Mindy (Comment #5)
Morna Crites-Moore (Comment #41)
Dolly (Comment #29)
nfmgirl (Comment #86)
Chelsea (Comment #77)

I have emailed all the winners, and once I get everyone’s snail mail addresses, I will forward the addresses to Hachette Books. Hachette Books will then send out copies of My Little Red Book.

Thank you everyone for participating – it’s been fun getting to know everyone better!

Update: The giveaway has now ended and comments on this post are now closed. Winners of this giveaway have been announced here. Thank you everyone for participating!

Yesterday I was surfing around, and I came across One World – One Heart 2009, a wonderful site whose aim is to foster connections among bloggers in the art and creativity world:

The common denominator in blogging is that we all have stories to tell….be it through visual means or life stories or the day-to-day or art work or handwork of varying kinds or poetry and journaling.  We can be inspired or inspire others by finding a blog and taking the time to read/see someone’s story. Often times a spark happens….this palpable spark of recognition through kindred understanding and shared passions in life. It is in those times when we take a moment to comment and comment again…….when those comments are reciprocated a discovery is made that we share commonalities which connect us sight unseen.

I read this and fell in love with the idea, and after surfing through the list of blogs on the site, I really wanted to join in. And then, synchronicity – if you’ve been reading Belle Enchanted, you know how much I adore synchronicities! Hachette Book Group asked if I’d be interested in hosting a giveaway of a wonderful book that will be released in February! The timing could not be more perfect. I have a review copy of this book – My Little Red Book, by Rachel Kauder Nalebuff – and looking through it, I know it’s a book that many, many of you will love.

I have FIVE copies of the book to give away, so there will be five winners!

Before I get to the rules, here’s a synopsis of My Little Red Book:

MY LITTLE RED BOOK is an anthology of stories about first periods, collected from women of all ages from around the world. The accounts range from light-hearted (the editor got hers while water skiing in a yellow bathing suit) to heart-stopping (a first period discovered just as one girl was about to be strip-searched by the Nazis). The contributors include well-known women writers (Meg Cabot, Erica Jong, Gloria Steinem, Cecily von Ziegesar), alongside today’s teens. And while the authors differ in race, faith, or cultural background, their stories share a common bond: they are all accessible, deeply honest, and highly informative.

Doesn’t this sound like such a wonderful book? The stories in here are at times poignant and at times humorous. Some of my favorite authors have contributed (like Meg Cabot, Michelle Jaffe, Gloria Steinem) but the stories are written not just by well-known authors, but by women from all walks of life, young and old, from around the world. There are artists, students, business people – a long list of women sharing their memories.

The Rules:

1. To enter, simply leave a comment on this post (just scroll down to the comment box at the bottom of this page), and in keeping with the theme of One World One Heart, and I’d love to know one unique thing about you! And make sure you enter a valid email address so that I can contact you in the event you win.

2. For extra entries: Help me spread the word about this giveaway! You will receive an extra entry if you blog about the giveaway with a link back to this post. Not a blogger? Not to worry – post about it at Facebook or Twitter with a link back to this post. You must, however, come back here and leave me a separate comment with a link to your blog post, Facebook comment or Twitter tweet. You can receive up to three extra entries, but you must leave a separate comment for each one, as I will be doing the draw using Random.org and the winners will be based on their comment numbers (note: you can only win once, however – the prizes must go to five different winners.)

3. Giveaway End Date: All comments must be received by February 12, 2009, at 5:59 pm EST. Winners will be announced on the evening of February 12, 2009.

4. Eligibility: This giveaway is open only to US and Canada residents – no PO boxes, please. Quebec residents are excluded, and you must be 18 years of age or older at the time of your entry.

I am so sorry this giveaway can’t be global, but unfortunately, Hachette Group can only ship the books within the US and Canada. And I apologize for excluding Quebec residents, too, but Quebec has very strict regulations about contests and giveaways.

