quindlen, Chosen is an extraordinary debut novel from Chandra Hoffman that deals with the controversial subject of adoption while providing a riveting read that will equally ensnare lovers of suspense, domestic drama, and literary fiction.

I also received Missing Lucile by Suzanne Berne, from Algonquin (Thank You).

A Bit about the book:
Even as a child, Suzanne Berne understood the source of her father’s terrible melancholy: he’d lost his mother when he was a little boy. Decades later, with her father now elderly and ailing, she decides to try to uncover the woman who continues to haunt him.

Every family has a missing person, someone who died young or disappeared, leaving a legacy of loss. Aided by vintage photographs and a box of old keepsakes, Berne sets out to fill in her grandmother’s silhouette and along the way uncovers her own foothold in American history.

Lucile Berne, née Kroger, was a daughter of Bernard Henry Kroger, the archetypal American self-made man, who at twenty-three established what is today’s $76 billion grocery enterprise. From her turn-of-the-century Cincinnati childhood to her college years at Wellesley, her tenure as treasurer of her father’s huge company, her stint as a relief worker in devastated France, her marriage to a professional singer, and the elusive, unhappy wealthy young matron she became, Lucile both illustrates and contradicts her times.

In the process of creating this portrait, Berne discovers the function of family history: “to explain what is essentially inexplicable—how we came to be ourselves.”

Hellos from Me!!

I am busy as heck. I get around to pop in on blogs but I don't always leave a comment. I got an IPAD and I think this is going to help keep up with all the lovely blog reading. I am still trying to get through a few books. I love my books just as much as ever,, but I am sure I got a bit burned out somehow. I started reading more blogs than books. (well you know what I mean).

This year has been about blog balance and I don't feel blog stress anymore! Yahoo!!! I still do have some reading and blogging goals that I'd like to maintain. Middle ground sort of evades me at the moment...and it needs to be about middle ground for me. It has been over two years now since I started this book blog. I love it here, I love the books and all the bloggy folks.

I don't know that I can keep up with all the reviews that I want to do, but I do want to feature new books and stay connected. I want to reward those who read with giveaways and I do want to participate in some of the blogging events and activities that everyone enjoys.

Thanks for everyone who stops by and if you leave me a comment know that it is always as special for me now as it was from the start.

Have a great week!

Mailbox Monday - September 20th

2010-09-19T14:01:00.000-07:00

Mailbox Monday, created by Marcia at the Printed Page (my monthly version) is on Tour and September it is hosted over at Bermudiaonion's Blog.

Here is what she got this week!

I am still on a slow down. The last month I still have received some stellar books. I am eager to read them, even when they show up as a surprise. I am always thankful for books!

I received:

Exley, a novel by Brock Clark (thank you Algonquin)

The Postcard Killers by James Patterson and Liza Marlund (thank you Hachette)

(Audio Book)

Natural to a Super Natural Health, by David Herzog. (Thank you Atlas)

Nothing Left to Burn, a memoir by Jay Varner. (thank you Algonquin)

The Jefferson Project by Thor Duffin (thank you Atlas)

Stay tuned for more info on these books coming soon!

Have a great week! Thanks for stopping by!

Exley, a novel by Brock Clark - Coming October 5th 2010

2010-09-19T13:23:00.000-07:00

I received this great book to review from Algonquin. I picked it up and read the first 25 pages and I can tell I am going to like this book. I just wanted to post a little preview. This book comes out October 5th, 2010.

A Bit About Exley

For nine-year-old Miller, who lives with his mother in Watertown, New York, life has become a struggle to make sense of his father’s disappearance, for which he blames himself. Then, when he becomes convinced that he has found his father lying comatose in the local VA hospital, a victim of the war in Iraq, Miller begins a search for the one person he believes can save him, the famously reclusive — and, unfortunately, dead — Frederick Exley, a Watertown native and the author of his father’s favorite book, the “fictional memoir” A Fan’s Notes. The story of Miller’s search, told by both Miller himself and his somewhat flaky therapist, ultimately becomes an exploration of the difference between what we believe to be real and what is in fact real, and how challenging it can be to reconcile the two.

Part literary satire, part mystery, Exley unleashes the enormous talent of a writer whom critics have compared to Richard Ford and John Irving and whose work has been called “absurdly hilarious” (Entertainment Weekly) and “wildly entertaining” (Daily Candy).

A Bit About Brock Clarke:

Brock Clarke is the author of two previous novels and two short story collections. He lives in Portland, Maine, and teaches at Bowdoin College.

A Bit of Praise:
EXLEY is already garnering early buzz, receiving a starred review from Kirkus: “Another literary high-wire performance by a novelist who is establishing himself as a unique voice in contemporary fiction ... A seriously playful novel about the interweave of literature and life.”

Winners - Audio - The Post Card Killers

2010-09-19T13:08:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to the winners! Thank you Anna @ Hachette Book Group!

Denny, Alaska

LAMusing

AmyLyn

THE POSTCARD KILLERS
(Unabridged)
by James Patterson and Liza Marklund

Read by Katherine Kellgren, Eric Singer and Reg Rogersy

An email is going out shortly. Please reply with your address!! Congratulations! This looks like a good one. I am reviewing it too!!

Winners - She's Gone Country - Jane Porter

2010-09-09T12:02:00.000-07:00

And the winners are:

Lu (love my kids and books)
Dawn (librarygrinch)
DeSeRt RoSe (Thank you for the award too!)

Thank you Hachette Books for the giveaway.

I will be emailing you all shortly!

Giveaway - The Postcard Killers, by James Patterson and Liza Marklund

2010-08-27T11:51:00.000-07:00

THE POSTCARD KILLERS
(Unabridged)
by James Patterson and Liza Marklund
Read by Katherine Kellgren, Eric Singer and Reg Rogersy

Paris is stunning in the summer. NYPD detective Jacob Kanon is on a tour of Europe's most gorgeous cities. But the sights aren't what draw him—he sees each museum, each cathedral, and each cafe through the eyes of his daughter's killer. The killing is simply marvelous. Kanon's daughter, Kimmy, and her boyfriend were murdered while on vacation in Rome. Since then, young couples in Paris, Copenhagen, Frankfurt, and Stockholm have been found dead. Little connects the murders, other than a
postcard to the local newspaper that precedes each new victim.

"Wish you were here. "

Now Kanon teams up with the Swedish reporter, Dessie Larsson, who has just received a postcard in Stockholm—and they think they know where the next victims will be. With relentless logic and unstoppable action, THE POSTCARD KILLERS may be James Patterson's most vivid and compelling thriller yet.

Giveaway Details / Rules
US & Canada Only
NO P.O. Boxes
Enter by September 15th, 2010
You are not eligible to win this title if you or someone in your house has won in another giveaway. (one per household)

To enter:
Simple leave a comment with your email address. If you are a follower you get a double entry.

Special Thanks to Anna from Hachette Book Group.

Good Luck!!
Have a great weekend.

Envy - Audio Book by Sandra Brown - A Review

2010-08-22T20:16:00.000-07:00

My book club picked this book to read this summer. I was hesitant. Don't get me wrong, I read a lot of Sandra Brown, but I haven't read them since the sizzling summer days of the 1990's. I enjoyed that "sort" of thing back then.

The book takes us from The Florida Keys, to New York to St. Anne's Island, Georgia. The author does a pretty good job of including scenic, historic and pop culture events into the story. The characters are well developed and interesting. We go from the past to the future and bounce from location to location. Saundra Brown does that well.

The book is a about authors and publishers, love, hate, money and ENVY. Of course.   It was a good read. I will post a summary below as I don't want to spoil. There are some twists and turns in the plot. I believe most are predictable, but that isn't always bad. Everything doesn't have to be a big ole surprise right?

If you like her novels for the gratuitous sex, then you won't be disappointed. I think it went a bit too far, but that is just me. I wasn't offended, (those who know me will know that isn't it). I just found it unrealistic. I won't expound, as I think my blog is still pretty "G" rated last time I checked. I will say when I say unrealistic , I mean maybe very awkward, and near impossible, like I would cock my head to the side and try to get a mental image, and say...'naw...not happening.."   The over use of the "F" bomb is a problem. Again, I am not a prude but it lost its effectiveness. And there was an abundance of metaphors that drove me crazy. Just a few too many.

It was a good summer read. Sandra Brown can put together a good plot. I just got annoyed with some of the ingredients. I would recommend this book. Summer read, airport read, vacation read..you name it. I could see it as a movie, or mini series.

The best part of the book for me is the book within a book. I gotta love that, and that part was really well done.   It makes it all worth while.

I listened to the audio. I think I give the audio production and A-/B+.   Sometimes I thought the Parker character sounded like a dumb oakie and the Southern drawl was off. That could just be me. I would recommend it nonetheless. I heard some of it in the car and I know passersby were looking at me as I cupped my hand over my mouth for a number of reasons. (wink)

Click here to read a summary.

She's Gone Country - Jane Porter Giveaway

2010-08-17T18:25:00.000-07:00

Hey Everyone!

I thought it would be nice to host a giveaway!

Thanks to Hachette Book Group, I have three copies of Jane Porter's, She's Gone Country. I am going to review this book later on my blog but I thought it would be great to host a giveaway and get back in the giveaway groove a little. This book is available on August 23rd!!

A bit about the book:
Jane Porter has returned with the type of bestselling novel that she writes best, featuring an almost-forty protagonist finding a second chance in life. SHE’S GONE COUNTRY is an entertaining tale of a modern-day woman, Shey, who has led a charmed life in New York City, gracing the covers of Vogue, and is now forced to reinvent herself by moving back to her hometown in Texas after her marriage falls apart. Shey soon realizes that in order to reinvent herself, she must let go of an uncertain future and a broken past, and allow for the possibility of new love in the present.

A bit about the author:
Jane Porter lives in Seattle, Washington, with her two children. You can find out more about her at www.janeporter.com.

Audio and Video

Giveaway details:

Leave a comment on this blog by September 1, 2010 and you will be entered into the drawing.
If you are a follower of the blog, you get an extra entry. Make sure you let me know. One post or two, it makes no difference. I need your email address to notify you that you have won. If it is on your profile that is fine by me.
US and Canada Only
No P.O. Boxes
Hachette Books (Thank you very much) will send your book to you.

Mailbox Monday - August 16th

2010-08-15T19:48:00.000-07:00

It has been awhile since I participated in Mailbox Monday. It is hosted by Marcia at the Printed Page. Okay...last time I participated it was. But now it is on Tour. Not sure what that means? Me, neither but I am catching up and it appears that the August Tour is at Chick Loves Lit.

I haven't been accepting books, but I wanted to get my butt reading so I have accepted a few over the last 4 weeks, and some came by surprise.

First off: The Queen's Pawn from Christy English. I intend to read it soon with pleasure!! It sounds great! Thank you Christy.

A bit about the Book: (From Amazon)

A historical novel of the legendary Eleanor of Aquitaine and the one person she loved more than power-her rival for the throne.

At only nine, Princess Alais of France is sent to live in England until she is of age to wed Prince Richard, son of King Henry II and Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine. Alais is an innocent pawn on the chessboard of dynastic marriage, her betrothal intended to broker an uneasy truce between the nations.

Estranged from her husband, Eleanor sees a kindred spirit in this determined young girl. She embraces Alais as a daughter, teaching the princess what it takes to be a woman of power in a world of men. But as Alais grows to maturity and develops ambitions of her own, Eleanor begins to see her as a threat-and their love for each other becomes overshadowed by their bitter rivalry, dark betrayals, conflicting passions, and a battle for revenge over the throne of England itself.

From Algonquin: A Curable Romantic by Joseph Skibell (Thank you algonquin)

A bit about the book: (from Algonquin)

As far as romance goes, Dr. Jakob Sammelsohn is fairly incurable. Twice married, once divorced, once widowed—all by the tender age of twelve— he finally flees his small village and his pious, vengeful father. A lovelorn candide, young Dr. Sammelsohn wanders optimistically through history—pursued by the amorous ghost of his dead wife.

Arriving in Vienna in 1890, a chance encounter with Sigmund Freud leads our hero into the arms of Emma Eckstein, one of Freud’s most famous patients. Later he romances the beautiful and wealthy Loë Bernfeld, who carries him into the world of Esperanto and the universal language movement. Finally, Dr. Sammelsohn finds himself in the Warsaw ghetto in 1940, only to become a pawn in a battle over the path to heaven.

A Curable Romantic is a novel of personal and historical exile that could spring only from the literary imagination of a virtuoso. Often fantastical yet always grounded in tradition and history, it is that rare literary feat —a truly incomparable tale, ingenuously told, peopled with characters who live on in the memory.

Thirdly:

Deep Nights, by Steven Sloan

A bit about the book:

Summary

A policeman, haunted by memories of past failures and faced with opposition from loved ones, finds himself under pressure to protect the citizens of his community. In Duncan Switch, most deep night shifts are usually quiet, but tonight’s converging events threaten to smother his efforts and test his ability. Protecting a fellow officer, a hostage situation and working the night shift short-handed tests the officers of Duncan Switch, Texas. One of them finds the biggest challenge of the night, still ahead. Thank You Kim from AtlasBooks.

And lastly.

Salvation City, by Sigrid Nunez from Lydia with Riverhead Books.

Salvation City, a novel (from the author's Website)
(Riverhead Books, Coming September 2010)

After losing both parents to a flu pandemic that seriously threatens his own life as well, thirteen-year-old Cole Vining is sent to live with an evangelical pastor and his wife in Salvation City, a small town in southern Indiana. There, Cole feels sheltered and loved but never as if he truly belongs. Everything about his new home is vastly different from the secular world in which he was raised. As he tries to adjust, he struggles also with memories of the past, a struggle made more difficult by the fact that he had lost his parents at a time when family relations were at their most fraught and unhappy. How is he to remember them now? Are they still his parents if they are no longer there? Must he accept what those around him believe, that because his parents did not know Jesus they are condemned to hell? During this time, Cole finds solace in drawing comics, for which he has a remarkable gift, and in fantasies about being a superhero.

Salvation City is a story of love, betrayal, and forgiveness. It is about spiritual and moral growth, and the consolation of art. It is about belief—belief in God and belief in self. As others around him grow increasingly fixed on the hope of salvation and a new life to come through an imminent rapture, Cole imagines a different future, one in which his own dreams of happiness and heroism begin to seem within reach.

Easy Peasy Blue Cheesy.....

2010-08-14T16:17:00.000-07:00

I actually do have some bookish things to post coming up this week. I am going low carb on Monday so this afternoon it is about a nice lunch of blue cheese bread.

And we are talking easy..

Bread: (rustic baguette).

Fresh Pressed Garlic and Butter..use less than a cube and if anyone asks if they are fattening you say..."I used less than a cube on the whole loaf..." BRWAhhhhhha ha ha
(note....I do know bettter, olive oil works just fine too!!)

Spoon the melted, sauteed butter onto the thin sliced baguette. It is good to let is spill over, it helps for a buttery sizzling bottom. Sprinkle with basil and blue cheese. Not a blue cheese fan? Use Jack or cheedar, it turns out divine.

I put in the oven for 6 minutes on 400 hundred, then turn to broil for three minutes.

mmm... hate to be an enabler...but I saw Eat Love Pray yesterday and this was my hearts desire for lunch today.

Poem - Golden Gate Bridge

2010-07-31T23:16:00.000-07:00

*Inspired by my recent trip to San Francisco, I post this poem. For trip details check out my other blog.

The Mighty Task is Done

By Joseph P. Strauss, Chief Engineer
Golden Gate Bridge and Highway District

Written upon completion of the building of the Golden Gate Bridge in May 1937

At last the mighty task is done;
Resplendent in the western sun
The Bridge looms mountain high;
Its titan piers grip ocean floor,
Its great steel arms link shore with shore,
Its towers pierce the sky.

