Book Addiction

Well, it’s been awhile since I’ve posted, and for that I do have to apologize.  I was away all weekend in St. Louis for a good friend’s bachelorette party (I’m actually her maid of honor in the upcoming wedding), and I got exactly ZERO reading done this weekend… it was packed with festivities!  I had anticipated reading at least part of the six hour car ride there, but ended up spending most of that time lost in conversation, which is always nice.  So anyways, I did finish one book last week which I’ll be reviewing possibly tonight, but before that, I have to post about some giveaways and the fact that I decided to join another (!!!) challenge.

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So, the giveaways.  THREE bloggers are doing the Hatchette Book Group 14 book giveaway right now… this is INSANE.  You have the opportunity to win so many books!!  Go check out Bookroomreviews, Musings of a Bookish Kitty, and Bookshipper if you’d like to enter these amazing contests. 

Also, Dar at Peeking Between the Pages is giving away a copy of The Host by Stephenie Meyer.  Go check it out immidiately for a chance to win!  And hurry - this one ends Thursday!  This is a book that a LOT of people have their eyes on, so I’m sure there will be plenty of competition, but there’s always a chance that YOU could be the lucky winner!

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And last, my decicion to join yet ANOTHER challenge (when I’m well aware that I probably won’t be able to finish the ones I’m currently enrolled in).  It is the New Classics Challenge, hosted by Lost in a Good Story.  It just sounds like so much fun, and I already own a lot of these books.  The list is from Entertainment Weekly, and apparently they decided that all of these books will be considered the “best reads” from 1983 to 2003.  I’ve already read some of the books on the list, and I own several others, so I figured this is an easy challenge and hopefully a fun one too.  I’m going to color red the ones I’ve already read and then list at the bottom the books I plan to read for the challenge.

