Fairy Tale Giveaway Hop

Fairy Tale Giveaway Hop
hosted by I Am A Reader, Not A Writer
The Book Rat &
A Backwards Story
April 22 - May 3, 2014
Those of you who love fairy tales with talking animals (and other objects) will definitely get a treat from this story.

Watching the characters interact and tell their stories was the engaging and enjoyable part of this book. Didn't want the journey to end as I loved the banter and bonding between the character.

--~ Book Giveaway ~--

Down the Mysterly River
by Bill Willingham
illustrated by Mark Buckingham
Amazon | Goodreads
WIN a copy of this book!

Open to US only.

Offer ends: May 3, 2014

TO DO:

Please answer the following question in comments.

1. May I send you an email invitation to a future virtual book event on my site?

IF so, which of the following themes would you be interested in coming to?

Jane Austen
Mystery
Paranormal
Steampunk
Zombies

IF no, just leave a lovely comment.

AND, leave your email.

* note to authors: feel free to contact me directly vvb32@yahoo.com if you are interested in being featured in one of the virtual book event themes listed above

* What is a virtual book event? a celebration of books and authors that are in keeping with a theme which may include guest posts and giveaways. Audience participation is encouraged and most welcome. (see past events here)

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Contest has ended - winner is here

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Now hop-a-long for more fairy tale goodies...

Participant list here.

April is National Poetry Month

2014 National Poetry Month:
Reach for the Horizon Blog Tour
hosted by Savvy Verse & Wit and Rhapsody in Books
check out the event schedule and details here
Poetry is something I have always wanted to include more of in my reading in order to better appreciate it. So, I decided to seriously take a stab at it this month and will continue to read 10 poetry books by the end of the year (self-challenge).

I have not taken any classes on how to analyze or critique poetry. I find most pieces abstract, vague and emotional-based. So, I decided to comment rather than review on the following books read with a Loved, Liked, OK, DNC (did not connect).

Feel free to let me know in comments if you are participating in National Poetry Month or if you have any poetry reading recommendations.

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Delivered
by Sarah Gambito
Amazon | Goodreads | Website
Rating: 4
Electric new verse from the winner of the 2005 Global Filipino Literary Award for Poetry.

Both surrealistic and urgently on-point, these boisterous poems comprise an identity crisis in the age of New Media. Sarah Gambito writes with verve on the complicated collision of ethnicity, sex, immigration, and nationality, her playfulness and pop-culture savvy offering cover for her surprise attacks of direct, even confrontational engagement: "Am I frightening you?" she asks. "I'm frightening you. // Good and good and good and good."

Fancy Beasts
by Alex Lemon
Amazon | Goodreads | Website
Rating: 4.5
In Fancy Beasts, the author of Hallelujah Blackout and Mosquito takes on California, the 2008 election, plastic surgery, Larry Craig, wildfires, Wal-Mart, and rampant commercialism — in short, the modern American media culture, which provides obscene foil for his personal legacies of violence and violation.

This pivotal book captures the turning point in a life of abuse, in which the recovering victim/perpetrator puzzles through the paradigm of son-to-husband-to-father. Frenetic, hilarious, and fearless, these poems are a workout — vigorous and raw. Yet they are also composed and controlled, pared down and sculpted, with a disarming narrative simplicity and directness. Even when dealing with toxic content, the point of view is always genuine and trustworthy. This stunning achievement marks Alex Lemon’s best work yet.

Ghosting
by Edith Pattou
Rating: my review
Have a love for drama and poetry? Then this course is a must for you! Throughout this class you will learn about a group of teenagers’ perspectives on an end-of-the-summer prank gone wrong, written in verse. Alcohol, guns and a dare— within minutes, events collide and a group of teenager’s lives are altered forever.