On its broad decks in rightful pride,
The world in swift parade shall ride,
Throughout all time to be;
Beneath, fleet ships from every port,
Vast landlocked bay, historic fort,
And dwarfing all--the sea.

To north, the Redwood Empire's gates;
'To south, a happy playground waits,
in Rapturous appeal;
Here nature, free since time began,
Yields to the restless moods of man,
Accepts his bonds of steel.

Launched midst a thousand hopes and fears,
Damned by a thousand hostile sneers,
Yet ne'er its course was stayed,
But ask of those who met the foe
Who stood alone when faith was low,
Ask them the price they paid.

Ask of the steel, each strut and wire,
Ask of the searching, purging fire,
That marked their natal hour;
Ask of the mind, the hand, the heart,
Ask of each single, stalwart part,
What gave it force and power.

An Honored cause and nobly fought
And that which they so bravely wrought,
Now glorifies their deed,
No selfish urge shall stain its life,
Nor envy, greed, intrigue, nor strife,
Nor false, ignoble creed.

High overhead its lights shall gleam,
Far, far below life's restless stream,
Unceasingly shall flow;
For this was spun its lithe fine form,
To fear not war, nor time, nor storm,
For Fate had meant it so.

To Kill a Mockingbird - 50th Anniversary

2010-07-12T18:08:00.000-07:00

I came home from work, got the mail, sat down and started reading. I stopped only to post this little note!!!!

I am reading To Kill a Mocking Bird, by Harper Lee courtesy of Harperperennial (Modern Classics) Thank you Amy.

Yesterday marked the 50th anniversary of the book, and I have never read it. I have seen the movie a few times. I have to say out of all the book notes and commentary I have ever heard, this one seems to top many, if not, most lists. I am sorry I haven't read it but in a way it is cool to have something so great to read now when I can appreciate it most.

I am so thrilled to be reading this book this Summer. I can't wait to report back on it.

Book Description

Harper Lee's classic novel of a lawyer in the Deep South defending a black man charged with the rape of a white girl.

One of the best-loved stories of all time, To Kill a Mockingbird has earned many distinctions since its original publication in 1960. It won the Pulitzer Prize, has been translated into more than forty languages, sold more than thirty million copies worldwide, and been made into an enormously popular movie. Most recently, librarians across the country gave the book the highest of honors by voting it the best novel of the twentieth century.

For more info click here.

New Book! Far Bright Star, Robert Olmstead

2010-07-07T11:53:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone:
I haven't participated in Mailbox Monday in a while, but I wanted to post about this great book I received from Algonquin! Thank you! I think this book sounds awesome and I wanted to share with everyone.

About Far Bright Star

The year is 1916. The enemy, Pancho Villa, is elusive. Terrain is unforgiving. Through the mountains and across the long dry stretches of Mexico, Napoleon Childs, an aging cavalryman, leads an expedition of inexperienced horse soldiers on seemingly fruitless searches. Though he is seasoned at such missions, things go terribly wrong, and his patrol is suddenly at the mercy of an enemy intent on their destruction. After witnessing the demise of his troops, Napoleon is left by his captors to die in the desert.

Through him we enter the conflicted mind of a warrior as he tries to survive against all odds, as he seeks to make sense of a lifetime of senseless wars and to reckon with the reasons a man would choose a life on the battlefield. Olmstead, an award-winning writer, has created a tightly wound novel that is as moving as it is terrifying.

About Robert Olmstead

Robert Olmstead is the author of six previous books. Coal Black Horse was the winner of the Heartland Prize for Fiction and the Ohioana award and was a #1 Book Sense Pick and a Borders Original Voices selection. The recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship and an NEA grant, he is a professor at Ohio Wesleyan University.

Update on me! I am slowly getting some readng Mojo back. I am reading Hungry Woman in Paris, by Josephina Lopez and I am re-reading The Witching Hour by Anne Rice. So many of you have sent me regards and love regarding my mom. I wanted to report to everyone that she is now cancer free. She had her PET Scan a few weeks ago and all is great! Thanks to all for you kind words, notes, prayers and thoughts.

Happy Hump Day and before you know it I'll be popping by your blogs!!

Love and Sunshine,
Toni

Hark.... A Book Review!

2010-06-19T20:48:00.000-07:00

Everyone is Beautiful, by Katherine Center, a review by Toni.

First of all, I want to thank Dar from Peeking Between the Pages for this book. I won the ARC on her blog a long time ago. Thank you Dar.

I started this book about three weeks ago. I planned to just devour it in a day or so. It didn't happen that way for me and that is my fault, not the book's. I had heard so many wonderful things about the book, but a few pages into it, all the mommy stuff, sticky hands, brat kids and what not, it just drove me nuts. I didn't even find it all that funny either. I kept thinking, why do I want to read about this mother of three, pudgy from pregnancy, blah blah ... once again......been there done that and DON'T want to read a book about it (anymore) Once again, I will tell you that it was entirely my attitude or maybe just my mood.

Final result: The book was heartwarming, down-to-earth, and yes, funny. Before long I found myself enjoying it, smiling through the kid episodes. For me the book took off when issues were more centered around Lanie, Peter, Amanda, Nora, Nelson and Josh. I liked the adult elements/themes of the book. After all is said and done, I put this one in the pile of books I would recommend, and books I enjoyed. I shed a tear at the end and did a girl power fist pump too! ( I am passing it along to my daughter).

It was charming and if you want to get lost in a sweet book, I'd say this should do the trick. I don't usually categorize books as a "beach read" or "summer" read because all books are anytime read depending on life. But if you need one for the beach bag, or travel tote, I'd toss this one in for sure. I hope this is the book that breaks my reading slump.

Have a great weekend!

Vacation at Home...

2010-06-16T10:56:00.000-07:00

Hello!

I have been MIA in the blog world. Trying to find the balance and get out of my reading slump. I have literally been having to sit down and tell myself to read. I am reading Everyone is Beautiful by Katherine Center. When I started reading it, I kept rolling my eyes. It was my bad attitude and not the book. As my attitude gets better, so does the book. I should finish today or tomorrow.

I had some Toni time on the patio for my first day of vacation. I was unable to go on vacation, but I felt peace and quiet this morning.

Here is the patio:

And of course Dexter says "Hi" from the bathtub!

I have also been reading Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel. It is a really good read in my opinion. I don't know what book I will pick up next but I look forward to reading something really good. I am thinking it will be something Tudor related.

Happy Wednesday.

Mailbox Monday 5/24/2010

2010-05-23T22:00:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone! Happy Monday.

Welcome to Mailbox Monday. A great weekly blog ring of folks who post what came in their mailboxes in the way of books. It is hosted by Marcia at the Printed Page.

I haven't been posting as I haven't been accepting books for review for a while. Trying to catch up. Before I share what I received, I just want to say I am still out here. I still do read blogs. Many days I make the choice of reading a few and commenting on a few or getting to read more and not commenting. I never found that right balance for 2010 that I wanted, but I still love books and book blogs/bloggers. I will be seeing you around the web. Maybe mid to late summer I can get caught up and I can offer some book giveaways.

This week I got: The Lion, by Nelson DeMille. And it is coming out June 8th, 2010!!!!!

About the book:

In this eagerly awaited follow-up to The Lion's Game, John Corey, former NYPD Homicide detective and special agent for the Anti-Terrorist Task Force, is back. And, unfortunately for Corey, so is Asad Khalil, the notorious Libyan terrorist otherwise known as "The Lion." Last we heard from him, Khali had claimed to be defecting to the US only to unleash the most horrific reign of terrorism ever to occur on American soil. While Corey and his partner, FBI agent Kate Mayfield, chased him across the country, Khalil methodically eliminated his victims one by one and then disappeared without a trace.

Now, years later, Khalil has returned to America to make good on his threats and take care of unfinished business. "The Lion" is a killing machine once again loose in America with a mission of revenge, and John Corey will stop at nothing to achieve his own goal -- to find and kill Khahil.

About the author:
Nelson DeMille is the author of 15 previous novels. He lives on Long Island, New York.

Thank you Henry from Hachette Book Group for sending me this ARC to review.

Details:
Category:FICTION
Format:HARDCOVER BOOK
Publish Date:6/8/2010
Price:$27.99/$29.99
ISBN:9780446580830
Pages:448
Size:6" x 9"

Winners - Delayed

2010-05-03T19:37:00.000-07:00

So sorry about the delay. I am actually sick as a dog today. This post was to go out last week but it has been lingering as a draft because I wanted pictures. But I did add links so if you want to know more about the books, click on the links to go back to the original giveaway link.

Winners of the audio set of Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-Smith:

Anne - From Ontario.
Anne-Marie T
Dawn M

Winners of Presumed Innocence by Scot Turow:

Gwendolyn B
Kaye (Pudgy Penguin)
LA Musing

Winners of The Cradle by Patrick Somerville:
Shelburns
Nicole C
Jennifer (Crazy for books)

Have a great week. I will be sending you all an email. If you want to forward your mailing address to me in advance, feel free to do so. Just put the title of the book and WINNER in the subject line.

South of Broad, by Pat Conroy - book tour April 30th

2010-04-30T00:23:00.000-07:00

About South of Broad

Leopold Bloom King has been raised in a family shattered—and shadowed—by tragedy. Lonely and adrift, he searches for something to sustain him and finds it among a tightly knit group of high school outsiders. Surviving marriages happy and troubled, unrequited loves and unspoken longings, hard-won successes and devastating breakdowns, as well as Charleston, South Carolina’s dark legacy of racism and class divisions, these friends will endure until a final test forces them to face something none of them are prepared for.
Spanning two turbulent decades, South of Broad is Pat Conroy at his finest: a masterpiece from a great American writer whose passion for life and language knows no bounds.

About Pat Conroy:
Pat Conroy is the bestselling author of nine books: The Boo, The Water is Wide, The Great Santini, The Lords of Discipline, The Prince of Tides, Beach Music, My Losing Season, The Pat Conroy Cookbook: Recipes of My Life and South of Broad. He lives in Fripp Island, South Carolina.
Visit Pat Conroy’s website for more info about his work.

I am the last stop on the Tour. Please check out all the stops!

Pat Conroy’s TLC Book Tours TOUR STOPS:

Thursday, April 1st: Jen’s Book Thoughts
Monday, April 5th: Lit and Life
Tuesday, April 6th: Rundpinne
Wednesday, April 7th: Meanderings and Muses
Friday, April 9th: Luxury Reading
Monday, April 12th: Books and Cooks
Tuesday, April 13th: The Brain Lair
Wednesday, April 14th: Po(sey) Sessions
Thursday, April 15th: Raging Bibliomania
Monday, April 19th: Life in the Thumb
Tuesday, April 20th: Maggie Reads
Thursday, April 22nd: Stephanie’s Written Word
Friday, April 23rd: Sherri’s Jubilee
Monday, April 26th: The Literate Housewife
Tuesday, April 27th: Peeking Between the Pages
Wednesday, April 28th: Library Queue
Thursday, April 29th: Lakeside Musing
Friday, April 30th: A Circle of Books

Stayed Tuned for my Review in the next week. Prince of Tides is one of my favorite books ever. And one of my favorite book to movie stories also. I am not disappointed by this book so far in the least. A bit of "life" happened and I need to catch my breath and finish this book. Thank you Lisa (TLC book tours) for allowing me to be a part of the great tour.

Mail Box Monday April 26th

2010-04-25T18:00:00.000-07:00

Hello and Happy Monday:
Welcome to Mailbox Monday hosted by Marica at the Printed Page. It is a great big Monday blog event to see what books arrived this past week(s). I saved about three weeks of books to add on this lovely Monday. I will be around on Mailbox Monday but I am seriously cutting off the supply of books coming to my house, so that I can systematically devour my piles.

I received Presumed Innocent, by Scott Turow. Thank you Hachette Book Group.
(see my giveaway ending April 27th for this one.)

I received Black Hills by Dan Simmons (Audiobook) I am so eager to bust this one out and listen. Thank you Hachette Book Group.

A bit about this book:

In BLACK HILLS, Dan Simmons weaves the stories of Paha Sapa and Custer together seamlessly, depicting a violent and tumultuous time in the history of Native Americans and the United States Army.

The other audio book that I received is: Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter, by Seth Grahame-Smith. Thank you Hachette Books. Please enter my giveaway here.

From Stephanie at Workman, I received: College in a Nutskull, compliled and edited by Professor Anders Henriksson.

About the book:

He's back. Anders Henriksson, author of The New York Times bestseller Non Campus Mentis (retitled Ignorance Is Blitz), returns with even funnier, nuttier, more outrageous material culled from the actual exam books of real college students. And it's a hoot that covers all subjects of the core curriculum, including: American History: "The Underground Railroad was built as the nation's first public transit system." Art: "Cubism is art from Cuba." Religion: "Moses led his Islams out of Egypt. Bananas from heaven arrived to feed the hungry people. These events are described in the Book of Zeus." Philosophy: "Plato did his thinking in the Cave of Al Gore." Economics: "The theory of surplus value is Marx’s idea that you always shop with coupons." Music: "Bach's sacred choral music includes the B Minor Mess. . . . All one million of his famed works can be found in his BMW. He had over one hundred children and was, of course, very famous for his work with his organ. Two of his successful sons were Jesus Christ Bach and Bacherini." Literature: "Jay Gatsby moved to East Egg because it would be a good place to raise his chickens." And Psychology—or is it Theater Arts: "Most people are either straight, gay, or thespian."

Published in the irresistible form of a spiral notebook, a pure parody of a course-by-course study guide (complete with doodles), College in a Nutskull is stuff that just cannot be made up—bloopers and blunders and desperate attempts to bluff the right answer, woven together to give a hilarious, unintentionally brilliant report on the state of American higher education. A comedy, that is, for anyone not paying tuition.

And once again from the wonderful Hachette book Group, I received The Cradle by Patrick Somerville. Please enter my Giveaway.

Thank you for the books publishers. Everyone have a great week. I hope you can read to your hearts contents.

Winners - Love in Mid Air by Kim Wright!!

2010-04-18T12:39:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to the winners of Love in Mid Air, by Kim Wright. I had great fun with the Tour. Thank you Hachette Book Group!! The winners are:

Doreen F.
Serena (SV&W)
Kelsey
Debsdesk
Teresa (teresasreadingcorner)

Those receiving the Complimentary lotion will be notified by email.
Thank you for commenting and participating.

Winners!! Ted Dekker Tour Prizes -

2010-04-18T12:10:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the delay folks!

The Grand Prize winner of the book The Bride Collector and the Spooky Guy is:

Jennygirl

Runner up winners of the book only are:

Mystica,

Luanne,

Wendy (Hines),

and Janel.

Congratulations to the winners! Thank you Hachette books for the Giveaway

National Poetry Month Blog Tour

2010-04-16T21:00:00.000-07:00

Click here for all the stops! And a big thank you to Serena from Savvy Verse and Wit for arranging this wonderful tour.

Today I'd like to share a very very favorite book of mine. It is a poetry anthology. I am one of those people that loves poetry. But most of the time I need help "getting it." When I do get it, I simply melt, or whatever appropriate emotion should happen, will happen.

The book that I love so much is called Wordsworth, The Eternal Romantic. My favorite poem of all time is: I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud. You have to check it out. And I do know it by heart.

What I like about this type of lovely compact book, is that I get what I want to know about Wordsworth in the introduction. It is nice and short and filled with the details of his life, there is a very nice time line, and a note from the author. The book is full of gorgeous illustrations such as There is Sorrow on the Seas. The works of Wordworth are loaded with life, love, nature and God. He is one of the greatest poets of the Romantic Period. This book is a sampling of that beauty.

I have carried this book around for over ten years. It is my "go to" book of beautiful things to read and behold.

Here is another favorite from the book.

The Solitary Reaper

Behold her, single in the field,
Yon solitary Highland Lass!
Reaping and singing by herself;
Stop here, or gently pass!
Alone she cuts and binds the grain,
And sings a melancholy strain;
O listen! for the Vale profound
Is overflowing with the sound.

