Poetry Sunday (07-12-09 edition)

Sonnet

I wish I could remember that first day,
First hour, first moment of your meeting me,
If bright or dim the season, it might be
Summer or winter for aught I can say;
So unrecorded did it slip away,
So blind was I to see and to foresee,
So dull to mark the budding of my tree
That would not blossom yet for many a May.
If only I could recollect it, such
A day of days! I let it come and go
As traceless as a thaw of bygone snow;
It seemed to mean so little, meant so much;
If only now I could recall that touch,
First touch of hand in hand-- Did one but know!

Christina Rossetti

Book Giveaways in Blogworld (07-11-09 edition)

Here is a list of some giveaways going on in Blogworld*. Please note that new giveaways that were added this week are indented in Blockquotes:

Booking with Bingo is giving nine people the chance to win The Night Gardener and/or Soul Survivor. Deadline is July 11.

Drey's Library is giving away 2 copies of Devlin's Diary. Deadline is July 12.

Bibliofreak is giving away a copy of Three Cups of Tea. Deadline is July 12.

Just Another New Blog is giving away 5 copies of Julie & Julia. Deadline is July 13.

The Electrical Book Cafe and More is giving away 5 copies of Suite Scarlett. Deadline is July 13.

A Journey of Books is giving away 5 copies of My Forbidden Desire. Tell them nfmgirl sent you! Deadline is July 13.

Passages to the Past is giving away an ARC of Sacred Heart. Deadline is July 13.

Beth's Book Review Blog is giving away 3 copies of the Swimsuit audiobook. Deadline is July 14.

Beth's Book Review Blog is giving away 5 copies of How To Score. Deadline is July 14.

Beth's Book Review Blog is giving away 5 copies of My Forbidden Desire. Deadline is July 14.

Starting Fresh is giving away 5 copies of My Forbidden Desire. Deadline is July 14.

Pop Culture Junkie is giving away a copy of The Painter from Shanghai. Deadline is July 14.

Readaholic is giving away 5 copies of The Moon Looked Down. Deadline is July 14.

A Book Blogger's Diary is giving away Seduce the Darkness. Deadline is July 15.

Bookin' with Bingo is giving away 5 copies of The Host and one copy of Twilight. Deadline is July 15.

Bookin' with Bingo is giving away 5 copies of Stand the Storm. Deadline is July 15.

Chocolate & Croissants is giving away a copy of I Loved, I Lost, I Made Spaghetti. Deadline is July 15.

Today's Adventure is giving away 3 copies of the Swimsuit audio book. Deadline is July 15.

Today's Adventure is giving away 3 copies of the Bourne Deception audio book. Deadline is July 15.

The Tome Traveler is giving away 5 copies of The Host. Deadline is July 15.

A Bookish Mom is giving away 3 copies of The Juror. Deadline is July 16.

A Bookish Mom is also giving away 5 copies of The Imposter's Daughter. Deadline is July 16.

Luxury Reading is giving away 5 copies of The Link. Deadline is July 16.

Books and Needlepoint is giving away 5 copies of How to Score. Tell them that nfmgirl sent you! Deadline is July 16.

Rhapsody in Books is giving away Star Gazing. Deadline is July 16, and it is open to the US, Canada, AND the UK!

Peeking Between the Pages is giving away 5 copies of Off Season. Deadline is July 17.

Peeking Between the Pages is giving away 5 copies of The Walking People. Deadline is July 17.

Books and Needlepoint is giving away 5 copies of One Scream Away. Tell them that nfmgirl sent you! Deadline is July 17.

Bookin' with Bingo is giving away 5 sets of ten summer beach bag books. Deadline is July 17.

So Many Precious Books, So Little Time is giving away 5 copies of The Imposter's Daughter. Deadline is July 17.

Booking Mama is giving away an autographed copy of Pope Joan. Deadline is July 17.

Marta's Meanderings is giving away 5 sets of The Vixen Manual and How to Score. Deadline is July 17.

Sweeps4Bloggers is giving away 5 copies of The Castaways. Deadline is July 17.

Jenn's Bookshelf is giving away a copy of The Castaways. Deadline is July 17.

Joystory is giving away a copy of My Name is Will. Deadline is July 18.

Bookin' with Bingo is giving away 9 books to eight winners. Winners will get The Imposter's Daughter and/or Julie & Julia. Deadline is July 18.

