Out of 36 entrants, Randomizer.org selected 3 winners for the US/Canada portion of the giveaway.
Carol
Valerie of Life Is a Patchwork Quilt
Kristine
Congrats to everyone! There is still a copy up for grabs for those OUTSIDE of US/Canada.
Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters by Jane Austen and Ben Winters
February 10, 2010 by
Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters
by Jane Austen and Ben Winters is another mash-up of classic fiction and fantasy. The basic story is the same as the Marianne and Elinor deal with abject poverty, searching for love and affection, and relatives who are less than pleasant, while at the same time navigating their sisterly relationship. The twist is that sea monsters have taken control of the water and attack humans daring to cross the sea or live below it in Sub-Station Beta.
“Colonel Brandon, the friend of Sir John, suffered from a cruel affliction, the likes of which the Dashwood sisters had heard of, but never seen firsthand. He bore a set of long, squishy tentacles protruding grotesquely from his face, writhing this way and that, like hideous living facial hair of slime green.” (Page 37)
Readers will either enjoy reading a mash-up of Jane Austen’s work with its fantastical and historically inaccurate elements (i.e. the existence of wet suits, submarines, and underwater domes where people live and work) or they will throw the book aside as ridiculous. The trouble with these genre benders is that they often polarize readers in one camp or another. Unlike Seth Grahame-Smith’s Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
, which merely inserts new sentences to achieve the goal of making the Bennets zombie slayers, Winters creates a story nearly all his own, but using Austen’s Dashwood sisters.
“‘It is impossible that she did not know,’ Sir John answered, ‘For a sister to a sea witch is certain to be a sea witch herself.’ . . . ‘As I said, the witches take the physical form of human women,’ explained Sir John. ‘There is nothing they can do about their personalities.'” (Page 320)
By remaking Austen’s world and threatening the characters in it with deranged sea monsters, Winters takes a number of liberties with the text, although he does maintain Austen’s style for the most part. However, unlike Grahame-Smith’s mash-up where readers discover how the Bennets became skillful zombie slayers, the mysterious Sub-Station Beta and its “experiments” are not revealed or even hinted at for most of the book. This flaw can make it difficult for readers to continue reading this adventure because so much is unknown and the readers are scrambling in the dark as characters run from monsters, play games, chat while being attacked by monsters, bring up mysterious smoking mountains and five-pointed stars, and generally seem to shrug off the danger.
Overall, Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters resembles the dangers of other sea-faring novels — even 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
— and mixes it with ramped up social commentary a la Jane Austen. The latter half of the novel is the most action packed and is almost hurried along. But by the end, readers get swept up in adventure, myth, and outrageous challenges and have nothing to do but enjoy the ride.
To Enter to win 1 copy of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith and 1 copy of Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters by Jane Austen and Ben Winters: (This giveaway is global)
1. Leave a comment on this post about what Austen novel mash-up you want to see next.
2. Leave a comment on my review of Pride & Prejudice and Zombies.
3. Blog, Tweet, Facebook, etc. and leave a comment with a link on this post.
Deadline is Feb. 19, 2010, at 11:59 PM EST
About the Author:
Ben Allen H. Winters is a writer who lives in Brooklyn with all the other writers.
FTC Disclosure: I received a free copy of Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters from the FSB Associates and the publisher for review. Clicking on title links or images will bring you to my Amazon Affiliate page; No purchase necessary.
This is my 3rd book for the 2010 Jane Austen Challenge.
This is my 10th book for the 2010 New Authors Reading Challenge.
The Weight of Heaven by Thrity Umrigar
February 9, 2010 by
Thrity Umrigar’s The Weight of Heaven is a heavy with grief, emptiness, and struggle. The Bentons (Ellie and Frank) lose their son, Benny, at age seven from meningococcus. Ellie has liberal leanings politically and is a therapist to clients in Ann Arbor, Mich., while Frank is a proud, American business executive with residual issues of abandonment. The loss of a child can be daunting for any family, and it is clear how grief of this magnitude can slowly rip a family apart.
