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It’s Penguin’s Anniversary and We Get the Presents!

Today is a special day for Penguin.  It’s their 75th anniversary!  For 3/4 of a century, Penguin has been making some great books available to readers around the world.  It  started out as a small English publishing company with a vision for making reprinted paperback books affordable (for the price of a pack of cigarettes at that time).  Over time, they’ve expanded to the point that their logo is known just about everywhere.

I’ve always loved to own copies of Penguin Classics.  It always made me happy to see them stacked up on my college bookshelves as part of my assigned reading.  I love Penguin Classics so much that when I found out about a program Penguin was hosting, I jumped at the chance to have a random Penguin Classic sent to me to read and review.  I’m not sure how lucky I was, but I was sent Melmouth the Wanderer.  It wasn’t my favorite classic, but it still sits on my shelf, another Penguin Classic for my collection.

Penguin has a website dedicated to their 75th Anniversary and it has some really interesting features.  There is a timeline, an essay about the first 10 books published by Penguin, and a gallery of photos featuring Penguin employees, book covers, and advertising throughout the years.  What I found the most interesting  was the evolution of book cover art over the years.  It reminded me of a recent interview I read in ReadyMade with one of Penguin’s cover artists, Paul Buckley.  I was thrilled to see that he designed one of my favorite book covers since I started blogging, Special Topics in Calamity Physics.  His work is just the tip of the iceberg.  I love some of the innovative covers Penguin has – from the iconic Classics, to the tattoo art , to the cartoons, it makes the physical experiences with novels fun.  I don’t think I would have ever bought The Three Musketeers had it not been for this cover…

In celebration of their anniversary, Penguin has generously offered me and one of my lucky readers  each one of a choice of 75 of their titles (thanks, Lindsay)!  Go here to see the list of the titles to choose from.  How do you pick just one? LOL!  Actually, I’m leaning toward the Graham Greene title, but they have White Noise by Don DeLillo, a book whose cover was designed by Paul Buckley and featured in his interview, the newest Wuthering Heights and Pride and Prejudice covers that I love, and a comic cover for Lady Chatterly’s Lover, another classic I’ve always been meaning to read.  Decisions, decisions…  Enter my contest by filling out the form below and you, too, may face my delicious dilemma.

Happy Anniversary, Penguin!

#252 ~ The Threadbare Heart

The Threadbare Heart by Jennie Nash

Published by: Berkley Trade

Published on: May 4, 2010

Page Count: 304

Genre: Women’s Fiction

My Reading Format: ARC sent to me by the publisher in conjunction with the author’s Mother’s Day contest

Available Formats: paperback

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My Review

Lily has an empty nest and she’s taking on fewer responsibilities at the New England college where she and her beloved husband have been teaching for many years. At this cross roads in her life, Lily is feeling less than confident. Even her marriage, the one stronghold in her life, is beginning to feel off. This becomes especially apparent to her when she and Tom fly out to her mother’s lavish home in California. To make matters worse, she and Eileen never really saw eye-to-eye. Eileen seemed to throw love and marriages away like old newspaper. She never gave Lily the stability she felt she needed. Eileen’s life is also changing. As she is getting older, her friends are dying. She needs to decide what is important to her. Can both women save what they love the most and learn to embrace life’s changes?

The Threadbare Heart is an interesting look at life and love as women age.  While I thought that at times Lily overreacted to seemingly things with Tom, I understood her character and felt her struggles.  I also related to the way that found her creative outlets.  Her love for her grandmother’s lace hit home.  Eileen is equally sympathetic and, because she’s more openly and honestly flawed, was my favorite character.  I know that she’s the type of person I’d want to spend time with.  Although this mother and daughter pair are such distinctly different women, it made sense to me that they were connected because they really needed each other.

