BEA Saturday

So I am throught the first day of BEA. I think I could have done better. I didn't understand that the signing are where the free books are duh! I learned that just a little to late I only got three books. So I kinda feel like I missed out. The highlight for me was the book blogger panel. I learned a lot and it was done very well. Well at least I am prepared for tomorrow sort of. :-/

What I am looking forward to at BEA!

What's the first thing I am looking forward to at BEA the Books and the People!

I don't really know what is coming out book wise that I will be interested in. I don't really search that far in advanced when I comes to books. I like to be surprised most of the time or i will look if a publisher or my manager asks me look at the copies of magazines with the advanced viewing of books.

I know Catching Fire, the sequel to Hunger Games, is a big one everyone was getting yesterday. And I could kick myself because a copy of the arc showed up at my work and I thought about taking home but I never read Hunger Games. I did think well Catching Fire isn't due out till September and I could read Hunger Games before that and Catching Fire. Oh well

I am also looking forward to the blogger panel at 2pm. Hopefully I find it because I heard it is not on the program.

Well I got to finish packing then it is me and my hubby off to the train.

Contest off for weekend

I am going to skip Refer a Book Weekend this week. Partically because I have been suffering from some major depression ie. the reasons I have not posted this week.

I am trying to build my self up for BEA which I am going to on Saturday and Sunday. I plan on the bringing a laptop so hopefully some updates either by twitter or blog post. We will see how it goes.

I haven't been reading much this week but I have gotten my long hair cut short and I made business cards for Confuzzled Books but I really don't know what to expect from BEA except to get ready to carry lots of swag. I know it is kinda a business thing so I really don't have words to decribe what I do . I mean I kinda do but I usually fumble over words. I am so not social. So for those of you bloggers that I may met at BEA which I hope I do Sorry if I come off silent or look cold . I am learning to not be a wallflower and after 20 years of doing so it's a hard thing to stop doing.

Winner of Refer A Book Weekend 5/27/09!

Congrats to Llehn our winner this week who said...I pitched this to you the last time but you didn't pick it, so I'm going to recommend it to you again because it is THAT good. Silver Phoenix by debut author Cindy Pon is a refreshing spin on the fantasy genre. It’s got gorgeous prose, Asian demons, breathtaking adventure and romance. What’s more, it just got listed as Top Ten Fantasy for Children by Booklist alongside Neil Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book and Suzanne Collins’s Hunger Games. Now that’s great company to be keeping. I definatley think I will love this book. I have heard good things


gaby317who said...I r recommend Jim Butcher's First Lord's Fury. It's from his Codex Alera series and should be coming out this year. I love this entire series - so hard to put down!
I also recommend Fortune and Fate by Sharon Shinn, wonderful fantasy!!
gaby i didn't pick either of the books you mention because they are book in the middle of a series. And i like to read from the begining of the series. Don't get me wrong they still look interesing.


Thanks for playing and also a thank you to Liyana for the award she gave Confuzzled Books!

Refer A Book Weekend 5/22/09

Rules of Refer A Book Weekend: To play all you have to do is recommend a book that you liked and post in the comments. Tell me why you liked the book or link to your review. I will pick a recommendation, then add it to my TBR pile and the person who recommended the book will get to win a book from this Pile of Free Books that I reviewed.I usually post the Refer A Book Weekend post at 12pm EST after I am done work. Each week I will post a new post for you to comment in. The winner will not be picked until Monday so you have the weekend to recommend.

Hint : I have no idea anything is good.

Review - Dirty Little Angels by Chris Tusa

Title: Dirty Little Angels
Series:: none
Author(s)::Chris Tusa
Genre:: Fiction
Summary: Hallie struggles with faith, life, death and betrayal in a small town in New Orleans.
Finished: 05/04/09
Pages: 170
Challenges:
Rating:









My Thoughts: The main character, Hallie, deals with the betrayal of her father, and her own betrayal of her best friends, and the characters surrounding her. This a dark book; one of those books that start out dark and you know are just going to get darker.
I enjoyed the writing style. I could relate to the characters; even though they did things that maybe I wouldn't do, there was still something about them I related to.
There were many strange and interesting character throughout the book.

About the Author: Chris Tusa is the author of two books, the first being a collection of poetry called Haunted Bones. Go to his website here.

Review - Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer

Title: Eclipse
Series:: Twilight Series
Author(s):: Stephenie Meyer
Genre:: Fantasy, Young Adult
Summary: Bella is in trouble again and needs protection from rabid newborn vampires.
Finished: 05/08/09
Pages: 629
Challenges: Vampire Challenge
Rating:










My Thoughts: Bella and Edward love each other, Jacob loves Bella, and Bella loves Jacob in a different way. A whole nice love triangle. This time around mortal enemies Edward, the vampire, and Jacob, the werewolf team up to protect Bella from an army of vampires.