No Nightingale did ever chaunt
More welcome notes to weary bands
Of travellers in some shady haunt,
Among Arabian sands:
A voice so thrilling ne'er was heard
In spring-time from the Cuckoo-bird,
Breaking the silence of the seas
Among the farthest Hebrides.

Will no one tell me what she sings?—
Perhaps the plaintive numbers flow
For old, unhappy, far-off things,
And battles long ago:
Or is it some more humble lay,
Familiar matter of to-day?
Some natural sorrow, loss, or pain,
That has been, and may be again?

Whate'er the theme, the Maiden sang
As if her song could have no ending;
I saw her singing at her work,
And o'er the sickle bending;—
I listened, motionless and still;
And, as I mounted up the hill,
The music in my heart I bore,
Long after it was heard no more.

What you do you think? I love that last line. It is how I often feel about music and every once in while a poem. That last line of the poem sums up how I feel about the actual poem. Does that make sense?

The book is written by K.E. Sullivan

Gamercy Books, New York

The Cradle, by Patrick Somerville - Giveaway

2010-04-11T08:39:00.000-07:00

About the book:

Early one summer morning, Matthew Bishop kisses his still-sleeping wife Marissa, gets dressed and eases his truck through Milwaukee, bound for the highway. His wife, pregnant with their first child, has asked him to find the antique cradle taken years before by her mother Caroline when she abandoned Marissa, never to contact her daughter again. Soon to be a mother herself, Marissa now dreams of nothing else but bringing her baby home to the cradle she herself slept in. His wife does not know-does not want to know-where her mother lives, but Matt has an address for Caroline's sister near by and with any luck, he will be home in time for dinner.

Only as Matt tries to track down his wife's mother, he discovers that Caroline, upon leaving Marissa, has led a life increasingly plagued by impulse and irrationality, a mysterious life that grows more inexplicable with each new lead Matt gains, and door he enters. As hours turn into days and Caroline's trail takes Matt from Wisconsin to Minnesota, Illinois, and beyond in search of the cradle, Matt makes a discovery that will forever change Marissa's life, and faces a decision that will challenge everything he has ever known.

Elegant and astonishing, Patrick Somerville tells the story of one man's journey into the heart of marriage, parenthood, and what it means to be a family. Confirming the arrival of an exuberantly talented new writer, THE CRADLE is an uniquely imaginative debut novel that radiates with wisdom and wonder.

Looking for a good book club read? I think this sounds like a great one. Please click here to find a link to the reading group guide.

Author Website
View the Video

Thank you Valerie at Hachette book group for offering A Circle of Books three copies of this book.

To Enter:

Leave a comment on this blog with your email address. (one entry)
Followers of this blog receive and addition entry. (two entries)
Blog or tweet about the contest and receive five entries.
US and Canada only / No P.O. Boxes / Books ship from the publisher.
Contest ends 4/28/2010

Presumed Innocent, by Scott Turow - Giveaway

2010-04-10T20:59:00.000-07:00

About the book:
Presumed Innocent brings to life our worst nightmare: that of an ordinary citizen facing conviction for the most terrible of crimes. Prosecutor Rusty Sabich is transformed from accuser to accused when he is handed an explosive case-that of the brutal murder of a woman who happens to be his former lover.

In anticipation for the highly-awaited sequel to Presumed Innocent, Innocent, which releases May 4, 2010, I have three copies of Presumed Innocent to offer courtesy of Valerie at Hachette Book Group. Thank you!

Rules:
US and Canda Only.
N.O. P.O. Boxes.

Leave a comment on this post w/ your email for one entry.
Follow this blog for an additional entry (google reader, friend etc. all count!!)
Twitter or blog about the comment and receive five entries.
Contest ends 4/27/2010.

Other ways to get involved with upcoming news on this book.
Join Scott Turow on Facebook.
Check out the Author web-site.

Audio Book- Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter

2010-04-04T11:17:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone:

Thanks to Anna at Hachette Book Group I am offering three copies of the unabridged audio of Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-Smith.

About the Audio Book:
Indiana, 1818. Moonlight falls through the dense woods that surround a one-room cabin, where a nine-year-old Abraham Lincoln kneels at his suffering mother's bedside. She's been stricken with something the old-timers call "Milk Sickness."

"My baby boy..." she whispers before dying.

Only later will the grieving Abe learn that his mother's fatal affliction was actually the work of a vampire.

When the truth becomes known to young Lincoln, he writes in his journal, "henceforth my life shall be one of rigorous study and devotion. I shall become a master of mind and body. And this mastery shall have but one purpose..." Gifted with his legendary height, strength, and skill with an ax, Abe sets out on a path of vengeance that will lead him all the way to the White House.

While Abraham Lincoln is widely lauded for saving a Union and freeing millions of slaves, his valiant fight against the forces of the undead has remained in the shadows for hundreds of years. That is, until Seth Grahame-Smith stumbled upon The Secret Journal of Abraham Lincoln, and became the first living person to lay eyes on it in more than 140 years.

Using the journal as his guide and writing in the grand biographical style of Doris Kearns Goodwin and David McCullough, Seth has reconstructed the true life story of our greatest president for the first time-all while revealing the hidden history behind the Civil War and uncovering the role vampires played in the birth, growth, and near-death of our nation.

About the Author:
Seth Grahame-Smith is the New York Times bestselling author of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. He lives in Los Angeles.

Listen to the Excerpt.
Become a Fan on Facebook.
Join the Undead Book Club.

To enter, simply leave a comment on this blog with your email address (if it is not attached to your profile). I have to have a way to get a hold of you.
If you follow this blog you get an extra entry (let me know if you follow, google reader does count).
If you blog or tweet about the contest you will get 3 more entries. (total of five max).You can post all of this info in one comment, or more, it is up to you.
This Contest ends on April 28th. Good luck.

US and Canada only.
No P.O. Boxes
Your books will ship from the publisher.

Audio and Video

Love in Mid Air Blog Tour and Giveaway and Review

2010-03-31T22:41:00.000-07:00

The story of a woman who meets a man on an airplane and, suddenly, is willing to risk everything: her safe but stale marriage, her seemingly perfect life in an affluent Southern suburb, and her position in the church. As Elyse embarks on a risky affair, her longtime friend Kelly and the other women in their book club begin to question their own decisions about love, sex, marriage, and freedom. In the end it will take an extraordinary leap of faith for Elyse to find--and follow--her own path to happiness.

My thoughts:
I think it is a solid book on a topic that affects many in this day and time. I believe the story to be believable. Affairs happen, and many times it effects more than just the couple. I liked the style of the book and the different angles of the effects of Elyse's actions. You don't have to condone affairs to enjoy the book. You can be for a person and not the action. You don't have to take sides. Just read the book and see what you think. I think the book stirs up interesting conversation and questions. This would be a great book club selection. I was drawn into the story right away. I wanted to keep reading to find out Elyse's path. From the beginning I was on this "ride" with Elyse, with pretty much no judgment. I don't relate with the story because I am not in an unhappy marriage, but I can understand what the pain of an unhappy marriage (or just emotional pain in general) can do to a person to set them on a course that seems to medicate the/ a situation.

I have five copies to giveaway courtesy of Hachette Book Group.

All you have to do is leave a comment on this post with an email address. This contest is open to all readers of A Circle of Books. Unfortunately only open to US and Canada at this time. No P.O. boxes. You do not have to be a follower of this blog and this is a ONE Entry per person giveaway.
This contest ends April 14th, 2010.

***As part of a special promotion the first five people to enter this contest will win a special bottle of complimentary body lotion from Naturally Luxurious Bath and Body Company. (US only, sorry) To check out the products go to the website.
These are provided by my son who is doing some promoting of these products.

There are other stops on this tour. Here are a few! My post is long so I trimmed the stops.

March 29
http://www.peekingbetweenthepages.blogspot.com
(Guest post included)
http://www.redladysreadingroom.blogspot.com/
http://www.bermudaonion.wordpress.com

March 30
http://www.luxuryreading.com
http://frugalplus.com/
http://bookingmama.blogspot.com/

March 31
http://thecajunbooklady.blogspot.com/
http://www.bellasnovella.com

April 1
http://www.stacievaughansblog.blogspot.com
http://www.bibliophilicbookblog.com
http://memybookandthecouch.blogspot.com/

April 2
http://www.booknaround.blogspot.com
http://bookinwithbingo.blogspot.com
http://www.dreyslibrary.blogspot.com

The Bride Collector - a review by Toni

2010-03-28T11:34:00.000-07:00

The Bride Collector, by Ted Dekker

I really enjoyed this book. I thought it was going to be a super scary slasher book and it was not. It was a good serial killer mystery.    I mentioned before that this is my first Dekker book and I was not let down.    I was able to connect with all the characters and stay connected and enjoy the plot through out the whole book. I read the book in a few sittings because it was "that interesting."   I could totally see the movie version of this book while I was reading.

I liked how the plot included the patients at the Center for Wellness and Intelligence. I enjoy plots that have this element of "weaker" individuals that rely on their unique gift or intelligence to help in the race to stop a killer. It is also reminder that not all mental illness is a curse and that there can be a wealth of intelligence behind those that are otherwise doomed to a medicated life of seclusion. (It sparked an interest in this topic for me).

To read more about the book check out my giveway post.   Anymore that I have to say about the characters or connections in the story I feel spoil the plot. I also think it will spoil whether I say I love or hate the ending. You are on your own for this!

I liked the book and had have a great time participating in the Blog Tour.    Thank you Hachette books for my free ARC copy.

This book comes out 4/13/2010. Snatch it up for your Summer Reading.

60 Days of Ted Dekker - The Bride Collector Blog Tour and Giveaway!

2010-03-24T20:39:00.000-07:00

The Bride Collector Blog Tour and Special Giveaway!

Ted Dekker has a new book coming out on April 13th, 2010. You have got to check out his blog here. It is a great site! This is my first Ted Dekker Book. I will be reading more. Please tune in tomorrow (3/26) for my review. Today we will talk about the book and the author.

About Ted Dekker:

TED DEKKER is a New York Times bestselling author of more than twenty novels with a total of more than 3 million books in print. He is known for thrillers that combine adrenaline-laced plots with incredible confrontations between good and evil.

About the book: (from Hachette Book Group Web-site)

FBI Special agent Brad Raines is facing his toughest case yet. A Denver serial killer has killed four beautiful young women, leaving a bridal veil at each crime scene, and he's picking up his pace. Unable to crack the case, Raines appeals for help from a most unusual source: residents of the Center for Wellness and Intelligence, a private psychiatric institution for mentally ill individuals whose are extraordinarily gifted.

It's there that he meets Paradise, a young woman who witnessed her father murder her family and barely escaped his hand. Diagnosed with schizophrenia, Paradise may also have an extrasensory gift: the ability to experience the final moments of a person's life when she touches the dead body.

In a desperate attempt to find the killer, Raines enlists Paradise's help. In an effort to win her trust, he befriends this strange young woman and begins to see in her qualities that most 'sane people' sorely lack. Gradually, he starts to question whether sanity resides outside the hospital walls...or inside.

As the Bride Collector picks up the pace-and volume-of his gruesome crucifixions, the case becomes even more personal to Raines when his friend and colleague, a beautiful young forensic psychologist, becomes the Bride Collector's next target.

The FBI believes that the killer plans to murder seven women. Can Paradise help before it's too late?

Ted Dekker become a fan on Facebook.

Follow on Twitter.

Thank you Hachette Books (Miriam and Henry). I have five copies of this new book to offer! As a special offer for followers of this blog I have knitted a little spooky man doll. (see the above photo). He is the perfect companion while reading this suspenseful, cool, book. Unlike Dexter, he doesn't drool. If you win, you get the book and the doll. Four others will get the book only.

To enter, leave a comment on this blog with your email. (unless it is available on your profile). This will get you one entry into my random drawing. You must follow my blog. If you don't blog, it is easy to make a quick google account and start following.

If you want an extra entry, you can tweet, blog or announce this contest. Just do something to ham it up a bit. Let me know what you have done for the extra entry. It is okay to sum it all up in one comment.

Rules:

US and Canada Only.

No P.O. Boxes

You must enter by April 10th. Winners will be announced on April 13th!!!

Friday March 26th - Me, My Book and the Couch will continue on the 60 day Blog Tour. Join the Tour, it is not too late.

Have fun everyone. Thanks for following and tune in for a my review on Friday.

Disclosure: The spooky doll is made from acrylic and wool, a blend with Poly Fiberfill stuffing. It is not intended for children under five. I do have an inside dog so if you have allergies, I warn you that Jack has been exposed to Dexter fiber. The books are shipped from the publisher.

Mailbox Monday 3/22/2010

2010-03-21T13:25:00.000-07:00

Welcome to Mailbox Monday.
It is hosted by Marcia at the Printed Page. It is a fun weekly book activity where we get to share what books we got this week. If you don't have a blog, I still would love to hear what you are reading and what came in the mail.

From Harper Perennial: I got a galley (uncorrected proof) of:

The Queen of Palmyra by Minrose Gwin.

Here are some reviews of this one. I can't wait to read this one. (my cover is very different from this one...I will have to post a photo of it soon!)

“The most powerful and also the most lyrical novel about race, racism, and denial in the American South since To Kill a Mockingbird.”
— Lee Smith, author of On Agate Hill

“Exquisitely beautiful… The novel grips the reader from its first page and relentlessly drives us to its conclusion.”
— William Ferris, author of Give My Poor Heart Ease: Voices of the Mississippi Blues

An atmospheric debut novel about growing up in the changing South in 1960s Mississippi in the tradition of Sue Monk Kidd’s The Secret Life of Bees and Kathryn Stockett’s The Help. In the words of Jill McCorkle (Going Away Shoes), “Minrose Gwin is an extremely gifted writer and The Queen of Palmyra is a brilliant and compelling novel.”

Book Description

"I need you to understand how ordinary it all was. . . ."

In the turbulent southern summer of 1963, Millwood's white population steers clear of "Shake Rag," the black section of town. Young Florence Forrest is one of the few who crosses the line. The daughter of a burial insurance salesman with dark secrets and the town's "cake lady," whose back country bootleg runs lead further and further away from a brutal marriage, Florence attaches herself to her grandparents' longtime maid, Zenie Johnson. Named for Zenobia, Queen of Palmyra, Zenie treats the unwanted girl as just another chore, while telling her stories of the legendary queen's courage and cunning.
The more time Florence spends in Shake Rag, the more she recognizes how completely race divides her town, and her story, far from ordinary, bears witness to the truth and brutality of her times—a truth brought to a shattering conclusion when Zenie's vibrant college-student niece, Eva Greene, arrives that fateful Mississippi summer.
Minrose Gwin's The Queen of Palmyra is an unforgettable evocation of a time and a place in America—a nuanced, gripping story of race and identity.

I also received:

Broken Birds, by Jeannette Katzir. (Thank you Jeannette)

For more about this book visit this awesome web-site.

Broken Birds, The Story of My Momila, is Jeannette Katzir's achingly honest memoir of the enduring effects of war. From her parents' harrowing experience during the Holocaust to her own personal battles, Katzir exposes the maladies of heart and mind that those broken by war inevitably and unintentionally pass down to the generations that follow.
From Algonquin: (Thank you) I received:

I Thought You Were Dead, by Pete Nelson.

About I Thought You Were Dead

For Paul Gustavson, a hack writer for the wildly popular For Morons series, life is a succession of obstacles. His wife has left him, his father has suffered a debilitating stroke, his girlfriend is dating another man, he has impotency issues, and his overachieving brother invested his parents' money in stocks that tanked. Still, Paul has his friends at Bay State bar, a steady line of cocktails, and a new pair of running shoes (he’s promised himself to get in shape). And then there’s Stella, the one constant in his life, who gives him sage advice, doesn’t judge him, and gives him unconditional love. However, Stella won’t accompany Paul into his favorite dive bar. "I'll roll on dead carp, I'll even eat cat turds, but that place grosses me out." Stella, you see, is Paul's aging Lab-shepherd mix, and she knows Paul better than he knows himself.