I enjoyed reading The Threadbare Heart and finished it in less than a weekend.  One disappointment I had was not really related to the story itself.  The publisher’s summary gave away something that happened half-way into the novel.  I wish that  hadn’t read it at all before picking up the book.  I would strongly caution anyone interested in reading this novel not to read the back cover.  You’ll thank me later.  I would definitely recommend this book to those who like reading about mature women and their relationships.

My Favorite Mother/Daughter Team

Although no one entered my contest, I still would like to share my favorite mother/daughter  duo.  Ever since I first saw Steel Magnolias, I’ve loved M’Lynn and Shelby.  They brought out the best in each other.  When needed, they provided each other the strength needed to do what had to be done, even after death.

Happy Mother’s Day to my mom, Barbara, and to all mothers out there!

Favorite Fictional Mother-Daughter Pair Contest

I am excited to be taking part in Mother’s Day contest Jennie Nash is hosting in conjunction with the release of her latest novel, The Threadbare Heart.  I thought this was such a fun contest and I’m glad I was able to participate. Here are the details from Jennie Nash herself:

The Threadbare Heart is a story about a mother and a daughter torn apart by grief, jealousy and misunderstanding — and the family heirloom that finally brings them together. To celebrate its publication, and in honor of Mother’s Day, I’m running a ?Favorite Fictional Mother & Daughter? contest with the fantastic bloggers listed in the box to the right. We want to know which fictional mother-daughter pair made you laugh? Made you cry? Made you cringe? Which pair revealed something true about your own mother-daughter relationships? (And yes, mothers and daughters in film are eligible. Fiction is fiction, right?)

Please note that I am one of many blogs participating in this contest and I would love to have all of my readers enter my contest – but you can only enter on one blog.

How to Enter:

Send me an email at literatehousewife (at) gmail (dot) com and in 250 words tell me your favorite fictional mother-daughter pair and explain why.  Send your email to me by Saturday, May 8th at 12pm EST to be entered.  If you happen to write about my favorite fictional mother-daughter team, you will win a special prize directly from me.  I will be copying and pasting all entries into a document without identifying information and reading from there.  Per Jennie’s rules, I’ll be selecting the entry I like the best.  The winner I select as well as the winners from the other blogs receive a signed copy of The Threadbare Heart and will be entered in the Grand Prize Giveaway.

On Mother’s Day, I will be a) reviewing The Threadbare Heart and b) announcing my favorite fictional mother-daughter combo, c) announcing anyone who selected my favorite combo, and d) posting the winning entry for my blog.

Jennie will choose a Grand Prize winner on May 16 from all the winning blog entries.  From Jennie: “How will I pick? Whichever entry just hits me as being heartfelt and true.  The Grand Prize will be announced on the participating blogs, on my website and on Twitter.”  [Speaking of Jennie's website, here is a link.  You can read the first chapter of The Threadbare Heart while you're there.  Jennie's Twitter account is @jennienash.]

What does the Grand Prize winner receive?  Here is Jennie’s description:

The Grand Prize winner will receive a ?Book Club in a Box — ten signed copies of The Threadbare Heart, a call-in from the author, and a delicious rum cake to share with your book-reading friends. (Why rum cake? You’ll have to read the book to understand! I’ve picked out a cake by a baker named Kelli because she started selling rum cakes when she lost her baking buddy to cancer and I loved her story – and I happen to think that good stories are a big part of a good life.)

I look forward to reading your entries.  Good luck to everyone who enters on every blog.  I think this is going to be a lot of fun.

Fireworks Over Toccoa Contest

I have recently read Fireworks Over Toccoa by Jeffrey Stepakoff.  I’m working on my review, which will be posted next week. [Sneak Peak: I think people will find this to be a fun beach read this year.]

In the meantime, I wanted to let you know about an incredible contest being held by St. Martin’s Press.  It’s underway beginning this week and will be open until March 30, the novel’s publication date.

