Don't Forget To Enter!

Today is the last day you can enter my contest for a copy of Star Crossed: Gemini Night. Head over to the contest post to enter (if you haven't already). Winners will be announced sometime tomorrow.

Also, this is the last week of October, which means it's the last week for you to gain entries into October's Comment Contest for an ARC copy of Suzanne Weyn's Empty. Every comment you post on the blog this month gains you one entry, so comment away if you want to win!

LOL of the week: Box of Evil

It's almost Halloween! So here's yet another LOL homage to Basement Cat. And you might just see a few others pop up this week. We'll have to wait and see...

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!

How to Get Free Books: Part 5

Yes, I have yet another idea on how to get free books. :) This feature is dedicated to showing readers how to get free books (or at least cheaper books) to help supplement tight book buying budgets (without badgering publishers for copies).

Did you miss a post? You can catch up here, or scroll down to read the new stuff:
Inspiration
Part 1: Blogs
Part 2: Trading
Part 3: Libraries
Part 4: Project Gutenberg
--------------------------------------------

How to Get Free Books: Part 5, Reading Websites

There are a lot of websites out there dedicated to reading. But there are two specifically I want to focus on today: Goodreads and LibraryThing. Both of these are "social networking" type websites where readers can share what they are reading with thier friends, post reviews, catalog books, etc.

So where do the free books come in? Well, I'm glad you asked. Both websites host random drawings for books provided by publishers and authors. Some are ARCs, some of finished copies, and some are eBooks, but you'll find a little bit of everything in both places. You may have to wade through a lot of listings to find the books you might be interested in, and you may not always get picked, but I like to think of it as a bit of a treasure hunt.

The first section is Goodreads First Reads page. I can tell you right off the bat that Goodreads has a much larger selection of giveaways, although they have more members requesting them too, so it evens out. But overall their selection is much more kid/YA friendly. You have the option to sort by ending soon, most requested, popular authors, and recently listed. Although the books are given away with no expectations, winners are encouraged to post reviews on Goodreads since not posting a review will limit your chances for winning future giveaways. First Reads is only open to Goodreads members, but it is free to join.

In a similar vein, LibraryThing has what they call the Early Reviewers page. Each month a new batch of books is posted. Early Reviewers has a smaller selection of books than Goodreads, but you will find that there are many more chances to win a particular book. Where Goodreads usually has a copy or two (or usually less than 10 copies) entered into the drawing, LibraryThing usually has 30, 50, 100 or sometimes even more copies to give away. So if you see something you want, you have a much greater chance of getting it. As the name implies, LibraryThing strongly encourages members to post reviews of the books they've won as it will affect your chances at winning. Early Reviewers is open only to LibraryThing members, but it is free to join for a basic account.

So it's kind of a short one today, which will give you plenty of time to check out and explore both sites. So, head out there and happy winning!

Waiting on Wednesday: 10.20.10

Today's selection won't be released in the US for quite awhile, but I was so excited to hear about it I had to feature it today anyway.

Simon's Cat: Beyond the Fence by Simon Tofield

About the Book (from Amazon.com): "Simon Tofield's animations have taken YouTube by storm. This book based on the popular animated series. SIMON'S CAT depicts and exaggerates the hilarious relationship between a man and his cat. The daily escapades of this adorable pet, which always involve demanding more food, and his exasperated but doting owner come to life through Tofield's charming and hilarious illustrations."

Yeah, I know the description isn't very exciting. But Simon's Cat is one of my favorite things to watch on YouTube and I loved, loved, loved the first Simon's Cat book. So I was super excited to hear about this one.

Simon's Cat: Beyond the Fence will be released here in the US on June 2nd, 2011 (I believe the UK edition will be out before that) and is available for pre-order on Amazon.com (if you can wait that long!):

And in the rare case you haven't seen me gush about Simon's Cat before, here's one of the videos for your viewing pleasure:

Teaser Tuesday: 10.19.10

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme (that I unfortunately forget to participate in weekly), hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

1. Grab your current read
2. Open to a random page
3. Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
4. BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS!
5. Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

I know, my participation Teaser Tuesday is sporadic. The problem is that usually by the time I remember it after finding something I want to share, it's already Wednesday. But never fear! Today, I'm sharing something from Richard Peck's new book Three Quarters Dead:

Anyway, I could feel Tanya from here, the tug of Tanya. The old woman has said, "Run for your life." And, really, wasn't I? What kind of life did I have without them?