Stag's Leap: Poems
by Sharon Olds
2013 Pulitzer Prize winner
Amazon | Goodreads
Rating: pend
Stag’s Leap is stunningly poignant sequence of poems that tells the story of a divorce, embracing strands of love, sex, sorrow, memory, and new freedom.

In this wise and intimate telling—which carries us through the seasons when her marriage was ending—Sharon Olds opens her heart to the reader, sharing the feeling of invisibility that comes when we are no longer standing in love’s sight; the surprising physical bond that still exists between a couple during parting; the loss of everything from her husband’s smile to the set of his hip. Olds is naked before us, curious and brave and even generous toward the man who was her mate for thirty years and who now loves another woman. As she writes in the remarkable “Stag’s Leap,” “When anyone escapes, my heart / leaps up. Even when it’s I who am escaped from, / I am half on the side of the leaver.” Olds’s propulsive poetic line and the magic of her imagery are as lively as ever, and there is a new range to the music—sometimes headlong, sometimes contemplative and deep. Her unsparing approach to both pain and love makes this one of the finest, most powerful books of poetry Olds has yet given us.

The Trouble with Poetry: And Other Poems
by Billy Collins
Amazon | Goodreads
Rating: pend
Playfulness, spare elegance, and wit epitomize the poetry of Billy Collins. With his distinct voice and accessible language, America’s two-term Poet Laureate has opened the door to poetry for countless people for whom it might otherwise remain closed.

Like the present book’s title, Collins’s poems are filled with mischief, humor, and irony, “Poetry speaks to all people, it is said, but here I would like to address / only those in my own time zone”–but also with quiet observation, intense wonder, and a reverence for the everyday: “The birds are in their trees, / the toast is in the toaster, / and the poets are at their windows. / They are at their windows in every section of the tangerine of earth–the Chinese poets looking up at the moon, / the American poets gazing out / at the pink and blue ribbons of sunrise.”

Through simple language, Collins shows that good poetry doesn’t have to be obscure or incomprehensible, qualities that are perhaps the real trouble with most “serious” poetry: “By now, it should go without saying / that what the oven is to the baker / and the berry-stained blouse to the drycleaner / so the window is to the poet.”

In this dazzling new collection, his first in three years, Collins explores boyhood, jazz, love, the passage of time, and, of course, writing–themes familiar to Collins’s fans but made new here. Gorgeous, funny, and deeply empathetic, Billy Collins’s poetry is a window through which we see our lives as if for the first time.

HEAR a reading of Trouble With Poetry below.

fyi: Diesel bookstore is celebrating National Poetry Month by posting youtube poetry readings each day. See the complete list of the readings here.

Stacking the Shelves - 4.19.14

Stacking the Shelves
hosted by Tynga's Reviews (details)
Stacking The Shelves is all about sharing the books you are adding to your shelves, may it be physical or virtual. This means you can include books you buy in physical store or online, books you borrow from friends or the library, review books, gifts and of course ebooks!

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Bought:

Stag's Leap: Poems
by Sharon Olds
Got this Pulitzer Prize winner (2013) in celebration of National Poetry month. Are you reading poetry this month? If so, by whom?

For Review:

Kissed
The Thorn Chronicles book 1
by Kimberly Loth
-paranormal, YA
courtesy of author
Thanks Kimberly!

Of Monsters and Madness
by Jessica Verday
-Edgar Allan Poe theme, horror, YA
courtesy of publisher
Thanks!

The Falconer
by Elizabeth May
-fantasy, YA
courtesy of publisher
Thanks Lara!Received a second copy, so stay tuned for a giveaway of this in May.

Library:

Colleges That Change Lives
40 Schools that will change the way you
think about colleges
by Loren Rope
-referenceDefinitely a good read for those thinking of colleges and for parents who are helping their children with college preparations.