Here are the details Sarah sent me (emphasis mine!):

Go to the book’s website.  There, you will find:

The Lace Reader Winner

My “It’s time to pick a winner” helper is slacking off once again. I completely forgot to draw a winner for my second copy of The Lace Reader.  Sorry about that!  It got lost in the BBAW shuffle I’m afraid.  I came across this copy after reshelving my books after taking the pictures for my True Confessions post.  Yet one more thing to feel guilty about. LOL!

Via List Randomizer, the winner is:

Jemima from The Reading Journey!

Congratulations!  I hope you enjoy this even half as much as I did.  Please send me your mailing address and I’ll send this on your way.

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• #197 ~ The Lace Reader ~ Book Tour and Giveaway (literatehousewife.com)

Remarkable Creatures Winner!

Thanks to everyone who entered this contest.  It was very interesting to read everyone’s views on the debate between science and religion.  Unfortunately, there can only be one winner.  Via List Randomizer, I drew the lucky winner and she is:

Carrie K from Books and Movies

Congratulations, Carrie!  Please send me an email with your mailing address and I’ll send you my second ARC copy your way.

BBAW ~ The Serial Giveaway

One of the best things about Book Blogger Appreciation Week is the giveaways. They are fun to host and they are fun to win. For me, how my giveaway came about is the result of a fluke.  Many of you commented on my post I wrote earlier this month on being too unfaithful a reader to get into reading many fictional series.  That post was prompted by a discussion that two book bloggers were having on Twitter about The Hunger Games series.  I started looking at a particular unread  series gathering dust on my bookshelves.  I considered making one such series part of my giveaway.  I then saw the first two books in The Hunger Games series and found it impossible to not bring them home with me.  Later, I found a book bag featuring the first series on clearance.  Then I knew that fictional series would be the focus of my giveaway this year.  This all expanded on Thursday when another complete series showed up in my mailbox.  I call that serendipity.  After further combing my bookshelves, I found a couple additional series.  Yeah, it’s going to be a serial fiction blowout during BBAW on The Literate Housewife Review.

Here are the complete and partial series I am giving away this week.  Details will follow, but you can enter for one, more, or all if you are interested:

The Complete Twilight Series by Stephenie Meyer

I won a complete set of these novels during Maw Books’ Reading and Blogging for Darfur campaign.  Twilight and New Moon are paperback.  Eclipse and Breaking Dawn are hardcover.  Although I was excited to win them, I’ve personally never been able to work up the enthusiasm to read them.  They are brand new, but a little dusty.  I know that there are others out there who would love and cherish these books.  These books will be sent to the winner wrapped in a black ‘Team Jacob” book bag.

The Hunger Games Series (1 & 2) by Suzanne Collins

Both The Hunger Games and Catching Fire are in hard cover.  I will send them to the winner as soon as I read them (early October).  I am a most gentle reader with hardcovers, so hopefully you won’t be able to tell the difference.  If I don’t start reading them by the middle of October, I will send them to the winner unread.  I’m not going to leave anyone hanging.  I don’t have a great track record for starting a series. LOL!

The Betsy-Tacy Series (high school years & beyond) by Maud Hart Lovelace

This is the series that arrived in my mailbox on Thursday.  HarperCollins is re-releasing this series.  There are three trade paperbacks, each containing two novels.  They take Betsy from freshman year through her wedding.  A special thanks to them for sending them my way.  There seems to be a lot of interest in these novels.  I’ve never read them, but aren’t the covers lovely?  This will make a marvelous prize for one lucky BBAW participant this week.

The Atlantis Trilogy (1 & 2) by Thomas Greanias

The first two books in the Atlantis Trilogy are included in this one trade paperback.  The third novel in this series, The Atlantis Revalation, was just released in August.  These books are action packed, so if you like your novels fast and thrilling, this would be perfect for you.  A special thank you to Pocket Books for sending this book to me.

The Iron Elves Series (1 & 2) by Chris Evans

A Darkness Forged in Fire is in trade paperback.  The Light of Burning Shadows is hardcover.  This series is labeled as miliatary fantasy.  I think the covers are striking.  A special thanks to Pocket Books for sending these copies to me!