5. Prizes: Five winners will each receive one copy of My Little Red Book. Value of each prize: $14.99 US/$16.99 Canada.

6. Prize delivery: Hachette Group will ship the books directly to the winners. If you win, I will collect your mailing address to give to Hachette Group.

So please, fill out a comment – I look forward to meeting you all! Good luck, everyone!

Dylan Reads His First Book

It was a very exciting moment around here. He did it all by himself while in bed last night (after he ran out of creative bedtime excuses) and we ran up – and he read it to us again! The book is called Mac, and it’s book 4 of the Bob Books set. (We’re not sure where book 1 and 2 went to, and he decided to skip book 3 and go straight to book 4).

He is very pleased with himself. Rightly so! (We took the picture today.)

Plus the Thomas the Tank train table is located in the children’s section, right by all the sale-priced children’s and young adult books.

So I came home with two bags full of sale-priced hardcover children’s and young adults’ books, including a number of children’s fantasy novels – one of my favorite genres. Since I just recently finished The Mysterious Benedict Society I’ve been hungering for similar books, including the sequel, of course (which I didn’t get yesterday, since I was too busy plowing through all the sale books).

Since these books were released as hardcovers some time ago, most of them are now available as paperbacks. But I figure these will sit nicely on my bookshelves.

My to-be-read pile now includes:

The Riddles of Epsilon, by Christine Morton-Shaw: Jessica has moved to a remote island with her parents, and encounters both a ghost-like energy as well as three locked boxes. The story involves a boy named Sebastian who lived 100 years ago; back then he unearthed dangers which now also threaten Jess and her family.

Excerpt from the jacket: “Jess has a talent for solving puzzles, riddles, and codes. She is confronted with a series of riddles that she must unlock in order to save her mother from a dark and ancient threat. Jess is guided by the creepy presence in the cottage. The mysterious guide is called Epsilon, but is he a guide from the bright side or the dark?”

I’m really looking forward to this one; it sounds like it has all the ingredients that I like in a children’s fantasy.

I Am the Messenger, by Markus Zusak: Ed Kennedy is a cab driver who inadvertently stops a bank robbery. He begins receiving aces in the mail:

Chosen to care, [Ed] makes his way through town helping and hurting (when necessary) until only one question remains.

Who’s behind Ed’s mission?

This plot alone was enough to make me add the book to my growing stack of books to buy yesterday.

Gideon the Cutpurse, by Linda Buckley-Archer: This is the first of the Gideon trilogy – I just checked Amazon and the other two in the trilogy are The Time Travelers and The Time Thief. I’ve actually seen the Time Thief around a few times but never felt drawn to it, so maybe after I read this first book, I may pick these other two up, too.

Here’s the excerpt from the jacket: “An encounter with an anti-gravity machine catapults Peter Schock and Kate Dyer back to the 18th century and sets in motion a calamitous chain of events. … Stranded in another time and forced to chase the Tar Man to his lair, Peter and Kate find a friend and guide in reformed cutpurse, Gideon Seymour …”

I’m not usually fond of historicals, but this is as much a fantasy as it is a historical. I’m pretty sure I’m going to enjoy this one.

Children Of The Lamp: The Akhenaten Adventure by P.B. Kerr: I wasn’t as sure of this one, but I couldn’t resist: two children, John and Philippa, discover that they are descendents of a long line of djinn. It’s an interesting premise, so I’m looking forward to seeing how the story reads. The sequel was also on sale – Blue Djinn of Babylon – and I couldn’t resist that one either. So hopefully the series is a good one!

Here’s an excerpt from the jacket blurb: Luckily (and luck does have something to do with it), the twins are introduced to their eccentric djinn-uncle Nimrod, who will teach them how to harness their newly found power. And not a moment too soon! Because John and Philippa are about to embark on a search to locate a monstrous looking (but supposed to be dead) pharoah named Akhenaten, and his tomb, which may hold seventy lost djinn.

So there’s much excitement promised. It will be interesting to see how this one goes.