My favorite scene took place in the winter, when Bella had to hide out in the woods. Jacob was the only one who could keep Bella warm, since vampires aren't known to be very warm. Edward and Jacob talk while Bella is sleeping -- I like any time Jacob and Edward talked because Edward can read Jacobs mind. I also didn't mind Jacob as much in this book. He grew on me, unlike in New Moon, the last book.

A lot of people complain about this book, saying Edward is overprotective of Bella. I really didn't mind those scenes as much. The relationship seemed fine to me.

I enjoyed this one. It has me prepared for the next book, Breaking Dawn. There is lots of Jacob, and I don't mind so much.

About the Author: Stephanie Meyer is the author of 5 books. Four being the Twilight series. Her first book, Twilight, has been made into a movie. The second, New Moon, is due in theaters this summer.

Refer A Weekend Winner 5/19/09!

And the Winner is Llehn who said I would like to recommend Oh. My. Gods by Tera Lynn Childs. It has been tagged as part "Harry Potter," part Rick Riordan's The Lightning Thief and twists Greek myth to highlight high school drama. Loads of fun! Sound like a good one. I will email you later today so you can pick your winning. Congrats!

gautami tripathy who said...I recently read The Red-Headed Stepchild by Jaye Wells. I liked it. It is fast paced and witty.Here is my review:The Red-Headed Stepchild

This sounds like another good one right up my alley wish i had been more excited about it though.

Ann Diana Dinh, who said...I recommend The Feast of Love by Charles Baxter. Great book!

This one confused me a little. I understand it is about love but it just seemed like to much was going on in the book.

gaby317 who said...I'd like to recommend Angelica by Sharon Shinn. It might sound a bit weird that the main characters are angels but it's not a religious book at all. The angels are selected because of their gift of song. Once every year all inhabitants of the world are asked to sing to God to keep the world from being destroyed - but there aren't many angels. Shinn creates a world with a caste system with the angels at the top, but these angels don't always behave with honor. Humans seek to become angels or marry angels and have part-angel babies. This world is unlike ours today but it's easy to imagine the reality that Shinn creates.

I liked the sound of this one but didn't pick it because I like to read the start of the series


Thanks everyone! :-)

Sunday Salon - First Post

It my first time participating in the Sunday Salon. I hope I am doing it right. I figure I give everyone a update on what I am doing this week and the week coming.

I have been thinking about participating in the 48 hour Read A Thon. I would probably have to work sometime during but i only work 4 hours a day so shouldn't be to bad.

What I am reading this week:

• The Slippery Art of Book Reviews by Mayra Calvani
• The Last Olympian by Rick Riordan
  
• Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer
  

What I have been listening to forever :

• The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale
• When You Are Engulfed in Flames by David Sedaris

What I plan on reading next week:

• "You Wanna Go To Willard?"
  by Linda M Holbrook
• Enemies & Allies: A Novel
  by Kevin J. Anderson

I have a couple of interviews with authors coming up as well in June and before that the end of May I am going to Book Expo America in New York. So excited can't wait for that!

Weekly Geeks - Local Authors

This week, take us on a literary tour of your hometown! Do you live in a place where a famous author was born? Does your town have any cool literary museums or monuments? Does Stephen King live at the end of your street? Was Twilight set in your hometown? Share your fun literary facts about the town or area where you live. You can talk about famous (or not so famous) authors who live there, novels that have been set in your area, or any other literary facts that you know about where you live. Feel free to embellish with pictures of places and/or authors, maps of the area, and fun facts about the authors. As usual, feel free to personalize this. Don’t like your hometown? Pick another! Do you live in a literary wasteland? Feel free to expand and discuss a region. Feel like returning to a place you lived 20 years ago? Go for it!


In my area of Bucks County there are two authors that I can think of that lived in the area. They are no longer living but we have there books, houses and building named after them to remember them by.

First Author is Pearl S. Buck author of The Good Earth which is a book I started and never finish. Not because it is bad just the opposite actually. I just was reading it when I made trips to the book store and I lost my place. It's been a while since i went back to it so I don't think I could find where I left off. If you would like to see a picture of the farm she lived on go here it also has a biography and can tell you more about her.

The second author is James Michener I guess his best known novel would be Hawaii? He known for doing epic novels. Wikipedia has a list of his novels here. We have a Museum named after him. I have yet to read one of his books my husband has though.