Gahome2mom is giving away 5 copies of Julie & Julia. Deadline is July 19.

Today's Adventure is giving away five different books in honor of Canada Day. Deadline is July 20.

Drey's Library is giving away 2 copies of How Perfect is That. Deadline is July 20.

Sweeps4Bloggers is giving away 5 copies of Julie & Julia. Deadline is July 20.

Brimful Curiosities is giving away 3 copies of The Castaways. Deadline is July 20.

Booking Mama is giving away a copy of The Castaways. Deadline is July 20.

A Journey of Books is giving away 5 copies of Knight of Desire. Deadline is July 20.

Lori's Reading Corner is giving away The Perfect Couple. Deadline is July 20.

Just For Me...And You is giving away 3 copies of Best Friends Forever. Deadline is July 21.

Patricia's Vampire Notes is giving away 5 copies of The Host. Deadline is July 21.

The Tome Traveler is having a big 100th review giveaway, and is giving away 10 books to up to 10 winners. The more people to enter, the more winners there will be! Deadline is July 21.

Drey's Library is giving away a copy of The Castaways. Deadline is July 21.

Stacie Vaughn is giving away a copy of The Sassy Ladies' Toolkit for Startup Businesses. Deadline is July 21.

Drey's Library is giving away 5 copies of Soul Survivor. Deadline is July 22.

Yankee Romance Reviewers is giving away 5 copies of The Moon Looked Down. Deadline is July 22.

Books and Needlepoint is giving away 3 copies of the audio book The Juror. Tell them nfmgirl sent you! Deadline is July 22.

A Journey of Books is giving away 5 copies of My Name is Will. Tell them nfmgirl sent you and get an additional entry! Deadline is July 22.

Books and Needlepoint is giving away 3 copies of the audio book Any Minute. Tell them nfmgirl sent you! Deadline is July 23.

Beth's Book Review Blog is giving away 5 copies of Knight of Desire. Deadline is July 23.

Sweeps4Bloggers is giving away 3 copies of The Bourne Deception audio book. Deadline is July 23.

Books and Needlepoint is giving away 3 copies of the audio book Swimsuit. Tell them nfmgirl sent you! Deadline is July 24.

So Many Precious Books, So Little Time is giving away up to 5 copies of My Name is Will. The more entries, the more books to win! Deadline is July 24.

Lori's Reading Corner is giving away book organizing software. Deadline is July 24.

This Book For Free is giving away 5 copies of The Moon Looked Down. Deadline is July 24.

J. Kaye's Book Blog is giving away an audio book of The Choice. Deadline is July 25.

J. Kaye is also giving away an ARC of All the Pretty Dead Girls. Lots of chances to enter! Deadline is July 25.

The Tome Traveler is giving away 5 copies each of My Name is Will and Off Season. Deadlines are July 27.

The Book Butterfly is giving away a copy of A Great and Terrible Beauty. Deadline is July 28.

Peace & Quiet is giving away 5 copies of Julie & Julia. Deadline is July 29.

At Home with Books is cleaning of her shelves and giving away 4 books. Deadline is July 30.

Starting Fresh is giving away 5 copies of Julie & Julia. Deadline is July 31.

Queen of Happy Endings is giving away Cleopatra's Daughter and Blood Promise. Deadline is July 31.

Beth's Book Review Blog is giving away a copy of The Texicans. Deadline is July 31.

Drey's Library is giving away 5 sets of ten summer beach bag books. Deadline is July 31.

Mrs. Magoo Reads is giving away 2 copies of Twenty Boy Summer. Deadline is July 31.

Just Another New Blog is giving away 5 copies of The Moon Looked Down. Deadline is August 1.

Passages to the Past is giving away The Virgin's Daughters. Deadline is August 3.

A Book Blogger's Diary, along with Hatchette Book Group, is giving away a copy of The Castaways. Deadline is August 12.

Booking Mama is giving away 3 sets of ten summer beach bag books. Deadline is August 15.

A Book Blogger's Diary, along with Hatchette Book Group, is giving away ten summer beach books to one reader. Deadline is August 31.

So Many Precious Books, So Little Time is giving away 4 audiobooks. I've already listed two of them elsewhere in this giveaway list. Each audiobook has a different deadline.

