The Amazing Baby - Clearout Book Giveaway Extravaganza!

As many of you may know, we're expecting our first baby in October (woo! Yay! Awesomesauce! etc), and this means that I *sob* am having to finally bite the bullet and actually clear out some books. During the process of doing this I discovered that I have a few duplicates of books which I adore, so I thought I'd pass them on to some of you lovely lot! 


None of them are new, but all are in good condition, and they are all brilliant books!

The first book I have up for grabs (awful expression, always brings to mind crabs and their big scary pincers for some reason...), is a hardback copy of Lone Wolf by Jodi Picoult. I bought this because I love Jodi Picoult and just couldn't wait, and it was brilliant. You can read my review of it here, but I don't like to keep hardbacks as they take up too much space, so there you go! It has only been read once and is in great condition. Unfortunately this available for UK entrants only, as last time I posted a hardback to America it cost me about £12. That was way back last year, postage has gone way up since then, and I am just not that rich, sorry! Don't despair though, the next two prizes are open internationally!


The next two prizes are pairs of books by two authors that I love. 

People may have heard me going on (and on, and on , and on) about my love for Scarlett Thomas' books, and I have a habit of just buying her books wherever I see them. Currently we have three copies of The End of Mr Y  in our house, and so I am donating one of them, along with a copy of her codebreaking, anti-capitalist novel of awesome, Popco to one lucky person. They are both seriously worth reading - if you want a synopsis, titles link up to Goodreads!

Finally, people keep giving me Philippa Gregory novels that I already own, and so I'm sharing the love. The third prize I have available to everybody (ignore the terrible edge-of-table picture) is two of Philippa Gregory's novels; The Other Boleyn Girl, and The White Queen. I loved them both!


The Rules

• To win Lone Wolf you must live in the UK. For the other two prizes you can live anywhere in the world
• You can enter to win any or all of the prizes
• Enter by leaving a comment on this post including your email, which country you are visiting from, and which prizes (1,2 and/or 3) you want to win.
• You can get an extra entry by following me (@fairybookgirl) on Twitter. Include your Twitter handle in your comment!
• You can get another extra entry by tweeting about the giveaway. If you do this, please include my Twitter handle in your tweet so that I know you've done it!
• I will contact the winners by email on Thursday 19th July. They will have until Saturday evening to respond, when I will pick a new winner. 

Spread the word! Tell your friends! I really need the space!

Sunday Salon - Fact or Fiction?

At the beginning of January I made a ton of great resolutions (who doesn't?). I really did intend to keep them, but I have to admit that I haven't looked at the list at all between when I made it in January and now. Some, such as my book buying ban, I have drastically failed at (I think I made it three weeks this year...). Others, like the Amazon ban, I am still doing brilliantly with, although the missing of Amazon (which I hate myself for) has started to kick in, purely because I often wish I could afford to send people more books than I can, and nowhere else is quite so cheap as Amazon for new books, but oh well. There are worse things. 

The one I really want to do better with in the remainder of the year is reading more non-fiction than last year. In 2011, I read a grand total of 10 non -fiction books, most of which were of the memoir genre, so they made up approximately 6.5% of my total reading. This year I've so far only read 1/3 of the amount I read last year (I blame baby having and other such disruptive things in my personal life), but still eight of my 55 have been  non-fiction! This is astonishingly better than I though, and Alison Bechdel is mostly responsible for making me read non-fiction without realising :-) 

While I've been sorting out my books to make space for the baby, I've discovered that I've got some awesome non-fiction on the shelf that I really want to read. I figure the only way to effectively work it into my reading is to run a non-fiction book alongside whatever else I'm currently reading. I'm not sure if this will work, but I plan to try it this week. I'm currently two thirds through Maine by Courtney Sullivan, which I bought with some of my birthday Waterstone's vouchers, and which is brilliant, and alongside it I want to start reading Anything Goes: a Biography of the Roaring Twenties by Lucy Moore.