In I Thought You Were Dead, author Pete Nelson delivers a novel that is all at once heartwarming, heartbreaking, and heart-wrenchingly funny. Most of all, it’s a story that proves that when a good dog is by your side—especially one with whom you can have an engaging conversation—life can be full of surprises.

From Jenna from Mariner Books: (Thank you!!) I received:

The Russian Dreambook of Color and Flight, by Gina Ochsner.

The Russian Dreambook of Color and Flight is a bewitching novel of post-Soviet lives. It moves between the magical, the comical and the transcendent to portray a people who rely on dreams to defy the coming of dereliction and decay. Tanya tries to persuade American benefactors to revitalize her very dusty provincial museum, where fake exhibits have been lovingly crafted from cardboard, wire and glue. Meanwhile, in the courtyard of Tanya's apartment complex, a corpse refuses to decompose, taking flight, and dispensing more advice than anyone desires. "A heartbreaking comic masterpiece that already has a place in the literature of protest," says The Guardian.

Have a great week! I owe a few email replies, please bear with me. All the giveaways have been finished..but tune in later this week for a great giveaway! I will have some more giveaways and reviews coming this month.

Disclosure: I received all of the above books free of charge from the publishers.

Winners- Black Hills by Dan Simmons - Audiobook

2010-03-13T11:15:00.000-08:00

I owe some winners some audio books. Thanks for your patience!

Congratulations to:

MonieG

Justpeachy36

They have won an audiobook copy of Black Hills by Dan Simmons.

Thank you Anna from Hachette Books for this fantastic giveaway.

Mailbox Monday 3/8/2010

2010-03-07T23:00:00.001-08:00

Welcome to Mailbox Monday. Hosted by Marcia at The Printed Page.

You know it is bad when I thought I got nothing last week and wasn't going to post. But soon remembered a small stack of winnings that showed up on my doorstep this week. I had a nice little pile in the hallway set aside to share.

I'd like to thank Bookin' with Bingo for sending me two books that I won her her blog.

close encounters of the third-grade kind - Thoughts on Teacherhood by Philip Done (ARC)

20 Boy Summer, a novel by Sarah Ockler (ARC)

I'd like to thank Jenn from Jenn's Bookshelves for sending me:

Home is Where the Wine Is, by Laurie Perry. (For those that know me..this is my life theme mantra! Just kidding...sort of....

Have an outstanding week all!

Winner !!! Last Snow and First Daughter by Eric Van Lustbader

2010-03-07T23:00:00.000-08:00

rhapsodyinbooks

.....is the winner of Last Snow and First Daughter by Eric Van Lustbader! (click here for book info.

Congratulations to you!!! I will contact you to get your mailing address soon! Or feel free to forward at your convenience! Dexter is tickled pink for you!

Thanks to Anna, The Book Report Network, on behalf of Forge Books for this great giveaway.

Cane River by Lalita Tademy - A Review by Toni

2010-03-07T11:14:00.000-08:00

I just finished Cane River by Lalita Tademy. My book club read this for our February Selection. I am not writing an in depth synopsis of this book. I just want to note that I 100% loved the book. It is a saga about generations of women living in slavery in pre-civil war, during and after, along the Cane River in Louisiana. The author researched her own family history and wrote an unforgettable novel of strong women with unbreakable family ties. While there are parts of this story that will tear your heart out, you will be able to rejoice in the bonds of the family and fall in love with the inner strength and beauty of these fine Southern women. I appreciate the author was able to tell this honest story without having to add graphic sex scenes for drama as the unimaginable acts of against these brave women are not what defined them or their legacy.

I give the book five stars and endorse it with my highest recommendation. I read the book and I also have listened to several segments of the abridged audio. The audio book is well read and I recommend it also. Cane River would make an excellent reading group selection.

I purchased both the book and the audio book with my own funds.

Mailbox Monday February 28th, 2010

2010-02-28T17:52:00.000-08:00

Hello there!
I have been MIA for a few weeks of Mailbox Mondays. This Mailbox Monday will represent three weeks of mail.

Mailbox Monday is hosted by Marcia at the Printed Page. Thank you Marcia for hosting.

If you were blog reading yesterday, you will know that I got
Shanghai Girls by Lisa See from Rochelle from Random House. What a treat and surprise. Thank you.

From Anna at Hachette Books I received The Swan Thieves, By Elizabeth Kostova. (I can't wait to listen to this audio books read by Treat Williams and Anne Heche). Thank you Anna.

From Random House Books I got South of Broad, by Pat Conroy. (Look for me to participate in a blog tour on April 30th). Thank you Lisa M. for thinking of me for the tour.

From a win at Peeking Between the Pages (thank you Dar!!) I got Daughters of the Witching Hill, by Mary Sharratt.

From Erica at Harper Perennial I received a copy of Postcards from a Dead Girl, a novel by Kirk Farber. Thank you Erica.

From Algonquin books I received, Secret Son by Laila Lalami. Thank you!

Have a great week!

Sunday Shanghai Surprise!!

2010-02-28T17:04:00.000-08:00

Thank you Rochelle Clark, from Random House Publishing Group!!

I didn't even know it was on my porch but apparently it got delivered on Saturday! What was it? I got a lovely box with Lisa See's book Shanghai Girls. I just can not wait to read this book. I loved The Snow Flower and the Secret Fan and I have heard that this one does not disappoint also.

Look at this picture! The box also had chocolate enclosed. And as a suggestion for a book club treat, I got a complimentary bag of Hershey's Bliss! What a treat! My book club meets online...I wonder if I will share by mail or just say..."get your own bag."

This book has been recommended as an excellent book club read. I think I am going to pitch it to my club. (It has come up as a nomination). I believe it missed the radar a few times and but now more than ever, I want to share this special story with my reading group.

ABOUT THIS BOOK

In 1937, Shanghai is the Paris of Asia, a city of great wealth and glamour, the home of millionaires and beggars, gangsters and gamblers, patriots and revolutionaries, artists and warlords. Thanks to the financial security and material comforts provided by their father’s prosperous rickshaw business, twenty-one-year-old Pearl Chin and her younger sister, May, are having the time of their lives. Though both sisters wave off authority and tradition, they couldn’t be more different: Pearl is a Dragon sign, strong and stubborn, while May is a true Sheep, adorable and placid. Both are beautiful, modern, and carefree . . .. until the day their father tells them that he has gambled away their wealth and that in order to repay his debts he must sell the girls as wives to suitors who have traveled from California to find Chinese brides.

As Japanese bombs fall on their beloved city, Pearl and May set out on the journey of a lifetime, one that will take them through the Chinese countryside, in and out of the clutch of brutal soldiers, and across the Pacific to the shores of America. In Los Angeles they begin a fresh chapter, trying to find love with the strangers they have married, brushing against the seduction of Hollywood, and striving to embrace American life even as they fight against discrimination, brave Communist witch hunts, and find themselves hemmed in by Chinatown’s old ways and rules.

At its heart, Shanghai Girls is a story of sisters: Pearl and May are inseparable best friends who share hopes, dreams, and a deep connection, but like sisters everywhere they also harbor petty jealousies and rivalries. They love each other, but each knows exactly where to drive the knife to hurt the other the most. Along the way they face terrible sacrifices, make impossible choices, and confront a devastating, life-changing secret, but through it all the two heroines of this astounding new novel hold fast to who they are–Shanghai girls.

Anyway..I do have a Mailbox Monday to post but I couldn't help sharing this great little surprise all on it's own. So many in blogland have read this one. I will be sure to let you know what I think when I read it.

Giveaways...

2010-02-23T08:22:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone!

I hope you enjoyed my February giveaways. I will have some more exciting giveaways coming up!

I wanted to take a moment to let you know that Geri at One More Foggy Notion has a few giveaways. So while you are waiting for more offerings here at A Circle of Books, hop on over to her blog and see what she has going on. She has already posted some great reviews also.

Here
and
Here
and
Here
and
Here
and
Here

I bet you want to know what they are, don't you? The answers are only a click away. I am still buried in some personal issues and work and will be checking in and spreading the love soon.

Take Care and have a great week.

Toni

Giveaway - Black Hills - Dan Simmons - Audio

2010-02-19T19:37:00.000-08:00

A wee bit about the book:

In BLACK HILLS, Dan Simmons weaves the stories of Paha Sapa and Custer together seamlessly, depicting a violent and tumultuous time in the history of Native Americans and the United States Army.

Read by Erik Davies and Michael McConnohie (Sample here)
Become a fan on Facebook
Visit Dan Simmons Web-site.

Thanks to Anna at Hachette Books, I have 3 copies of the audio cd's to offer.

1 entry - leave a comment with a valid name and email address.
2 entries - follow this blog and leave a comment with a valid name and email address.
5 entries - follow this blog and leave a comment with a valid name and email address and twitter and or post about the giveaway.

I do allow for combined posted comments. You may notify me of everything in one comment or separate. Whatever works for you.

US and Canada ONLY. No P.O. boxes. This contest ends March 5th, 2010

Winner !! Postcards from a Dead Girl, A Novel by Kirk Farber

2010-02-19T19:06:00.000-08:00

And the winner is:

Bermudiaonion

Thank you Erica from Harper Perennial!
Kathy, congratulations, I will email you soon, for your information to forward.

If you didn't win, the book is on sale now.

Winners - The Crazy School, by Cornelia Read

2010-02-19T17:49:00.000-08:00

The Crazy School, by Cornelia Read

Winners!!

Sue (s.mickelson)

Kaye - Pudgy Penguin

Risingsouth

Thank you everyone for participating. I'd love to hear what you think of the book.
Thank you Valerie at Hachette Books.

I'll be sending you an email. Feel free to forward your mailing information in advance

Winners - The Last Song, by Nicholas Sparks

2010-02-19T17:30:00.000-08:00

And the winners are:

Doreen - via Facebook entry
It's Just Me Wendy
misusedinnocence (woo hoo second win this week)

Thank you everyone for participating. I'd love to hear what you think of the book.
Thank you Valerie at Hachette Books.

I'll be sending you an email. Feel free to forward your mailing information in advance.

Winners - The Swan Thieves by Elisabeth Kostova

2010-02-19T16:51:00.000-08:00

The Swan Thieves, by Elisabeth Kostova
Audiobook

Misusedinnocence
Ti
Muse in the Fog

Thank you everyone for participating. I'd love to hear what you think of this audiobook.

Thank you Anna at Hachette Books.

I'll be sending you an email. Feel free to forward your mailing information in advance.

Winners - Tough Selling in Hard Times, b y Tom Hopkins

2010-02-19T16:39:00.000-08:00

Bonnie M
Frank Sandy
Etirv
dsandyboy
Renee G

Thank you everyone for participating. I'd love to hear what you think of the book.
Thank you Valerie at Hachette Books.

I'll be sending you an email. Feel free to forward your mailing information in advance.

Giveaway - Last Snow and First Daughter by Eric Van Lustbader

2010-02-19T16:21:00.000-08:00

Last Snow

Released on February 16th.

New York Times bestselling sensation Eric Van Lustbader created the legendary Nicholas Linnear of The Ninja and brought Jason Bourne into the twenty-first century. Now, Lustbader brings us Jack McClure, a street-smart ATF agent who saved the president's daughter from a criminal mastermind. Now Jack is a special advisor to President Edward Carson, and Carson's daughter, Alli, refuses to let him out of her sight.

First Daughter

Jack McClure has had a troubled life. His dyslexia always made him feel like an outsider. He escaped from an abusive home as a teenager and lived by his wits on the streets of Washington D.C. It wasn't until he realized that dyslexia gave him the ability to see the world in unique ways that he found success, using this newfound strength to become a top ATF agent.

When a terrible accident takes the life of his only daughter, Emma, and his marriage falls apart, Jack blames himself, numbing the pain by submerging himself in work. Then he receives a call from his old friend Edward Carson. Carson is just weeks from taking the reins as President of the United States when his daughter, Alli, is kidnapped. Because Emma McClure was once Alli's best friend, Carson turns to Jack, the one man he can trust to go to any lengths to find his daughter

Thanks to Anna, The Book Report Network, on behalf of Forge Books I have a copy of each of these books to give. I am going to make it fun. If you are picked in this drawing, you get both copies for one grand prize. This is a one entry drawing. Just enter the contest with a valid name and email address and I will pick a winner on March 1st. US and Canada Only.

For author info: Check out his site here.

-An Excerpt from LAST SNOW

-Praise for LAST SNOW

-About FIRST DAUGHTER

-A book trailer for FIRST DAUGHTER

American Rust Winner!

2010-02-09T08:47:00.000-08:00

The winner of American Rust, by Philipp Meyer is Geri.

Congrats to Geri.

Please see my review here.

Thanks to everyone for entering, blogging, tweeting. Please see my side bar for more giveaways.

Bel Canto, by Anne Patchett - A Review by Toni

2010-02-06T15:39:00.000-08:00

I read this book with my book club for our January read. I actually listened to the audio. It is a book about a hostage situation that takes place in South America. It takes place in the home of the Vice-President of the country, where a Japanese business man has been invited to celebrate his birthday. A world famous opera singer has been invited to perform at the occasion. The event is taken over by terrorists. So we have a multi-culture, multi-gender hostage situation that takes place for several months in large home.

I believe the writing is eloquent and descriptive. Even quite beautiful at times. The beauty of the writing didn't seem to match the story. I don't know if I read this book at the wrong time in my life or what, but it didn't click for me. I wonder if listening to the audio changed my view of the story? For me the story was far fetched. I believe I am too sensitive in nature to turn a hostage situation into an event where true love can blossom. I believe the story could have happened with a stranded cruise ship on an island, or people stuck in an airport. I find it hard to believe that if I was held by gunpoint, in fear of my life, kept away from my family and friends, that I would have an open heart to love and acceptance of my captors. Since I have never been a hostage, I was unable to "step into the shoes" of the hostages that soon become "friends" with their captors. Even though I know there is a documented syndrome where this happens. Examples: (Patty Hearst and Jaycee Lee Dugard).

I didn't bond with the characters. Sometimes within a story, I can see little glimpse of myself in a character or at least relate. I couldn't seem to relate to these characters, and actually didn't even really care about the leading lady. It all seemed too casual and sugar-coated. The bad guys were not bad enough and the victims didn't act like victims. I did experience some enchantment from time to time. I was touched by a governess who stitched up the cheek of the Vice President. It was a moving scene that I found believable. The descriptive writing supported this scene well and I was moved.

I didn't hate the book but rarely found myself wanting to read on and to know more. The end seemed to be realistic and yet, not what I was wanting or expecting. That being said, it is definitely a book that I would say read for yourself and see if it takes hold for you. I have read numerous wonderful reviews. One of my book club members said it is one of her all time favorite books. She had a lot of wonderful points to share about the book. She found a lot of beauty in the everyday events of the story and life of the situation.

I would definitely read more from this author.

Giveaway Postcards from a Dead Girl, by Kirk Farber

2010-02-03T21:00:00.000-08:00

Thank you Erica from Harper Perennial (Olive Edition Blog) and (Twitter)

I have another great book to offer:

Postcards from a Dead Girl, A Novel by Kirk Farber

This book goes On Sale 2/16/10

A Bit about the book

Postcards from a Dead Girl is the story of Sid, who is slowly but surely becoming unhinged by the postcards he receives in the mail from his ex, Zoe. They’re coming from locales as exotic and varied as Barcelona, London, Paris, and New Jersey, and they’re taunting him. So embarks on a journey of his own, chasing Zoe and her postcards, looking for the answers that will help him move on and let himself fall in love again. Awesome fact about this one: Kirk Farber, the author, works as a librarian in Colorado as his day job.

Please leave a comment here if you are interested in a chance to win. I need a valid email so I can contact you if you win.

Followers receive an extra entry. It doubles your chance to win!

