Contest Roundup: June 15th

Time to see some of the stuff you can win around the blogging universe. Remember to always check the sidebar for current contests, including the new Contest Monday that will be posted later today.

If you didn't win last week, there's another chance to win Eyes Like Stars, this time over at Reviewer X. There's no end date listed, so enter now before it's over!

You may remember seeing A Sweet Disorder two weeks ago for Waiting on Wednesday. Well, here's a chance to win yourself a copy if you also want to read it! Ends tomorrow, June 16th.

My fellow Cybils panelist Charlotte is giving away paperback copies of Harry Potter books 5, 6, and 7. Comment on the original post by July 6th to enter.

Amy over at Addicted to Books has a new contest up. Win one of three prize packs which include books like Demon Princess. Comment to enter by July 27th.

That's all I have time to post today. Remember that this is only a few contests, there a lots more out there. Start by checking out the right sidebar for more chances to win, and then buzz some other book blogs for more contest fun!

LOL of the week: Singing Fish

Did anyone else have one of those singing fish on thier walls growing up?
*Don't worry.... Be happy...*

If you'd like to learn more about LOLcats, you can check out the website, or read my review of the book.

Have a great week!

Winner of the First Random Contest

It's time to announce the winner of the first ever Random Contest. This time you had to guess how many Jane Austen-inspired novels I had on my bookshelf. The correct answer is 13. Two of you guessed correctly, so by random selection the winner is:

Jenna!

Congrats. You have one week to claim your prize. Email me with your pick of either a book from my Bookmooch inventory, or a Bookmooch point. And our runner up (who also guessed correctly) is

Paradox

Email me letting me know if you would like an extra entry into either the current Contest Monday or Comment Contest.

Thank you to everyone who entered. Keep an eye out because you never know when a Random Contest will show up!

For those who are interested, here are the 13 books mentioned in this contest:
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen- This is my grandmother's copy. It was published in 1943!
Pride and Prejudice (Insight Edition) by Jane Austen
Persuasion by Jane Austen
The Friendly Jane Austen: A Well-Mannered Introduction to a Lady of Sense and Sensibility by Natalie Tyler
Dear Jane Austen: A Heroine's Guide to Life and Love by Patrice Hannon (my newest acquisition)
The Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler
Jane and the Unpleasantness at Scargrave Manor: Being the First Jane Austen Mystery by Stephanie Barron
Pride and Prescience: Or, A Truth Universally Acknowledged by Carrie Bebris
Mr. Darcy's Daughters by Elizabeth Aston
Just Jane by Nancy Moser
Cassandra's Sister by Veronica Bennett
Enthusiasm by Polly Shulman

I know, surprising isn't it? I don't have all of Austen's novels, but I do have two copies of Pride and Prejudice. :-)

Book Slump

*sigh* I seem to be in a book slump.

Let me explain. This week I finished a fantastic book. It was one I had anticipated for a very long time (several years) and it was everything I would hoped it would be. For several days I had to steal every moment I spent with this book, and I went out of my way to find time to read it.

But now I've finished it. And try as I might, I can't seem to get in the mood to read anything else. I have lots (tons, piles, scads) of books I want/need to read. But I'm feeling kinda "meh" about all of them. It's almost as if I can't bring myself to read anything because it can't possibly measure up to the book I just finished. Which is really irrational, but I can't seem to shake it despite that.

Has this ever happened to you?

Welcome to Funnybone Fridays

Did I mention here's another feature? June is turning out to be full of all sorts of suprises. :-)

Today I'm introducing a new feature I call Funnybone Friday (go alliteration!). In the vein of the LOL of the week, this is just a small something to get your weekend started on the right note. So these will always be posted at 5:00 on Fridays, since that's the offical start of the weekend. I don't expect this to be a regular feature, but every once and awhile I'll throw things up. This could be a picture, a comic, a youtube clip, anything I feel like sharing that made me smile.

So today, here's a clip from Monty Python about joke warfare. Enjoy!


If you want to see more from this episode, it's available on the Monty Python's Flying Circus: Set 1 DVD.

It's time for a Bloggiesta!

The time has come. I've finally committed to a continual blogging event. For three years I've watched participants in events like the 48 hour book challenge and wished I could particpated. Because, let's face it, my mother would probably kill me if I tried to spend 48 hours reading and did nothing else.

Enter the Bloggiesta. Natasha over at Maw Books Blog has started this event as a way for you to get caught up on all those posts and blog improvements you've be meaning to do forever, and haven't ever gotten around to. Think of it as instead of shrinking your TBR pile, you're shrinking your TBB (to be blogged) pile. I really, really, really need to catch up on reviews, so I will be spending most of that time working on that probably. And maybe I'll turn my attention to that neglected Disney blog too...

The Bloggiesta starts at 8am on Friday, June 19th (one week from today) and runs through the following Sunday (the 21st) through 8am. Full rules and details can be found at the event post.

So if you have a blog, join me and sign up! Now I'm off to work really hard on unpacking some things. That way I don't get sass from my family if I spend all next weekend blogging!

