Giveaway Winner and Books Read in 2010

Congratulations to Andrea for winning the Amazon gift certificate to celebrate 200 followers! Thanks to those who entered.

Another installment of books I read in 2010. We're getting down to the bottom of the pile. But still quite a few to go! I rate on a scale of 1-5.

The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides - 4

Definitely a book that will go down as literature to be read by future high school kids.

Julie and Julia by Julie Powell - 3

She's very witty. The movie was wonderfully done as well.

Letters from Africa Isak Dinesen

Heard of the movie Out of Africa? These were the actual letters written between Baroness Karen von Blixen-Fineke and her family. Sometimes a little boring (as normal life is) but enlightening.

The Help by Karen Stockett - 3

The story was nice, the dialect was horribly difficult to get into. I don't enjoy stories written in dialect, I try to correct the grammar as I read.

So You Don't Want to go to Church Anymore by Jake Colsen

Gave me some fresh ideas.

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Seth Grahame-Smith - 2

I found it a bit trite. It was fun and all, but basically taking most of someone else's work word for word and adding in your own element...I don't know. It just didn't hit me right.

Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater - 4

Very engaging writing and characters. Lovely stories. (Even if there is a lot of kissing :))

Northern Lights by Phillip Pullman - 3

I watched the movie first and was intrigued. The story was wonderful. I liked the movie as well, even though it ended differently.

The Vampire Diaries 1 by LJ Smith - 2

Fun and quick read. A little silly though. I like young adult, just needs to be believable and have some depth to it.

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson - 3

I couldn't put it down...because I was scared half to death. The writing was good, but the story was gripping! The movie is awesome (the Swedish one). I'm worried the English remake will horribly ruin it.

Selected Stories by Alice Munro - 3

Every once in a while it's nice to read short stories. Hers are all a bit confusing, but good.

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins - 3

I didn't know where she would go with this second book, but I liked it!

Reckless by Cornelia Funke - 3

A little high fantasy. It's like a breath of mountain air when high fantasy doesn't seem silly.

Grimms Fairy Tales by the Brothers Grimm - 4

I had to read these, I do live in Germany!

Night Probe by Clive Cussler - 3

I'm not much for adventures, but ever since I was given a stack of books with one of his, I like to read them here and there. Funky, fast, and definitely alluring.

Give-away Winner Three

The winner of the final birthday give-away is Hanna from I'll Name My Typewriter After the Moon. I'll let you know what she chooses when I find out. Thank you to everyone for celebrating my birthday with me and entering the give-aways. I'm still only three followers from 200, so hello to the new followers and look forward to another give-away quite soon!

Welcome to November - Give-away One Winner

The winner for the first give-away last week is Jamie from The Broke and The Bookish (story of my life, that blog title is) (umm, sorry to go all Yoda on that sentence). I'll get in contact with Jamie and send her the postcards. Thanks to everyone who entered. The other two give-aways are still open, so enter those too!

My sister had her baby on the 29th. Ella Lorraine has the perfect birthday; it is right between her daddy's and mine. So now our family has three birthdays in a row in October. Also, earlier in October my mother-in-law and sister-in-law have their birthdays. It's just a crazy month. But now we move on to November. Here is the free calendar.

Just click on the picture. When it comes up in its own browser window, right click and save the picture somewhere on your computer. Then go to that location, right click on the picture, and set as desktop background. Voila, you have a photo calendar on your computer! And please let me know in the comments if you use it.

Hibernating with Books

I've been hibernating since I got back from London. My husband bought me a pile of books. My choice of English books...I never realized how limited the amount of English books in Germany would be until I went back to London and had five floors of books to pick from.

By the way, Shiver is amazing. I'm so mad at myself for not buying the sequel. And I'm so tired of starting trilogies that the author hasn't even finished writing yet. Why do I do that?

Ok, big news. Cora has decided to pass the prize for the 150 Stalkers Give-away to someone else. Penguin does not have A Tale of Two Cities in the fancy cloth-bound classics. That is her favorite book. So she wanted to give someone else a chance. And Melissa Gill is our new winner!

The London bookstore was out of the Penguin classics, sad day. But I will get whatever Melissa wants online and send it to her. (I think I might order my copy of Pride and Prejudice too, hee hee.)

Tomorrow is the 'Guess That Character Blogfest' so come back for that. (Shoot, I need to find a photo of my character and a description of her in my novel. Ummm...guess I better get on that.) I'll be postponing tomorrow's Three Things Thursdays because of the blogfest, but it'll be back next week.

I think that's all.

150 Stalkers Give-away

Thank you soooooo much to everybody who entered the give-away from Penguin cloth-bound books. There were 63 entries (wow) from 21 people. According to random.org #31 is the winner, and that's Cora.

I jumped 14 new followers and can't wait to do another give-away at 200. Maybe I'll do one before then just because it's so fun.

Word of the Week is on hold on Monday because I will be in London. My flight leaves in 9 hours, maybe I should go pack?

Winner and News Updates Before the Weekend!

The winner of the give-away is Jennifer with Wearable By Design! Check out her shop (just click the link), she has some beautiful stuff. Thanks so much for playing everyone. It seems that everyone really loved Little Brown Bird's clutch and it actually sold on Tuesday!

Some news:

You all didn't give me very comprehensive information on whether or not you liked to have a response to your comments. Frustrating, and why I'm opening the poll again. More research is needed! There were 5 votes for a response in the comments; 4 votes for a response in e-mail; and 4 votes for no response at all. At least I know you don't want to see responses in the blog posts! Knocked out one choice. The poll is open again for another two weeks with the narrowed down answers. Feel free to vote again. But for now I have decided to respond in the comments unless it is something I specifically need to respond about and then I'll e-mail.

Oh wow, I'm drawing a blank. I think I forgot my other news. Forgive the craziness, my mind is in a million places right now. We're having a poker party tomorrow night and I need to clean, but I'm also thinking about what I am blogging next week and trying to get over my sore throat. Ahhh!

So I guess, have a good weekend!

The Answer and a Winner

I'm very excited to announce that

Cora

is the winner! Thank you to thirtyonedesigns for providing the prize. And thanks for playing guys.

Albert and I are headed to a fancy car show in Switzerland tomorrow. I'll have some pictures of the beautys for you.

Our Winner

Thanks for playing guys. I really love this necklace and am excited to give it to

Kelli

Thank you again to chinacherie for the prize. We have another give-away coming up soon. Yay!