Skulduggery Pleasant, by Derek Landy: Okay, so tell me, how on earth could I resist this one? “Meet Skulduggery Plesant, ace detective, snappy dresser, razor-tongued wit, crackerjack sorcerer and walking, talking, fire-throwing skeleton -
as well as ally, protector and mentor of Stephanie Edgley, a very unusual and darkly talented twelve-year-old.”

Checking Amazon just now, it looks like there are two sequels so far, so if I enjoy this one, there’s more to come.

The Game Of Sunken Places, by M.T. Anderson: This one looked like fun. Two boys, Brian and Gregory, receive an invitation to stay at their Uncle Max’s mansion. Uncle Max is a distant relation, and from the sounds of it, just plain weird. And the mansion is even weirder. Inside the attic, the boys find the Game of Sunken Places.

Jacket blurb excerpt (these things sway me to buy, all the time): “Is the Game of Sunken Places an ordinary board game? Hardly! The Game of Sunken Places looks like a board game. And most of the time it acts like a board game. But from the moment Brian and Gregory start playing, they are caught up in an adventure that goes far beyond the board. Soon the boys are dealing with attitudinal trolls, warring kingdoms, and some very starchy britches.”

So there you have it. This is actually only about half of the books I picked up – overnight, my to-be-read pile has swelled in size. Actually, though, that’s the way it always happens around here.

Of course, I’m in deadline crunch right now, so what I’ve just done is increase the temptation to procrastinate. I also have a tendency to do this, too …

Reviews will be forthcoming, some here, some at my new book review blog.

I’m just writing because I’m in need of a good dollop of fun right now.

It’s been incredibly busy around here – I’ve got deadlines coming out of my ears. I took a look at my schedule and realized I’m going to actually have to complete quite a few deadlines ahead of time if I’m going to stay sane over the next few weeks. I’m very good at procrastination, so this is a totally different direction for me.

The great news is that this year it looks like my “heavy crunch” time when it comes to work is happening in November, and not in December, which means I’ll have lots of time to really get into the holiday season. Christmas is my favorite holiday – I’m one of those smiley uplifted chirpy people who adores Christmas and am all set to plunge into the spirit around mid-November (it would be earlier but like I said, the deadlines are coming fast and heavy over the next two weeks!).

I finished up a couple of deadlines yesterday, and as you can tell, I didn’t procrastinate (no blog posts for two days, see?). But after all that single-minded focus – not to mention one of my projects involved linear algebra, something about which I know absolutely nothing (still), although it did have the effect of numbing my brain somewhat – I am in huge need of other things right now. Fun things. Anything other than work.

I’m promising myself the fun of writing this post before I plunge into the next project.

Reading

Now that I think about it, maybe my focus hasn’t been that single-minded. I did, after all, manage to start and finish The Mysterious Benedict Society yesterday morning.

It was another, much-needed, distraction. After I finished reading, I felt energized and renewed, and actually plunged back into my work easily and almost happily.

Not to mention, it was such a fabulous read. It was the kind of book I would have devoured as a kid (who am I kidding? It’s the kind of book I devour now, too!). Such a wonderfully fantastic adventure, with characters you can fall in love with, a nice strong plot that holds firm to the very end and a victorious resolution that ties up all those loose ends.

I’ve got the sequel on my to-buy list.

Halloween

Halloween has crept up on us. For the longest time, it felt like it was ages away. This morning we realized – hey! it’s Halloween tonight!

Dylan has changed his mind several times about his costume. He was going to be a train engineer (we bought the hat at Aberfoyle Junction)). Then he wanted to be a witch. Followed quickly by: a fairy, a pumpkin, a fire fighter, a fire engine. This morning (yes, we do like to leave things late) he decided, finally, on a witch again.

Luckily, since Hayley has been amassing props for her film-making for years, we already have a witch’s hat (every year we hit the after-Halloween sales to stock up on props, which get wrapped into a nice big prop bundle for Hayley at Christmas). And last year we bought a cape for Dylan (which he didn’t wear, because he ended up being a pumpkin). So we don’t have to go to the costume store and dig through all the left-over stuff!