“And now they were two. Benny was gone. What was left behind was mockery — objects and memories that mocked their earlier, smug happiness. Benny was gone, an airplane lost behind the clouds, but he left behind a trail of smoke a mile long:” (Page 2)
As this American couple struggles with the loss of their son, Ellie and Frank embark on a new life in India when Frank is transferred to a new HerbalSolutions factory. The distance between them had gaped wide by this point, and both hope that the experience will help them repair their relationship and bring them closer to one another. However, in rural India with its impoverished population, Frank and Ellie find that their values change and their current circumstances and grief dictate their reactions to one another, their servants, the local community, and other expatriates.
“Now she was trying to control the sway of her hips, trying hard to resist the tug of the pounding drums that were making her lose her inhibitions, making her want to dance manically, the way she used to in nightclubs when she was in her teens. But that was the beauty of the dandiya dance — it celebrated the paradoxical joy of movement and restraint, of delirium within a structure. This was not about individual expression but about community.” (Page 220)
Readers will be absorbed by the local community and its traditions, the struggles of the Benton’s servants, and the stark beauty of India. But what really makes this novel shine is the characters and their evolution from idealistic college students and young parents to a grief-stricken and dejected married couple in a foreign nation. The tension between Frank and Ellie is personified in the dichotomous views each character reveals to the reader about the Indian community from the lax work environment and labor disputes at Frank’s factory to the deep-rooted sense of community and communion with nature shown through Ellie’s interactions with individuals at a local clinic.
The Weight of Heaven is more than a novel about grief; it is about how grief can distort perception and push people to make life-changing decisions that can broaden their horizons and transform them forever. Umrigar’s prose is poetic and full of imagery that paints a vivid picture of India and its rural community and its city life in Mumbai/Bombay. Class differences, the struggles of American expatriates, grief, death, and marital woes are explored deftly in this novel, and it is clearly one of the best novels of 2010.
To win 1 copy of The Weight of Heaven; this giveaway is international:
1. Leave a comment about what nation you would move to or have moved to.
2. Blog, Tweet, Facebook, etc. about the giveaway.
Deadline Feb. 19, 2010, 11:59PM EST
About the Author:
Thrity Umrigar is the author of three other novels—The Space Between Us, If Today Be Sweet, and Bombay Time—and the memoir First Darling of the Morning. A journalist for 17 years, she is the winner of the Nieman Fellowship to Harvard University and a 2006 finalist for the PEN/Beyond Margins Award. An associate professor of English at Case Western Reserve University, Umrigar lives in Cleveland.
This is my 9th book for the 2010 New Authors Challenge.
This is my 1st book for the 2010 South Asian Authors Challenge.
If you are interested in The Weight of Heaven, please check out the rest of the blog tour.
FTC Disclosure: I received a free copy of The Weight of Heaven from the publisher and TLC Book Tours for review. Clicking on title and image links will go to my Amazon Affiliate page; No purchase necessary, though appreciated to fund international giveaways.
Winner of Hotel
February 7, 2010 by
Out of 27 entrants, random.org selected #11
lag123, who said what they would go back and change would be “When I was a freshman in college, I quit my first semester and went back to my hometown to attend a Jr. college there. I wish I had toughed it out and stayed at the four year college. I was just very homesick.”
Thanks to everyone who entered. Just remember there are more giveaways going on here and you can find them listed in the right sidebar.
I hope everyone is having a great weekend. I’m having a weekend full of snow.
Government Girl Stacy Parker Aab Hits the Booksigning Circuit
February 5, 2010 by
I’ve only been to the Borders on 1801 K Street in Washington, D.C., one other time for a reading, and the area has changed a great deal since I worked in the city nearly 10 years ago. But hubby and I wandered the city streets for a while looking for something to eat before the reading since I get out of work long before the 6:30 PM event and he had the day off.
We found this out of the way lounge, Recessions, and decided to give it a try. The way down into the lounge was a bit odd, like winding your way through antiseptic hallways only to find yourself in a mafia den. We had some cheap eats and drinks, but the service was really slow.
When we got to Borders, the front display of Stacy Parker Aab‘s book, Government Girl, had been picked over quite a bit. I did my part and picked up two copies and immediately checked them out at the register; I’d even brought my ARC. While waiting for the program to start, I read a book and my hubby wandered the bookstore’s DVD section and collectors’ books. The reading started a little bit late, but that provided more time for the stragglers to come in and fill up the event’s seating. I was glad to see so many young women in attendance, who either currently went to George Washington University, like Aab had, or were in the political arena already.
