Congratulations, BBAW giveaway winners!

Congratulations to Alessandra at Out of the Blue, who won a copy of The Wishing Year: A House, a Man, My Soul by Noelle Oxenhandler, in my first BBAW giveaway...





Jo-Jo at Jo-Jo Loves to Read, who won Love Walked In by Marisa de los Santos, in my second BBAW giveaway...




Rebecca, who won The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher or The Murder at Road Hill House by Kate Summerscale, in my third BBAW giveaway...





and Brogan, who won The Little Giant of Aberdeen County by Tiffany Baker, in my fourth and final BBAW giveaway!



I’ve emailed all the winners so please send me your addresses asap and I will order your books from The Book Depository. Thank you to everyone who entered. I wish I could have sent each one of you a book!

Similar Covers: Flying Book

Doesn’t the book on the three covers below look like it’s flying? Hopefully not in a thrown-across-the-room kinda way, though... Anyway, these three books are: Scribner’s Best of the Fiction Workshops 1998 edited by Carol Shields (1998*), A Writer’s Book of Days: A Spirited Companion and Lively Muse for the Writing Life by Judy Reeves (1999) and The Muse Asylum by David Czuchlewski (2002). Of the three, I think my favourite is Reeves’ book (although the wiggly subtitle in yellow is a bit weird)—and it’s also the one I’m most interested in reading.

*All dates of publication are based on information provided by Amazon.

Some thoughts on burnout, BBAW and blogging goals

It’s unlike me not to post on Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday, so I think can officially say that I’ve caught Blog Angst Flu, as Jen Robinson calls it. Or blogger burnout. Or in my case, maybe it should be called blogger paralysis, because every time I think about writing this post (or any post), I feel paralyzed and wind up doing something else (like reading other folks’ blogs, which is a great way to procrastinate!). Whatever you choose to call it, I’m in good company: Lenore, Wendy, Diane, Megan and Lilly have all recently blogged about this too.

So where to begin? Book Blogger Appreciation Week is hardly the beginning—I’m sure more than a few of you have noticed that I’ve fallen behind on reviewing and am failing to respond to most of the comments left on my blog. And this has been going on for a while now. However, though I enjoyed much of BBAW, I also completely identify with what Megan at Leafing Through Life said:

I see everybody’s sparkly blogs with their zillions of reviews, their thought-provoking posts, their book-reading totals at 100 or above for the year, their thoughtful and numerous comments on others’ blogs, and I know I can’t keep up, and then I wonder why I bother. What do I have to offer in the face of all that awesomeness?

And I know, I know, it’s not about comparing myself to others—I’m not out to write the best of anything; I really just want to add my voice to the chorus of book lovers out there and share my thoughts about books I love (and some I don’t). So what is it? I think it’s panic at the mounting pile of unreviewed (or unread) books, the 1000+ unread posts in my reader, all the comments I’ve received that I’m so happy to read but haven’t managed to respond to—in other words, the general feeling I have of being a bad blogger. And instead of doing anything about my mounting to-do list, I’ve been ignoring the problem. But if BBAW brought the issue to the fore for me, it also provided me with a glimmer of hope: I can set new goals for myself.

And so, inspired by three different bloggers, I’ve come up with three overlapping goals:

1. To keep blogging

Inspired by Lenore’s post, “The Future of Presenting Lenore,” my first and most encompassing goal is just to keep blogging. My task is to ignore the inner critic who says I’m not good enough or not doing enough (or have gotten so far behind as to be hopeless), and, as Elizabeth Smart said, “to bash on regardless.”

2. To reduce my post frequency

Jenners at Find Your Next Book Here recently posted about the kind of blogger she is (“steady, slow and loyal”) and I think I could learn from her example. I’ve therefore decided to limit myself to three or four posts per week: one book review, one “similar covers” post (because I love doing those!) and one bookish post or meme.

3. To catch up on my reviews

Kay at The Infinite Shelf is running The Review Challenge for folks like me who are reading faster than they are reviewing. I desperately want to catch up so I can start the new year with a clean slate. Realistically, I’m not going to manage to review all the books I’ve read this year, but this challenge will prompt me to go through the pile and weed out the ones I don’t want to review (or don’t have to) and narrow my pile down to a more manageable size. Plus encouragement from others in the same boat will help.