US and Canada Only. The contest ends on 2/17/2010

Have to share ...and it's not Monday!!

2010-02-02T19:41:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone!
I missed Mailbox Monday this week. It is my favorite meme. It is hosted by Marcia at the Printed Page. I can't wait until next Monday to share so I am sharing on Wednesday. It is just too dang exciting. I will be popping by your mailboxes this week also. If you want to leave a link to your mailbox, please feel free to do so.

So this week I received:

Knock Out Interviews with Doctors Who Are Curing Cancer and How to Prevent Getting it in the First Place, by Suzanne Somers. This was a gift from a friend at work. What a nice gift, don't you think?

Love in Mid Air, a novel by Kim Wright. Thank you Miriam from Hachette Book Group. Stay tuned in March for a blog tour of this one.

Keeping the Feast by Paula Butturnini. Thank you Lydia Hirt from Riverhead Books. (Riverhead books on Twitter)

The Crazy School, a novel, by Cornelia Read. Thank you Valerie from Hachette Book Group. Check out my Giveaway!!!

Reading Group Guide

Paris Under Water: How the City of Light Survived the Great Flood of 1910, by Jeffrey H. Jackson. Thank you Michelle Fitzgerald from Palgrave Macmillan (Shelf Awareness Promotion). I already delved into this one a bit, and I am loving it.

Have a fantastic week.

**edited...this was supposed to post tomorrow (2/3).oh I guess it is tomorrow somewhere right? and edited to include a forgotten book. Oh dear...where is my mind?

Winner - The Little Giant of Aberdeen County - Tiffany Baker

2010-02-02T19:26:00.000-08:00

Hello and good evening!

I'd like to announce the winner of a beautiful hard cover copy of The Little Giant of Aberdeen County by Tiffany Baker. Thank you to Valerie from Hachette books for sending me this lovely book. If you would like more information on this book please click here for more information.

The winner is: Sheri @ A Novel Menagerie. If you haven't ever checked out this blog... oh you will be so glad you did. Congrats to Sheri. (I will be emailing you !!)

I have once again been MIA for about 7 days. That is about 25 days in blogland when it comes to catching up. I will be checking on on my favorite blogs and of course leaving my comments soon. I have a lot going on personally and ...well ... "it is what it is." But I continue to blog free of guilt this year.

I missed Mailbox Monday this week....but I can't wait to share so you will find my awesome books on another post this week. Another blessed week for sure.

If you can believe it I still am finishing up Bel Canto, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and A Reliable Wife. I admit to having a week of NO reading. It is what happens when I can't focus. That also..."is what it is." I am excited for the upcoming blog events and blog tours. I have a pretty cool treat in March. (shhhhhh...it's a secret)

My book club started reading Cane River, by Lalita Tademy this month. It promises to be a good if not great read. Many of the club are sailing right through it and loving it already.

Have a great rest of the week. I love reading all the comments. For those that popped in to say hi on this giveaway ...."just to say hi." Well... thank you. That is sweet and you can be sure I will blabbing away with comments soon.

The Crazy School, by Cornelia Read - GIVEAWAY

2010-01-27T22:00:00.000-08:00

***Edited to correct a mortifying spelling/typo on 2/2/2010.

A bit about the book

From the acclaimed author of A FIELD OF DARKNESS comes another compelling novel featuring the acerbic and memorable voice of ex-debutante Madeline Dare. Madeline Dare has finally escaped rust-belt Syracuse, New York, for the lush Berkshire Mountains in Massachusetts. After her husband's job offer falls through, Maddie signs on as a teacher at the Santangelo Academy, a boarding school for disturbed teenagers. Behind the academy's ornate gates, she discovers a disturbing realm where students and teachers alike must submit to the founder's bizarre therapeutic regimen.

A bit about the Author

Cornelia Read grew up in New York, California, and Hawaii. She describes herself as a reformed debutante who currently lives in Berkeley. This is her second novel. Her website is www.corneliaread.com.

Thanks to Valerie at Hachette Books, I have three copies of this book to offer. Give it a shot and recommend it to your reading group! There is a great reading group guide for this book. It is always a great feature to have for your group reading.

Rules: US/ Canada Only
Will not ship to P.O. Boxes

For one entry leave a comment with your email address.
For two entries leave a comment and follow this blog.
For five entries do the above and leave a comment on a reading group. Do you have one? Would you like one? Let's talk about book clubs.

Good Luck
This giveaway ends on February 15th, 2010.

The Last Song by Nicolas Sparks

2010-01-26T22:00:00.000-08:00

Hachette Book Giveaway
A bit about the book

Seventeen year old Veronica "Ronnie" Miller's life was turned upside-down when her parents divorced and her father moved from New York City to Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina. Three years later, she remains angry and alienated from her parents, especially her father...until her mother decides it would be in everyone's best interest if she spent the summer in Wilmington with him. Ronnie's father, a former concert pianist and teacher, is living a quiet life in the beach town, immersed in creating a work of art that will become the centerpiece of a local church.

A bit about the author

Nicholas Sparks is the author of 15 books. He lives in North Carolina with his wife and children. You can visit the Author Website

This would be such a great February read for your book club. Check out the
reading group guide for the book. It is a great way to stimulate book talk in your club.

Thank you Valerie at Hachette Books! I have three paperback copies to offer!

The rules:
US/Canda Only.
No P.O. Boxes.
Contest ends 2/14/2010

For one entry leave a comment with your email address.
For two entries, follow this blog and leave a comment.
For Five entries, follow this blog and Tweet about the contest.

I do allow anonymous comments, but please use your real name, with a valid email. I reserve the right to toss out comments.

The Swan Thieves, by Elisabeth Kostova - Audio Giveaway

2010-01-25T22:00:00.000-08:00

The Swan Thieves, by Elisabeth Kostova

Read by Treat Williams, Anne Heche, Erin Cottrell, Sarah Zimmerman and John Lee

A bit about the audio book

Psychiatrist Andrew Marlowe has a perfectly ordered life--solitary, perhaps, but full of devotion to his profession and the painting hobby he loves. This order is destroyed when renowned painter Robert Oliver attacks a canvas in the National Gallery of Art and becomes his patient. In response, Marlowe finds himself going beyond his own legal and ethical boundaries to understand the secret that torments this genius, a journey that will lead him into the lives of the women closest to Robert Oliver and toward a tragedy at the heart of French Impressionism.

Ranging from American museums to the coast of Normandy, from the late nineteenth century to the late twentieth, from young love to last love, THE SWAN THIEVES is a story of obsession, the losses of history, and the power of art to preserve human hope.

A bit about the Author

Elizabeth Kostova is the author of the international bestseller The Historian. She graduated from Yale and holds an MFA from the University of Michigan, where she won the Hopwood Award for the Novel-in-Progress.

I have three copies of the unabridged audio to offer. Thank you Anna at Hachette Books.

Rules:
US and Canada Only
Will not ship to P.O. Boxes.

How to Enter:
Leave a comment on this blog with your email (It is okay if it is on your profile).
Followers of this blog get an extra entry.
Tweet about the comment and get five entries.
Anonymous comments are allowed but if you'd like a shot at winning please include your real name and email address.

This Giveaway ends on February 13th, 2010. Winners Announced Shortly after.

Check out the links to find out more of this great book.
Listen to an Excerpt
Watch the Video
Read an Excerpt
Grab the OpenBook™ Widget

Giveaway - Selling in Tough Times, by Tom Hopkins

2010-01-25T13:38:00.000-08:00

Selling in Tough Times, Secrets to Selling When No When No One is Buying

About the book

We've all heard it before: when times are tough, go back to the basics. It seems simple, but the reality is that in good times, many of us let some of the most important principles of selling go by the wayside, which leaves us scrambling when a downturn hits. That's why world-renowned sales expert Tom Hopkins is here to remind us that challenges are a constant aspect of selling and that the key to success is to keep your attitude positive and to never stop striving for excellence. What's more, Hopkins distills the four key practices to help you get your creative juices flowing and discover and exploit business opportunities that you may not even know existed, including:
Success Is In Who You Know: Effectively working with existing clients to generate new leads for business is crucial.

Retaining (and Rewarding) Customers: Excellent service and consistent follow-up ensure happy customers and ongoing success.

Reducing Sales Resistance: In tough times, people put off making buying decisions. Help them overcome their fears in order to thrive.

Converting Clients from the Competition: With fewer new business start-ups for you to pursue, you need strategies for getting clients to consider you over their current providers Don't just survive, learn how to thrive by turning your challenges into advantages today.

About the Author

Tom Hopkins is the founder and president of the renowned sales training service Tom Hopkins International. He is a member of the National Speakers Bureau and is the author of the national bestseller How to Master the Art of Selling. Today, over 35,000 corporations and millions of professional salespeople throughout the world utilize his professional sales training materials.

Find him on Twitter
Find him on Facebook
Author Website

I have five copies to Giveaway Courtesy of Valerie at Hachette. Thank you Valerie.

Details:
Leave a comment on this post with your email address, if it is not in your profile. I do allow anonymous comments but please leave a name, and an email. And feel free to comment on the book or my blog.

One entry for one comment
Two entries for a comment if you follow my blog
Three entries if you comment, follow, and Tweet about this giveaway.

US and Canada ONLY and the book cannot be shipped to a P.O Box.

You have until February 12th 2010 to leave a comment. Winners announced after that date. Good Luck

Mailboxy Monday 1/25/2010

2010-01-24T20:24:00.000-08:00

Mailbox Monday

A big thanks to Marcia at The Printed Page for hosting this fun weekly meme. What new books came into your house this week?

Bleeding Heart Square, by Andrew Taylor (Thank you Library Thing)

The Bride Collector, by Ted Dekker (Thank you, Miriam, Hachette Books)
(**** look for big upcoming blog tours and excitement on this one.)

Searching for Pemberly,by Mary Lydon Simonsen (Thank you Anna from Diary of an Eccentric).

Have a great week!

A Reliable Wife - Winner

2010-01-22T21:00:00.000-08:00

I am happy to announce that the winner of my copy of A Reliable Wife is:

picking2gogranny

Congrats to Linda!!! I'll get your book to you.

I am still in the middle of this book and it is gooooood!!

Sorry for the delay on posting. I currently have a Copy of American Rust to offer. See my side bar. By the end of this weekend I should have three more giveaways to post.

Happy Saturday to you all!

Thank you Algonquin Books for this free copy that I was able to pass along freely to a reader of this blog.

American Rust - Blog Tour and Giveaway - Review

2010-01-19T22:00:00.000-08:00

About American Rust

Paperback: 400 pages

Publisher: Spiegel & Grau (January 12, 2010)

Set in a beautiful but economically devastated Pennsylvania steel town, American Rust is a novel of the lost American dream and the desperation—as well as the acts of friendship, loyalty, and love—that arise from its loss. From local bars to train yards to prison, it is the story of two young men, bound to the town by family, responsibility, inertia, and the beauty around them, who dream of a future beyond the factories and abandoned homes.

Left alone to care for his aging father after his mother commits suicide and his sister escapes to Yale, Isaac English longs for a life beyond his hometown. But when he finally sets out to leave for good, accompanied by his temperamental best friend, former high school football star Billy Poe, they are caught up in a terrible act of violence that changes their lives forever.Evoking John Steinbeck’s novels of restless lives during the Great Depression, American Rust takes us into the contemporary American heartland at a moment of profound unrest and uncertainty about the future. It is a dark but lucid vision, a moving novel about the bleak realities that battle our desire for transcendence and the power of love and friendship to redeem us.

About Philipp Meyer

Philipp Meyer grew up in Baltimore, dropped out of high school, and got his GED when he was sixteen. After spending several years volunteering at a trauma center in downtown Baltimore, he attended Cornell University, where he studied English. Since graduating, Meyer has worked as a derivatives trader at UBS, a construction worker, and an EMT, among other jobs. His writing has been published in McSweeney’s, The Iowa Review, Salon.com, and New Stories from the South. From 2005 to 2008 Meyer was a fellow at the Michener Center for Writers in Austin, Texas. He splits his time between Texas and upstate New York.

A few words from Toni on the book:
I want to say that I have read a lot of reviews on this book recently. I read a few reviews on the book before I first started. I have to be honest and say I did not like all this talk of Steinbeck. Comparing the author to Steinbeck to me was annoying to me. It isn't wrong, but I just found it annoying. Quite possibly because East of Eden and Grapes of Wrath are on my top ten favorite books of all time. I was not buying it!

After reading about 100 pages into the book I just had to find more reviews and find out what people were saying about this book! And where the heck was I last year that I didn't get a chance to read this one? When I first started the book I read 30 pages, I remember thinking that this book is going to take me a while to read. I thought this because of the descriptive and detailed writing along with the narrative voice switches.... it switches in the same paragraph with the same character. I was tentative about that at first. The very next time I picked up the book to read, I didn't stop until over 100 pages later. Where did the time go? I was completely absorbed into the book. I had to force the cover shut to get some sleep. The unique and effective narration helped me to get inside each character and reside with the characters. It resonated with me through the night.

I am no longer annoyed with the Steinbeck reference. I tend to agree! The book is contemporary, and has just about every element that I look for in a book. The writing is current and relevant. The characters are as real as everyday. The writing is incredible with a strong and gritty, ominous and human plot. The book grabbed hold of me in a wonderous way.

Writing Sample:
"Meanwhile here you are. Temporary visitor on the sun's earth. Think your mother will be here forever and then she's gone. Still sinking in five years later. Disappeared in a day. Same as you will. Nothing you can see that won't outlast you--rocks sky sun. Watch a sunset and feel like you own it but it's been rising without you for a thousand years. No, he thought, more like several billion. Can't even get your head around the real number. You're the only one who even knows you exist. Born and die between the earth's heartbeats."

Prose, I say, prose. Just the way I like it. I just close my eyes after reading that and get that feeling like I am staring at the ocean or a great work of art. Some kind of feeling in between the two views. Prose with every day life and grit right there jumping off the pages at you.

As I was reading the above passage, I was with Isaac. I was with him contemplating life and feeling his life. The same way I was with Adam Trask in Salinas smelling the dusty air in the novel East of Eden. It was the same way that I experienced the same feelings of desperation I felt with "the Fambly" in Grapes of Wrath. I am one hundred percent satisfied that this is another Great American Novel, and I will make a cozy nook on my shelf for this one in my permanent library. It was born to be a classic. It is a little embarrassing when I get this way about a book. I just want to go on and on and on....so I will now I will talk about the giveaway.

I have a lovely copy of this book to offer. It will be sent from the Publisher.

Thank you Lisa from TLC book tours for arranging this tour and giveaway. Thank you Kathleen from Random House for the free copy for review.

Rules of the Giveaway - (How to get entries into a random drawing)

Leave a comment on this post (with your email) and you get a single entry. +1
If you are a follower you get another entry. +2
Blog, Tweet or Announce and you will get another entry. +3
US / Canada Only
This contest ends February 5th, 2010. Winners will be notified shortly after.

Check out the other stops on the tour!!

Philipp Meyer’s TLC Book Tours TOUR STOPS:

Monday, January 18th: Literary Feline

Tuesday, January 19th: Book Club Classics!

Wednesday, January 20th: A Circle of Books

Thursday, January 21st: One Person’s Journey Through a World of Books

Tuesday, January 26th: Luxury Reading

Thursday, January 28th: Ready When You Are, CB

Tuesday, February 2nd: Rough Edges

Thursday, February 4th: Bibliophile by the Sea

Monday, February 8th: Bibliofreak

Tuesday, February 9th: Becky’s Book Reviews

Thursday, February 11th: The 3 R’s Blog

Friday, February 12th: Beth Fish Reads

Thursday, February 18th: So Many Precious Books, So Little Time

Mailbox Monday 1/18/2010

2010-01-17T21:11:00.000-08:00

Hello there. Welcome to Mailbox Monday. It is hosted by Marcia at the Printed Page. Check it out here.