Aab read from three sections of her memoir, and at times she seemed a bit nervous. But with a first book, who wouldn’t be?! One of my favorite sections of the book about Secret Service agents was a real treat to hear in her voice and with her inflections. This is a section she referred to as an ode of sorts. I’d say it pays homage to the lonely nature of being a Secret Service agent for sure. This was my favorite part of the reading.
Following the reading portion of the evening, the floor was opened up to questions from the audience and there was a wide variety. While she was asked about balancing the stress of working in the White House with her romantic and recreational life, she was also asked about how the atmosphere changed in the White House when the Monica Lewinsky scandal hit during the Clinton Administration. Here’s a little bit of how she answered the atmosphere question (you can thank my husband for all the photos and video because I was nervous for some reason — I seem to always get that way with authors I enjoy, like I don’t know what to say in person):
I think some of the other questions about fashion advice on a budget and dating were a bit strange to ask an author who is about 10 years removed from the area given that things change in D.C. so rapidly, and I’m afraid those audience members didn’t really get the answers they had hoped for. Overall, it was a good reading, and it was great to meet Aab in person after all the lovely emails we have exchanged. I’ll leave you with two pictures, one of the signing line and one of me getting the books signed.
Giveaway Details; This one is open only to readers of the blog OUTSIDE the US/Canada:
1 SIGNED copy of Government Girl is up for grabs.
1. Leave a comment on this post about whether you get nervous meeting authors you enjoy.
2. Let me know if you have commented on my review, guest post from Aab, and/or my D.C. Literature Examiner article for additional entries.
3. Blog, Tweet, Facebook, etc. the giveaway and leave a link for another entry.
Deadline is Feb. 19, 2010, at 11:59 PM EST. Good Luck!
Government Girl Giveaway!
February 1, 2010 by
Did you miss my review of Government Girl by Stacy Parker Aab?
Well, you better go read it and leave a comment because if you do, you can come back here and enter a giveaway for up to 3 copies of the book.
Unfortunately, U.S./Canada residents only, but I may have another treat in store later in the week if I can get to the K Street Borders on Thursday, Feb. 4 because Stacy will be in town signing her book.
Deadline is Feb. 8, 2010, at 11:59 PM EST
Fill out the form below to enter!
Winner of Tainted
January 31, 2010 by
Out of more than 20 entrants to the giveaway for Tainted
by Brooke Morgan, Random.org selected:
Margie
Thanks to everyone who entered. If you are still looking for a good book, check out the right sidebar with all the giveaway around the blogosphere, including my next one for Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet
by Jamie Ford.
FTC Disclosure: Clicking on title links or images will bring you to my Amazon Affiliate page; No purchase necessary.
Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford
January 29, 2010 by
First, I want to apologize to the author, TLC Book Tours, and the publisher for failing to meet my deadline for this review. I think this is one of the only times I’ve missed a deadline, and in my defense, I erroneously wrote today as my tour date and not yesterday. Clearly, my mind was not focused! I apologize. OK, on with my review.
Jamie Ford’s Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet is a pot of water on the stove that takes a long time to boil. Henry Lee is the main protagonist, but really his story happens nearly 45 years in the past, and those are the chapters that breathe and live. Much of the present day (1986) life of Henry Lee is somber and lifeless.
“He’d meant to finish it when his son, Marty, went away to college, but Ethel’s condition had worsened and what money they’d saved for a rainy day was spent in a downpour of medical bills, a torrent that lasted nearly a decade.” (Page 8)
The death of his wife, Ethel, from cancer six months before happens early on in the book. Readers are left with a drifting character who really doesn’t find his way into his own story for about 100 or more pages. When we finally delve into his young love with Keiko, the story blossoms into an emotional torrent, especially when they are ripped apart from each other.
Discrimination is on every page given that in 1942 the United States was drawn into World War II after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. For Henry’s father, the war began many years before when Japan invaded his homeland. Henry and his father have a tenuous relationship — a relationship that is mirrored in the present between Henry and his own son, Marty.