Anybody else out there feeling overwhelmed too?
_____________________________________________________

Given my feelings of overwhelm, I know it’s ridiculous that I’ve added to the 123 blogs that were already in my Google Reader, but I couldn’t help myself (this is what BBAW is all about after all). New additions to my reader include*:

A Book Blog. Period.
A High and Hidden Place: Tales of a Capricious Reader
Angieville
As Usual, I Need More Bookshelves
Book Addiction
Dolce Bellezza
falling into words
Jenn’s Bookshelves
Jen Robinson’s Book Page
Lit and Life
Nonsuch Book
Raging Bibliomania
Rhapsody in Books
Serendipitous Readings
Steph Su Reads
Stuff As Dreams Are Made On
The House of the Seven Tails
We Be Reading

BBAW is a great opportunity to meet new bloggers, and I’m hoping to find a few more favourites among these!

*I may have missed a few.

BBAW Day 4: Books discovered on other blogs

Today’s topic is to blog about books we’ve read because we discovered them on other blogs. As many of you know, I’ve gotten into graphic novels and memoirs in a big way recently and since this genre is completely new to me, I of course turned to my fellow bloggers for book suggestions...

So far, my main sources of all things graphic novelish have been Nymeth at things mean a lot, who reviewed (and highly recommended) Salamander Dream by Hope Larson and recommended We Are on Our Own by Miriam Katin to me personally (she also has a great backlog of reviews of graphic novels that I need to go through); Marie at Boston Bibliophile, who reviewed Aya (vol. 1) by Marguerite Abouet and Clément Oubrerie (she also had a great Graphic Novel Monday series last year that I’ve been going through); and Johanna and friends at Comics Worth Reading (which I heard about on Nymeth’s blog), who reviewed The Plain Janes by Cecil Castellucci and Jim Rugg and has posted a great list of comics by women...

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention my local book-blogging buddies, Cindy of Cindy’s Love of Books, Donna of BookBound and Tina of Bookshipper (and now Linda at Better with Books), who supply me on a monthly basis with new books to read (not only do they recommend them but they also pass them along!). Although there are many I’ve gotten from them that I haven’t read yet (ahem), I happen to have read at least one from each of them. Tina gave me the fantastic The Heretic’s Daughter by Kathleen Kent, which was one of my favourite reads last year (I guest posted my review on her site); Cindy passed on Sister Wife by Shelley Hrdlitschka (which admittedly I didn’t like as much as she did); and Donna gave me Grave Surprise by Charlaine Harris, which I wasn’t sure would be my cup of tea, but I wound up loving!

BBAW giveaway #4: Literary fiction

In honour of Book Blogger Appreciation Week, which runs from September 14 to 18, I will announce a giveaway every day from September 14 to 17 for a total of four giveaways! Each giveaway has the same rules.

HOW IT WORKS:
Only one book will be given away each day.
The winner may choose from the two books offered.
All books are new paperbacks shipped directly to the winner at my expense.
Since the books will be purchased from The Book Depository, I reserve the right to change the books offered should the ones mentioned no longer be available or should they become too expensive.
Giveaways are open worldwide.*
The deadline for all giveaways is Sunday, September 27, 2009, at 11:59 PM, Eastern Time.
You can only win one of the four giveaways but you may enter as many as you want!

TO ENTER:
+1 for commenting on this post and mentioning the book you are interested in (only one!)
+1 for being a follower or subscribing to my blog (please mention this in your comment)
+1 for each relevant comment made on any of my book reviews
(please note that each comment can only be counted towards one giveaway!)
+1 for spreading the word about this giveaway (leave me a link in your comment)

BOOK CHOICE FOR GIVEAWAY #4:

The Little Giant of Aberdeen County by Tiffany Baker (read my review)
No One You Know by Michelle Richmond (read my review)

Don’t forget to (a) let me know which book you’d like to win and (b) make sure there’s some way for me to get in touch with you if you do win. Failure to comply with either of these rules will disqualify you from this giveaway.