This week I received.

At the Threshold of Alchemy, by John Amen. This was part of the poetry package I won at Serena's blog. (click here to see reviews of this book).

It was a quiet week. I didn't post last week as it was quiet also. I am thankful for this. I needed a little break.

***I had to take a week or so off from blogs and blogging. I am marking my reader to zero and starting out fresh this week. (This is part of my no stress, no guilt blogging for 2010). I will be making the rounds to those near and dear and some of the newly discovered blogs over the next week or two. I have a giveaway to announce. Stay tuned. I also have Four giveaways posting soon.

Please come back on Wednesday for my first blog tour of 2010.

Giant Good News!

2010-01-08T08:51:00.000-08:00

I have more good news for the Little Giant of Aberdeen County, by Tiffany Baker

First off (I know this will make you all happy) I received a beautiful hard copy of the book. So much more lovely than my ARC copy. Since I have read and reviewed it, I am passing this beautiful copy to another lucky reader. So if you didn't win the contest earlier this month, you have another shot.

There is more good news! Hachette and Goodreads have teamed up to form The Little Giant of Aberdeen County Discussion Group.

From January 24th - February 7th, Goodreads members who join the group will be able to ask Tiffany Baker, author of The Little Giant of Aberdeen County, questions about the novel, her writing process, and/or the insanity of trying to write while also mothering three children, and participate in the discussion group together. You can sign up now!

In addition, Hachette will be interviewing Tiffany live on January 27th at 1:30 pm EST at Blogtalk radio. So mark your calendars and feel free to call in and chat with both live.

You can check out the Author Website Here
Become a Facebook fan Here

Rules of the Giveaway - (How to get entries into a random drawing)

Leave a comment on this post (with your email) and you get a single entry. +1
If you are a follower you get another entry. +2
Blog, Tweet or Announce and you will get another entry. +3
USA only for this one.
This contest ends January 29th, 2010. Winner will be notified shortly after.

Good luck.

disclosure: I received this book free of charge, and I am sending it at my expense with no affiliation or obligation to the publisher.

Simple Abundance - A Daybook of Comfort and Joy

2010-01-05T02:00:00.000-08:00

Hi!
Just curious if anyone reads or has read Simple Abundance, a Daybook of Comfort and Joy, by Sarah Ban Breathnach?

The book came out in 1995. So it is nothing new. The words seem as applicable today as in any time. It is packed with a daily little something to help those on the journey to find their authentic self. Some days when I read it, it is just what I need. In this busier than ever day and age I find it a comfort to have sensible, poetic and true words to start off or end the day. It is a great way to remind me how to enjoy what I have and find my true self. The self that isn't boggled down in deadlines, bills, job, and other things that only seem to bury "me" deeper. It is a reminder to enjoy the simple things such as a garden, a flower and how to celebrate a simple moment as a much as the grand moment. I haven't read each of the days of the year yet, but I can tell I am going to enjoy it. I am reading along with my book club as a side project and we enjoy sharing it together.

I also got the gratitude journal. I just wanted to post and see what others have to say on the book and other books by the author. I'd love to hear any thoughts on the book. I was able to find my beautiful copy for a dollar at a sale. I ordered the journal online for a few dollars.

I hope you have a great day.

Toni

Mailbox Monday 1/4/2010

2010-01-03T17:12:00.000-08:00

Mailbox Monday is hosted by Marcia at The Printed Page. It is a great way to share what books came into your home in the previous week.

Happy New Year and here is my mailbox from TWO weeks.

I won a Virtual Poetry Package from Savvy Verse and Wit and I have been having little packages arrive for the past few weeks. Talk about a huge treat. Thank you Serena.

The books I received are:

Poet Lore, a magazine of The Writer's Center in Bethesda, Md.
Carta Marina by Ann Fisher Wirth
Green Bodies by Rosemary Winslow
The Complete Poems of John Keats - Nice hard cover addition
Fair Creatures of an Hour by Lynn Levin
John Amen's More of Me Disappears

I am so pleased to add these books to my poetry collection. I left a few comments on Serena's Virtual Poetry Circle. I was tickled as can be to have won. You should check it out. Sometimes I feel a bit inferior to comment on a poem, but it really is fun and no pressure at all.

From Algonquin Books - A Reliable Wife, by Robert Goolrick. (I started it this weekend... so check back for a review. Don't forget to check out my ARC giveaway)

From Amy at Passages to the Past - Her Mother's Daughter by Julianne Lee. Thank you Amy!!

I got my vogue knitting magazine in the mail also. I do read it and it is a delicious treat.

Have a great week everyone.

Winners - The Little Giant of Aberdeen County - Tiffany Baker

2010-01-03T10:50:00.000-08:00

We have winners! Congratulations.

Sue Mikelson
RAnn
justpeachy36

I will send an email out asap. Congratulations and thank you for your participation.

Please Click here for more information on the book and the Reading Group Guide

Breaking Dawn - A Review by Toni

2010-01-02T15:07:00.000-08:00

Breaking Dawn, Stephenie Meyer

Well this review has a long time coming. I enjoyed all of the Twilight books and this one was no exception. I confess to being a pretty big fan. However, this book was very drawn out, slow and really lacked the action of the first two books. Now that I've stated that, I guess I should state why I feel this way.

The first part of the book which I can't reveal without spoiling wasn't enjoyable for me. Blame it on age. I think a young adult might really enjoy it however. I waited too long for those scenes and I feel they were a let down. I know, I know we are keeping in clean for the YA readers, but I felt it was lacking all kinds of steam and emotion. I know that Meyer can write the steam with out the graphic adult detail, but it didn't happen for me in the first part of this book.

Then after that little chunk of the story there was a little predictable plot drama. Still that was okay, but that soon dies at the story gives birth to too much Bella and Jacob narration. Which equated to too much Bella and Jacob whining and moping. Again maybe it is just my old age talkin'. Jacob's dialog was like super teen talk. And of course this should be okay because he is a teen. I am not sure why I found it so annoying. Was it like that in all the books? I can't recall. If you love the characters and you want more Edward, Bella and Jacob in your life, this is going to probably be an great read.

Then for the next 300 or so pages, here was just too much day to day detail and conversation. I grew tired of the banter between the vampires and the wolf tribe annoying. "Vampires smell... Werewolves smell...snarl..curled lip...sneer..." Enough already!

Then a vase drops..... and the book broke open for me. (sorry can't spoil) This is a case where the ending saves the book. The ending is about 150 plus pages long. I feel the last part of the book merits a good rating and I enjoyed it tremendously. I did like the bit of drama leading up to the climatic series end. I really felt that in the last quarter of the book I was back to reading what I enjoyed in the first books.

Okay, so there it is. I love the Cullens and all that glitters in the Twilight world. And I had to know what happens. And when it boils down to it, who can resist true love and the beautiful people and all the cream cheese in the series. I am a wimp when it comes to most spooky, scary, violent or bloody books, so I have to say this was a really good mild paranormal fix for me. I would recommend these books to just about anyone. (13 and older).

I will disclose that I read the book in four parts over four months and at the time of writing this review it has been months since I read the first half of the book.

I think the movie version of Breaking Dawn is going to be better than the book. I didn't write a review on the movie New Moon. But I really enjoyed it. I thought it was a fantastic rendition of the book and I was not disappointed.

I'd like to welcome comments on Breaking Dawn. I do allow anonymous comments. On some of my prior Twilight reviews I received disrespectful or goofy comments. I will delete those. But I welcome all view points. Good or Bad.... let's talk about the book. Did you review the book? Please include a link to your review. I'd love to read it.

Please see my sidebar for reviews on Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse, Breaking Dawn and The Host, all books by Stephenie Meyer.

Thanks to my own pocketbook, I treated myself to this lovely book. I have to say the Twilight books are so pretty and hard to resist.

January 2010 Giveaway - A Reliable Wife

2010-01-02T14:42:00.001-08:00

Hello everyone! A lucky reader gets a book because I got an extra book. I got a finished copy of A Reliable Wife, by Robert Goolrick. So I am passing my new, never been read ARC (Advanced Readers Copy) along to a reader.

What do you have to do? Not much! Just leave a comment here on my blog. If your name is not available on your profile or blog, I will need an email address. Leave your email in a "disguised format" such as tonigomez (at) surewest (dot) net.

Anyone in on the planet Earth can enter. This is a one entry per person contest. But I'd love it if you'd follow my blog. Maybe check in from time to time with a comment or two.

I'll need your comments by January 15th, 2010

about A Reliable Wife

Rural Wisconsin, 1909. In the bitter cold, Ralph Truitt, a successful businessman, stands alone on a train platform waiting for the woman who answered his newspaper advertisement for "a reliable wife." But when Catherine Land steps off the train from Chicago, she's not the "simple, honest woman" that Ralph is expecting. She is both complex and devious, haunted by a terrible past and motivated by greed. Her plan is simple: she will win this man's devotion, and then, ever so slowly, she will poison him and leave Wisconsin a wealthy widow. What she has not counted on, though, is that Truitt — a passionate man with his own dark secrets —has plans of his own for his new wife. Isolated on a remote estate and imprisoned by relentless snow, the story of Ralph and Catherine unfolds in unimaginable ways.

With echoes of Wuthering Heights and Rebecca, Robert Goolrick's intoxicating debut novel delivers a classic tale of suspenseful seduction, set in a world that seems to have gone temporarily off its axis.

Thanks to Algonquin Books I received a free review copy. I am passing it along freely also. :)

Please tune in to my blog in 2010 for my thoughts on this book. And Good Luck!

Happy New Year from A Circle of Books

2010-01-01T09:34:00.000-08:00

The year in review - 2009 - A Circle of Books

Hello everyone and Happy New Year! I wanted to start the year by doing something that I so love to read on other blogs. I love to read the recaps and the year in review. I have been hesitant to add mine as I fell short by about 20 books. And if you look at my piles you can easily bump that number to 40. I can honestly say that I spent most of my time reading blogs this year and less time reading my books. This book blogging in 2009 was a new time expenditure for me and it cut into my spare time considerably. While I enjoyed the blog reading tremendously, I note that this was not my desired outcome.

So I have a goal this year to get a balance on my blog reading time and my book reading time. And I don't plan on cutting back on my blog reading. Also I did read more books on the list. The list below only includes books reviewed and featured.

I also reviewed a movie or two and shared a poem or two. (click on review to get review, author info, and to see the cover)

Eclipse, Stephenie Meyer (Review)
The American Journey of Barak Obama (Review)
Love and other Natural Disasters (Review)
Sundays at Tiffany's (Review)
Drood (Review)
Who by Fire (Review)
Knit Two (Review)
Galway Bay (Review)
Kitty and the Dead Man's Hand (Review)
Mating Rituals of the North American Wasp (Review)
The Host (Review)
Stand the Storm (Review)
The Castaways
Star Gazing (Review)
A Summer Affair (Review)
Follow Me (Review)
People of the Book (Review)
How Not to Look Old (Read but not reviewed)
Secrets to Happiness (Review)
A Worthy Legacy (Review)
Simon's Cat (Review)
Ansel Adams in Color (Review)
Rain (Review)
Knit the Season (Review)
Bear Portraits (Review)
The Winter of Our Discontent (Review)
Olive Kitteridge (Review)
The Reader (Movie Review)

I have a few piles of books from publishers to read and review. I do plan read them all. I have started and put down more than a few. Which brings up another entire issue. If I have read part way or half way through a book and put it down and I loose interest, does anyone really want to hear my story about it? At this point, would the publisher be happy that I just move on? So I am working on how to handle books that I didn't finish, or couldn't get into. I might just make a monthly post, "Books I didn't finish or couldn't get into for various reasons." I say I want to write a scathing review some day, and yet do I really?

More thoughts on A Circle of Books in 2009 and 2010.

On Giveaways - I had giveaways every month. I hope to continue with the giveaways. I have had a few little episodes where a winner hasn't received a book and considering the amount of giveaways I held, it was not that bad at all. Just remember to read the details. Most of the giveaways are mailed from the publisher. Sometimes the books arrive in a week or two and other times it takes a while. For those that do enter the giveaways if you keep my original email, it is very helpful in assisting you when this happens. And when you email me to state that you haven't received your book, if you could just include your address again that helps tremendously.

On awards - Thank you for all that bestow those thoughtful and pretty awards. It is great fun. Since I am on a crunch for time sometimes I don't post it or pass along. It sure doesn't mean that I don't appreciate them. Sometimes I just loose track. I am working on finding the balance of being involved in the social aspect more. Don't give up on me. Maybe next year I can get more involved in some of the fun stuff...the meme's, the awards, the exchanges. I hope to do so.
On that note I want to add that I was blogging on a pretty slow and old PC, some of my favorite blogs took forever for me to load and reply. I have a new situation and it seems to have rectified my technology handicap.

On Blog Tours - When I first blogged, I did more blog tours. I have to say that I miss the blog tours. I thought that I wanted to branch out more on my own and read my own stuff and that is true, but I would like to go back to doing more blog tours. I love the buzz, the giveaways, the book thought and all that good stuff centered around the blog tours. I hope to do more of them this year.

On that note I think I am about 30% of the way to the goal and vision for this blog. I hope everyone will stay with me for the journey for I am sure it will be a great ride, however long it may take!

Happy New Year!

***edited to note ..I spend the day reading everyone's wrap ups and what not and once again, I spent hours reading and commenting on blogs instead of finishing my books...sigh.... I had such a crappy reading year in hindsight.....

Olive Kitteridge, by Elizabeth Strout

2009-12-26T19:00:00.000-08:00

Olive Kitteridge was selected by my book club The Page Turners, as our November read. Olive Kitteridge was also awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 2009. After reading it, I can say that I am very pleased with this choice of winners. I have a certain expectation for story telling and writing when I pull a Pulitzer awarded book off the shelf and Olive Kitteridge did not disappoint.

The book is a collection of short stories of ordinary folks from a small town. I didn't feel like I was reading short stories that end and leave me wanting more. After hearing the second story, I was confident that I would be satisfied with another story that would some how connect me to the character, Olive Kitteridge. I was engrossed in the stories as if I was reading a novel. I was reminded of Russo's, Empire Falls. (Pulitzer Prize 2002). Often the best stories seem to come from a day in the life of ordinary people with every day family dynamics and issues.

The book takes place in the small town of Portland, Maine and the stories revolve around a central character Olive Kitteridge. At times she is a grumpy, outspoken, and a rude woman. As the stories unfold, more is revealed of Olive. Who is Olive Kitteridge? Do we love her or hate her? I appreciated her for being ordinary and sensible despite her flawed demeanor. For me Olive is " the town staple" like the local store or any other structure that individualizes a town.

Henry Kitteridge, Olive's husband, is a wonderful man and perhaps it may seem that he is too nice and too kind for Olive. Does he deserve the wrath of Olive? Yet we can sense at times that Olive has a deep love for Henry, her son and others. Why oh why doesn't this come through in her dealings with them at all times. The stories interconnect in a way to reveal Olive's insecurities and the depth of her character in relation to the perils of the community. Outwardly it seems that she doesn't have deep compassion to love those in her life, and yet the stories reveal more to us.

Who of us doesn't know an "Olive." And do we see or feel an "Olive" in our own self? So often it seems that Olive could use a word or two to "mend" a situation. What gets in the way of a kinder word being spoken to heal or mend the situation?

The writing is utterly fantastic. I do regret that I only listened to the audio book of Olive Kitteridge and I don't have any quotes to share as I was driving a lot when I listened. However, I want to say that this audio book was outstandingly well read. This is also book that I want to put into my own library.

How did my group like the book?

A member in Mississippi said, "I liked the book a lot and of course marked several Olive-isms." She had a lot more to contribute than just that and she enjoyed reading the book and savoring it.