Spooky, huh? This is turning out to be a great read for Halloween time.

Note: This quote is from an ARC copy, and may be different in the final print version.

Alert For iPhone and iPod Touch Users

If you have an iPhone or an iPod Touch and you love book reviews, I've got something you may be very, very interested in.

One of the reasons I've been scare on my reviews on the blog over the past year or so is that I write reviews for a couple of local papers: Sacramento Book Review and San Fransisco Book Review. I get a little "reviewed-out" doing my articles for those each month (although I'm trying to be better about that).

But I digress. The reason for this post is to let everyone know that the editors of the newspaper have made all the Kids, Tweens, and Young Adult book reviews they get free in an iPhone app. It's called Kids Book Review. It used to be $1.99, but right now it's free for download (though I don't know for how long).

Here's the description from the app details page:

Kids Book Review is the first iPhone app for Children's, Tweens, and YA books. The Sacramento and San Francisco Book Reviews have reviewed almost 800 kids books since September 2008, and they are all available here on this app, along with new book release information, classic titles, and more.

Both book review publications review almost 80 new children's books each month, and the Kids Book Review app will be updated weekly with new reviews. From picture books for the under three crowd, to Twilight, The Hunger Games, and other best-selling YA books, the Kids Book Review will keep you in the know about the latest and greatest (and sometimes not so greatest) new books.

Features:
Reviews broken into Children's (0-8), Tweens (9-12) and Young Adult (13+).
New Release and Classic books sections for books that haven't been reviewed.
Favorites folder to save info on books you liked, for easy look-up when you are ready to get it at the bookstore, library, or download.
Search feature to look up specific titles, authors, or illustrators.
Post your favorite reviews or books to your Twitter feed or Facebook page, directly from the App

This really makes me wish I had an iPhone, because I would LOVE to take something like this with me. The paper editors are especially looking for honest reviews about the app, so if you download it, please consider writing a short review about what you think about it on the iTunes store.

So if you're interested, check it out. Hey, it's free to download, so what do you lose? Plus, you'll find lots and lots and lots of reviews in there, including several from yours truly. :) And tell me what you think? I may have to go buy an iPhone just so I can use this one.

LOL of the Week: Punishments

It's a Sunday in October, which means it's time for another Basement Cat LOL today:

Yeah, that would be a really depressing punishment...

What will Basement Cat get up to next? You'll have to come back next week to find out.

In the meantime, 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!

An Escape From the Blues

It's been kind of a traumatic week for me. I've had a few minor family emergencies which are never fun to deal with, work has been a little insane, and there's been a few other things that piled on this week.

So when I need cheering up, I turn to Simon's Cat. So for those of you who also need a little uplifting this weekend, enjoy.



The sad thing is I can totally see my cats doing this... which is perhaps why I find it so funny.

I know I kind of neglected the blog this week. Hopefully things will get back to normal a little bit more next week.

Hurry, It's the Last Day!

If you haven't already, don't forget today is the very, very last day you can nominate a title for consideration in this years Cybils Awards.

Anyone (yes, anyone) can nominate one book per category. All you need is an email address (which is how they keep track of who nominated what).

So if you haven't nominated something yet, please, please, please consider doing so. It only take a few minutes This is about a close as I'm going to get to begging folks.

If you'd like to help but don't have a clue what to nominate, I posted a list a couple days ago of some choices for graphic novels that I would love to see make the list. And the Cybils blog has also posted these two lists on the same subject. Everything on these list are books we'd love to see considered this year, but we can consider it if someone doesn't nominate it.

So help someone out, and head over to the Cybils site to make your last minute nominations before midnight Eastern time today.

Oh, and if you end up nominating a graphic novel, you can also earn extra contest entries here at The Shady Glade.

Want Extra Contest Entries?

Want extra entries for my contest for Suzanne Weyn's Empty or Star Crossed: Gemini Night?

Well, here's a way to get up to 2 extra entries. All you have to do is nominate an eligible graphic novel for this year's Cybils awards. You can nominate up to two titles, one for each category (Middle Grade and Teen). Nominations must be both eligible and unique (meaning you are the first one to nominate it) in order to get these extra entries.

Just leave a comment on this post letting me know which title(s) you nominated and where you'd like to apply your extra entries (Empty or Gemini Night).

If you've already nominated a graphic novel, you can still get extra entries. Just let me know in the comments which one you nominated.