Feel free to also enter my other BBAW giveaways:
#1: Quirky nonfiction
#2: Contemporary fiction
#3: Historical fiction or nonfiction

Thank you for reading my blog!

*Note that in this case “worldwide” refers only to the countries on this list. I apologize in advance if your country isn’t on this list.

BBAW giveaway #3: Historical fiction or nonfiction

In honour of Book Blogger Appreciation Week, which runs from September 14 to 18, I will announce a giveaway every day from September 14 to 17 for a total of four giveaways! Each giveaway has the same rules.

HOW IT WORKS:
Only one book will be given away each day.
The winner may choose from the two books offered.
All books are new paperbacks shipped directly to the winner at my expense.
Since the books will be purchased from The Book Depository, I reserve the right to change the books offered should the ones mentioned no longer be available or should they become too expensive.
Giveaways are open worldwide.*
The deadline for all giveaways is Sunday, September 27, 2009, at 11:59 PM, Eastern Time.
You can only win one of the four giveaways but you may enter as many as you want!

TO ENTER:
+1 for commenting on this post and mentioning the book you are interested in (only one!)
+1 for being a follower or subscribing to my blog (please mention this in your comment)
+1 for each relevant comment made on any of my book reviews
(please note that each comment can only be counted towards one giveaway!)
+1 for spreading the word about this giveaway (leave me a link in your comment)

BOOK CHOICE FOR GIVEAWAY #3:

The Heretic’s Daughter by Kathleen Kent (read my review)

The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher or The Murder at Road Hill House by Kate Summerscale (I haven’t written my review yet but you can read one at caribousmom or Medieval Bookworm)

Don’t forget to (a) let me know which book you’d like to win and (b) make sure there’s some way for me to get in touch with you if you do win. Failure to comply with either of these rules will disqualify you from this giveaway.

Feel free to also enter my other BBAW giveaways:
#1: Quirky nonfiction
#2: Contemporary fiction

Thank you for reading my blog!

*Note that in this case “worldwide” refers only to the countries on this list. I apologize in advance if your country isn’t on this list.

BBAW Day 3: Reading meme

Today’s assignment is a reading meme. I’m going to try to answer these questions as briefly as possible, although the recommended five words or less is pretty hard!

Do you snack while you read? If so, favorite reading snack?

Chocolate (if I do snack, which is rarely).

Do you tend to mark your books as you read, or does the idea of writing in books horrify you?

I’m horrified by the idea!

How do you keep your place while reading a book? Bookmark? Dog-ears? Laying
the book flat open?

Bookmark (although many things serve as bookmarks in my world!)

Fiction, nonfiction, or both?

More fiction but both.

Hard copy or audiobooks?

Hard copy only.

Are you a person who tends to read to the end of chapters, or are you able to put a book down at any point?

If possible I read to the end of chapters (or sections of some kind).

If you come across an unfamiliar word, do you stop to look it up right away?

Nope, but I do write it down and look it up later. (I blame Kathy for this habit!)

What are you currently reading?

Fingerprints of God: The Search for the Science of Spirituality by Barbara Bradley Hagerty
Why I Hate Saturn by Kyle Baker

What is the last book you bought?

The Likeness by Tana French

Are you the type of person that only reads one book at a time or can you read more than one at a time?

Usually one, sometimes two, very rarely more.

Do you have a favorite time of day and/or place to read?

At night in bed probably, although I read just about anywhere.

Do you prefer series books or standalone books?

Standalone.

Is there a specific book or author that you find yourself recommending over and over?

Most recently, I’ve recommended No One You Know by Michelle Richmond to quite a few people, as well as Skim by Mariko Tamaki and Jillian Tamaki

How do you organize your books (by genre, title, author’s last name, etc.)?

By genre then alphabetically by author and by title.

BBAW giveaway #2: Contemporary fiction

In honour of Book Blogger Appreciation Week, which runs from September 14 to 18, I will announce a giveaway every day from September 14 to 17 for a total of four giveaways! Each giveaway has the same rules.