1. The Road , Cormac McCarthy (2006)
2. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, J.K. Rowling (2000)
3. Beloved, Toni Morrison (1987)
4. The Liars’ Club, Mary Karr (1995)
5. American Pastoral, Philip Roth (1997)
6. Mystic River, Dennis Lehane (2001)
7. Maus, Art Spiegelman (1986/1991)
8. Selected Stories, Alice Munro (1996)
9. Cold Mountain, Charles Frazier (1997)
10. The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, Haruki Murakami (1997)
11. Into Thin Air, Jon Krakauer (1997)
12. Blindness, José Saramago (199
13. Watchmen, Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons (1986-87)
14. Black Water, Joyce Carol Oates (1992)
15. A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, Dave Eggers (2000)
16. The Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Atwood (1986)
17. Love in the Time of Cholera, Gabriel García Márquez (198
18. Rabbit at Rest, John Updike (1990)
19. On Beauty, Zadie Smith (2005)
20. Bridget Jones’s Diary, Helen Fielding (199
21. On Writing, Stephen King (2000)
22. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Junot Díaz (2007)
23. The Ghost Road, Pat Barker (1996)
24. Lonesome Dove, Larry McMurtry (1985)
25. The Joy Luck Club, Amy Tan (1989)
26. Neuromancer, William Gibson (1984)
27. Possession, A.S. Byatt (1990)
28. Naked, David Sedaris (1997)
29. Bel Canto, Anne Patchett (2001)
30. Case Histories, Kate Atkinson (2004)
31. The Things They Carried, Tim O’Brien (1990)
32. Parting the Waters, Taylor Branch (198
33. The Year of Magical Thinking, Joan Didion (2005)
34. The Lovely Bones, Alice Sebold (2002)
35. The Line of Beauty, Alan Hollinghurst (2004)
36. Angela’s Ashes, Frank McCourt (1996)
37. Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi (2003)
38. Birds of America, Lorrie Moore (199
39. Interpreter of Maladies, Jhumpa Lahiri (2000)
40. His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman (1995-2000) - I am in the middle of this trilogy right now
41. The House on Mango Street, Sandra Cisneros (1984)
42. LaBrava, Elmore Leonard (1983)
43. Borrowed Time, Paul Monette (198
44. Praying for Sheetrock, Melissa Fay Greene (1991)
45. Eva Luna, Isabel Allende (198
46. Sandman, Neil Gaiman (1988-1996)
47. World’s Fair, E.L. Doctorow (1985)
48. The Poisonwood Bible, Barbara Kingsolver (199
49. Clockers, Richard Price (1992)
50. The Corrections, Jonathan Franzen (2001)
51. The Journalist and the Murderer, Janet Malcom (1990)
52. Waiting to Exhale, Terry McMillan (1992)
53. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, Michael Chabon (2000)
54. Jimmy Corrigan, Chris Ware (2000)
55. The Glass Castle, Jeannette Walls (2006)
56. The Night Manager, John le Carré (1993)
57. The Bonfire of the Vanities, Tom Wolfe (1987)
58. Drop City, TC Boyle (2003)
59. Krik? Krak! Edwidge Danticat (1995)
60. Nickel & Dimed, Barbara Ehrenreich (2001)
61. Money, Martin Amis (1985)
62. Last Train To Memphis, Peter Guralnick (1994)
63. Pastoralia, George Saunders (2000)
64. Underworld, Don DeLillo (1997)
65. The Giver, Lois Lowry (1993)
66. A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again, David Foster Wallace (1997)
67. The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini (2003)
68. Fun Home, Alison Bechdel (2006)
69. Secret History, Donna Tartt (1992)
70. Cloud Atlas, David Mitchell (2004)
71. The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, Ann Fadiman (1997)
72. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Mark Haddon (2003)
73. A Prayer for Owen Meany, John Irving (1989)
74. Friday Night Lights, H.G. Bissinger (1990)
75. Cathedral, Raymond Carver (1983)
76. A Sight for Sore Eyes, Ruth Rendell (199
77. The Remains of the Day, Kazuo Ishiguro (1989)
78. Eat, Pray, Love, Elizabeth Gilbert (2006)
79. The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell (2000)
80. Bright Lights, Big City, Jay McInerney (1984)
81. Backlash, Susan Faludi (1991)
82. Atonement, Ian McEwan (2002)
83. The Stone Diaries, Carol Shields (1994)
84. Holes, Louis Sachar (199
85. Gilead, Marilynne Robinson (2004)
86. And the Band Played On, Randy Shilts (1987)
87. The Ruins, Scott Smith (2006)
88. High Fidelity, Nick Hornby (1995)
89. Close Range, Annie Proulx (1999)
90. Comfort Me With Apples, Ruth Reichl (2001)
91. Random Family, Adrian Nicole LeBlanc (2003)
92. Presumed Innocent, Scott Turow (1987)
93. A Thousand Acres, Jane Smiley (1991)
94. Fast Food Nation, Eric Schlosser (2001)
95. Kaaterskill Falls, Allegra Goodman (199
96. The Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown (2003)
97. Jesus’ Son, Denis Johnson (1992)
98. The Predators’ Ball, Connie Bruck (198
99. Practical Magic, Alice Hoffman (1995)
100. America (the Book), Jon Stewart/Daily Show (2004)

And here is what I’ll be reading:

1. The Road - Cormac McCarthy

2. A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genious - Dave Eggers

3. Bel Canto - Ann Patchett

4. Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell

5. Gilead - Marilynne Robinson

6. Holes - Louis Sachar

Ok, now it’s time for me to get some actual reading done… I haven’t finished a book in WAY too long.  I should have a review of Savage Inequalities up tomorrow, for anyone who cares.

And here are the winners of my Jodi Picoult giveaway…..

Plain Truth will go to Jen!

Nineteen Minutes will go to Audrey!

Second Glance will go to Michelle Rosborough!

Keeping Faith will go to Holly!

and last, but not least, The Pact will go to Anvi!

If you lovely ladies could all email me at heather.oroark@comcast.net with your snail mail addresses, I will send these books out to you as quickly as possible.

Congratulations to everyone who won, and thanks so much to all of you for playing.