Good luck!

(Psst: If you want to nominate a title but don't know what to choose, you'll find a list of good ideas here.)

Cybils 2010: Missing Graphic Novel Nominations

This Friday, October 15th, is the last day to nominate a title for consideration in this year's Cybils Awards. So naturally, as it comes down to the last few days, many Cybils participants turn to the ideas of what hasn't made the list yet. And while there have already been a few posts about the subject, I'm going to talk about my favorite panel: Graphic Novels.

Yes, I know I'm biased, because that's the panel I'm on. But honestly, I didn't know a lot of graphic novels that were published this year, so I was pretty excited to see the list of titles that had already been nominated. It's an impressive list, and so far we're sitting at 70 eligible titles, which is 9 more than last year. I'll probably talk a lot in the new few weeks about what has already made the list, but today, let's examine what hasn't made it.

And hey, if you haven't nominated a graphic novel title already, these are all eligible this year. ;)

One book I know I mentioned last year that I was surprised hasn't been nominated yet is the Pride and Prejudice adaptation by Nancy Butler (part of the Marvel Classics line). Her Sense & Sensibility was nominated, but unfortunately it comes out in November, so it's not eligible for this years awards. Which is what happened with P&P last year. I would like the chance to look at this one (I'm a big Austen fan) so hopefully it will squeak by last minute.

Speaking of Marvel Classics, the sequel to last year's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
is also eligible this year. The Marvelous Land of Oz (Marvel Classics) looks just as fun as it's predecessor. I love Skottie Young's artwork in these. (I also like the look of Marvel's new Her-Oes series, but the publication date is November. Alas, it will have to be eligible next year...)

One of my favorites from last year (although it didn't make the shortlist) was Graphic Spin's adaptation of The Emperor's New Clothes. This year their publications focused on American Tall Tales, and there is a Johnny Appleseed, Paul Bunyan, John Henry, and Pecos Bill adaptation all eligible for this year's awards. What, no Annie Oakley?

One new find for me last year was the Girl Genius series by Phil Foglio. This is a great series of graphic novels, especially for those who are into steampunk. The newest volume, Girl Genius Volume 9: Agatha Heterodyne and The Heirs of the Storm, is eligible this year, and I'd love to see it make the list. I got my dad addicted to this last year, so he wants to see it on the list so he has an excuse to borrow the book while I'm reading it...

Longtime readers of this blog know I'm a total Disney nut. And beyond that, the only thing I enjoy more than Disney princesses are the Disney fairies. And there are graphic novels of them! Three of titles are eligible this year: Prilla's Talent, Tinker Bell and the Wings of Rani, and Tinker Bell and the Day of the Dragon. I hope to see one of them make the list (especially the one about Rani, she's my favorite), since I just love my Disney fairies.

And while looking at the shiny new fairies graphic novels, I came across another Disney title that I hope eventually makes it: Disney's Hero Squad: Ultraheroes Vol 1. This series looks like so much fun. It reminds me of the DuckTales cartoons I used to watch and love when I was little.

Actually, Disney's been really busy this last year in the graphic novel department. I found all sorts of eligible titles from the Pixar movies while poking around, including Wall-E: Recharge, Toy Story: Return Of Buzz LightYear, Cars: Radiator Springs, Finding Nemo: Reef Rescue, and The Incredibles: Revenge From Below.

One book I read just a few months ago and really enjoyed was The Lizard Prince Vol. 1 by Asuka Izumi. Looking around, I notice that The Lizard Prince Vol. 2 is eligible this year. Since this is next on my TBR list anyway as soon as the Cybils is over, it would be nice to combine the two, since I really love the characters in this one.

If you look at the current nomination list, you'll see that a title called Muppet Robin Hood has already made it. Poking around on Amazon to try and find out more about the book I discovered there's also a Muppet King Arthur and a Muppet Peter Pan that were also published this year. This looks like a fun series, and I love the Muppets almost as much as I love Disney (almost).

The rash of graphic novel adaptations that I mentioned last year has continued. But for some reason I can't think of any examples off the top of my head except The Clique: The Manga. Probably because I just picked it up from the library a couple weeks ago. But I know there were a lot more published this past year. Help, anyone?

So that's my list, or at least what I can think of right now. We'll have to see if any of these end up making the cut with the deadline. And if I missed any titles you know are eligible, leave them in the comments and I'll add them to the list!