HOW IT WORKS:
Only one book will be given away each day.
The winner may choose from the two books offered.
All books are new paperbacks shipped directly to the winner at my expense.
Since the books will be purchased from The Book Depository, I reserve the right to change the books offered should the ones mentioned no longer be available or should they become too expensive.
Giveaways are open worldwide.*
The deadline for all giveaways is Sunday, September 27, 2009, at 11:59 PM, Eastern Time.
You can only win one of the four giveaways but you may enter as many as you want!

TO ENTER:
+1 for commenting on this post and mentioning the book you are interested in (only one!)
+1 for being a follower or subscribing to my blog (please mention this in your comment)
+1 for each relevant comment made on any of my book reviews
(+2 if you happen to be the first person to comment on a review [hint: the only reviews without comments were posted in July 2008])
(please note that each comment can only be counted towards one giveaway!)
+1 for spreading the word about this giveaway (leave me a link in your comment)

BOOK CHOICE FOR GIVEAWAY #2:

Love Walked In by Marisa de los Santos (read my review)

Crossed Wires by Rosy Thornton (read my review)

Don’t forget to (a) let me know which book you’d like to win and (b) make sure there’s some way for me to get in touch with you if you do win. Failure to comply with either of these rules will disqualify you from this giveaway.

Feel free to also enter my other BBAW giveaways:
#1: Quirky nonfiction

Thank you for reading my blog!

*Note that in this case “worldwide” refers only to the countries on this list. I apologize in advance if your country isn’t on this list.

BBAW Day 2: My interview with Hannah of About Books

Welcome to Day 2 of the 2009 edition of Book Blogger Appreciation Week (BBAW)! Today is Interview Swap Day and I was paired up with Hannah of About Books, a teen blogger who blogs mostly about YA. Without further ado...

What is the craziest place you’ve ever read?

My craziest place is also actually my favourite. My grandparents owned a narrow boat and for all of my childhood we’d go and stay on it for part of the summer. Because there’s not much room inside (and because there’s no point being on the canal if you stay inside), I would read lying on the roof of the boat. The sun makes the paint on the roof almost too hot to touch and it feels so lazy as you motor slowly down the canal. It’s one of my favourite things ever.

Do you judge a book by its cover?

Yes, I’m ashamed to say I do. Usually this just means that I’ll be more or less likely to pick it up based on its cover, but once I’ve picked it up I’ll flick through it and read the blurb and then decide whether or not to read it. Occasionally this means that I’ll finish the book and think disappointedly “well that didn’t live up to its cover.” Which I know is ridiculous. I feel very sad for good books with bad covers.

What do you do when you’re not reading or blogging?

I studied Graphics at school and still like to draw a lot, I do a fair bit of writing and I love taking photos. I go out with friends. I spend far too much time on the internet reading blogs and watching Youtube videos. I also procrastinate. Some people don’t think this is a pastime, but anyone who procrastinates a lot knows just how much time it takes up!

If you had to pick the 3 best books you’ve read this year, what would they be?

Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr
The Truth about Forever by Sarah Dessen
The King of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner

None of those were actually published this year, come to think of it. If it had to be books published this year I think I’d go for:

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher
Willow by Julia Hoban

What is the most challenging aspect of blogging?

For me it’s actually sitting down and writing a review. Once I’ve started writing I don’t have too much trouble, but as I mentioned above, I have a tendency to procrastinate. So my main and only real problem is getting my bum in the chair. But having people read and appreciate the reviews more than makes up for the effort.

What is your favourite genre? Are there any genres you don’t read?

I’ll try pretty much anything. I don’t really read horror or hardcore romance, but apart from that I’m willing to give almost anything else a read. The genres I enjoy the most though are history and fantasy.

_____________________________________________________

I can completely identify with what Hannah says is the most challenging aspect of blogging! (I’m sure you’ve all figured out by now that I’m a procrastinator too.) Be sure to visit Hannah’s blog, About Books, and check out her interview of me. Thank you so much, Hannah!

BBAW giveaway #1: Quirky nonfiction

In honour of Book Blogger Appreciation Week, which runs from September 14 to 18, I will announce a giveaway every day from September 14 to 17 for a total of four giveaways! Each giveaway has the same rules.