This is a fairly sizeable hardback with a beautiful cover which I bought while we were on honeymoon back in September. I got a little bit obsessed with the twenties last year when I read Tender is the Night and then again after reading Their Eyes Were Watching God earlier this year, and I also really want to read this for the Mixing it Up Challenge, so I'm going to start and see what happens!

Here's a little list of the non-fiction that I already have and would like to get through in the next few months, more as a reminder for me than anything else:
- Yes Man by Danny Wallace (currently reading)
- Join Me by Danny Wallace
- Under the Tuscan Sun by Frances Mayes
- Books, Baguettes, and Bedbugs by Jeremy Mercer
- J.M Barrie and the Lost Boys by Andrew Birkin
- Mrs Beeton's Household Management by Isabella Beeton
- Toast by Nigel Slater
- At Home by Bill Bryson
- Biblioholism: The Literary Addiction by Tom Raabe
And finally one which doesn't yet count, as I don't currently own it but am DYING to read it,
- Storyteller: The Life of Roald Dahl by Donald Sturrock

Also just as a by-the-way, I'm going to be running another awesome giveaway of books this week. While sorting out for the baby, I've found a fair few duplicates in great condition, plus another book which is pretty much brand new and which I just don't have space to keep, so keep your eyes open! :-)

Rhys is at work until about 9pm, so exciting plans for the rest of the day include; finishing my first person shaped piece of knitting and hoping it ends up looking like a hoodie, not a mouse hideaway, cleaning the house, doing laundry, and many other such exciting things! If I can find the inclination, I may even go visit the sea. Hope you're all having a great Sunday!

Review:- The Cookbook Collector by Allegra Goodman

This is not a review of any of the things I *should* be reading, but just of a book that I picked up totally on spec from the library and fell in love with. You have been warned. 

I've recently discovered that I'm truly awful at writing synopsis (synopses? plural?), so here's one I borrowed from Goodreads:

Emily and Jessamine Bach are opposites in every way: Twenty-eight-year-old Emily is the CEO of Veritech, twenty-three-year-old Jess is an environmental activist and graduate student in philosophy. Pragmatic Emily is making a fortune in Silicon Valley, romantic Jess works in an antiquarian bookstore. Emily is rational and driven, while Jess is dreamy and whimsical. Emily’s boyfriend, Jonathan, is fantastically successful. Jess’s boyfriends, not so much.
National Book Award finalist and New York Times bestselling author Allegra Goodman has written a delicious novel about appetite, temptation, and holding on to what is real in a virtual world: love that stays.

The Cookbook Collector was one of those books that I saw on the shelf and suddenly knew I just had to read, and I knew that if I didn't take it home with me then I would start seeing it everywhere until I did. So I did, and I started reading it, and about three quarters of the way through I stopped and added everything Allegra Goodman has ever published to my wishlist. That's how much I loved this book. 

It isn't that the plot of the novel was entirely outstanding or totally unique, or that the characters were the most impressive I've ever come across, but just that this was the first book that I've read in a while where it all just came together seamlessly and felt true. I had no disbelieving moments with The Cookbook Collector, and that is very rare for me. I could envisage everything that happened, and the fact that I have little to no knowledge of internet security companies, which form pretty much the entire background to the Emily half of the story, didn't matter. 

I liked the Jess/George parts of the story most, even though I could predict the ending pretty much from the beginning, because I liked how much Jess was fighting the predictability. Also, they involved a rare book store, and a huge number of old cookery books, so obviously that appealed. Also, most of you will know that I am a little obsessive about books containing lots of descriptions of food, and this had them in abundance! 

The relationships in the novel were really well developed and three dimensional – there was a lot to keep track of. Although the ‘everybody persecutes Jess who is just trying to live the dream/work out what she wants to do with her life’ model is a little overused, I didn’t mind it here. Mostly because I do like the idea of being an ‘eternal student’, but I can’t afford it, so at least through books I get to live vicariously. Which is kind of the entire point I’m making I think; for me, The Cookbook Collector was just under 400 pages of vicarious living. Jess has the ideal job. Getting to spend all day reading old books in a beautiful house? Yes please!

