Category: FREE

Birthday Giveaway & Bouchercon Wrap-Up

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I was all set to do a few Bouchercon posts this week but to be honest, I’m just not that motivated.  I’ll leave you with a few fun tidbits that came out of two panels.  One of my favorite panels was Mysteries & the Movies and the first question referred to the casting of Tom Cruise as Jack Reacher.  All five of the panelists agreed that they would take the best actor over a physical resemblance.

Exciting news for Chelsea Cain fans, FX is adapting the Gretchen Lowell series and each book will be a different series.  She turned down $100,000 to write the script.

On the flip side, when Robin Cook sold the rights to Sphinx it came with a deal for him to write the screenplay.  When he turned in his four page sample he was promptly fired.  He got to keep the $1 million.

There was a Family Feud game with lots of fun authors and Hank Ryan Phillipi as host.  One of the questions was, Actor Who Should Play Jack Reacher.  Survey of 100’s of mystery lovers says

1.Liam Neeson (not bad)

2.Daniel Craig (also not bad)

3.Harrison Ford (huge laugh from the crowd)

4. Tom Cruise (a few groans from the crowd)

5. Anyone but Tom Cruise (another huge laugh)

Jason got me a Nook Tablet for my birthday.  Great, another device I need to learn to use.  I’m still figuring out my iPhone.  Seriously, it is a very nice gift and I’m looking forward to reading  on it.

I brought home lots of books from Bouchercon and I’m giving 5 away to you, my favorite bookish pals.  Just leave a comment on this post and you’ll be entered.  Leave a comment on any post this week and you’ll be entered every time.  On Saturday I’ll draw 3 winners.  The first will get first choice and choose one book, the second winner will choose two books and the third winner will get the last two.  Easy, right?  Just comment all week long and you might win.

You can earn more entries by commenting on this post , guessing on my Tuesday Quiz and commenting here.

Hey, I’m 29 again! w/ a birthday giveaway

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After last year’s milestone birthday today is a bit anticlimactic.  Jason and I will be heading out for a birthday dinner and that will be the big celebration.  Woo hoo 🙂  So, I’m pulling out the Bucket List I made last year at 40 to see how I’m doing.

1. Write and publish a novel.

2. Open my own bookstore.

3. Spend a night in an English castle.

4. Visit Ireland.

5. Meet a US president.

6. Learn to start a fire without matches.

7. Learn to play the piano.

8. Raise a happy and successful son.

9. Celebrate my 50th anniversary. (14 in)

10. Make exercise a daily priority.

11. Get back to my wedding weight, just once.

12. Try a vegetarian diet for a year.

13. Drive across country.

14. Visit all 50 states. (Only counting those states where I’ve spent any significant time seeing a sight or two, I’m at 22.  I’ve driven through six others but I’m not counting them.)

15. Stay in an overnight car on a train trip.

16. Fly first class.

17. Take Gage to Italy.

18. Ride a boat down the Mississippi River.

19. Trace ancestry to when all branches entered the US.  (we’ve been here a long time so this will take many more years of research)

20. Spend a week touring Napa Valley.

21. Live somewhere warm year round.

22. Volunteer on a political campaign.

23. Sit on a jury.

24. Buy only American for 1 year.

25. Have a library with wall-to-wall built-in bookcases.

26. Write and mail 1000 letters. These can include cards if I include a personal note. (Not much of a dent with 62 this year.)

27. Be an extra in a movie.

28. Watch a play from backstage.

29. Go skiing.

30. Attend a murder mystery dinner. September 2012

31. Volunteer weekly.

32. Read all the books I own.  (I’d like to have no TBR pile just once.  I can give away books to reach this goal)

33. Start my own book club.

34. See all 4 tennis majors. (2 down, Wimbledon & Australian Open to go)

35. Give blood.

36. Sleep under the stars.

37. Have a hammock.

38. Fire a gun.

39. Make a daily goal list and use it.

40. Do a random act of kindness every day.

There is a lot or travel on here but until Gage is a bit older I don’t see that happening so I’ll have to try some of the others.  I’ve done a little research on buying American for a year, but am not ready to start yet.  It will take some planning but I may be able to give it a shot sometime this next year.  You’d think with all of the time President Obama is spending in Ohio (Romney too) I may be able to meet him before election time.  He’d definitely want to kiss Gage, right?  As for reaching my wedding weight, let’s just say I have about 45 pounds to go, BUT I did start Weight Watchers a few weeks ago and have managed to lose 5 pounds.  My goal this year is just get back to my pre-Gage weight still over 25 pounds away, but I’ve gotta start somewhere.  I do have visions of a bookstore and that may be something I put some effort into this year.  So many goals to choose from.

On to my birthday giveaway.  I brought home lots of books from Bouchercon and I’m giving 5 away to you, my favorite bookish pals.  Just leave a comment on this post and you’ll be entered.  Leave a comment on any post this week and you’ll be entered every time.  On Saturday I’ll draw 3 winners.  The first will get first choice and choose one book, the second winner will choose two books and the third winner will get the last two.  Easy, right?  Just comment all week long and you might win.

You can earn more entries by commenting on this post or guessing on my Tuesday Quiz.

Tales from Bouchercon, with a birthday giveaway.