HOW IT WORKS:
Only one book will be given away each day.
The winner may choose from the two books offered.
All books are new paperbacks shipped directly to the winner at my expense.
Since the books will be purchased from The Book Depository, I reserve the right to change the books offered should the ones mentioned no longer be available or should they become too expensive.
Giveaways are open worldwide.*
The deadline for all giveaways is Sunday, September 27, 2009, at 11:59 PM, Eastern Time.
You can only win one of the four giveaways but you may enter as many as you want!

Note that since there’s so much going on this week, I’ve edited this post to extend this giveaway by one week.

TO ENTER:
+1 for commenting on this post and mentioning the book you are interested in (only one!)
+1 for being a follower or subscribing to my blog (please mention this in your comment)
+1 for each relevant comment made on any of my book reviews
(+2 if you happen to be the first person to comment on a review [hint: the only reviews without comments were posted in July 2008])
(please note that each comment can only be counted towards one giveaway!)
+1 for spreading the word about this giveaway (leave me a link in your comment)

BOOK CHOICE FOR GIVEAWAY #1:

The Dangerous Joy of Dr. Sex and Other True Stories by Pagan Kennedy (read my review)

The Wishing Year: A House, a Man, My Soul by Noelle Oxenhandler (I haven’t written my review yet but you can read one at Books on the Brain or She Is Too Fond of Books)

Don’t forget to (a) let me know which book you’d like to win and (b) make sure there’s some way for me to get in touch with you if you do win. Failure to comply with either of these rules will disqualify you from this giveaway.

Thank you for reading my blog!

*Note that in this case “worldwide” refers only to the countries on this list. I apologize in advance if your country isn’t on this list.

BBAW Day 1: Spotlighting two of my favourite blogs

Welcome to Day 1 of the 2009 edition of Book Blogger Appreciation Week (BBAW)! My regular programming (such as it is) will be interrupted this week as I participate in BBAW activities all week long, including posting my answers to the daily writing prompts listed on the BBAW site.

I have a whopping 123 book blogs in my Google Reader at the moment, of which 20 so far have found their way into my Favourites folder. So when Amy announced that today’s assignment was to “write a post thanking and spotlighting [our] favorite blogs that didn’t make the shortlists,” I had a great many to choose from.

The two I’ve decided to spotlight are The Infinite Shelf and Today’s Adventure, both of which I nominated for BBAW awards, but which unfortunately were not shortlisted.

The Infinite Shelf, written by Kay, a fellow Montrealer, is just such a pleasure to visit. I love the look of her blog, especially the slightly cranky-looking girl in her header and her faithful black cat companion, but I’m also impressed by the fact that Kay has come up with names for her features that match her blog name: Filling the Shelf for her Mailbox Monday posts, The Artsy Shelf for her series on similar covers and The Fan Shelf in which she presents bookish people or things she’s a fan of (which may or may not become a regular feature). Although Kay’s taste in books doesn’t overlap with mine much at all (I’ve only read one of the books she’s read since she began blogging: The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath), I still enjoy reading her reviews. And at least one of them, her review of An Abundance of Katherines by John Green, inspired me to put the book on my wish list. However, I must admit that my favourite part of Kay’s blog is her comics! She modestly claims that she’s no good at drawing, but I think she’s really talented. Check out my faves: A Book Blogger’s Free Day and The Ultimate Showdown. Aren’t they cute (and so true to life as a book blogger)?

Today’s Adventure, written by Vanessa aka NotNessie, is another one of my favourites. Although I thought the previous incarnation of this blog looked great too, there’s no denying that her current look is very classy. And yet one of the reasons I love Vanessa’s blog so much is because of her very down-to-earth and chatty style. Reading her reviews makes me feel like I’m listening to a friend and she’s just as warm and welcoming by email. Like Kay, Vanessa tends to review books I wouldn’t normally read, but her reviews have prompted me to add quite a few to my wish list. One of these is her review for The Summoning by Kelley Armstrong. Vanessa also writes a great series she calls “Slightly Off Topic,” in which she has discussed everything from What Blurbs Really Say about a Book to The Three Deadly Sins of Series (a particularly great post!) to Cover Lookalikes.