How do I enter?

So that is just about a little bit of everything, don’t you think?  Is there anything here that might interest you?  Yes?  Well here’s what you need to know:

1) This contest is open to all.  If there is more than one international winner, I may need to space out mailing the prizes over time due to the cost of shipping.  Several of prizes are quite heavy.
2) Leave one comment for each series you would like a chance at winning.   I will be using a spreadsheet to keep track of who leaves a comment for which series.  I think that is the only way I will keep sane and I think that would be easier for me if there were separate comments for each entry.
3) This contest is open until Friday, September 18th at 5pm EST.  I will announce the winners on Saturday, September 19th.
4) Good luck and enjoy BBAW!

Win a Copy of Ruined by Paula Morris

There is something about fall that makes it feel like the perfect time of the year to read a ghost story.  Sure, there is Halloween, but almost as soon as September arrives I’m ready for all things spooky.  As if to affirm my feelings, Carl runs the R.I.P. Challenge through September and October.   So, when Dina from Big Honcho Media contacted me about Ruined by Paula Morris, I knew it would make for a great read for R.I.P.

The best part is that Big Honcho Media has offered to send a copy of Ruined to five of my lucky readers!  If you’re also participating in R.I.P. or you enjoy Young Adult fiction, you should enter this giveaway.  Giving away 5 copies is a first for The Literate Housewife Review and I’m really excited about it.  With six of us reading the book, I would like to coordinate a spooktastic conversation about the book on Twitter for as many of the winners as would like to participate.  It’s not a requirement to be entered in the contest, but I sure think it would be fun.

Would you be interested in reading this book along with me?  Here is the summary that Dina sent me:

When Rebecca Brown goes to New Orleans to stay with her voodoo-obsessed aunt, she finds the beautiful city haunted by the effects of Hurricane Katrina. Rebecca is also startled to discover a haunting of a different kind: near a graveyard one night, amid the Spanish moss and beneath the moonlight, she meets a ghost girl named Lisette, who has been dead for 150 years. Lisette helps Rebecca unearth an ancient mystery in her aunt’s house, along with some troubling historical truths. Meanwhile, Rebecca must juggle adjusting to her snooty new prep school, developing a serious crush on a handsome boy, and dealing with an elite group of popular girls who may be linked to the ghostly mystery themselves.

If that isn’t enough, check out this trailer.  In it Paula Morris discusses the inspiration for this novel.  Isn’t the idea that Katrina displaced ghosts interesting?  I think so.

The Giveaway

I’ve got my copy of the novel, so I’m eager to get this contest started!  To enter the contest, leave a comment here telling me what scares you the most.  Also let me know if you would be interested in participating in a Tweet Up at some point in October.

For two additional entries a piece, link to this contest using Twitter, Facebook, or your blog.  Just let me know so I can give you your extra entries.

This giveaway will open for two weeks.  I’ll draw the winners using List Randomizer and will announce them on Tuesday, September 22.  I’ll accept entries until Monday the 21st at 11:59 PM EST.

Good luck!

Dog Days of Summer Drawing to an End

The Dog Days of Summer is almost over.  It was such a fun week for me.  I enjoyed sharing your photos and thoughts about dog and the books we read together.  Know that I will be a busy bee tomorrow making sure I have everyone’s entries accounted for before spending some good quality time with the trusty List Randomizer.

There is still time to vote in the photo contest, which has been up and running since Monday morning.  The polls stay open until midnight tonight, EST.  Until then, every vote counts!  Vote for your favorite dog.  Next year I think I might have to come up with some kind of sash or tierra for the winner.  This year, his or her mommy will have to capture all the glory.

Check out this post for all of the other ways to earn entries in my Dog Days of Summer contests.