(I love good news like that.)

Taking Dylan out trick-or-treating will be another much-needed distraction today. I’m looking forward to it very much.

Writing

Despite all the deadlines, I’m still trying to keep one part of my brain focused on writing. It’s pretty easy, actually. Every night before I fall asleep, I come up with a new scene or character for the novel that I’m going to write during NaNoWriMo.

I’m also jotting down all the scenes I plan on writing onto Post-it notes, which I will then be able to re-arrange to my heart’s content. I’ve also been developing a character mindmap form that I’m hoping will hold the most important information at a glance.

I really intend to get this novel written during November, deadlines or no deadlines.

The Big Draw

Dylan and I worked on another drawing together the day before yesterday (another much-needed distraction from work!). This was done, again, in our humungous sketch book (seriously, this book is something like 18 inches by 12 inches, I think), using our new gel pens. We decided to create a birthday party:

Birthday party. Gel pens.

Yesterday, Dylan drew an incredible drawing. He used Ed Emberley’s Make a World Book to jumpstart his imagination, and created an imaginary bedroom in which he gets to share a bunk bed with his big brother Sean (that’s Dylan in the lower bunk). In case you’re wondering, there’s coffee in the hot cup (Sean’s 17 and marked this very important year by becoming a member of the coffee-drinking population of the world), juice (for Dylan) in the other cup, and the plate holds gingerbread cookies.

Bedroom. Crayola markers.

Ed Emberley’s Make a World book is a fantastic drawing book for kids, by the way. When I was little, I used to borrow this book from the library all the time. I remember my delight when I managed to lay my hands on a large piece of poster board – I went wild and truly created a world. Dylan has loads of fun with this book, although it’s actually been a while since he’s used it, since he usually prefers to draw “from my imagination, Mommy”.

Blogging

Traditionally, at this time of the year when I’m at my busiest and going crazy with deadlines, I start seriously blogging. No, really, I do. So lately I’ve been thinking about reviving a spiritual blog I have, and I also decided to start a book review blog, because now that I’ve discovered the power of reading to ignite my urge to write, I intend to keep reading fiction all the time, even when it feels like I don’t have much time. I’ve gotten as far as purchasing a new domain name for it. If I get seriously bogged down in deadlines, I’ll probably have it up and running over the weekend.

(Before I discovered blogging, I would procrastinate by cleaning the house and doing laundry before Ward could get to it. He’d come home, look around, and say, “you’ve got a deadline, don’t you?”. I consider blogging a huge improvement on the whole house-cleaning-urge thing – it’s definitely a much nicer and far more fun procrastination tool.)

I think I proved to myself yesterday that reading what I love to read is beneficial even when I’m bogged down with deadlines. So time (or lack of) is no longer a detriment. If I make reading a priority, my writing will become a priority too. Which has nothing to do with blogging, I know. But everything to do with procrastination. Or rather, distractions.

That’s how my mind works.

Now, back to work. Because I feel refreshed again, after dipping in here. Which is such a wonderful thing.

Reading novels can actually be quite hazardous around here. One thing I’ve been keeping my eye on is not starting a book late in the day. When I do that, chances are good that I won’t get into bed until 3 a.m., which doesn’t work for me that well anymore.

This week has been a really good week for crime thrillers. I started the week off with Caro Ramsay’s Absolution, which is set in Glasgow, Scotland. This is Ramsay’s first novel, and I will definitely be keeping my eye out for more of her writing. Having said that, though, I enjoyed Absolution more for the writing – Ramsay writes in the literary crime tradition of PD James, Elizabeth George and Reginald Hill – than I did for the actual plot and characters. First of all – and this doesn’t happen to me very often – I knew who the murderer was from the moment he was introduced. In fact, I kept reading thinking it couldn’t possibly be this person, because it was just so obvious, so there must be some sort of tricky splendid twist waiting to surprise me at the end … only there wasn’t. I also didn’t like the main character at all. But the writing made up for these two negatives for me, so Ramsay is definitely a writer I will be keeping on my to-read list.