New Features: The Random Contest

I guess instead of having New Features week, I should have just called June New Features month. Oh well. I keep having all these great ideas for new stuff!

Today I'm introducing the new feature called Random Contests. Why Random Contests? Well, because they are random. The posting will be random, the entries random, the length random, the prizes random. If I feel like putting up a contest, I'll put up a contest. Sometimes you'll have to do something to enter, sometimes you'll have to be fast, and sometimes you'll just have to be lucky.

Today's contest is going to be one of the luck kind. If you've been paying attention to my posts you'll know that I'm a bit of a Jane Austen fan. In order to win you'll need to correctly answer this question: How many Jane Austen or Austen-inspired books do I have on my bookshelves? This would include books written by Jane Austen, books about Jane Austen (fiction or nonfiction), or books inspired by Jane Austen (such as yesterday's WOW feature, Prada & Prejudice). So take a guess!

Rules: To enter, post your answer in the comments below, or send your answer to me by email with the subject "Austen Guess." More than one person can guess the same number. One entry per person. Entries will be open until noon PST on Saturday June 13th. The person who guesses the right number of books will be the winner. In the event that two (or more) people guess correctly, a winner will be randomly selected from the correct guesses. Please note that comments made on this post don't count for this month's comment contest.

Today's random prize: The winner of this contest will get their choice of either 1 free book listed in my Bookmooch inventory, or a Bookmooch point for you to request your own book. Obviously you will need to be a Bookmooch member for the latter prize. Don't know what Bookmooch is all about? You can read more about it in my post. If we have runners-up, each will get an extra entry into either the current Contest Monday or Comment Contests, whichever they choose.

So good luck to everyone. Now guess away!

Waiting on Wednesday: 6.10.09

So this is probably another book you've heard about already. But since it will be released tomorrow, I'm celebrating anyway.

Prada and Prejudice by Mandy Hubbard

About the Book (from Amazon.com): "To impress the popular girls on a high school trip to London, klutzy Callie buys real Prada heels. But trying them on, she trips…conks her head…and wakes up in the year 1815! There Callie meets Emily, who takes her in, mistaking her for a long-lost friend. As she spends time with Emily’s family, Callie warms to them—particularly to Emily’s cousin Alex, a hottie and a duke, if a tad arrogant. But can Callie save Emily from a dire engagement, and win Alex’s heart, before her time in the past is up?"

You know me and Jane Austen. I think that's all I have to say. :-)

Prada and Prejudice will be released tomorrow (June 11th). Look for it on Amazon.com:

Contest Roundup: June 8

Welcome to another contest roundup! First off, here's a reminder to check the sidebar for contests that are still open. I won't mention them again here, but if it's still over there, click to see if you can still win!

Next, don't forget about my contests! There won't be a CM post this week because you still have one more week to enter and win a copy of Shiver. And and ARC of the The Sky Inside is also up for grabs as this month's comment contest. Any comment you make in June gets you closer to winning!

Now let's start with the new stuff.

For those of you who went to BEA (not me though... *sniff*) the big buzz was all about Catching Fire, the sequel to Hunger Games. Well, you can win your own copy over at Linus's Blanket if you enter by June 22nd. Lenore is also giving away a copy with two other books from BEA so check that one out by June 17th.

If you hurry, you can enter to win a copy of Eyes Like Stars and a whole bunch of other stuff from the Beautiful Creatures Book Club. Open until June 12th, so hurry and enter.

Another BEA contest, this time for Fire, the prequel to Graceling (not to be confused with Catching Fire). Open until June 14th from Rebecca's Book blog.

If you haven't gotten a copy of Stephenie Meyer's The Host yet, you can win a copy from NotNessie of Today's Adventure. The contest is open until June 25th, when she'll be hosting The Host book tour.

I have to admit that The Clique is one of those series that I consider a guilty pleasure. I don't really get anything at all out of reading those books, but they are fun to read! If you like The Clique too, you can enter to win all 5 books in The Summer Collection at Readings of a Teenage Tree. Ends June 30th, and you can enter another contest while you're over there.

That's it for today's post, in lieu of Contest Monday. Don't forget to check the sidebar for still open contests!

New Feature: LOL of the week

Okay, so I guess I lied when I said yesterday was the end of New Features week. Because I just now thought of an idea of something else. I call it LOL of the week.

Some of you may remember my review of the I Can Has Cheezburger? book back in February. Well, I have some many LOLs that I'd like to share. So on Sundays (since I usually don't have much time to post anything) I'll be sharing an LOL with you to help lighten up your week from the beginning.

Welcome to the first post:

For those of you who have trouble getting up on Mondays. ;-)

If you'd like to learn more about LOLcats, you can check out the website, or read my review of the book.

Have a great week!

May's Search Terms

So it's that time again. It's time to look at the wild and crazy things that brought people to my blog last month.