I love that people in this novel got to get up in the morning and sit under a blue sky, without backache or sleep deprivation, and eat beautiful food (not a leftover Cadbury Brunch Bar because the milk went out of date yesterday and they forgot to buy more yet), and feel that the world was full of discoveries and possibility. Bitter about the side effects of pregnancy? Me? Never... 

But in all seriousness, the book dealt with some difficult issues as well; the fallout of 9/11 for one, and issues with family identity, and did it in a very sensitive way, so that these huge events just blended in to the already existing story rather than standing out from it in a hysterical manner, as has been the case, especially with 9/11, in some things that I've read. I felt a little sorry for Emily, as she kind of gets the rough end of the deal, but in the end I felt that it was a more accurate representation of real life because of that. Not everything goes well all the time for everybody. Sometimes things are really bad, and then when you think they can't get worse, they do. Other times, everything is totally brilliant, like this book. 

So there we go. The Cookbook Collector; go read it :-) 

Sunday of Domesticity...

I feel especially domestic this Sunday - I've not read much today so I thought I'd share some of the other things I've been doing, especially as I've been doing them:
a) while wearing a dress
and b) with an increasingly (and I'm talking bigger by the day here) big baby bump
I'm actually starting to feel like a pregnant person in the last week or two, and bump is getting heavier and more obvious. I tend to get stuck if I bend down now, which means it takes me at least twice as long to put my shoes on, but at the same time I've never appreciated chairs quite so much before, so there's silver lining!

Lady with a bump!

We were supposed to be up in London today going to opera, but Rhys had an emergency trip to the hospital on Friday (it turned out not to be serious, just with alarming symptoms!), and has been sat at home with antibiotics the past couple of days, so instead of gallivanting, we're resting which is kind of a mixed blessing, because although I always like experiencing new things, and love going to new theatres, I'm still not too sure how I feel about opera... 


Currently there is a Victoria sponge in the oven (after my entire life of using the recipe from my mum's beaten up old 'Food Processor Cookbook', I've succumbed to the beautiful pictures in The Great British Bake-Off Cookbook. I figure there must be a reason why Mary Berry is Mary Berry and I am not...), so we'll see how that turns out. I'm very excited about cake as there has been a slight deficit in the past week or so, and also we got some awesome raspberry preserve when my parents were here, which is going to be the best thing ever in the middle of the sponge.


I've mentioned briefly before that I'm quite into crafts and knitting, and I've been sorting out the craft corner (yes, we have a craft corner, because I'm especially cool) today. This is good, as it means I now know what I actually have and will spend less time rebuying things I already have. Also, I have embraced my childhood love of turning things into other things, and have turned a Bisto gravy pot into a holder for my knitting needles! I'm quite impressed as it's now vaguely pretty, although it does mean my needles smell a little bit like gravy :-s  However, it is obvious that I haven't covered anything with pretty paper in a fair few years, so it's a little bit wrinkly but I can keep all my needles together and actually be able to find them when I need them :-) 

Pot, needles, and the lego cake toppers from our wedding. I forgot to move them!

Finally, I have started knitting what will eventually hopefully be a teeny tiny hooded cardigan for Mr. Baby. This is my first attempt at making anything that involves joining several parts together and I'm more than a bit nervous, but I have a pattern which purports to be for Beginners, and it doesn't look too awkward, so we'll see. So far I've almost finished the back and it's been easy, but to be fair it's basically a big square...

Purple. turquoise and blue wool, and almost the back of a teeny cardigan!

So there we go. No books (except cookbooks!), and I guess after that I'm going to have to embrace the fact that I'm rapidly descending, at the grand old age of 25, into middle - aged domesticity... Not sure how I feel about that, but oh well. It's been a lovely day so far despite the incredibly weird weather - sunny one moment and torrential downpour the next, but that's England for you I suppose. I'm in the middle of watching Andy Murray in the Wimbledon final, and there's roast dinner and cake on the way! Life's good.

