Really Random Tuesday: Boots, Kitty Pic & Giveaway Winner

Yesterday, in my Mailbox Monday post, I mentioned that I’d recently bought a pair of funky boots (and was able to pick any book in the store for free), so today I thought I’d share a photo of my new-to-me boots with you:

My new boots (click to enlarge)

I’ve worn them once (we had snow on the weekend) and while they’re comfy, they take a while to lace up! (They have zippers down the sides, but the zippers are defective—I can unzip the boots to take them off but can’t get them zipped back up again without unlacing them first!)

And here’s a pic of Cairo on top of our fridge enjoying scritches from Mr. B. If you click on the photo to enlarge it, you can read the cat comic strips on our fridge! (The one on the left, with the cat with her nose in the air, says “I’m not feeling the love.”)

Cairo on the fridge (click to enlarge)

Finally, it’s about time I pick a winner for my giveaway of a copy of The Gifts of Imperfection: Let Go of Who You Think You’re Supposed to Be and Embrace Who You Are—Your Guide to a Wholehearted Life by Brené Brown (read my review). The winner is Debbie F. Congrats, Debbie—I hope you enjoy this book as much as I did!

Really Random Tuesday is hosted by Suko at Suko’s Notebook. Feel free to join in, copy the button and link back to Suko’s blog.

Mailbox Monday + Book Launch (November 29)

Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books they received during the previous week. Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles and humongous wish lists! Mailbox Monday, which was started by Marcia at The Printed Page, is on blog tour—this month, it’s hosted by Julie at Knitting and Sundries.

I actually didn’t receive any books in the mail this past week, but two books did come my way. First, I went thrift shopping with my friend Erika at a second-hand store that promotes literacy: when you buy anything at the store, you get a book of your choice for free. I was thrilled not only with my new-to-me boots but also with my nearly new copy of Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel.

I was also invited by local writer Marijke Vroomen-Durning to the launch of a book of essays, Fits, Starts & Matters of the Heart: 28 True Stories of Love, Loss & Everything in Between, which was edited and published by Freelance Success, a “community of independent professional writers and editors based in all 50 states and about 15 foreign countries” (according to their website). Two Canadian writers have essays published in this collection, and both happen to be Montrealers: Marijke Vroomen-Durning and Wendy Helfenbaum.

Wendy (left) and Marijke (right)

At the launch, which was in a café, I ordered a ginger tea and started to read the book (Marijke had kindly provided me with a review copy). The first two essays, “Knitting Goodbye” by Sarah Zobel and “The Dresses” by Karen Hammond, had me in tears, so I decided that, to spare myself further embarrassment, I should read the rest of the book at home! (When I mentioned this to Marijke, she assured me that some of the essays are funny too!)

What did you find in your mailbox this past week? For other Mailbox Monday posts, head over to Knitting and Sundries.

Similar Covers: Paper Doll Chains

Last February, Travis at 100 Scope Notes posted about three books whose covers featured a paper doll chain on a red background. He asked if anyone knew of any other books to add to his collection. Here are the ones I’ve found so far:

Hide & Seek by Clare Sambrook, Fixing Delilah by Sarah Ockler and Beautiful Buttons: A Memoir of Survival and Triumph by Cathrine Ann

Find Me by Carol O’Connell and Mais c’est à toi que je pense by Gary A. Braunbeck (the French translation of Prodigal Blues—the French title literally means But You’re the One I’m Thinking Of)

And finally some upright paper doll chains (or near enough): The Cult of Personality Testing: How Personality Tests Are Leading Us to Miseducate Our Children, Mismanage Our Companies, and Misunderstand Ourselves by Annie Murphy Paul, Six Clicks Away by Bonnie Rozanski and The Trauma Myth: The Truth about the Sexual Abuse of Children—and Its Aftermath by Susan A. Clancy

Have you found any others to add to these collections?

Mailbox Monday (November 15)

Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books they received during the previous week. Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles and humongous wish lists! Mailbox Monday, which was started by Marcia at The Printed Page, is on blog tour—this month, it’s hosted by Julie at Knitting and Sundries.

I received two books this week (one for review and one giveaway win): The Tapestry of Love by Rosy Thornton, which was sent to me by the author (read my review of Crossed Wires, her previous book) and Hothouse Flower and the Nine Plants of Desire by Margot Berwin, which I won from Staci at Life in the Thumb.

Here’s the blurb on the back of The Tapestry of Love:

A rural idyll: that’s what Catherine is seeking when she sells her house in England and moves to a tiny hamlet in the Cévennes mountains. With her divorce in the past and her children grow, she is free to make a new start, and to set up in business as a seamstress. But this is a harsh and lonely place when you’re no longer here on holiday. There is French bureaucracy to contend with, not to mention the mountain weather, and the reserve of her neighbours, including the intriguing Patrick Castagnol. And that's before the arrival of Catherine's sister Bryony...