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Thought I’d drop a few names from my days at Bouchercon…

*I was at the bar when Carol Higgins Clark came up to order drinks for her and her mother (I think her name was Mary).  The man next to me, who I later learned was author John Clement, started chatting with her.  Feeling happy I said a few words too (don’t ask me what they were I have no idea) and when Carol started fishing around in her purse I offered to buy her drinks.  When am I ever going to get the chance again?  Can you say legend?  She does warn me that it may be pricy, but what do I care?  She graciously thanks me and offers to send me books and then returns to Mary who is signing books elsewhere.  The moral of this long-winded story?  Bestselling authors drink more expensive wine than we do.

*Chelsea Cain gave me the finger!  I only took two books to be signed and one was my hardcover of Heartsick by Chelsea Cain.  She proved to be a lovely lady with a wicked sense of humor.  She signed my books, posed for pictures and handed me something out of her purse.  It was a severed finger, which went very well with the inscription on my book.

I saw her the next day and told her how much I loved it.  More Chelsea news on Friday.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Taylor Stevens, author of The Informationist, was up for the Best Debut award and I saw her waiting in the back of the ballroom with eventual winner Sara Henry.  I went up to say a few words of encouragement and we ended up chatting for a few minutes.  After the awards and before the reception we ran into each other again and got into the food line together.  Taylor grabbed my bag and went off to save us seats.  I haven’t read The Informationist yet, so during our time in the long food line I asked her questions that a true fan would have already known, but hey, I did get to hear answers directly from her and not Google (or the other Taylor Stevens, porn star).  More chatting over the food and then I decided to head back home so I could see Gage before he went to bed.  I also figured that this would be the perfect way to end my Bouchercon experience.  Time well spent with a warm, gracious and fun author.  I am fan of Taylor the person now I just need to read her book(s)!  This picture really doesn’t do her justice.

My Bouchercon/Birthday week giveaway…I brought home lots of books and I’m giving 5 away to you, my favorite bookish pals.  Just leave a comment on this post and you’ll be entered.  Leave a comment on any post this week and you’ll be entered every time.  On Saturday I’ll draw 3 winners.  The first will get first choice and choose one book, the second winner will choose two books and the third winner will get the last two.  Easy, right?  Just comment all week long and you might win.

We have a winner…

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I forgot to draw a winner for the Cinder audio giveaway last week, so Gage decided to help me…Wrighty wins!!  The audio will be on its way in the next few days, Debbie!  Thanks to all who entered.

Cinder Giveaway

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Cinder (The Lunar Chronicles Series #1)Last month I reviewed Cinder by Marissa Meyer.  I listened to the cds and I’d like to pass them on to a lucky blogger.  It was a fun story and has been getting rave reviews around the blogoshere.  I am looking forward to the sequel!

If you’d like to win (Unabridged, 8 cds, 10 hours) just leave a comment with an email address.

If you want an extra entry or two all you need to do is participate in my Tuesday Quiz here and/or in my 5 Word Movie Reviews here.

A winner will be randomly chosen on June 30th.  Good luck!

What Book Is That? Quiz w/ a Special Armchair BEA Giveaway – CLOSED

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Welcome to another Tuesday quiz.  You have until noon Saturday to submit your answers as a comment.  Comment will be hidden until I post the answers.  For more details and the leaderboard, go here.

This week will still be a part of the current round of quizzes, so you will be adding $ for the round winner and be eligible for a prize BUT today, for Armchair BEA, one lucky recipient will win a $15 Barnes & Noble giftcard. On Saturday, Gage will randomly choose one quiz participant to win.  To be eligible, you only need to guess, you don’t have to get any right 😉  The guessing is the fun part!

For all of you bookish people stopping by today, see if you can identify these books.  Just tell me the title (and author for extra points) in a comment.  And for one extra entry in today’s giveaway tell me what they all have in common.  Good luck!

You can click on the photo to enlarge.

ANSWERS-1.The Chosen by Chaim Potok   2.How to Buy a Love of Reading by Tanya Egan Gibson   3.Things I Want My Daughters to Know by Elizabeth Noble   4.Wench by Dolen Perkins-Valdez   5.The Writing Circle by Corinne Demas   6.Murder is Binding by Lorna Barrett   7.The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett   8.The Reader by Bernhard Schlink   9.This Book is Overdue by MArilyn Johnson  10. The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield   11.Bridget Jones’s Diary by Helen Fielding   12.Villette by Charolotte Bronte

What do they all have in common?  They all have books on the cover!

FREE BOOKS (& a few notes from the month that I don’t much remember)

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April just flew by and I have a hard time pinpointing exactly when all of my personal goals got put aside.  So, April was a wash and the same goals will re-apply for May. My Recent Favorite Books on my Zagat Restaurant Guide from last month.  Congrats 🙂

The good news is that I did a little cleaning, stress on the little part, and I found a few repeats on my shelves and I’m going to share them with YOU!  Just leave a comment and tell me which one or ones you want (you can win more than one) and I’ll draw winners at noon on MAY 14th.

1. Collision Bend by Les Roberts.  Part of a mystery series set in Cleveland.  I haven’t gotten to this one yet, but I love the series.

2. Skylight Confessions by Alice Hoffman.  Love Hoffman! Brand new.

3. Little Children by Tom Perrotta.  I think I picked this up (twice!) because Jenners raved about him. Brand new.

Good luck and happy reading.

 

And the winner is…

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BermudaOnion!

Kathy has won a copy of Ethan Coen’s new poetry book, The Day the World Ends.  Mailing it out today 🙂  Thanks to all who entered or participated in the quiz.

If you are interested in last week’s quiz where I used a few poems from the book you can check here later for the answers.