Another member had this review to share:

" I gave Olive Kitteridge two stars because I liked the format of the book (a collection of short stories) and thought that some of the stories had profoundly thought provoking points. Unfortunately, the book didn't grab me. It could be because every short story seemed to start off the same... it took a several pages to figure out what was going on because of the exhaustive use of "they," "he," "she," or "it" before anything was clear. Overall, it wasn't a terrible book but not one I may recommend either."
-Chuluota Book Junkie

I give the book high praise for my favorite read of 2009. Have you read it? What do you think? I'd love to know.

Winner - The Bell Jar, by Sylvia Plath

2009-12-21T10:54:00.000-08:00

The Bell Jar, By Slyvia Plath
And the winner is:
DAR, from Peeking Between the Pages.
Thank you everyone for participating in this giveaway.
Congratulations to Dar!
Thank you Harper Perennial.

Winners - Dear John Audio

2009-12-21T09:42:00.000-08:00

We have more winners. Congrats to you all. I will be emailing you soon! Thank you for participating.

Edmontonjb
Rebecca Graham
Kaye

A Bit about the Book
An angry rebel, John dropped out of school and enlisted in the Army, not knowing what else to do with his life--until he meets the girl of his dreams, Savannah. Their mutual attraction quickly grows into the kind of love that leaves Savannah waiting for John to finish his tour of duty, and John wanting to settle down with the woman who captured his heart. But 9/11 changes everything. John feels it is his duty to re-enlist. And sadly, the long separation finds Savannah falling in love with someone else.

And it is a soon-to-be-released major motion picture from Sony Pictures starring Channing Tatum ("G.I. Joe") and Amanda Seyfried ("Mamma Mia"). Coming to theaters just in time for Valentine's day, February 5, 2010.

Winners - Seventh Heaven, James Patterson

2009-12-21T09:22:00.000-08:00

Well.. Well... Well....
Congrats to the Lucky winners!

Vicki
DCMetroreader
Wanda
Sandy Jay
Marilu

I have more winners to announce this week. I will be emailing you for your mailing address. Thank you for entering.

Description:
The Women's Murder Club faces not one-but two-terrifying cases that may tear it apart. The teenage son of California's ex-governor has mysteriously vanished-and the pressure on Detective Lindsay Boxer to find him is overwhelming. When she finally does get a lead, it's devastating. At the same time, Lindsay and her partner, Rich Conklin, must investigate mysterious fires that are destroying some of San Francisco's most beautiful homes-and leaving their owners dead in the debris. But when Lindsay enlists her friends in the Women's Murder Club to help uncover the arsonist, the blazes suddenly rage much too close to home .

Category:FICTION, SUSPENSE & THRILLERS
Format:MASS MARKET
Publish Date:12/1/2009
Price:$7.99/$9.99
ISBN:9780446536240
Pages:400
Size: 4-3/16" x 6-3/4"

Thank you Valerie at Hachette Book Group for co-ordinating this great giveaway.

From the Pantry Cheesy Tuna Shells - Time saving, easy cheap meal

2009-12-15T17:43:00.000-08:00

You know I don't have a lot of recipes. I don't seem to have time to cook from them. I have been cooking and feeding a family with little or no recipes for almost 25 years. You know spaghetti make a million ways, meatloaf, tacos, burritos, chicken that is grilled, fried, baked, and all the every day meals. I mean I use a recipe here and there to bake, but I don't have a big ole book of recipes.

When I have done WW over the years I do use a few of the recipes from my books. Some good, some really gross.

I hope that some day I can get out some cook books and just cook for leisure. It seems I am always cooking for a family and there isn't time for the frills and gourmet foods that I'd like. Not that gourmet can't be simple... but you know what I mean?

Working the 9-5 grind and cooking and having a family. It is hard. Sometimes it is hard to use recipe books as the ingredients are hard to come by. Well not hard to come by but it is hard to get a list and gather items.

Here is a little recipe for the busy person. It is a recipe right out of the pantry. I only had to buy two items. (Pasta Shells and Alfredo) The rest are from the Pantry.

It is my "recipe" for Cheesy Tuna Shells. I bet most have a recipe that they make that is similar. It is basically no more than a tuna casserole. So this is basically tuna casserole with NO celery chunks, no peas, and no cream of mushroom soup. Not that I mind those ingredients. But some (kids, hubby etc don't want to have to pick out certain bits from the casserole). This recipe is for those. Unless you don't like Tuna. Even that isn't a problem, I made it without tuna last week as a side dish! YUMMO!

The ingredients:
A jar of Alfredo sauce (you can make your own)...or use the packets. This is the 30 minute version. Any Jar will do. I used a four cheese Alfredo for this one. WW fans...buy the lighter version.

Parmesan Cheese (packaged, shredded or grate your own) Once again this is the busy mom version.

Bread Crumbs - any old brand.

Medium Pasta Shells - ( whole box)

1 cube of butter - WW fans use the diet stuff....

1 Cup 1% milk - lucky thin folks use whole milk.. WW use non fat.

2 cans Tuna Fish ( I used one albacore and one chunk light in water) You know whatever is in the pantry

2 - 3 cups shredded Medium Cheddar Cheese. I suppose you can use bagged. I always grate from a block.

Okay... Real Story.

4:30 left work
4:45 pull up to the house, drive into the garage and go out to get the mail.
5:00 I am changed into sweats and the dogs have been let out. A pot of water is on the stove boiling. I am grating a pile of cheese (approx two-three cups).
By 5:05 the water is boiling and I add salt and a box of pasta to the water. Set timer for 12 minutes.

While the pasta is cooking, I get out a big bowl and slice up the butter, open the cans of tuna (I have it draining in the sink) and open the Alfredo. I get out the 13 inch dish and get it ready.

5:20 or so I am straining the pasta, adding it to the butter and the Alfredo in a bowl and mixing. I add about a cup of milk, then mix in a cup or so of the cheese about 2/3's of the pile. I add salt, pepper (fresh ground) , celery salty, onion powder. Oh don't forget to add the Tuna too! Mix it all up. ( remember if you like real onions, celery or peas, add fresh chopped stuff now, this is the non chunky version)

5:25 - pour into a 13 inch dish. Then spread a layer of cheese on top, a layer of bread crumbs and a layer of Parmesan cheese. Now just put into the preheated over and bake until golden brown for about 25-30 minutes.

At this point there is very little mess. I have been tossing cans and jars as I go along. So there is five minutes to rinse or wash the mess.

After that you have 20 minutes... that is time for a nice treadmill walk, or time to create a blog post, (this blog post was almost finished by the time I pulled it out of the oven), read a chapter in a book. You can set a nice table I suppose or scoop from the dish off the counter. If you have time make a salad, or steam some veggies. You gotta (should) eat your veggies!

By 6 pm dinner is ready and you can clean up (5 minute max) and have the evening to do what you want.

And if you are one that likes an evening martini, this is your time to make a Cosmo and sit and blog a bit. Just don't spill it after the photo shoot like someone else did. Wink!

I hope you all like it. I think if I were to critique the recipe I would say it could use more of a creamy factor. Maybe this is where the cream of celery or cream of mushroom soup would come in handy. Depending on how large your family is, you have great leftovers for tomorrow or lunch!

Mail Box Monday - December 14, 2010

2009-12-13T17:13:00.000-08:00

Mailbox Monday is hosted by Marcia at The Printed Page. It is a fun weekly posting to share what we books we got in the mail each week. Join in, leave comments and do a lot of coveting and drooling.

I won To Desire a Devil, Elizabeth Hoyt from a giveaway at Bookfan Mary. Thank you Mary.

I received Dear John, by Nicholas Sparks from Hachette Book Group as a free review copy.

I got American Rust, by Phillipp Meyer from Random House as a free review copy. Thank you Random House. Please look back in January as I am part of the blog tour for this book.

I won The Christmas Secret by Donna VanLiere in a giveaway at Mari Reads. Thank you Mari. (If anyone is interested Mari has a knitting blog also. Mari Knits).

I received A Change in Altitude by Anita Shreve as a free review copy from Hachette Book Group.

Okay.. I am a lucky girl wouldn't you say? I am happy to get the two audio books as I joined the audio book challenge. Hope you have a great week.

My last 2010 Challenge.. Audio Book Challenge!

2009-12-12T11:33:00.000-08:00

Okay, just one more Challenge for 2010.

Since I plan to continue to enjoy audio books in 2010, I have joined t his challenge.
It is hosted by Royal Reviews. I can download from audible right onto my Kindle 2. I love it!

Audio Books Reading Challenge

I plan to enjoy about 12-15 books this year via audio, So I have selected the Addicted level.

This is where I will keep track of my selections.

1. Bel Canto ( Finished 2/2010) Click here for my review
2. Cane River (Finished 3/2010). Read book and listened to the audio.
3. Envy (Finished 3/18/2010) Click Here for my review.

The Little Giant of Aberdeen County - Giveaway

2009-12-12T09:42:00.000-08:00

The Little Giant of Aberdeen County, by Tiffany Baker
(Giveaway!!!)

Book Description:

When Truly Plaice's mother was pregnant, the town of Aberdeen joined together in betting how recordbreakingly huge the baby boy would ultimately be. The girl who proved to be Truly paid the price of her enormity; her father blamed her for her mother's death in childbirth, and was totally ill equipped to raise either this giant child or her polar opposite sister Serena Jane, the epitome of femine perfection. When he, too, relinquished his increasingly tenuous grip on life, Truly and Serena Jane are separated--Serena Jane to live a life of privilege as the future May Queen and Truly to live on the outskirts of town on the farm of the town sadsack, the subject of constant abuse and humiliation at the hands of her peers.

Serena Jane's beauty proves to be her greatest blessing and her biggest curse, for it makes her the obsession of classmate Bob Bob Morgan, the youngest in a line of Robert Morgans who have been doctors in Aberdeen for generations. Though they have long been the pillars of the community, the earliest Robert Morgan married the town witch, Tabitha Dyerson, and the location of her fabled shadow book--containing mysterious secrets for healing and darker powers--has been the subject of town gossip ever since. Bob Bob Morgan, one of Truly's biggest tormentors, does the unthinkable to claim the prize of Serena Jane, and changes the destiny of all Aberdeen from there on.

When Serena Jane flees town and a loveless marriage to Bob Bob, it is Truly who must become the woman of a house that she did not choose and mother to her eight-year-old nephew Bobbie. Truly's brother-in-law is relentless and brutal; he criticizes her physique and the limitations of her health as a result, and degrades her more than any one human could bear. It is only when Truly finds her calling--the ability to heal illness with herbs and naturopathic techniques--hidden within the folds of Robert Morgan's family quilt, that she begins to regain control over her life and herself. Unearthed family secrets, however, will lead to the kind of betrayal that eventually break the Morgan family apart forever, but Truly's reckoning with her own demons allows for both an uprooting of Aberdeen County, and the possibility of love in unexpected places.

I read and reviewed this wonderful book last year with Dar from Peeking at the Pages. I really loved this book it was one of my favorites of last year. Dar and I had a four part Discussion last November. To see my four posts on the book, go to the side bar (archives) and go to November 2008. You will see links to the four chats I had with Dar.

There is so much to discuss in the book, I recommend it fully for a GREAT book club selection. If your book club is looking for a good book, The Little Giant of Aberdeen County gets my vote! Don't forget to utilize the Reading Group Guide (see below).

Thanks to Valerie at Hachette Book Group I have three copies to offer! US and Canada only. Will not ship to P.O. boxes. The books come from the publisher. This contest will run through January 2nd.

For an entry into a random drawing, please leave a comment here with your email.
For an additional entry, Follow my blog. If you already do, let me know in your comment.
For five entries, Blog, Tweet, Facebook about this giveaway. Let me know in your comment.

Join the Facebook Discussion.
Check out the Author Website.

Reading Group Guide
(warning sometimes the Guide Questions contain book spoilers)

1. Truly is the “little giant” of this book, yet her size seems to make her less, rather than more, visible to the town around her. Can you explain this phenomenon? What do you think the author is trying to say about her outsider status?

2. Serena Jane and Truly are as physically different as sisters can be, yet Truly sees that this difference is crucial, explaining “the reason the two of us were as opposite as sewage and spring water, I thought, was that pretty can’t exist without ugly.” (pp. 97-98) How would you describe Truly and Serena’s connection? How is it different from Truly’s relationship with Amelia Dyerson? Which seems the more genuine sisterhood to you?

3. As the successor to a long line of old-fashioned, small-town doctors, Robert Morgan is traditional, strict, and often cruel. I the end, however, the legacy terminates with him and he becomes Aberdeen’s last Dr. Morgan. How do he and Bobbie stray from the family paradigm? What Morgan characteristics stayed with each of them? Is the town “more modern” without a Dr. Morgan, and with Bobbie and Salvatore’s restaurant instead? Is the replacement of nurturing through nourishment rather than doctoring a symbolic replacement?

4. Death haunts Truly and all of Aberdeen, sometimes in unexpected ways. As a gardener, Marcus’s aim is to “make things live,” but, as Truly realizes, “wasn’t it also true that gardeners were always wrestling with death, whether in the form of drought, or blight, or hungry insects? In a garden, Marcus always said, death was the first, last and only fact of life.” What other parallels do you see in the ways Marcus and Truly court life and death?

5. Truly’s size marks her as an outcast, but throughout the novel, other characters have trouble “fitting in” in a more figurative way. Examine how this manifests in Bobbie, Marcus, Amelia, even Serena Jane. What larger point do you this the author might be trying to make about the importance of conforming?

6. What role does Aberdeen County play in the novel? Could the story or these characters exist elsewhere? Do the effects of the 60s and the Vietnam War seem to touch Aberdeen in the same way they touched the rest of the country? What is unique and what is not about Aberdeen as a setting?

7. When Amelia discovers how Priscilla Sparrow and Robert Morgan died, she asks Truly whether it was mercy or murder that killed them. What do you think? How do you feel about Truly’s actions? What in Truly’s character draws her to “collect souls” as she comes to call it?

8. When Marcus and Truly finally come together, Marcus says “We’re not exactly a match made in heaven, you and I, but I figure we’re good enough for here on earth” (p. 334) What does he mean by this? Do you agree?

9. Why doesn’t Robert Morgan “care” that his son runs away? What does it say about what he thinks of himself? How does this connect to Serena Jane’s leaving and his reaction to that event?

10. After Robert Morgan’s death, Truly gradually takes on some of his responsibilities as town doctor by using the knowledge she’s gained from Tabitha’s quilt. How is this a fitting purpose for Truly, and a fitting counterpoint to the legacy of Morgan doctors?

11. What about this story is larger than life or possesses elements of a tall tale or folklore? How are these details woven into the story? How is the book similar to or different from other works in this tradition?

Chunkster Challenge 2009

2009-12-08T03:00:00.000-08:00

Quite sometime ago, I joined the Chunkster Challenge. Remember this?

I did read Drood by Dan Simmons. (click here for blog tour and review) and yes that was quite a chunky book. However I did not read the other two books. I may have to add Annette Vallon to the From My Shelves book Challenge for 2010. I didn't finish this challenge but I had fun and thoroughly enjoyed the big ole chunker that I did read.

Mailbox Monday December 7th

2009-12-06T21:00:00.000-08:00

Mailbox Monday is hosted by Marcia at the Printed Page.
Check it out. It is fun way to share what we received in the mail each week.

I don't have a lot to report. I did buy Pride and Prejudice and Zombies for for my Kindle. It would be pointless to note all the classics that I have added to my Kindle. But for now I like to keep track of my purchases. After I get this post finished I am going to peruse and find another book to buy (hoard) onto my device. I also get to spend two credits in my audible account. It is a good Sunday morning. I will report my shopping results next Monday.

I received for review 7th Heaven, by James Patterson. (a free book for review)
Thank you Hachette books.

(check out my sidebar for a giveaway). It is a nice pretty blue color and being the book-a-holic that I am, I just wanted to curl up and start it at the kitchen table before I finished opening the rest of my mail.