I don't know of any books based in Bucks County but I know of a movie Signs with Mel Gibson. It's not a good one I know but you get the idea of what the area looks like because they filmed it in the area.

Refer A Book Weekend 5/15/09!

Rules of Refer A Book Weekend: To play all you have to do is recommend a book that you liked and post in the comments. Tell me why you liked the book or link to your review. I will pick a recommendation, then add it to my TBR pile and the person who recommended the book will get to win a book from this Pile of Free Books that I reviewed.I usually post the Refer A Book Weekend post at 12pm EST after I am done work. Each week I will post a new post for you to comment in. The winner will not be picked until Monday so you have the weekend to recommend.

Hint: Right now I am reading two books that I really enjoy the series. I am The last book in the Percy Jackson series The Last Olympian and the last book in the Twilight series Breaking Dawn. I was wondering if anyone had any other good Mythological books or Vampire books other then the series said above.

Review - Slob by Ellen Potter

Title: Slob
Series:: none
Author(s):: Ellen Potter
Genre:: Young Readers
Summary: Owen Birnbaum is a smart, overweight 12-year-old who loves to invent new things. Only thing is, his inventions are not catching whoever is stealing parts of his lunch. Nor are they helping with the embarrassment that is gym.
Finished: 05/05/09
Pages: 208
Challenges: none
Rating:









My Thoughts: Owen Birnbaum is a very smart, but very overweight kid. He comes up with inventions that one would never think of. He's also been picked on and made fun of to the point of breaking. The biggest problem Owen has is that he has no one to trust. When he does summon up a little bit of trust in someone, it is broken very easily. I think this makes him feel lonely. One strength that helps him cope is creating his inventions.

I grew up with situations similar to Owen's, except I wasn't as productive as he is. I basically crawled into a hole and eventually dug myself out. Owen has better ways to deal with his problems than I did, and I really wouldn't have any advice for the kid. He does pretty good on his own.

Owen and Jeremy are the most interesting character to me. Jeremy is Owen's sister, and yes that is a boys name, but I will say not her real name.

The story was entertaining and has some mystery surrounding it. I think a young reader would enjoy it because it is realistic. Even the inventions don't go too overboard. The book just came out in May and has already won the Junior Library Guild Award.


About the Author: Ellen Potter is better known for her series of Olivia Kidney books for young readers. You can visit her at her website http://www.ellenpotter.com/


UPDATED: AUTHOR INTERVIEW 8/26/2011 - Ellen Potter Interview

Review - Meeting Mr. Wrong by Stephanie Snowe

Title: Meeting Mr. Wrong
Series:: none
Author(s):: Stephanie Snowe
Genre:: Biography, Memoir
Summary: Stephanie Snowe returns to the world of dating and meets some strange prospects.
Finished: 05/09/09
Pages: 160
Challenges: none
Rating:









My Thoughts: It's hard to believe this is a non-fiction book, but it is. It's about author Stephanie Snowe's life as she enters the world of online dating and interesting dates she meets along the way.

I like the tone Stephanie's set up. She has a healthy sense of humor about her life, and it shows throughout the book. It's almost unbelievable that one woman can meet so many awful men.

This reminded me of a book I reviewed called I'm with Stupid, but this is written better and the fact that it's true makes it funnier. I can't wait to see more books from Ms. Snowe. I'm interested to see how everything turns out.


About the Author: Stephanie Snowe is the mother of two and author of one book so far. The author also has a blog called "Jason. For the love of God..." You can visit and check out her writing style.


If you would like to win a signed copy of this book go to this post and leave a comment and your email. Drawing end June 1st.

It Tuesday Where Are You?New York and Washington

Event takes place at raidergirl3's An Adventure in Reading.

I am in New York preparing for war with Kronos. I just listened to a prophecy that foretells my death. (The Last Olympian by Rick Riordan)

I am in Forks, Washington preparing for a wedding... my wedding with Edward. My best friend Jacob has run away. (Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer)

Review - Everyone is Different by Lori Lee Corson-Tobia

Title: Everyone is Different
Series:: none
Author(s):: Lori Lee Corson-Tobia
Genre:: Children's Picture Book
Summary: Annie the cow and her farm friends teach children how everyone is different but beautiful in there own ways.
Finished: 05/01/09
Pages: 32
Challenges: none
Rating:









My Thoughts: A teaching book about how we may be different on the outside but still beautiful, and beautiful on the inside as well. Annie the cow and her farm animal family are different as can be on the outside, but they love each other all the same. I think the book does a good job conveying the message the author is trying to send, and I like the artwork. The animals eyes are big and wide, kind of humanizing them.

