Happy Holidays!

I wish you all Happy Holidays, whatever you celebrate. I’ll be back in the New Year!

Mailbox Monday, Books Bought & Library Loot: The Catch-up Post (December 23)

I’m hopelessly behind on my blog posts, so I thought I’d do a catch-up post to let you know what books I’ve received in the mail recently, what books I’ve been given or bought, and what I’ve taken out of the library (or rather what my sister Brogan took out of the library for me).

In the last few weeks, I’ve received a couple of books in the mail: Friends Like These: My Worldwide Quest to Find My Best Childhood Friends, Knock on their Doors, and Ask Them to Come Out and Play by Danny Wallace and Role of a Lifetime: Reflections on Faith, Family and Significant Living by James Brown with Nathan Whitaker, two more BBAW scavenger hunt wins, courtesy of Hachette. (I can’t say the second book appeals to me, but I’ll probably give it a try anyway.)

I haven’t done very well at blogging about my get-togethers with Cindy, Donna (who missed the last one), Linda and Tina either lately. At the last one, Cindy passed on a few books to me: Tell Me Something True by Leila Cobo, Kiss My Tiara: How to Rule the World as a SmartMouth Goddess by Susan Jane Gilman (which I had no recollection of requesting, but when I checked on Cindy’s blog, sure enough I had!) and I Am Neurotic (And So Are You) by Lianna Kong. Thanks, Cindy!

I bought myself nine (!) more books recently, most of them secondhand (although I ordered a few too):

• Blood Lure by Nevada Barr
• What Should I Do with My Life: The True Story of People Who Answered the Ultimate Question by Po Bronson
• The Sibyl in Her Grave by Sarah Caudwell

• Old Friend from Far Away: The Practice of Writing Memoir by Natalie Goldberg (I bought this one new as a present to myself)
• The Best American Poetry 2001 edited by Robert Hass
• A Girl Named Zippy: Growing Up Small in Moorland, Indiana by Haven Kimmel (inspired by Jenners’ review at Find Your Next Book Here)

• Lives of Girls and Women by Alice Munro
• Nonviolent Communication: A Language of Life by Marshall B. Rosenberg
• The Miracle at Speedy Motors by Alexander McCall Smith

The Mailbox Monday meme is hosted by Marcia at The Printed Page.

The Books Bought meme is hosted by Cindy at Cindy’s Love of Books.
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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!

While I was in Nova Scotia, my sister requested a bunch of books for me, only three of which I actually read: The Plain Janes by Cecil Castellucci and Jim Rugg (a reread), The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick and The Arrival by Shaun Tan. One of these days I may even get around to reviewing some of these graphic novels I’ve been reading (and rereading) this year!

Goodbye, Sweet Thelma

June 7, 1992 – December 16, 2009

On December 7, we took Thelma to the vet because she was having trouble eating. Blood tests revealed that she had end-stage chronic renal failure, a leading cause of death in elderly cats. Two days ago, only a little over a week after the diagnosis, we had to say goodbye to her. I feel blessed that I got to live with her for 17 years. I will miss her every day.

Cairo (left) and Thelma (right) in my office

Similar Covers: Hands (Part 1)

I was looking through a Shelf Awareness newsletter yesterday and came across a familiar-looking cover: Angel and Apostle by Deborah Noyes features an image used on the cover of Courage by Maria Tumarkin. However, it turns out the books were published in the opposite order: according to Amazon, Angel and Apostle came first, in September 2006 (published by Unbridled Books), while Courage was published a year later, in October 2007, by Melbourne University Publishing.

And the Winners Are...

Congratulations to Kathy (bermudaonion), Janet Ruth, Tina Branco, June and rubynreba who won copies of Simon’s Cat by Simon Tofield! Please send me your addresses and I will pass them on to Hachette.

Thank you to Hachette for providing the books for this giveaway and thank you to all of you who entered! I especially loved all your crazy cat stories!

1. bermudaonion
2. Janet Ruth
3. Tina Branco
4. June
5. rubynreba

Timestamp: 2009-12-08 23:26:03 UTC

Mailbox Monday (December 7)

It’s been a while since I’ve posted a Mailbox Monday post, so these three books didn’t actually all arrive this past week. First, I received a package from Serena at Savvy Verse & Wit, which contained a copy of Little Bird of Heaven by Joyce Carol Oates and an issue of the magazine 32 Poems (not the one pictured below, but I couldn’t find the right image). These were both BBAW wins. (Thanks, Serena!) Then while I was away this past week, I got an ARC of Barbara Kingsolver’s latest novel, The Lacuna from Harper Collins, which I’m super excited about, as Kingsolver is one of my favourite authors.

What did you find in your mailbox this past week? For other Mailbox Monday posts, head over to Marcia’s blog, The Printed Page.

I’m Back + Giveaway Reminder

I apologize for not announcing that I was unplugging myself for the last couple of weeks. (In fact, it was only after the fact that I realized that Beth Fish Reads and Devourer of Books were co-hosting the Blogger Unplugged Challenge). But I’m back now, after spending eight lovely days with my mum and sister in Nova Scotia (thanks, Mum, for taking such good care of me!) and feeling much better. Thank you also to everyone who commented on my sad cat post, with a special thanks to StephanieRose, whose comment really made my day!

I’m happy to see that you’re still here despite my absence: in fact I now have 200 followers as well as 400+ subscribers! Yay!

I also wanted to remind everyone that tomorrow is the last day to enter my giveaway of 5 copies of Simon’s Cat by Simon Tofield. (Click on the book cover to enter.) This book would make a perfect gift for a cat lover in your life if you are not one yourself!