Siege and Storm
The Grisha trilogy book 2
by Leigh Bardugo
-fantasy, steampunk, YACouldn't wait and just had to pickup book 2 to continue. And, listening to the audio version this time around. So far, soooo good :-)

~*~
* some of these may be offered as giveaways within the next two months

* comment and TELL me what you have acquired for your shelves recently

* per usual, check out the sidebar for my current giveaways offers

France Book Tours Anniversary (with giveaway)

France Book Tours is celebrating
its first anniversary
on April 18!

 

France Book Tours has been thrilled to present amazing books related to France for a year.

To thank the authors who submitted their books and the bloggers who read and reviewed them, France Book Tours organizes a mega giveaway from April 18-25!

Depending on the number of entries in the Rafflecopter at the bottom of this page, they may give away up to 10 books, so spread the word!

The winners will be chosen on April 26.

Here are all the books available to win! Click on each cover to know more about it.

Please note what format the book is available in.

Note also that some books are only available for US/Canada residents.
If nothing is specified, it means you can receive the ebook or the print copy where ever you live.

Historical fiction

Spirit of Angels = print + ecopy
Wolfsangel = print + ecopy
Becoming Josephine = print for US/Canada only

Unravelled = print
The Ambitious Madame Bonaparte = print for US/Canada only

Mystery

The Paris Lawyer = print for US/Canada only + ecopy
The Mona Lisa Speaks = print for US/Canada only + ecopy

Fiction

I See London I See France = print for US/Canada only
Paris, Rue Des Martyrs = ecopy

Romance

The Paris Game = ebook
Moonlight & Love Songs = ebook
City of Jasmine = signed print copy for US/Canada only

The Promise of Provence = ecopy

Nonfiction - memoir

Confessions of a Paris Party Girl = ecopy

AND THERE WILL BE 4 EXTRA BOOKS OFFERED
DURING OUR TWITTER PARTY!

April 23 at 5pm Central Time
#franceBT

Spread the word!

AND NOW PLEASE ENTER THE GIVEAWAY
BY CLICKING ON THE RAFFLECOPTER LINK:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Zombies in May

BEWARE: zombies are heading this way next month...

Zombies & Cupcakes & More Zombies
a virtual book event
May 28-31, 2014
May is Zombie Awareness Month as dubbed by the (Zombie Research Society).

I will be spreading the word with a zombie themed virtual book event and zombie giveaway hop.

FEEL free to join in by participating in my virtual book event with a guest post or giveaway of your own (contact me to be included vvb32 @ yahoo.com) and/or be a part of the giveaway HOP below.

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Zombies Giveaway HOP
May 28 to June 1, 2014
hosted by vvb32 reads
SIGN UP on the linky form below.

Featuring Books and Goodies with a zombie theme - please, no gift cards as this is to promote this specific theme.

The hope is to see actual images of zombie books and/or items to help spread the awareness of this genre.

HOP RULES:

You must host a giveaway on YOUR site.

You must giveaway either a book (print or ebook) or an item in keeping with the theme (no gift cards).

You are responsible for obtaining a prize for giveaway and taking care of the shipping.

YOUR GIVEAWAY POST must include the Hop image and Title info as posted above AND Linky list (grab the code below).

Please only 1 mandatory entry (up to 2 optional extra entries) for a maximum of 3 entries per person.

Your post must be live May 28, 2014.

HOP ends on June 1, 2014.

Feel free to email me if you have questions vvb32 @ yahoo.com

WANT TO JOIN IN?

Authors as well as Bloggers are welcome to join this HOP.

Please complete Linky sign up below.

ALSO, let us know who are eligible for the giveaway. Include the following after your Blog URL:

(US)
(US/Canada)
(Intl)

HOP participants:
Note: I will update these links with actual post link during the event.





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* badge image source: Zombie Cupcakes by Zilly Rosen

* hop image found here, Cupcake Zombie created by Coco Fortunato (Copyright Fortunato Ink)

* What is a virtual book event? a celebration of books and authors that are in keeping with a theme which may include guest posts and giveaways. Audience participation is encouraged and most welcome.