I didn’t do it on purpose but there are some striking similarities between the two blogs I’ve chosen to feature today: both have fantastic designs, are written by Canadian women, feature regular or semi-regular posts about lookalikes (something I’m a little obsessed with) and interestingly enough, neither review the types of books I would usually gravitate towards...

I’m looking forward to discovering yet more awesome book blogs this week!

BBAW giveaway announcement & belated happy blogiversary to me!

Technically I started my blog a year ago on July 15, but I consider that I started blogging on August 25, 2008. This is in part because before that I didn’t really understand the near-dailiness of blogging and did foolish things like post all the reviews I’d already written for LibraryThing one after another on two different days even though nobody was reading my blog yet. August 25 also happens to be the day I set up Google Analytics, so my stats start from that day. Unfortunately, however, I never finished writing my “happy blogiversary to me” post before I went on vacation in August so the big day slipped by with nary a word from me about it. So now that Book Blogger Appreciation Week is just around the corner, this seemed like the perfect occasion to celebrate both my one year of blogging and BBAW with a few giveaways!

I have four different giveaways in store for you next week and each will involve a choice between two brand-new books that I’ve read (and loved) since I started blogging. (Each winner will only receive one of the two books offered.) All giveaways will be open worldwide, as I want all my readers to be able to enter. Giveaways will be announced every day from tomorrow to Thursday next and winners will be announced on Monday, September 21. Come back tomorrow for the first giveaway!

_______________________________________________

And now for a few stats for the year (more or less)...

Total number of posts: 318
Total number of visits: 13,157
Total number of pageviews: 26,690

First review written for this blog:
Review of So Long at the Fair by Christina Schwarz

Top 5 posts (excluding giveaway-only posts):
1. Review of My Little Red Book edited by Rachel Kauder Nalebuff
2. Review of Testimony by Anita Shreve
3. Reviews of The Corpse Will Keep by Pat Capponi and Farthing by Jo Walton
4. Review of Good to a Fault by Marina Endicott
5. Review of Aberrations by Penelope Przekop

_______________________________________________

Oh and for those of you who are not new around here, what do you think of my new header? (About time I put one up!)

Library (and other) Loot: The graphic novel edition (September 10)

Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Eva at A Striped Armchair and Marg at Reading Adventures that encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library. If you’d like to participate, just write up your post—feel free to steal the button—and link it using the Mr. Linky any time during the week. And of course check out what other participants are getting from their libraries! Want to share your loot? Eva has the Mr. Linky this week!

So call me crazy (or just plain obsessed), but I’m still on my graphic novel kick. Last week, I went over to my friend Michael’s place—he used to work in a comic book shop, so he has an extensive collection of graphic novels. Here’s the pile I borrowed from him:

Click on the photo to enlarge it.

From top to bottom, the books are:

• Owly: The Way Home & The Bittersweet Summer (vol. 1) by Andy Runton
• Owly: Just a Little Blue (vol. 2) by Andy Runton
• Demo: The Collected Edition by Brian Wood and Becky Cloonan
• Tricked by Alex Robinson
• Y: The Last Man — Unmanned (vol. 1) by Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra
• Y: The Last Man — Cycles (vol. 2) by Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra
• Y: The Last Man — One Small Step (vol. 3) by Brian K. Vaughan, Pia Guerra and Paul Chadwick
• Y: The Last Man — Safeword (vol. 4) by Brian K. Vaughan, Pia Guerra and Goran Parlov
• Y: The Last Man — Ring of Truth (vol. 5) by Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra
• Y: The Last Man — Girl on Girl (vol. 6) by Brian K. Vaughan, Pia Guerra and Goran Sudzuka
• Y: The Last Man — Paper Dolls (vol. 7) by Brian K. Vaughan, Pia Guerra and Goran Sudzuka
• Y: The Last Man — Kimono Dragons (vol. 8) by Brian K. Vaughan, Pia Guerra and Goran Sudzuka
• Kinetic by Kelley Puckett and Warren Pleece
• Pride of Baghdad by Brian K. Vaughan and Niko Henrichon
• Summer Blonde by Adrian Tomine
• Why I Hate Saturn by Kyle Baker

By accident, I left one book out of the photo: Superman: Secret Identity by Kurt Busiek and Stuart Immonen. (I’m not really into superhero comics but this one came highly recommended.) Michael doesn’t own the last two volumes in the Y: The Last Man series and since I’ve already read the first eight, I just had to make a trip to my local library earlier this week...