Reviewer X is giving away an ARC of Catching Fire. There is no deadline listed.

*Courtesy Note: Please keep in mind the many, many hours of work that goes into me compiling this list each week. Please be courteous and thoughtful, and do not steal my text. Either recreate your own list, or link to this list and direct your readers here for giveaway information. Thank you so much for your consideration!

Introducing...The Color Purple by Alice Walker

Introducing Thursday introduces you to a book through the first paragraph. This week's introduction comes from The Color Purple by Alice Walker:

Dear God,
I am fourteen years old. I am I have always been a good girl. Maybe you can give me a sign letting me know what is happening to me.






Oh...and "yes", I am loving this book!

Teaser Tuesday (07-07-09 edition)

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
  
• Open to a random page
  
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
  
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
  
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Today's Teaser:

Dear God,
Sofia gone six months, Harpo act like a different man...
...He say, Miss Celie, I done learned a few things.
One thing he learned is that he cute. Another that he smart. Plus, he can make money. He don't say who the teacher is.

The Color Purple by Alice Walker (page 69)

Mailbox Monday (07-06-09 edition)

Mailbox Monday is brought to us by The Printed Page. In my mailbox last week I got:

Books Purchased (I got some really good deals, so I had to break my pact with myself and buy some books)...

City of the Dead by Brian Keene

Where can you go when the dead are everywhere? Cities have become overrun with legions of the dead, all of them intent on destroying what's left of the living. Trapped inside a fortified skyscraper, a handful of survivors prepare to make their last stand against an unstoppable, undying enemy. With every hour their chances diminish and their numbers dwindle, while the numbers of the dead can only rise. Because sooner or later, everything dies. And then it comes back, ready to kill.



Prisoner of Tehran: A Memoir by Marina Nemat

What would you give up to protect your loved ones? Your life?

In her heartbreaking, triumphant, and elegantly written memoir, Prisoner of Tehran, Marina Nemat tells the heart-pounding story of her life as a young girl in Iran during the early days of Ayatollah Khomeini's brutal Islamic Revolution.

In January 1982, Marina Nemat, then just sixteen years old, was arrested, tortured, and sentenced to death for political crimes. Until then, her life in Tehran had centered around school, summer parties at the lake, and her crush on Andre, the young man she had met at church. But when math and history were subordinated to the study of the Koran and political propaganda, Marina protested. Her teacher replied, "If you don't like it, leave." She did, and, to her surprise, other students followed.

Soon she was arrested with hundreds of other youths who had dared to speak out, and they were taken to the notorious Evin prison in Tehran. Two guards interrogated her. One beat her into unconsciousness; the other, Ali, fell in love with her.

Sentenced to death for refusing to give up the names of her friends, she was minutes from being executed when Ali, using his family connections to Ayatollah Khomeini, plucked her from the firing squad and had her sentence reduced to life in prison. But he exacted a shocking price for saving her life -- with a dizzying combination of terror and tenderness, he asked her to marry him and abandon her Christian faith for Islam. If she didn't, he would see to it that her family was harmed. She spent the next two years as a prisoner of the state, and of the man who held her life, and her family's lives, in his hands.

Lyrical, passionate, and suffused throughout with grace and sensitivity, Marina Nemat's memoir is like no other. Her search for emotional redemption envelops her jailers, her husband and his family, and the country of her birth -- each of whom she grants the greatest gift of all: forgiveness.



Come and Get Me by Alyssa Brooks

A sexy dare turns up the heat for two lovers in a hot new erotic romantic comedy.

Dylan is perfect husband material: a lawyer, an unselfish lover, and totally hot in a three-piece suit. So why did it freak Sadie out when he proposed? Because she isn't ready to be a lawyer's wife? Or maybe because first, she'd like to take their sex life to another level-like in her fantasies. That's when Sadie said You want me? Come and get me. From the beaches of Kauai to the sands of Egypt, the pursuit is on between the slippery prey and a hunter determined to take it-wherever and however. But when Sadie meets two strangers who fulfill one of her naughtiest fantasies, she hasn't a clue that Dylan is playing a game of his own.



