Mr. Bookbabie dipped his germy little fingers (he’s home with a nasty cold) into a hat (yes, I really do it the old fashioned way!) and he pulled out a winner. Drum-roll please…..the winner of the March Madness Book Giveaway is Ti! I’ve sent you an email asking for an address, as soon as I get it a new, hard cover copy of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society will come your way directly from Barnes & Noble. Congratulations Ti, hope you enjoy the read:)
Tag Archives: Reading
march madness book giveaway
I recently read The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society and really enjoyed it. It’s written as a series of letters between a group of people and when I first started it I wasn’t sure if I’d like the format. It wasn’t long, however, before I forgot about the format (which is actually great for starting and stopping, each letter is like a little chapter) and became absorbed by the story. Juliet Ashton is a writer looking for inspiration for her next book. She begins to exchange letters with a small book club on Guernsey in the Channel islands off the coast of England. The story takes place just after the Second World War, and as she gets to know the people of the island she learns how the German occupation during the war impacted their lives. You get a little history with this novel, the Channel Islands were occupied during the war, you get some tragedy, a touch of bravery, a scenic setting, and of course, love. What more do you need? Sadly, the novel’s first time author, Mary Ann Shaffer, passed away before the book was published and her niece Annie Barrows saw it through to publication in honor of her aunt. It is a charming, entertaining little book that will take your mind off the evening news and the economy. If you’d like to win a new, hard cover copy of this book, leave a comment on this post, I’ll pick a random winner on March 25, good luck!
skywatch friday
…she stared out the car window and watched as the country terrain began to roll gently under a lovely postcard blue sky, the fields and meadows changing color like the patterns on a quilt, moving from pale greens to muted gold’s to faded browns, dotted here and there with grazing creamy white sheep and striped with sleeping grape vines strung out like martyrs between five foot posts. ~Chapter 15, Love is a Many Splintered Thing
smarter than a fifth grader
If you click on the orange badge it takes you to a fun website that analyzes your blog’s reading level. I’ve noticed it can vary from day to day though, I suppose along with the length and depth or your posts. The first time I tried it I was at the High School level, today I’ve dropped down to Junior High, same as the popular and intellectual celebrity gossip blog TMZ so I guess I’m in good company. I had a heck of a time finding any blogs at the College Level until I came across A Blog Around the Clock and then I stumbled on a Medical Humanities blog that earned the elusive Genius Level badge! I’m not really sure it deserves it though. I tried to read it but for some reason it didn’t really make much sense. I think that blogger just likes to throw around a lot big words like hegemonic and neuropsychoanalysis. Hmm, maybe if I paste a few more of those fancy words on my blog today I can get back into High School:)
2008 best book lists
We’re kitty-sitting my daughter’s cat, Mr. Boo this week. I caught him checking out my bookshelves this morning. He just finished Dewey but when I tried to get him to read Marley & Me he said he’d pass, that he finds dog books, “trite and overly sentimental”. I’ve compiled an eclectic mix of best 2008 book lists for you, take a gander and see if you missed anything that sounds interesting!
Washington Post, Amazon, NPR, Publisher’s Weekly, Barnes & Noble, New York Times, Stephen King, Slate, Library Journal, Salon, Seattle Times, LA Times, The Sunday Times, The Washington Post, Time Magazine, The National Book Awards, The Atlantic, The Christian Science Monitor, The Village Voice, The Pulitzer Prizes, New York Magazine, PEN/Faulkner Award, Penguin Writer’s List, Salon Author’s Favorites, SF Chronicle
I was born with a reading list I will never finish. ~Maud Casey
grateful gifts
I’ve been busy trying to catch up on holiday shopping and housework lately, doing iStock photos, and putting up a few Christmas decorations. But I’m not really in the mood to put up the Christmas tree this year, it’s a big one because we have a high ceiling in the family room. Mr. bookbabie seems a little bummed about that idea however. I don’t think it’s a ba-humbug Scrooge kind of thing with me or depression because my mom is gone. I just think I’m worn out and putting up the tree feels like one more chore to do.
The last months of my mom’s life were pretty intense, then she died (also an intense, emotionally charged experience), and then I went right into planning mode for her memorial party. And now it’s the holidays. It seems like I could use some downtime to process this past year. My mom’s illness and death. My son and daughter-in-law losing the baby. I don’t know. Then again, maybe processing/dwelling on what’s happened isn’t really necessary. I don’t want to get stuck in that woe-is-me place where melancholy and gloom rule the day.
Hmm, okay Mr. bookbabie, we’ll put on some holiday music, light a fire in the fireplace, and put up your giant Christmas tree this weekend. Because through all the sadness and the loss of late you’ve been there by my side and for that I am truly grateful. Your love gave me a soft place to land during this most difficult year, so yes, you shall indeed have your tree my dear.
No longer forward nor behind
I look in hope or fear;
But, grateful, take the good I find,
The best of now and here. ~John Greenleaf Whittier
psychic eye
A friend of mine turned me on to the writer Victoria Laurie and her Abby Cooper Psychic Mystery series. It’s been a long time since I “discovered” a new author that I liked so much I looked forward to reading all of their books in a series. Victoria is a psychic (in real life) and the main character in her books, Abby, also makes her living as a professional psychic. The books are fun, not too intense, and knowing that she bases some of Abby’s antics on her own experiences makes them that much more fun! If you need an escape from politics and the lousy economic news, check out Victoria Laurie’s books:)
what’s in a name?
The Bookseller recently named the oddest book title in 30 years, the award went to Rural Greek Postman and their Cancellation Numbers. The contest was dreamed up in 1978 by the Diagram Group founder Bruce Robertson as a way to pass the time at a dreary Frankfurt Book Fair and they have been choosing an annual winner ever since. Here’s a few past winners, make your pick in your comments and don’t hold back on the witticisms:)
1995: Reusing Old Graves (Shaw & Son)
1996: Greek Rural Postmen and Their Cancellation Numbers (Hellenic Philatelic Society)
1997: The Joy of Sex: Pocket Edition (Mitchell Beazley)
1998: Development in Dairy Cow Breeding and Management: and New Opportunities to Widen the Uses of Straw (Nuffield Farming Scholarship Trust)
1999: Weeds in a Changing World (British Crop Protection Council)
2000: High Performance Stiffened Structures (Professional Engineering Publishing)
2001: Butterworths Corporate Manslaughter Service (Butterworths)
2002: Living With Crazy Buttocks (Kaz Cooke – Penguin US/Australia)
2003: The Big Book of Lesbian Horse Stories (Kensington Publishing)
2004: Bombproof Your Horse (J A Allen)
2005: People Who Don’t Know They’re Dead: How They Attach Themselves to Unsuspecting Bystanders and What to Do About It (Gary Leon Hill – Red Wheel/Weiser Books)
2006: The Stray Shopping Carts of Eastern North America: A Guide to Field Identification (Harry N Abrams)
2007: If You Want Closure In Your Relationship, Start With Your Legs (Simon & Schuster US)
bookbabie 