About the Author: Lori Lee Corson-Tobia was raised on a farm in New Jersey. She has written one other children's book, called Everybody Grows Old.

Refer A Book Weekend Winner for 5/11/09

You guys picked such great books. All of them sound good. I am not going go through each one because I wanted to pick them all. I really did. You can usually tell when the books are so hard to pick that it takes me forever to choose and post who won.


And the Winner is Nymeth who said...I love this idea! I recommend The Bromeliad by Terry Pratchett.My review is here. I found it very funny, meaningful, and impossible to put down.

I have read Going Postal and Nation by Pratchett but had not heard of this one. It sounds like fun.


Thanks for playing everyone. Same time next week. ;-)

Refer A Book Weekend 5/08/09!

Rules of Refer A Book Weekend: To play all you have to do is recommend a book that you liked and post in the comments. Tell me why you liked the book or link to your review. I will pick a recommendation, then add it to my TBR pile and the person who recommended the book will get to win a book from this Pile of Free Books that I reviewed.I usually post the Refer A Book Weekend post at 12pm EST after I am done work. Each week I will post a new post for you to comment in. The winner will not be picked until Monday so you have the weekend to recommend.


Hint: I Just finished reading Meeting Mr. Wrong and it was a funny memoir. I would like to read something else funny doesn't have to be a memoir.

Signed Book Giveaway #6 - Meeting Mr. Wrong by Stephanie Snowe

Here it is mystery signed book Giveaway #6 . It is a funny true memior of author Stephanie Snowe.
I am more then halfway through I have laughed out loud many times and at times feel terribly sorry for Stephanie. It is almost like a race of how many bad men can you find to date.

If you haven't been following on Twitter you can still check out my posting of the first 9 chapters here.

So if you would like to win a Signed Copy of this book Meeting Mr. Wrong. Post in the comments below and leave your email so I can contact you. This giveaway will be going on until June 1st.

Review - Wolf Will Build For Food.com by Bea Chiccarine & Jan Whittaker

Title: Wolf Will Build for Food.com
Series:: none
Author(s):: Bea Chiccarine & Jan Whittaker
Genre:: Children's Picture Book
Summary: The three little pigs are looking for a new home on the Internet, but they're deceived by the big bad wolf in disguise as a building constructor, and once he has their personal information, he keeps coming after them in different disguises.
Finished: 05/01/09
Pages: 32
Challenges: none
Rating:









My Thoughts: I like the idea of this book, and it is a fact that we need more books for kids on Internet security. Kudos to the author for coming up with the idea.

I have one issue with the book, though: the Internet needs to be more prominent. There are two pages involving a computer, and the rest is the wolf does continually coming after them in different disguises. But because you don't see the computer again, it just comes off as "don't trust anybody because they are all wolves in disguise." If the image of the pigs giving out their information online was repeated, it would have done a better job of driving home the message of Internet security.

So it's a good idea, but the book needs to focus on the Internet with more repetitiveness to really drive the message home, in my opinion.

About the Authors: Bea Chiccarine & Jan Whittaker are both elementary school teachers. This is the first book for both.

Mystery Signed Book Giveaway #6

Starting at 4pm Est I will be twittering about the Signed Book Giveaway. I thought I make up a little post where you can try to guess if you want. It's not required to win the book it's just for fun.

I will give a couple hints.

1. it's based on a true story about the author
2. the author is female
3. The book came out this year

So follow me on Twitter if you would like to hear more about the book.

Review - New Moon by Stephenie Meyer

Title: New Moon

Series:: Twilight Series

Author(s):: Stephenie Meyer

Genre:: Teen Romance

Summary: Bella deals with missing Edward by becoming closer to Jacob, who has a secret.

Finished: 04/27/09

Pages: 576

Challenges: Vampire Challenge

Rating:

My Thoughts: Continuing the story of Bella, Edward and Jacob, Edward leaves Bella after an accident, feeling it's better for her. Bella struggles with missing Edward, and becomes best friends with Jacob, who has a mystical secret.
I heard this was one of the least favorites for most Twilight readers, and it was for me as well. It was basically a way to get Jacob involved more and make the love triangle stronger. I don't know why, but I don't like Jacob. I felt that way as soon as he was introduced in Twilight. The fact that he also has a family secret and that he is competing with Edward annoys me. I also started this book and then put it down when Edward Left Bella, and didn't come back to it until after I saw the Twilight movie (and got some prodding from my cousin). So I never got the full Twilight series effect where I felt I had to read all the books at once. I am going to continue reading because I want to see where it goes, but this one was only okay.