“‘He was vehemently against all things Japanese. Even before Pearl Harbor, the war in China had been going on for almost ten years. For his son to be frequenting that other part of town — Japantown — would have been bad form. Shameful to him . . . ‘” (Page 105)
Readers will appreciate the immersion into war-time America with its simmering angst against Asians — not just the Japanese — and the plight of those second generation Asians who try to maintain their livelihoods and tout their American loyalties in a nation that increasingly wanted to get rid of any reminder of war. Overall, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet is a meandering novel about love, growing up, dealing with discrimination, and more, but in a way readers may find that the sequencing of events and alternating chapters between present day Henry and his younger persona could have been executed better. In many cases the present day chapters take away from those during the war years, halting the narrative and adding little to the story’s arc.
About the Author:
Jamie Ford is the great-grandson of Nevada mining pioneer Min Chung, who emigrated from Kaiping, China, to San Francisco in 1865, where he adopted the Western name “Ford,” thus confusing countless generations. Ford is an award-winning short-story writer, an alumnus of the Squaw Valley Community of Writers, and a survivor of Orson Scott Card’s Literary Boot Camp. Having grown up near Seattle’s Chinatown, he now lives in Montana with his wife and children. Check out his Website or the BitterSweet Blog.
To Enter the Giveaway for 1 copy of Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet (Sorry, US/Canada only):
1. Leave a comment on this post about one moment in your past you’d like to revisit or change.
2. Blog, Tweet, Facebook, etc. the giveaway and leave a link in the comments.
Deadline is Feb. 5, 2010 at 11:59PM EST
THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED!!
FTC Disclosure: I received a free copy of Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet from the publisher for a TLC Book Tour and review. Clicking on title links or images will bring you to my Amazon Affiliate page; No purchase necessary.
This is my 6th book for the 2010 New Authors Challenge.
If you are interested in Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford, please check out the rest of the TLC Book Tour.
Winners of Shanghai Girls
January 28, 2010 by
Shanghai Girls
by Lisa See generated a lot of interest, but Random.org selected 2 winners.
Amanda18228
and
Denny, Alaska
Thanks to all who entered. I hope you enjoy the book.
Tainted by Brooke Morgan
January 22, 2010 by
Brooke Morgan’s debut novel, Tainted, is a thrill ride in a small, shoreline town in Massachusetts — Shoreham — as Holly Barrett meets the man of her dreams on a bus. Jack Dane is dashing, charming, and British — an accent to die for — but there is something below the surface that is not so inviting.
“Tell your heart lies enough times and it will fashion them into the truth.” (Page 34)
Holly’s had a tough youth from getting pregnant at a young age to losing her parents and struggling as a single parent. Jack swoops in and casts a spell that she is unwilling to break, despite the objections of her family and friends and only knowing him for about three weeks. Morgan’s writing is upfront and engaging, though at times chapters shift from the point of view of Holly, her five-year old daughter, her grandfather, and others.
“‘Jesus, Holl. You’re traveling faster than the speed of love.'” (Page 106)
Readers will eat up these pages, trying to uncover Jack’s dark secrets, while at the same time wishing they could shake Holly into her right mind. At times, Holly is very naive about Jack and moves too quickly into a relationship, which can be attributed to her inexperience with men and her self-imposed isolation. However, there are a number of occasions where Holly sees clear red flags in Jack’s behavior and chooses to ignore them, reminiscent of abused women. Morgan’s debut novel is a solid thriller with many twists and turns that will have some readers guessing until the very end.
To enter this INTERNATIONAL giveaway for 1 copy of Tainted by Brooke Morgan:
1. Leave a comment on this review.
2. Blog, Tweet, Facebook, or otherwise spread the word about the giveaway.
3. Comment on the guest post.
Deadline is Jan. 29, 2010, at 11:59PM EST
About the Author:
Brooke Morgan is a Bostonian who now lives in London with her two children. Tainted is her first novel.
If you are interested in Tainted, you should check out the rest of the TLC Book Tour.
This is my 5th book for the 2010 New Authors Challenge.
I’m considering this for my 2nd book, a romantic thriller, for the 2010 Thriller & Suspense Reading Challenge.
FTC Disclosure: Thanks to TLC Book Tours, HarperCollins, and Brooke Morgan for sending me a free copy of Tainted for review. Clicking on image or title links will lead to my Amazon Affiliate page; No purchase necessary, though appreciated.