And here’s the blurb on the back of Hothouse Flower:

Lila Nova is a thirty-two-year-old advertising copywriter who lives alone in a plain white box of an apartment. Recovering from a heartbreaking divorce, Lila has a simple mantra: no pets, no plants, no people, no problems. But when Lila meets David Exley, a ruggedly handsome plant seller, her lonely life blossoms into something far more colorful. From the cold, harsh streets of Manhattan to the verdant jungles of the Yucatán Peninsula, Hothouse Flower is the story of a woman who must travel beyond the boundaries of sense and comfort to find what she truly wants.

What did you find in your mailbox this past week? For other Mailbox Monday posts, head over to Knitting and Sundries.

Green Books Campaign Review: The Find by Kathy Page

This review is part of the Green Books Campaign. Today 200 bloggers take a stand to support books printed in an eco-friendly manner by simultaneously publishing reviews of 200 books printed on recycled or FSC-certified paper. By turning a spotlight on books printed using eco- friendly paper, we hope to raise the awareness of book buyers and encourage everyone to take the environment into consideration when purchasing books.

The campaign is organized for the second time by Eco-Libris, a green company working to make reading more sustainable. We invite you to join the discussion on “green” books and support books printed in an eco-friendly manner! A full list of participating blogs and links to their reviews is available on the Eco-Libris website.

The Find was printed on FSC-certified paper from mixed sources that’s 99% recycled (including the cover) and Ancient Forest Friendly. For more information about the environmental characteristics of the paper used to print The Find and to take the green book quiz, visit Webcom, the print provider for McArthur & Company Publishing.
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The Find by Kathy Page is the story of Anna, a palaeontologist with a secret who makes an amazing discovery, and Scott, a high-school dropout who is caring for his alcoholic father. A chance meeting between the two leads Anna to confide in Scott and later ask him to join her on her dig. As both internal and external conflicts plague the project, Anna becomes increasingly dependent on Scott.

I haven’t been reading much fiction lately, so I approached this novel with some trepidation, almost convincing myself in advance that I wouldn’t like it. However, from the first chapter, Page’s vivid descriptions pulled me right into Anna and Scott’s world. Here, for example, is an excerpt from the opening scene: “Outside: a wall of water, the deafening roar of a million tiny parts. The rain sang and drummed, raced downwards, pooled, spurted from guttering, burst in gurgling torrents from downspouts, bubbled from blocked drains” (p. 9). (Can’t you hear that rain?) As mentioned in the blurb on the back of the book, The Find is a complex story about “discovery, inheritance and fate”—it’s a multifaceted novel that almost reads like a literary thriller. (I stayed up late at night to finish it!)

There are a multitude of characters in this book—much more so than in many novels (where main characters often seem to know such a limited number of people). Anna especially is surrounded by friends, family and colleagues, which I occasionally found confusing, as I had trouble keeping some of the more minor characters straight. By the same token, their inclusion in the story helps to ground it in reality and makes the ending of the book all the more poignant.

My favourite quote:

“It seemed to her that life was sometimes terrifying, at other times shot through with bliss. So much in it, all at once: the creep of continental plates, the code in your genes, the smell of cooking, the memory of your mother’s voice calling you out of your dream. Extinctions and creations. The rush of birdsong at dawn. A woman’s belly, tight with the life inside. There were so many discoveries: those you went looking for, yearned for so much that it hurt, and others which lay waiting and which, if you knew of them, you’d do anything to escape, and behind each of them, another. A switchback ride, a dream of flight.” (p. 157)

The Find offers the best of all worlds: descriptions that draw you in without distracting from the story, realistic characters who face difficult choices, and a complex plot that keeps you turning the pages until the very end—with the added bonus that it’s published on one of the greenest types of text paper available. I highly recommend this book, especially if you are a fan of Michelle Richmond or Janette Turner Hospital.

Thank you to Eco-Libris for organizing the Green Book Campaign and to McArthur & Company for sending me this book to review.
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Other review: Geranium Cat’s Bookshelf (which gives away a lot more of the plot than I did!)

Interview with the author: BookClubBuddy
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Mailbox Monday (November 8)

Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books they received during the previous week. Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles and humongous wish lists! Mailbox Monday, which was started by Marcia at The Printed Page, is on blog tour—this month, it’s hosted by Julie at Knitting and Sundries.

I received one book for review this past week: The Wisdom to Know the Difference: When to Make a Change—and When to Let Go by Eileen Flanagan, which was sent to me by the author for a TLC Book Tour.

Here’s part of the blurb on the back:

Millions of people have been moved by [the] famous lines from the Serenity Prayer to make important and lasting changes in their lives. But how, exactly, can we know the difference? How can we acknowledge the real limits that human beings face, without negating the possibility for dramatic change? In this wise book, Eileen Flanagan guides readers in discovering what they can—or perhaps should—change in their lives and accepting what they cannot. These lessons come to life through the inspiring stories of individuals Flanagan interviewed for this book, including a Hurricane Katrina survivor who describes how she learned inner peace the hard way and a man who shares what he learned about letting go from the car accident that left him paralyzed.

What did you find in your mailbox this past week? For other Mailbox Monday posts, head over to Knitting and Sundries.