I moved from Absolution to another Scottish writer, Ian Rankin. The Naming of the Dead is the first Inspector Rebus novel I’ve read, and I found myself wondering why it took me so long to pick up a Rankin book. The Naming of the Dead is a thick twist-filled, suspenseful crime thriller of the type I particularly enjoy reading, and I liked both Rebus and his sidekick Siobhan Clarke very much. Which is nice, because there’s a long list of Rankin/Rebus books for me to catch-up on.

My final read this past week was Kathy Reichs’ Bones to Ashes. The plot, as is usual in a Reichs book, is wonderfully twisty and filled with surprises. I’m not as fond of the writing style, though. I find the “if only I had known” endings to the chapters just a little too old-style gothic heroine for my taste, and I don’t really like stories where the protaganist is threatened by the murderer, which is something that seems to happen a lot to Temperance Brennan.

This coming week? I’m juggling quite a few deadlines, so I probably won’t get as much reading done as I’d like. But I’m prepping for NaNoWriMo, and now that I’ve discovered that I get inspired to write after I read, I’m definitely going to keep hitting those books!

Magazine reading doesn’t actually count in my mind as “reading for enjoyment”, not quite like a novel or good non-fiction. So I thought for today’s Sunday Salon, I’ll post the to-be-read pile that’s currently sitting on my bedside table. I have several TBR piles all around the house, but the one that’s beside my bed contains the books that are most likely to get read next:

	The Mysterious Benedict Society. When I was a kid present-day fantasies topped my list of great reads, and such books are still very much at the top of my list these days. I have been waiting for the perfect chunk of time to read this book – it’s one of those that I suspect I will enjoy so thoroughly, I won’t want to put it down until it’s finished. I’m hoping to find that time this week, as I’m eager to read the second instalment (which says a lot about how much I’m anticipating this first book).
	The Young Bond Series, Book One: Silverfin (A James Bond Adventure). I must confess, I’m not too sure about this one. I just really like the idea of reading about the young James Bond. Why this is, I really can’t say, since I’ve only ever read one of the original James Bond books and the movies aren’t on my top favorites list, either.
	The Risk of Darkness. I had read Susan Hill’s The Various Haunts of Men back in June, and enjoyed it immensely, even though I personally would have preferred a different ending. I enjoy dense, literate mysteries, and Susan Hill’s writing is spectacular; I think I enjoyed just the deliciousness of the writing in The Various Haunts of Men as I did the mystery itself. So I’m looking forward to The Risk of Darkness – again, it’s the kind of read I feel I need to have a good chunk of time set aside for.
	What Remains: A Memoir of Fate, Friendship, and Love I love memoirs, and this one by Carole Radziwill looks like a good one. I saw this a while back when I was at Chapters, and couldn’t resist. “What Remains is a vivid and haunting memoir about a girl from a working-class town who becomes an award-winning television producer and marries a prince.”
	Notes from a Small Island. Bill Bryson is one of my favorite authors, and Notes from a Small Island is the one older book of his that I have yet to read. One thing I like about non-fiction books is that I never find myself needing to race through one to get to the ending; for that reason, I think I’ll be finished this one first.
	The Alienist: A Novel. I am actually re-reading this one – it’s a very good, very re-readable mystery by Caleb Carr. Set in the 1890s, the protagonist is a psychologist (or “alienist”) who is trying to track down a serial killer who murders prostitutes. The writing is filled with rich details, and you really get to know the main characters.

This is one of those books that brought me right back to childhood, which was filled with the magic and fantasy of Roald Dahl, E. Nesbitt, Edward Eager, John Bellairs and so many others. It’s a particularly lovely read for those who enjoyed The Wizard of Oz, as its plot is intertwined with several Oz characters.