May Search Terms

a short book summary of the rumpelstiltskin problem- How short do need want it? It's not a very big book to begin with!
free wings aprilynne pike- Good luck. I'm pretty sure unless you can find a contest, you're going to have to pay for it.
important quotes from shabanu- Are you trying to write an essay? Fess up.
quotes and page numbers from missing persons by m.e rabb- Okay, I know you're writing an essay if you want page numbers too.
blogger trouble- There seems to be a lot of it around lately. You can read about my trouble if you like.
youtubecats- I love watching cat videos from YouTube. Here's a post about it. And another one.
what are some ideas for a contest?- You could give away something...
dead contest- I don't even know what to say.
get sick again- But I don't like being sick?

Not much crazy stuff this month. It must be settling down a bit for summer or something. Since I've gotten a lot of questions on this, I use Google Analytics and Statcounter.com to check my search terms. Both are free, which is exactly in my price range. :-)

What brought people to your blog last month?

Thanks for the Awards

It's Saturday, which means it's time to say goodbye to New Features week. Hmmm. That sentence makes me feel like I'm in the Mickey Mouse Club (and now it's time to say goodbye...)

Anyway, back on topic. I hope you've enjoyed the look at all the new stuff I'm implementing this month. Today I want to catch up on all the wonderful blog awards people have given me in the past few weeks. I'm shamefully behind on these, so I'm not going to tag anyone, but if you're reading this message consider yourself tagged for all these awards. You are all awesome in my book.

The reason this counts for New Features week is because these awards will eventually go into the sidebar (probably the left one) later to show my everlasting gratitude for everyone who made them available.

So without further ado, here we go:


Thank you to both Liyana and Bingo who gave me the One Lovely Blog Award.


Senfaye over at A Maze of Books passed on the Let's Be Friends Award. According to her post "blogs that received the Let’s Be Friends Award are exceedingly charming. These kind of bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers." That's so sweet! Thank you Senfaye!


Wendy at Wendy's Minding Spot and Book ♥ Soulmates both nominated me for the Literary Blogger Award. This lovely award "acknowledges bloggers who energize & inspire reading by going the extra mile. These amazing bloggers make reading fun & enhance the delight of reading!" Thank you Wendy!

Liyana tagged a whole bunch of people for awards on her blog. Thank you Liyana, and check out her post to see if you're on the list too!

Thank you again to everyone! That concludes New Features week. Tomorrow will commence with the last monthly feature, the May Site Searches. From there on, who knows! Let me know what you think of all the new stuff too.

I almost forgot

I forgot to mention this when I posted my wishlist yesterday (and thank you to those who already emailed me!). If you have a wishlist available on the internet somewhere, whether it's on your blog, amazon.com, etc. post a link below. I might have some of the books you are looking for, and we could help each other out!

New Features: Books Now Available

It's time for another addition as part of New Features week. Today's feature will be a monthly installment I like to call Now Available.

It occurred to me while going through my blog the past few weeks that many of the books I feature (either through WOW or a contest) are not available when I feature them. This means you can pre-order your copy, but if you're one of those people who like to buy a book in person, or maybe borrow it from the library/a friend, you have to wait until the release date. And who can remember all those dates? I have to keep a calendar to stay straight!

To aid those of you who have this problem, I'm starting the feature Now Available. Each month I'll go through my blog archives and pick out any book that was featured in the past month and has now become available. That way you can buy/borrow/whatever right away. I've seen this done with reviews on a few other blogs, but why not with contests too? Especially since I usually don't post a review before the release date.

So here's a list of all the books featured on this blog since January that have now become available. Remember, this only applies to those books that were featured before their release date. I'll also provide a link to each original post in case you're interested. Now, this list will be long because, like the wish list yesterday, it's the first one. In case you're wondering, these are listed in chronological order, with the oldest feature at the top and the newest featured ones at the bottom.

These featured books are now available in a store near you:
The Girls by Tucker Shaw (Read original post here)
Absolutely Maybe by Lisa Yee (Read original post here)
Alis by Naomi Rich (Read original post here)
Wild Orchid: A Retelling of the Ballad of Mulan by Cameron Dokey (Read original post here)
My Life in Pink & Green by Lisa Greenwald (Read original post here)
The Season by Sarah MacLean (Read original post here)
The Amaranth Enchantment by Julie Berry (Read original post here)
Willow by Julia Hoban
Riding the Universe by Gaby Triana (Read original post here)
The King's Rose by Alisa Libby (Read original post here)
Fablehaven: Secrets of the Dragon Sanctuary by Brandon Mull (Read original post here)
The Unknowns: A Mystery by Benedict Carey (Read original post here)
Thirteenth Child by Patricia C. Wrede (Read original post here)
Reality Check by Peter Abrahams (Read original post here)
Bloodhound by Tamora Pierce (Read original post here)
A Kiss in Time by Alex Flinn (Read original post here)
Cathy's Ring by by Sean Stewart & Jordan Weisman (Read original post here)
Wings by Aprilynne Pike (Read original post here)
Once Dead, Twice Shy by Kim Harrison (Read original post here)
The Waters & the Wild by Francesca Lia Block (Read original post here)
The Reluctant Heiress by Eva Ibbotson (Read original post here)
The Diamond Secret by Suzanne Weyn (Read original post here)