I feel like I got something else and I can't for the life of me find where I stashed it. I mean I am pretty organized and books go in "book places" in my house. I will post when I figure it out. Or was I just dreaming. I know always hold my breath when I hear Mr. UPS driver in the neighborhood maybe it resulted in a brain fog?

I was a lucky lucky girl last week and I won TWO books from the blog world. I will save that information for a future Mailbox Monday!

Have a great week.

Reading From My Shelves 2010 Challenge

2009-12-06T13:49:00.000-08:00

Here it is. Challenge number two for me!

This challenge is hosted by Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea. You have to check it out. To me this is almost a Blogger Community Service Challenge! The Challenge is as simple as this.

Go over to Bibliophile by the Sea and:

grab the button
decide how many books you want to read from your shelves (minimum of 20 - no maximum)
find a new home for the books once you read them
post the titles and the authors of books you've read and passed on
project runs from January 1, 2010 through December 31, 2010
crossover challenge books are allowed

I am committing to reading 20 books from my shelves. And I will pass them along when I am finished.

This is where I will keep track of my progress. I want to read these books for this challenge. (I will red and bold text the books as I read).

Signora Da Vinci, Robin Maxwell
The Piano Teacher, Janice Y. K. Lee
When Everything Changed, The Amazing Journey of American Woman from 1960 to present, Gail Collins
The Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, Jamie Ford
~~Everyone is Beautiful, Katherine Center~~
The Italian Lover, Robert Hellenga
The Puzzle King, Betsy Carter
A Friend of the Family, Lauren Grodstein
The Darcy's and the Bingley's, Marsha Altman The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, Mary Anne Shaffer and Annie Barrows.
The Heretics Daughter, Kathleen Kent
Sacred Hearts, Sarah Dunant
The Help, Kathryn Stockett
The Day The Falls Stood Still, Cathy Marie Buchanan
Scottsboro, Ellen Feldman
The White Queen, Philippa Gregory
Taltos, Anne Rice
~~Cane River, Lalita Tademy~~
7th Heaven, James Patterson
The Bell Jar, Sylvia Plath
Testimony, Anita Shreve

Wish me luck!

*** edited to correct duplicate book and fill in book #20!!

E-Book Reading Challenge - I am in!

2009-12-06T13:35:00.000-08:00

I am in! I am doing the 2010 Ebook reading challenge! I hope to enjoy my Kindle 2 to the tune of 12 ebooks this year! This is the addicted level. There are four levels. If you want to see what this is all about, click on over to Royal Reviews the official host of this challenge. The challenge runs from January - December 2010.

I will be keeping track of my books read on this post. There will be a link on my side bar.
1. Last Night in a Twisted River
2. Wolf Hall.
3. Pride Prejudice and Zombies
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.

The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath - Giveaway

2009-12-04T06:00:00.000-08:00

The Bell Jar, Sylvia Plath

I have a lovely, hip copy of The Bell Jar to offer! I absolutely love this new snazzy version from Harper Perennial, the Olive Edition. It is a lower priced smaller edition. I have to say I'd be grabbing this one even it it wasn't priced lower. I love the cover, and it is just even nicer in person.

I have one copy to offer. Please leave a comment on this post and I'll enter you in a drawing. I have one book so this is a one entry per person drawing. US and Canada Only. This contest ends on December 18th, 2009

Hachette Audio Book Giveaway! Dear John, by Nicholas Sparks

2009-12-03T12:20:00.000-08:00

Hachette Audio Book Giveaway! Dear John, by Nicholas Sparks
This is for the audio book!

A Bit about the Book

An angry rebel, John dropped out of school and enlisted in the Army, not knowing what else to do with his life--until he meets the girl of his dreams, Savannah. Their mutual attraction quickly grows into the kind of love that leaves Savannah waiting for John to finish his tour of duty, and John wanting to settle down with the woman who captured his heart. But 9/11 changes everything. John feels it is his duty to re-enlist. And sadly, the long separation finds Savannah falling in love with someone else.

The audiobook edition of DEAR JOHN is read by actor and voiceover artist Holter Graham.

Listen to an excerpt.
Watch the movie trailer.
Visit the official movie website at DearJohn-Movie.com
Available in CD and Digital Download formats.
Also available in ebook, mass market, and trade paperback.

Now for the scoop on the giveaway. Thanks to Anna from Hachette Book Group, I have three copies of the Audio book to giveaway.

NO P.O. Boxes
US and Canada Only
Books are mailed from Hachette Book Group
Simply leave a comment on this blog for an entry.
Followers get two entries. If you don't blog or use a google reader, in your comment tell me how you keep up with my blog and I'll throw in the "followers" entry for you.
Leave a comment by December 17th, 2009. Winners to be announced shortly after.

Upcoming events - A Circle of Books

2009-12-02T12:27:00.000-08:00

Happy First Wednesday in December 2009!

I haven't had a lot of blog content lately so I thought I would check in. I mean just because I don't have a giveaway, a mailbox to share or a review, I hope some (one or two ) will pop in and read... pretty please.

I wanted to just post. It is always a bit strange when a blog gets quiet a for a while and then we wonder if they are coming back.... and if the days of that particular blog are gone....sigh... well... Fat chance you'd be rid of me! Aha! I did want to check in and share what I am reading, and what is coming up for my blog.

I am reading:

Breaking Dawn (Finally)

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (Kindle)

and I am listening to:

Olive Kitteridge (Audible)

I should have reviews for everyone in the next weeks to come.

I will have an exciting audio giveaway that should post on Friday as well as The Bell Jar giveaway. So be on the look out for some great stuff.

I have a pile of TBR review copies that I intend to read and review in January and February. Better late than never. I hope to post some of these books on my side bars and decorate the blog a bit with the books in my life. My own little circle of books.

What are you reading? I am behind in my google reader and my own blog reading. Do you have anything you want to share? Post a link to this post and I will be sure to check it out. Non-bloggers, I'd love to hear from you too. Post links to anything your like to share, kid, dog, horse.... you name it.

I also wanted to say that I have listened to two fun interviews in the past week on Blog Radio. Jenn from Jenn's Book Shelves and Amy from My Friend Amy's Blog did a great job. It was really tremendous fun to join the chat and listen. ( I need to link you up with some details on this later).

I am going to select a challenge for 2010. So I will be scanning around for one that will also be of some use to my TBR piles and fun.

I can't seem to keep up on Twitter, Facebook, Google reader, my own blog, emails, and my knitting blog (which requires actually knitting to be done). Actually, I do keep up well enough. What I am saying is that I have come to the conclusion that I can't keep up like some of you remarkable bloggers. 2010 is my year to just exist within the confines of my own schedule and limitations and to just enjoy this fun process of reading and blogging minus the panic.

Happy week to you.

Hachette Book Giveaway - Seventh Heaven - James Patterson and Maxine Paetro

2009-11-27T11:14:00.000-08:00

7th Heaven

By James Patterson, Maxine Paetro

Thanks to Valerie at Hachette Book Group. I have five copies of Seventh Heaven to give away.

Description:
The Women's Murder Club faces not one-but two-terrifying cases that may tear it apart. The teenage son of California's ex-governor has mysteriously vanished-and the pressure on Detective Lindsay Boxer to find him is overwhelming. When she finally does get a lead, it's devastating. At the same time, Lindsay and her partner, Rich Conklin, must investigate mysterious fires that are destroying some of San Francisco's most beautiful homes-and leaving their owners dead in the debris. But when Lindsay enlists her friends in the Women's Murder Club to help uncover the arsonist, the blazes suddenly rage much too close to home .

Category:FICTION, SUSPENSE & THRILLERS
Format:MASS MARKET
Publish Date:12/1/2009
Price:$7.99/$9.99
ISBN:9780446536240
Pages:400
Size: 4-3/16" x 6-3/4"

The giveaway ends December 15th and winners will be selected by random drawing through random.org. I will announce the winners sometime after that date and send and email to you.

US and Canda only.
No P.O. Boxes and
I am going to say it is for 18 and over only.
Hachette books will send you your copy.

To enter just leave a comment with your email address. This will get you one entry. You get another entry just for following this blog. Let me know if and how you follow. Tweet, Facebook, or post about the giveaway and you get five extra entries.

Good Luck!

There is a reading group guide for this book: (click here for other book extras)

Reading Group Guide Below (May Contain Spoilers)

1. Arson is a very curious crime to commit. Why do you think someone would be drawn to this crime? Do you believe in Freud’s theory as stated in the book?

2. In your opinion, would Junie’s occupation affect her credibility in the courtroom? Should it? For example, is a lawyer or doctor a more credible defendant/witness than a garbage collector?

3. In trying Junie Moon, Yuki tried to use public sympathy for Michael Campion to turn the jury against the defendant. What do you think of that type of tactic in a trial setting?

4. Conklin suspects Chuck Hanni, the arson investigator, for actually committing the arson crimes in the book. Why do you think serial murderers would choose professions close to their crimes?

5. Junie Moon’s intelligence and self esteem are brought up by the defense as reasons why she could have given a false confession. Do you think everyone who confesses is guilty? Do you believe interrogations should be taped?

6. In Junie Moon’s trial, much of the prosecution’s case is based on spoken testimony. What is your opinion on convicting someone for murder without physical evidence, but compelling testimony?

7. The Moluccan cockatoo Peaches, formerly known as Horndog, was described as depressed when it was living in the pet store. Do you think it is possible for animals to get depressed or have psychological problems like people?

8. Joe voices his worry that Lindsay’s relationship with Rich has become more intimate than the typical office relationship. Do you think Lindsay’s relationship with Rich could lead to something inadvertently? Should she request a change of partner out of respect for her relationship with Joe? Who do you think is better suited to Lindsay?

9. Connor Campion was very controlling of Michael because he feared for his son’s life. How can modern parents set appropriate boundaries with their children in an age where kids have access to cell phones, computers and other devices that allow them to live lives fairly independent of their parents?

10. As prosecutor it is Yuki’s right to believe the Junie is guilty and her duty to try her as such. There is a moral dilemma if a prosecutor feels that a defendant could be innocent or if a defense lawyer feels their client may be guilty. How do you think defense lawyers and prosecutors reconcile these conflicts?

Kindle Review - A Device Review by Toni

2009-11-24T21:25:00.000-08:00

I just have to report in on my Kindle. I haven't read single full book on it yet, but will report when I do.

I can't stay quiet any longer. I have to say I am becoming Kindle addict. So shameful, but I have a feeling in book blog land I will be understood. Right? Please tell me that you understand.

Here are my thoughts:

The screen: Clear and easy to read with six font sizes to select.

The audio: The text to speech function is not bad. (This is where the text can be read to you). It gave me a few laughs hearing A Tale of Two Cities "it was the best of times, it was the worst of times.." in male and then female robot voice, but it would do the trick if you needed your eyes for something else at the time..like knitting!

The functionality: I don't know about a lot of you but a lot of times when I get a new gadget, phone or what not, I am lost for a few days figuring things out. I didn't find that to be the case with the Kindle 2. I was able to navigate in simple ways and ways that made sense right from the get go.

The basic web function: It works great. Not for surfing the next but it is capable to get a message across if needed. If you want to google something or even send a Tweet. Not that I need the Kindle 2 for that but it is nice to have the option. And since I belong to an online book club I can easily send a quick note if needed right from the device.

Downloading books: I have downloaded classic BIG FAT books in 16 seconds or less. I have used Kindle's document service to convert pdf's in a very short time for a very small fee. I have also used Kindle's document free document service and it works great and quickly also. On the the free service you have to actually hook Kindle up to the USB to get the file to the kindle. It was as easy and drag and drop.

Audio Books: The Kindle 2 plays my MP3 audio books from Audible just great. It is nice not to have to carry the Ipod and the Kindle. I know, I know, how big is an Ipod? But again.. One little 10 ounce device is really cool.

The problem: I lay in bed or just about anywhere I go and I am so indulgent. I read a little Moby Dick, a little Charles Dickens, a little Jane Austin, and then I listen to my audio books. I browse and browse for books and before I know it, It is past my bedtime. It is definitely slurping away hours. But you know hours lost to books, authors or literary reasons, are not hours lost at all. It is over all life enrichment. I also am a bit unfocused right now with my piles of ARC's to be read and reviewed. And the Kindle calls .....

Have I lost my craving to wander among the book stores? No! Have I love to the desire to stare into the artwork of a lovely book cover, NO! Have I lost the urge to hold a chunker book in my hands? No! Have I lost my urge to go to the library and check out books? Nope nope. This is a great way to have my literary options at my fingertips and control the number of books coming into this house. (please don't quote me on that or hold me to it).

I really love my Kindle as a modern day device to enhance my bookish pleasure. Is it just a new gadget? Or will it stand the test of time like my first copy of Gone with the Wind? Time will tell and I will keep you posted.

***I bought my kindle and I am reviewing for my own pleasure. I am not affiliated with Amazon or any amazon companies. This is not an ad.

A Circle of Books

Water for Elephants, Sara Gruen - Review

Maine by J. Courtney Sullivan

When She Woke by Hillary Jordan

A Stolen Life, By Jaycee Dugard

Books and Books and Books oh My!

Summer Reading Plans!!!!

Half a Life. A memoir, by Darin Strauss

about this book (from Random House)

A Murderous Procession, Ariana Franklin

Something for Nothing by David Anthony

More Spring reading! I can't wait. Thank you Algonquin.

About Something for Nothing

about David Anthony

What you see in the Dark, by Manuel Munoz

About What You See in the Dark

about Manuel Munoz

When Tito Loved Clara, by Jon Michaud

About When Tito Loved Clara

about Jon Michaud

West of Here by Jonathan Evison

about Jonathan Evison

Exciting Incoming Books

Pale Rose of England, By Sandra Worth

The Tapestry of Love

Book Description

About the Author

Chosen, A Novel, by Chaundra Hoffman - Review

The Peanuts Collection

Full Description

About Author

Giants

Mailbox Monday October 11th

Mailbox Monday - September 20th

Exley, a novel by Brock Clark - Coming October 5th 2010

I received this great book to review from Algonquin. I picked it up and read the first 25 pages and I can tell I am going to like this book. I just wanted to post a little preview. This book comes out October 5th, 2010.

A Bit About Exley

Winners - Audio - The Post Card Killers

Winners - She's Gone Country - Jane Porter

Giveaway - The Postcard Killers, by James Patterson and Liza Marklund

Envy - Audio Book by Sandra Brown - A Review

She's Gone Country - Jane Porter Giveaway

Audio and Video

Mailbox Monday - August 16th

Easy Peasy Blue Cheesy.....

Poem - Golden Gate Bridge

*Inspired by my recent trip to San Francisco, I post this poem. For trip details check out my other blog.

The Mighty Task is Done

To Kill a Mockingbird - 50th Anniversary

New Book! Far Bright Star, Robert Olmstead

About Far Bright Star

About Robert Olmstead

Hark.... A Book Review!

Vacation at Home...

Mailbox Monday 5/24/2010

Winners - Delayed

South of Broad, by Pat Conroy - book tour April 30th

About South of Broad

Pat Conroy’s TLC Book Tours TOUR STOPS:

Mail Box Monday April 26th

Winners - Love in Mid Air by Kim Wright!!

Winners!! Ted Dekker Tour Prizes -

National Poetry Month Blog Tour

The Cradle, by Patrick Somerville - Giveaway

Presumed Innocent, by Scott Turow - Giveaway

Audio Book- Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter

Audio and Video

Love in Mid Air Blog Tour and Giveaway and Review

The Bride Collector - a review by Toni

60 Days of Ted Dekker - The Bride Collector Blog Tour and Giveaway!

Mailbox Monday 3/22/2010

About I Thought You Were Dead

Winners- Black Hills by Dan Simmons - Audiobook

Mailbox Monday 3/8/2010

Winner !!! Last Snow and First Daughter by Eric Van Lustbader

Cane River by Lalita Tademy - A Review by Toni

Mailbox Monday February 28th, 2010

Sunday Shanghai Surprise!!

ABOUT THIS BOOK

Giveaways...