Before the week is over, I’d like to take some time to thank Sheri from A Novel Menagerie.  She is the genius behind the oh, so adorable Dog Days of Summer banner and button.  She is such a special blogger friend to me.  She hosts fun weekly memes (I love her Monday’s Movie – I would participate more if I ever got a chance to watch a movie – and The Score – Sheri has great taste in music) and contests galore.  If you haven’t gotten to know her yet, you owe yourself the favor of checking out her blog.  This is her blogiversary month, so now is the right time to stop and take a look.  I know she’s busy as can be working on the BBAW committee.  Thanks so much for all you do, Sheri!

Have a great weekend and thanks for making the Dog Days of Summer such a wonderful event!

My Favorite Fictional Dog

I have a confession to make. I, Literate Housewife, the creator of Dog Days of Summer week, have never actually owned a dog. In fact, I’ve never even lived with a dog.  I don’t even recall ever having babysat for a family with a dog.  My parents had a dog before I was born, but after my dad had to to call after “Poopsie” through a conservative church during evening service one summer Sunday, they had enough (their own fault for naming the dog something embarrasing to yell in front of your neighbors).  The next time Poopsie ran away (apparently a frequent occurrence), they let him go.  As children, my four siblings and I begged for a dog, but we never got one.  When the topic of pets comes up, my dad is sure to say, “Every time you kids asked for a dog your mother got pregnant.”  LOL!

Now that I am an adult homeowner making a decent salary (with a 6-year-old going around drawing names out of a hat for a dog we haven’t adopted yet), there is no reason why I don’t have a dog today other than fear of additional responsibility.  I have seen the beautiful pictures of such beautiful dogs and I know that they are loved and loving.  Wow.  It just seems like a lot of work to me right now.  I guess it’s harder to dive in when you don’t have any practical experience.  Going back to the 6-year-old… She’s agreed to name the dog the name I like.  I believe she’s discovered the strongest holdout and is currently devising even more ways to break down my resolve.  Let’s face it.  It’s only a matter of time.

This does not mean that I don’t like dogs.  Quite the contrary!  I do – it’s just that they have all come from a book or some other form of pop culture.  I guess you can say that all of my dogs have been imaginary.  Since my guest post for this week didn’t work out, I thought it might be a good idea to pay tribute to my favorate dog character.  It took me a while to decide which ficticious dog is my absolute favorite.  Two of the dogs from the books I’ve read for Dog Days of Summer are strong contenders – Lorelei from The Dogs of Babel is a strong and loving dog despite her rocky start and unstable family and Enzo is whitty, smart and observant.  Either would make a good choice, but I’ve only known them now for a couple of weeks tops.  My favorite dog just happens to be the first dog I remember:

Snoop Dogg?  What the?  How did you get here?  You naughty dogg!  You are not my favorite fictional dog, that’s fo shizzle!  My favorite dog character of all time is:

Underdog!

I just love him and I always have!  He’s cute, charming in a geeky sort of way, brave, vulnerable, and just a tad clumsy.  He’s protective of those he loves, but he knows when to pull out his big guns.  He makes me laugh and feel happy to be alive.  What more can you ask for?  Unfortunately, I haven’t been seeing him around much any more (please don’t bring up the movie version – it’s as appealing to me as a Gone With the Wind sequel).  American society has all but gotten rid of the telephone booths he needs.  What technology taketh away, technology giveth – for there is an Underdog fix waiting for me 24/7 on YouTube!

Ah, the memories.  I just loved watching this when I was a kid.  They don’t make chartoons like this anymore.

Which dog character is your favorite?  What is it about this fictional dog that endears him/her to your heart?  Let me know, and you’ll be entered into my last new contest of the week!  If you are the lucky commenter selected by List Randomizer, you will win a Dog Days of Summer bookmark and a book about my favorite fictional family in cartoon form ~ The Simpsons.  Simpons Comics Hit the Road is 144 pages of comic fun.  Their fictional dog doesn’t seem to be present, though.  What’s up with that?

Thanks for participating and helping to make Dog Days of Summer so much fun!

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