This was actually the first time I borrowed books from Montreal’s main library (known as the Grande Bibliothèque, which just means “Big Library”) and for some reason it took me forever to figure out their filing system. I finally did locate volume 9 of the Y: The Last Man series (the last volume was out) and grabbed a bunch more comic books while I was at it (plus one YA book, which is at the top of the pile). This is what I came home with:

Click on the photo to enlarge it.

From top to bottom, the books are:

• What Girls Learn by Karin Cook
• Dykes and Other Sundry Carbon-Based Life Forms to Watch Out For by Alison Bechdel
• Lillian the Legend by Kerry Byrne
• Maus: A Survivor's Tale — My Father Bleeds History (vol. 1) by Art Spiegelman
• Aya de Yopougon (vol. 1) by Marguerite Abouet and Clément Oubrerie (in French)
• Aya (vol. 1) by Marguerite Abouet and Clément Oubrerie (translated by Helge Dascher)
• Y: The Last Man — Motherland (vol. 9) by Brian K. Vaughan, Pia Guerra and Goran Sudzuka
• The Summer of Love by Debbie Drechsler

I decided to borrow Aya in both English and French to compare them (and so that if I review it I can let you know what I think of the English version).

Has anyone else read any of these books? Can you recommend any other graphic novels to me?

Similar Covers: Another Bathtub Cover(+ Similar Titles)

This next set of lookalikes was pointed out to me by Eva at One Swede Read. The books are: A Certain Slant of Light by Laura Whitcomb and Isprinsessan by Camilla Läckberg (which was translated from Swedish into English as The Ice Princess). I can’t say I really like either of these covers; both are too dark in my opinion.

Edited to add:

I found a third cover to match these first two: La femme au portrait (the French translation of Dead Sleep) by Greg Iles.

When I looked up A Certain Slant of Light on LibraryThing, I also discovered that this is a relatively common title...

The books are:

• A Certain Slant of Light by Cynthia Thayer
• A Certain Slant of Light: Regionalism and the Form of Southern and Midwestern Fiction by David Marion Holman
• A Certain Slant of Light by Margaret Wander Bonanno
• A Certain Slant of Light by Chandler McGrew

There are several other books with this title, including A Certain Slant of Light: The First Hundred Years of New England Photography by William F. Robinson, but I couldn’t find covers for any of them. All these books take their title from a poem by Emily Dickinson, “There’s a Certain Slant of Light.”

Teaser Tuesday (September 8)

Should Be Reading hosts the Teaser Tuesdays weekly event.

My modified rules are as follows:

Grab your current read. Pick two or three “teaser” sentences more or less at random from the book, anywhere on the page. You also need to share the title of the book that you’re getting your teaser from… that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you’ve given! (Please avoid spoilers!) (Read the official Teaser Tuesday rules.)

I don’t usually post more than one teaser per book I read, but I couldn’t resist sharing this one!

My teaser:

“These spiritual experiences, it seems to me, have the air of high-priced interior decorators on reality television shows: they arrive (unbidden), and immediately begin punching through walls and removing countertops. They haul away most of the furniture, including your favorite red leather chair, and what they deign to leave, they put in the basement” (p. 40).

This is from Fingerprints of God: The Search for the Science of Spirituality by Barbara Bradley Hagerty.

Mailbox Monday (September 7)

I received a surprise package from Henry Holt and Company this past week (I don’t remember requesting a book from them): a brand new hardcover copy of The Embers by Hyatt Bass. (I didn’t even realize Hyatt was a woman until I saw her author photo.) Luckily this one sounds like it’s up my alley!

What did you find in your mailbox this past week?

For other Mailbox Monday posts, head over to Marcia’s blog, The Printed Page.

Edited on October 1 to add:
It took me a while, but I finally figured out where this book came from! It was my Bloggiesta win from Natasha at Maw Books. Thanks, Natasha!