What are you doing with your Sunday? :-) 

The Telling Tales Challenge July Link Up!

 

We're more than halfway through the year now, which is a bit scary! But a lot of people still seem to be going strong with the challenge which is great. June was undoubtedly my best month so far - I managed to review 6 books for the challenge! Admittedly 3 were mini reviews of the Fables series, but still, I feel like I achieved a lot! 

I've finally managed to create a master list of everybody's reviews, which is here, and is really interesting, as there are only a couple of duplicates. We're reading pretty widely!!

If you haven't signed up for this challenge yet but still want to you can do so here, and if you want to talk about it on twitter you can do so using #TTChallenge.

Here's the link up for this month, happy reading!

Half of the year is Gaaaaawn!

Apparently, it's July. I have literally no idea where the time has gone. It seems like about five minutes ago it was January and I was finding out about the imminent person I'm growing and freezing my feet off on the way to work and making all my many resolutions for the year... 

Now it's July, I'm a lot fatter, I have a small person (who so far likes to kick me; early in the morning, late at night, whenever there is tennis/athletics/football on, and during musicals...) in my stomach, and.... it's still quite cold. Summer doesn't seem to have really reached us here yet, but ah well. I've not done as much reading as I'd have liked, but I've done more than I really should have what with all the life-changing insanity. of both positive and negative kinds, that has been taking place. There's only one challenge I signed up for that I've yet to read anything for, so I'm fairly proud of myself!

Lots of people have been doing half way through the year wrap up type posts, but I was particularly reading this one (by Laura from Devouring Texts) today and it inspired me to do a little round-up of all my challenge progress with my favourite and least favourite reads from each. This is probably going to be one of those posts that nobody will read but me but I feel the need to write it in order to sort my thoughts out, so here goes!!

I updated on the Mount TBR Challenge the other day, and haven't made much progress since then. I did finish One Day though, which I really enjoyed. Eventually I'll get around to writing a review of it. I've also (just barely) started North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell this week, which will bring my total up to 11 of 25 books. 

For the 50 States Reading Challenge I've currently read 7 (eek) of 50 books. Favourite so far has probably got to be The Descendants by Kaui Hart Hemmings. I never got to writing a review of it, but I expected absolutely nothing from it and so it was hugely better than expected. Most disappointing was Bleeding Kansas by Sara Paretsky, which I didn't finish purely because it had to go back to the library and I couldn't work up the required motivation to finish it in time. I don't know why - it wasn't particularly bad, it just wasn't very good, either. 


Last year I failed so epically at the Back to the Classics Challenge so this year A Classics Challenge instead, for which I need to read 7 books. Currently I've read 2, the best of which was The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Bronte, but The Awakening was also really interesting, so no disappointment from this one so far!


The New Author Challenge has probably been the easiest challenge to participate in - I've read a fair amount of new authors without trying very hard - 17 of 25 for this challenge already, so I'm definitely on track to complete this one which makes me all kinds of happy! I've also reviewed 6 titles, so not great, but better than none! Most unexpected was The Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother by Amy Chua, which came from the library totally on spec and which was brilliant and really gripping! Most disappointing was The Finkler Question by Howard Jacobson which was just kind of meh....


The Mixing It Up Challenge is probably one of my favourite challenges of 2012. I've pretty much done the easy reading and now I'm really having to break out of my comfort zone for the rest! I'm standing at 6 of a hopeful 15 now, having only reviewed one (eek). I'm excited to read Danny Wallace's Yes Man next, because he is truly hilarious. 


I wrote a post about my obsession with libraries lately, so my participation in the Support Your Local LIbrary challenge shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone! I just want to defend myself before I reveal my stats for this one; our library has been being refurbished since February, and was entirely closed until the beginning of April, and has only been less than half open since then, so that's my excuse for why I've only read 9 books of an intended 37. The best of these is actually probably Yossarian Slept Here: When Joseph Heller was Dad and Life was a Catch 22 by Erica Heller, the first book I read for the challenge, but I've just started This Isn't the Sort of the Thing That Happens to Someone Like You by Jon McGregor, who is one of my favourite authors ever, so we'll see...