Food to Live By by Myra Goodman

Organic food is the best food possible. It’s synonymous with premium quality, delicious flavor, conscientious farming, and optimum health. It’s what we need to feed our kids, it’s what we deserve to feed ourselves. And thanks in part to Myra Goodman, co-owner and co-founder of Earthbound Farm with her husband, Drew, organic food is now available just about anywhere fresh food is sold, becoming more mainstream every day.

Not only has Myra been growing organic food for over twenty years, she has been cooking with it, too. In Food to Live By she combines her twin food passions, serving up hundreds of recipes, ideas, shopping and cooking tips, health notes, and more. Illustrating the book are full-color photographs throughout that bring readers right into the breathtaking California sunshine.

This is perfect cooking for friends and family, packed with irresistible dishes for weeknight dinners and casual entertaining, festive breakfasts and fall picnics. Recipes are all about the ingredients and their intrinsic qualities, not fancy techniques or time-consuming steps. Marry chicken with three simple accompaniments— rosemary, lemons, and garlic—and it’s transformed. Heighten the flavor of a springtime fava bean and orzo salad with an unexpected fava bean “pesto.” Combine Meyer lemon juice and soy sauce to create a marinade, tenderizer, and sauce that results in a perfect grilled flank steak.

Food to Live By also includes a wealth of information about organic farming and how to make the wisest food choices; there are full-color Field Guides—to gourmet greens, apples, heirloom tomatoes, winter squash—and FarmFresh ingredient guides to sorrel, corn, melons, avocados, organic poultry, asparagus, artichokes, ginger, and more, featuring what to look for plus care and handling. The book is a boon to food lovers.



Storm of the Century: An Original Screenplay by Stephen King

They're calling it the Storm of the Century, and it's coming hard. The residents of Little Tall Island have seen their share of nasty Maine Nor'easters, but this one is different. Not only is it packing hurricane-force winds and up to five feet of snow, it's bringing something worse. Something even the islanders have never seen before. Something no one wants to see.

Just as the first flakes begin to fall, Martha Clarendon, one of Little Tall Island's oldest residents, suffers an unspeakably violent death. While her blood dries, Andre Linoge, the man responsible sits calmly in Martha's easy chair holding his cane topped with a silver wolf's head...waiting.

Linoge knows the townsfolk will come to arrest him. He will let them. For he has come to the island for one reason. And when he meets Constable Mike Anderson, his beautiful wife and child, and the rest of Little Tall's tight-knit community, this stranger will make one simple proposition to them all:

"If you give me what I want, I'll go away."



French Kiss by Susan Johnson

L.A. architect Nicole Lesdaux has just signed on to create a tree house for record producer Johnny Patrick's little girl, Jordi. The hunky single dad has given Nicky an unlimited budget-though she might have agreed to work for free, if it meant watching his sizzlingly sexy body by the pool every day.

But mixing business with pleasure is one of Nicky's no-nos-so she focuses on making this music mogul the Taj Mahal of tree houses. Until Johnny's ex-wife makes off to Paris with their daughter...

Since Nicky speaks the language, a desperate Johnny needs her help finding little Jordi. En route, sexual tensions run ever higher. Again and again, the two must fight back the urge to come together. And, as Nicky discovers, Johnny does know some French after all.


Armageddon's Children by Terry Brooks

Terry Brooks is one of a handful of writers whose work defines modern fantasy fiction. His twenty-three international bestsellers have ranged from the beloved Shannara series to stories that tread a much darker path. Armageddon’s Children is a new creation–the perfect opportunity for readers unfamiliar with Brooks’s previous work to experience an author at the height of his considerable storytelling powers. It is a gripping chronicle of a once-familiar world now spun shockingly out of control, in which an extraordinary few struggle to salvage hope in the face of terrifying chaos.

Logan Tom is doomed to remember the past and determined to rescue the future. Far behind him lies a boyhood cut violently short by his family’s slaughter, when the forces of madness and hate swept our world after decadent excesses led to civilization’s downfall. Somewhere ahead of him rests the only chance to beat back the minions of evil that are systematically killing and enslaving the last remnants of humanity. Navigating the scarred and poisoned landscape that once was America and guided by a powerful talisman, Logan has sworn an oath to seek out a remarkable being born of magic, possessed of untold abilities, and destined to lead the final fight against darkness.