I said before that I was planning to give away a few different Jodi Picoult books in the near future… well, folks, the time is now. :)  I am giving away five, yes, FIVE, Picoult books.  All of the books are used, in varying conditions (mostly really good  condition, but one of the jacket flaps is imperfect), and have been read by myself and at least one other person.  Here are the books I’ll be giving away:

Second Glance

Nineteen Minutes

Plain Truth

The Pact

Keeping Faith

Simply leave me a comment telling me which book(s) you’d like to win to enter the drawing.  You may enter for as many books as you want, but each person will only be allowed to win one book (I’d like to share the Picoult love as much as possible).  Post about this giveaway in your blog, and you get one additional entry for every book you’re interested in winning.  I’ll draw the winners on Monday, June 30, so be sure to enter by the 29th.

Simple enough?  I think so.  Good luck!

One of my favorite things about blogging is all the wonderful stuff fellow bloggers feel inclined to give away.  Having said that, I’d love to share what I just discovered with all of you - Chelsea at The Page Flipper just started a new website on top of her already super popular blog.  To celebrate, she’s giving what looks to be an awesome prize pack full of bookish stuff - pens, bookmarks, coffee, etc.  Go check it out ASAP.  She’s also allowing extra entries for creating new banners for her site, so all of you creative types, get on over there! (This definitely does not apply to me, I’m sorry to say.)  Chelsea is also giving away a copy of Perfect You by Elizabeth Scott at her original blog.  She’s always doing awesome giveaways like this, so I’d highly recommend adding her site to your blogroll or feed or whatever you use so you can keep up with all of them!

Congratulations, Framed and Booked!  You win a copy of Change of Heart by Jodi Picoult!

Please send me an email with your mailing address to heather.oroark@comcast.net as soon as you can… I’d love to get the book sent our by Thursday, so let me know! 

I’m definitely looking to give away the other Picoult books I have sitting on my shelves in the next few weeks… so everyone, keep your eyes peeled for those.

Good evening everyone, just wanted to let you know that Nymeth over at Things Mean A Lot is giving away five, yes you heard right, FIVE books next weekend.  Go check it out ASAP, as you must enter by Friday to be counted.  You can be entered for all five or for whichever one(s) pique your interest the most.  I’m super excited because all five look awesome and I’d really love to win one, so definitely enter!!  Also check out the rest of her blog, she reads a lot of books that I wouldn’t otherwise been exposed to and writes great reviews about them.

And happy weekend everyone!

Care over at Care’s Online Book Club is hosting a really great giveaway, 2 books and a Mary Kay sampler type thing.  Go check it out.  She also has an excellent blog, so while you’re at it, read some of her old posts and enjoy!

Lisa from Books on the Brain is giving away Keeper and Kid by Edward Hardy.  I’ve seen this book reviewed by several bloggers, and it looks fantastic.  All you have to do to win is leave a comment here.  Lisa’s blog is also one of my favorites, so stop by and check it out if you haven’t already done so.  She reads really interesting books, and her reviews are always very thorough and thoughtful.  Good luck with the giveaway!

Trish from Hey Lady! is hosting a fabulous giveaway. 

The book is Did I Expect Angels by Kathryn Moughan and from what Trish says about it, it looks like an awesome read.  Go to her blog and check it out.  All you have to do is leave her a comment and you’ll be entered in the drawing!

So I have a short story for all of you.  I made a comment about a week or so ago on Renay’s blog about a book that she had reviewed, If A Tree Falls At Lunch Period.  I expressed interest in the book and said that I’d be soon putting it on my bookmooch.com wishlist.  Well she emailed me back and said that since she’d received it for free from Dewey she’d be happy to send it along to ME for free too!  So I would just like to give each of these ladies a shout out and express my happiness to both of them that I now have a free book on the way.  And since I will be receiving it for free, it’s only fair that I share the book love and send it on to one of you as soon as I’m finished with it… so look for that in the next few weeks or so. :)  Oh and check out Renay’s February Bookworms Carnival… it’s very, very excellent, she did SUCH a great job compiling all those reviews, and there is even a map involved!