I should mention the challenge I'm hosting - The Telling Tales Challenge. I am enjoying hosting this so much, and this is actually the month that I've done the most reading. So far I've read 11 out of 15 books for this challenge, which is amazing :-) But I've only reviewed  5, so I really need to get a move on with that. The best thing I've read is The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern, although I don't think it can count as a best because it was a re-read, but there we go. Nothing at all has been bad. 


The Graphic Novels Challenge is the only challenge I completed last year, and I look set to do the same this year! So far I've read 9 of 12, and reviewed 4 so overall it's been great. The best read for this was The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick, which was just beautiful and inspiring. Also, you should see the film because it's pretty brilliant. 


The last thing I'm even vaguely succeeding at is The Classics Club. Not a year long challenge, but I've only started recently and have already read two books from my list and am currently collecting some of the series so I can read them back to back. 


Everything else I signed up for I'm pretty much failing at, and I don't want to depress myself rehashing how badly I'm doing. If I end this post here then I'll feel really positive about my reading despite the fact that my reviewing generally sucks this year. I'll be writing some mini reviews soon to try to catch up! 


So there we go, sorry if I've bored you to tears, and if you've actually read the whole post you have my eternal gratitude!! 

RAK June Wrap Up & July Sign Up

So, RAK is amazing and I was really excited to get back into the swing of things this month. Here's what I sent out:

Amy and Roger's Epic Detour by Morgan Matson to Claire. I loved this book, and I don't really read YA, so I hope that she loves it too!

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern to Book Flame. As some people will know I am on a bit of a personal crusade to get everyone to read this book, so I pretty much go through the RAK list and just look for people who have it in their top 5! IT IS THE MOST AMAZING BOOK :-)

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander to Looney Books. I have to admit I haven't yet read this or Quidditch Through the Ages but we have both of them and I will get to it, so I hope that this one is enjoyed!
















And here's what I received: 


From the wonderful Ellie: 

Flappers and Philosophers: The Collected Short Stories by F. Scott Fitzgerald
I have some serious Fitzgerald love going on at the moment, and with the sunnier evenings it just seems like the right time to go on a binge and finish the collection. So far I've only read The Great Gatsby and Tender is the Night, so I was incredibly happy with this and also with....

The Beautiful and Damned  :-) 

Just for the record, Ellie is lovely and her blog is wonderful so you should all go and have a read if you haven't already!!

From the lovely Claire:

Paper Towns by John Green. One of the first YA novels I ever read was An Abundance of Katherines and I loved it, as I seem to love many YA authors despite constantly telling people I don't read YA... Anyway, very excited to read this!! Thanks Claire! :-) 

It was also my birthday this month, and I got a surprise birthday parcel from the ever - awesome Hanna. She sent me:  

 Fables Volume 6: Homelands by Bill Willingham. I love this series and I can't wait to read it!

 We Bought a Zoo by Benjamin Mee. I put this

on my wishlist after reading Hanna's review and 

I really want to see the film too so I'm hoping the 

book will be great!

She also got me a copy of The Prestige by Christopher Priest, which I can't find a decent picture of but which I'm super excited about because I adore the film and I didn't even know there was a book, again, until I read her review! 

This month in particular I have realised how lucky I am to be part of the wonderful book blogging community and how many wonderful people I have to good fortune to know because of it! Thank you all for being lovely!

The only problem I have with RAK is that the more I send, the more I want to send and I can almost never afford to send books to all the people I wish I could :-( That said, it is such an amazing feeling to know that somebody you've never met, and often have had no previous contact with is willing to spend their hard earned money on books for you. Getting an RAK always makes my day, and if they make other people half as happy as they do me then I shall continue to send out the maximum my wallet can afford on a monthly basis! 


Needless to say, I will be participating again in July, and if you're interested, my wishlist is here, or here if you want one with pretty pictures!