Across the country, Angel Perez, herself a survivor of the malevolent, death-dealing forces combing the land, has also been chosen for an uncanny mission in the name of her ruined world’s salvation. From the devastated streets of Los Angeles, she will journey to find a place–and a people–shrouded in mystery, celebrated in legend, and vital to the cause of humankind . . . even as a relentless foe follows close behind, bent on her extermination. While in the nearly forsaken city of Seattle, a makeshift family of refugees has carved out a tenuous existence among the street gangs, mutants, and marauders fighting to stay alive against mounting odds–and something unspeakable that has come from the shadows in search of prey.

In time, all their paths will cross. Their common purpose will draw them together. Their courage and convictions will be tested and their fates will be decided, as their singular crusade begins: to take back, or lose forever, the only world they have.

In Armageddon’s Children, Brooks brings his gifts as a mythmaker to the timeless theme of the unending, essential conflict between darkness and light–and carries his unique imaginative vision to a stunning new level. Prepare for a breathtaking tour de force. To those who are new to Terry Brooks, welcome. And to those who have read him for many years: prepare for a dramatic surprise.



Getting Warmer by Carol Snow

Natalie Quackenbush is approaching thirty, drowning in debt-and did she mention she lives with her parents? It's the kind of small talk she'd rather avoid. So she and her friends have found a new way to entertain themselves on the Scottsdale, Arizona singles scene: lying.

It's an innocent game, but when Natalie meets a guy she actually likes-and wants to see again-how will she explain that her mother isn't actually insane? Or that she doesn't really work with convicted murderers? If she can find a way out of her lies without destroying this fragile new relationship along the way, she might just wind up with something real.

Check out the Barnes & Noble online clearance going on. I got a number of these books for $1.79, using my member card for an additional 10% off, and FREE shipping using my Visa card to pay for them.


Won through a giveaway:

Lost Souls by Lisa Jackson

Won this from J. Kaye's Book Blog during her Lisa Jackson Challenge.

Twenty-seven-year-old Kristi Bentz is lucky to be alive. Not many people her age have nearly died twice at the hands of a serial killer, and lived to tell about it. Her dad, New Orleans detective Rick Bentz, wants Kristi to stay in New Orleans and out of danger. But if anything, Kristi's experiences have made her even more fascinated by the mind of the serial killer. She hasn't given up her dream of being a true-crime writer - of exploring the darkest recesses of evil - and now she just may get her chance.

Four girls have disappeared at All Saints College in less than two years. All four were "lost souls" - troubled, vulnerable girls with no one to care about them, no one to come looking if they disappeared. The police think they're runaways, but Kristi senses there's something that links them, something terrifying. She decides to enroll, following their same steps. All Saints has changed a lot since Kristi was an undergraduate. The stodgy Catholic college has lured edgy new professors to its campus and gained a reputation for envelope-pushing, with classes like the very popular "The Influence of Vampirism in Modern Culture and Literature," and elaborately staged morality plays that feel more like the titillating entertainment of some underground club than religious spectacles. And there are whispers of a dark cult on campus whose members wear vials of blood around their necks and meet in secret chambers - rituals to which only the elite have access. To find the truth, Kristi will need to become part of the cult's inner circle, to learn their secrets, and play the part of lost soul without losing herself in the process. It's a dangerous path, and Kristi is skating on its knife-thin edge.

The deeper she goes, the more Kristi begins to wonder if she is the hunter or the prey. She's certain she's being watched and followed - studied, even - as yet another girl disappears, and another. And when the bodies finally begin to surface - in ways that bring fear to the campus and terror to the hearts of even hardened cops like Detective Bentz and his partner Reuben Montoya - Kristi realizes with chilling clarity that she has underestimated her foe. She is playing a game with a killer more cunning and bloodthirsty than anyone can imagine, one who has personally selected her for membership in a cult of death from which there will be no escape.

Cemetery Dance audio book by Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child

Won from Sweeps4Bloggers

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

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

Confessions of an Ivy League Pornographer by Sam Benjamin

An e-book won through the Library Thing Member Giveaway. (Although I could swear that it wasn't identified as an e-book)

"I was a 22-year-old graduate from Brown University with no direction, no money, and no girlfriend. Adrift and alone in golden California, I felt destined to live out the rest of my days in nerdish celibacy, never finding the courage to unlock the proud, roaring beast that I knew lived deep within me.

But then, one day, I had an incredible idea..."