Friday Five (November 5)

I was intending to post my review of Devotion: A Memoir by Dani Shapiro today, but I still haven’t managed to finish writing it (sigh). So instead I thought I’d participate in the Friday Five! meme, which was started by Kate at Kate’s Library. The rules are simple:

Grab the logo.
Share your favorite five (or four, or three, or whatever!) blog posts and/or articles from this week. They can be book related or not, but they need to have tickled your fancy!
Share that blog love: link the post so we can all check it out.
Leave a comment on the post so the author knows they made it into your Friday Five!

So here are my links for this week (in bold):

1. After reading Bronwyn’s review over at A Certain Bent Appeal, I think I need to read This Is Not the Story You Think It Is: An Empowering Story of Saving Your Marriage by Doing Nothing by Laura Munson.


2. Tiina’s review (on her blog A Book Blog of One’s Own) of Tell It to the Bees by Fiona Shaw has piqued my interest in this book about a lesbian love affair set in 1950s England.
   


3. In keeping with my latest review (of The Gifts of Imperfection by Brené Brown), I loved this post entitled “You Don’t Have to Be Pretty” at A dress, nearly every day.


4. AfterEllen.com posted “Your Gay Fall Book Guide: Books by and About Lesbians,” which includes a couple of familiar titles. I’m definitely buying Ivan E. Coyote’s latest book of short stories, Missed Her. (I only recently discovered Coyote, a fantastic Canadian storyteller.) I also want to read Girl Unwrapped by Gabriella Goliger (it’s set in Montreal!) and Dear John, I Love Jane: Women Write about Leaving Men for Women edited by Candace Walsh and Laura Andre.


5. Colleen at Chasing Ray posted a great review of The Englishman Who Posted Himself and Other Curious Objects by John Tingey, a book about Reginald Bray, who “experiment[ed] with sending ordinary and strange objects through the post unwrapped, including a turnip, a bowler hat, a bicycle pump, shirt cuffs, seaweed, a clothes brush, even a rabbit’s skull” (from the publisher’s description). It sounds fascinating!

Don’t forget to enter my giveaway for a copy of The Gifts of Imperfection by Brené Brown (open to Canadian and U.S. residents) and have a great weekend!

Similar Covers: Red Barn

I received an email yesterday morning from Monica, who blogs at Monniblog, pointing out this duo of lookalike covers: Trauma Farm: A Rebel History of Rural Life by Brian Brett and Burning Bright: Stories by Ron Rash.

Trauma Farm, which won the 2009 Writers’ Trust Non-Fiction Prize, was published last year by Greystone Books, an imprint of D & M Publishers. Burning Bright was published earlier this year by Ecco, an imprint of HarperCollins. Interestingly enough, it was mentioned in “21 of the Coolest Book Covers This Year” by Anis Shivani on the Huffington Post blog.

Although I like both of these covers, I think the juxtaposition of the white, turquoise, yellow and red on the cover of Burning Bright does make it more eye-catching. (Mind you, of the two, I’m more interested in reading Trauma Farm.) What do you think of these covers?

Mailbox Monday: More Book Fair Loot (November 1)

Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books they received during the previous week. Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles and humongous wish lists! Mailbox Monday, which was started by Marcia at The Printed Page, is on blog tour—this month, it’s hosted by Julie at Knitting and Sundries.

I received two books for review this past week: The Distant Hours by Kate Morton from Atria Books and What I Thought I Knew by Alice Eve Cohen from BookSparksPR and Penguin USA.

As I mentioned last week, I was in Quebec City this weekend to go to another bookfair, and I came home with another mega pile of books:

The books are:

• As It Is in Heaven by Niall Williams
  
• At the End of the Day: A Memoir by Carolyn Smart (not pictured)
• Diary of an Ordinary Woman by Margaret Forster
  
• Drumblair: Memories of a Jamaican Childhood by Rachel Manley
• Family History by Dani Shapiro
  
• Half the Day Is Night by Maureen F. McHugh
• Hypocrite in a Pouffy White Dress: Tales of Growing Up Groovy and Clueless by Susan Jane Gilman
  
• Knit Lit (Too): Stories from Sheep to Shawl... and More Writing about Knitting edited by Lina Roghaar and Molly Wolf
  
• Rilke’s Book of Hours: Love Poems to God translated by Anita Barrow and Joanna Macy
• Self-Made Man: One Woman’s Journey into Manhood and Back Again by Norah Vincent
• Shadow’s End by Sheri S. Tepper
  
• Still Alice by Lisa Genova
  
• The Book of Secrets: Unlocking the Hidden Dimensions of Your Life by Deepak Chopra
• The Reader by Bernard Schlink, translated by Carol Brown Janeway
  
• The Year of Fog by Michelle Richmond
  
• Thinking in Pictures and Other Reports from My Life with Autism by Temple Grandin
  
• Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech
• What Every Girl (Except Me) Knows by Nora Raleigh Baskin
  
• Why I’m Like This: True Stories by Cynthia Kaplan

I also picked up a couple of other books for other people, for a total of 22 books for $26! (All books were $1, except for Why I’m Like This, which was $5.)

Have you read any of these books? Which would you recommend or disrecommend?

What did you find in your mailbox this past week? For other Mailbox Monday posts, head over to Knitting and Sundries.