Here’s the blurb on the front page of the book, taken from the Preface (which starts with “Preface (which means the story hasn’t officially started but you ought to read this anyway)”):

Beware, faint of heart!

It could be that given how wonderful a place Sherbet was, and that four girls all lived on the same street and were all about the same age, you are now expecting a story about girls who are terrific friends, always “there” for one another, eager to help and support one another. Maybe you are expecting to read about their lighthearted adventures, like helping cats down from trees or solving the mystery of the missing hair extensions. I’m sorry to disappoint you, but you may as well know right now there will be no lighthearted adventures. Even worse, the girls on Gumm Street didn’t like one another at all.

Luckily, Sherbet provided lots of entertaining things to occupy the girls of Gumm Street, and so they really didn’t need one another. It had always been that way, and everyone believed it always would be that way.

Well, everyone was wrong.

This is a wonderful story about friendship, magic and our unique talents. It’s a fun and delicious read, with lots of laugh-out-loud scenes (as you can probably tell from the excerpt above), and the line drawings accompanying the text, also by Primavera (who penned and illustrated Auntie Claus), are an absolutely perfect match to the story itself.

I’m hoping there will be a Gumm Street Girls sequel. I greatly enjoyed my time with Franny, Pru, Cat and Ivy, and the world of Sherbet and below that Primavera has created, and look forward to immersing myself back into the fun and wonder of it all.

My explanation for the New Year buying binge is that there’s usually one book I have on my "gifts you should buy me" list that I don’t get. How this turns into a binge is easy enough. Amazon has really tuned into the psyche of the bookworm so all the book-related buttons I sport have been easily and effortlessly targeted on its site.

In other words, I’m a sucker for books, and I’m always ready and willing to place yet another order. (My credit card would beg to defer.)

My explanation for the annual summer book-buying spree is a little different, though. I embark on this one intentionally. Work-wise, summer is my slowest time. By the end of July I have usually finished reading the books I’ve bought in the two previous sprees (the ones I can manage to find around the house, anyway), so I’m ready for more.

By then, I’ve gone to the library and paid up my fines, so the library’s resources are fully available to me, too. (Ward insists that I am a great civic citizen because I keep the library going financially, but that’s another post.) Usually, after one or two trips to the library, I’ve more or less exhausted the "on the shelves" books that catch my eye.

Here’s where I get scary. When I start my book-buying spree, I will generally open up four tabs in Firefox: Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Chapters and my local library’s website. In front of me is my writer’s notebook, throughout whose pages I have scores of book titles jotted down.

I approach it all very methodically. The entire process can take me a couple of days.

I cruise to Amazon.com and check out each book in my notebook. I then run the title through my library’s online catalogue. If a book’s available, great; I either request it, or place a hold on it if it’s at another branch. If nothing comes up, I check Amazon.ca and Chapters. I will then place the book in the shopping cart of site that offers the best price AND has the title in-stock. And if the title isn’t available at either Chapters or Amazon.ca, and I really really want the book (the "really really want the book" part happens a frightening 99% of the time) I will add the book to my cart at Amazon.com.

That’s not the scary part, though. As I check out each title from my notebook, I will also check out interesting looking books that I find in the "Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought" section, opening each one in a separate tab. When I have two levels of tabs running in Firefox, I stop opening more tabs and start checking out the tabs I’ve opened up.

At the end of the day, I will open up each shopping cart, wince, go through each list to see if I really really want each book in the cart (see note re: a frightening 99% of the time), reluctantly move a very small proportion of the books to my wish list or save for later list, then, taking a deep breath and apologizing to my credit card and bank account, I submit my orders.

About two to three days later, the boxes start arriving. I am plagued with a curious mixture of extreme guilt and giddy anticipation.

Usually during my summer book-buying binge, by the time I get all the new books stacked onto the dining room table, I will be edging back into my busy season work-wise. As a result, many of those books stay unread for way too long, although eventually they all do get read.

This long explanation is merely an introduction to a new category here, "To Be Read". I figured, it’s about time.