About the Author: Stephenie Meyer is a mother of 3 and author of 4 books: the Twilight series and a book starting another series, The Host. Visit her Offical Site at http://www.stepheniemeyer.com/

.

Where Are You Tuesday? Washington

Event takes place at raidergirl3's An Adventure in Reading

I am in Forks, Washington with my boyfriend who is a vampire and my best friend the werewolf. The Vampire and Werewolf are teaming up to fight a group of new vampires that are after me. (Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer)

Winner of Signed Copy of Truth Lies in the Dark by Kristin Callender

The winner out of 23 names which was picked by Random Number Generator is

Here are your random numbers:

1 

Timestamp: 2009-05-05 23:01:00 UTC

Number 1! Who is

Pami said...

I would love to win, sounds very interesting thanks for this giveaway

A new Signed Book Giveaway will be announced tomorrow (Wednesday). Watch Twitter during the day to see what the book is about

Review - The Sock Fairy by Bobbie Hinman

Title: The Sock Fairy
Series:: Best Fairy Books
Author(s):: Bobbie Hinman
Genre:: Children's Picture Book
Summary: A children's book about what the sock fairy does with your socks.
Finished: 04/7/09
Pages: 32
Challenges: none
Rating:










My Thoughts: What a charming book! Did you ever wonder what happens to your missing socks? Why they get holes? Or why they get mismatched? The sock fairy knows why.

I picked this book up because I had read The Knot Fairy, also by Hinman, and really enjoyed it. This is beautifully illustrated, and, like The Knot Fairy, its childlike, whimsical feelings come through. And also like The Knot Fairy, it comes with a CD that has a song about The Sock Fairy and a reading of the book.

About the Author: Bobbie Hinman is the author of three children's books: The Knot Fairy, The Sock Fairy and, soon-to-be released, The Belly Button Fairy.

Winner of Refer A Book Weekend 5/4/09!

Congrats to Kristi who recommended...I just got I Love You More by Laura Duksta - you read the first half - then flip it over and read the second half. It sounds like a very sweet book.



Thank you to
DeSeRt RoSe said...I would recommend Pleasure Unbound by Larissa Ione it's paranormal romance at it's best

It sounds up my alley and I think I might give it a shot another time.

Thank you to
Wanda who said...I recommend Monkey and Me by Emily Gravett published by Simon and Schuster Books.

Sounds like a book that to get the full effect you have to read it to a child. I have yet to gain one of those yet.


Thank you to
Ann Diana Dinh, who said...I would recommend Sunday at Tiffany's by James Patterson

This one sounds interesting and I do want to try a James Patterson someday to see what he's all about but there were so many negative reviews on this one. I still might check it out I like the idea of it.


Thank you everyone!!

Weekly Geeks - Reviews!

Event takes place at http://www.weeklygeeks.com/

And now, thanks to the awesome team that is so good to continue hosting our Weekly Geeks activity, I am honored to guest present the idea. I only ask you to do one, some, all or none of the following:

1. Explain your review format - if you have one. Or maybe your rating system?

2. Highlight another book-blogger's review format by linking to a favorite example - don't forget to tell us why they are a fave!

3. Do a review in another book-blogger's format of your latest read. I did this just the other day when I had read a great post discussing what makes a good review and 'borrowing' from a comment by Ramya. That post was one of Bethany's and my example giving Ramya the credit is here.

4. Highlight a past review that you are particularly proud of and why the format or structure may have had something to do with it.


The review format I use is from a challenge site that I signed up for.
Title:
Series::
Author(s)::
Genre::
Summary:
Finished:
Pages:
Challenges:
Rating:

My Thoughts:

About the Author:

I didn't always use it and to be honest I still haven't found a way to post my reviews that feel like me yet. When I first started blogging I just posted a big paragraph of what I felt about the book and to this day I still say those post are more real to me. Not that the ones I post now are fake. The reason i use the review format that I do not is I don't always know what to say and it helps me think a little.

If you want you can check out my favorite review I posted here.

I do use a rating scale that I made up graphics for that I use.


One day i may go back to the original way or a different way to write the reviews as for now it will stay the way it is.

Refer A Book Weekend 5/1/09!

Rules of Refer A Book Weekend: To play all you have to do is recommend a book that you liked and post in the comments. Tell me why you liked the book or link to your review. I will pick a recommendation, then add it to my TBR pile and the person who recommended the book will get to win a book from this Pile of Free Books that I reviewed.I usually post the Refer A Book Weekend post at 12pm EST after I am done work. Each week I will post a new post for you to comment in. The winner will not be picked until Monday so you have the weekend to recommend.


Hint: Right now I am reading Slob by Ellen Porter. I like to read some more Young Reader books or even picture books.