International Winner of When She Flew
January 20, 2010 by
It took a while to get there, but we finally have an international winner for a copy of When She Flew
by Jennie Shortridge.
Gautami of Everything Distils Into Reading
I hope she enjoys the book. I know I did.
If you missed my review, check it out here.
FTC Disclosure: Clicking on image and title links will bring you to my Amazon Affiliate page; No purchase required, though appreciated.
Shanghai Girls by Lisa See
January 19, 2010 by
Shanghai Girls by Lisa See examines the relationship between sisters, May and Pearl, their immigration story from Shanghai, China, to Los Angeles, Calif., and the political changes between the 1930s and 1950s. Pearl was born under the sign of the Dragon, and May was born under the sign of the Sheep. Do these signs define who they are? Will they guide their fate?
“Mama insists May and I couldn’t change who we are even if we tried. May is supposed to be as complacent and content as the Sheep in whose year she was born. The Sheep is the most feminine of the signs, Mama says. It’s fashionable, artistic, and compassionate. The Sheep needs someone to take care of her. . . I have a Dragon’s striving desire, which can never be properly filled. ‘There’s nowhere you can’t go with your big flapping feet,’ Mama frequently tells me. However, a Dragon, the most powerful of the signs also has its drawbacks. ‘A Dragon is loyal, demanding, responsible, a tamer of fates,’ Mama told me. . . ” (Page 9 of the hardcover)
Considering themselves modern Chinese ladies in Shanghai and shunning the old ways of their ancestors, Pearl and May become painted, beauties on calendars that sell products ranging from tobacco to other household goods. Pearl has a crush on the painter who makes the calendars, and despite being the older sister, often loses sight of her sister’s actions and whereabouts. Soon, their world is blown apart when the secrets of their father’s gambling are revealed and they are sold into arranged marriages with Chinese-Americans. Still, these young sisters dream of escape and willfully defy their parents’ wishes, only for the fates to step in and force them to honor their original plans to meet their husbands in America.
The ravages of war hit home in Shanghai as the Japanese invade China, and the Communists flee to the hills of China. Lisa See deftly interweaves the political backdrop of China and the world at large behind the more present plight of the Chin sisters. Through a series of twists and turns that mirror the rise and fall of political powers across the globe, Pearl and May face adversity together, but both emerge vastly changed. Reminiscent of Amy Tan‘s writing about mothers and daughters, particularly the clashes of old and new cultures, See grabs hold of the sisterly relationship to shed light the joys, sorrows, painful moments, and sacrifices that only sisters can share and feel deep down to their core. Larger issues of discrimination and political dissension also are prevalent themes.
Overall, Shanghai Girls is a deep novel that will lend itself to animated discussion among book clubs. Readers will enjoy unraveling the family secrets of the Chin women and their new families, and be exposed to the intricate and complex political and social dynamics of some of the most turbulent times in world history. Not only have these women grown through adversity and sacrifice, but they are sent on a journey to discover what it means to be family.
How I’ve missed reading Lisa See before, I have no idea. But she’s an author I hope to read more of in the future.
To Enter to win 2 copies of Shanghai Girls by Lisa See (U.S./Canada only):
1. Leave a comment on this review about what intrigues you about this novel.
2. Leave a comment on my interview with Lisa See.
3. Blog, Tweet, Facebook, etc. the giveaway.
Deadline is Jan. 26, 2010, at 11:59PM EST
About the Author:
Lisa See is the New York Times bestselling author of Peony in Love
, Snow Flower and the Secret Fan
, Flower Net
(an Edgar Award nominee), The Interior
, and Dragon Bones
, as well as the critically acclaimed memoir On Gold Mountain
. The Organization of Chinese American Women named her the 2001 National Woman of the Year. She lives in Los Angeles, California. Please check out her Website. Read an excerpt of Shanghai Girls, here, and for book clubs, there are discussion questions.
I also interviewed Lisa See, here.
This is my 4th book for the 2010 New Authors Challenge.
If you are interested in the rest of the tour stops for Shanghai Girls by Lisa See, I encourage you to check out the TLC Book Tour site.
FTC Disclosure: I received my free copy of Shanghai Girls by Lisa See from Random House and TLC Book Tours for review. Clicking on title and image links will lead you to my Amazon Affiliate page; No purchase necessary, though I appreciated.
