I Won a Book!

I learned this morning that I won The Last Summer (of You and Me), the adult effort by Ann Brashares! I had almost bought this earlier in the month because of the author, but decided that I would wait and hear thoughts about it first. I am very happy to be receiving it from Kristina from Kristina's Book Blog.

The Extra Large Medium by Helen Slavin

Books Completed: 55
Completion Date: April 5, 2007
Publication Year: 2006
Pages: 240
Received prior to 2007

In this delightful debut novel, Helen Slavin takes the ghost story into a new dimension. Ever since she was a child, Annie Colville has been talking to the dead. She knows they’re dead because for some reason they’re always dressed in chocolate brown. But Annie’s grown up now, and things are getting serious. Especially after she falls for and marries Evan Bees. It’s hard enough to lose someone you love; but what if you know they could come back to you? And they just . . . don’t? During her long wait for her missing husband to come back to her, in chocolate brown or not, Annie searches through her mother’s vast collection of lovers for the other missing man in her life — her father — and struggles with the questions her gift asks of her. Quirky, irreverent, moving and a little bit spooky, The Extra Large Medium will charm you completely — even as it’s raising the hairs on the back of your neck.

I feel bad that it took me so long to read this book. I received it from a fellow blogger last year for Buy a Friend a Book Week and had the best intentions to read it, but other books kept getting in the way. The Spring Reading Thing offered me the chance to move the book up the reading pile. I was glad I did that because it was an interesting read.

Mediums are something that has interest in society over and over again. There are the skeptics that think that they are crazy and then there are the believers who seek them out to help them out of rough points in their life or because they still have need of their loved ones after they are gone. Anne was an interesting character. She was aware of her power, but she did try to ignore it for a while and lead a normal life, but her true character seemed to follow her no matter how hard she tried to ignore it. The Medium ability appeared to run in the family because one of her relatives was The Extra Large Medium that the title mentions. It is him that she follows in the path of.

One of my favourite parts of this book is when Anne points out the fakes. The "mediums" that are not really communicating with afterlife or anyone in the room, but are just picking common names that suggest to people in the room that it is them that they are speaking to. Overall, it was a very different sort of read. I am not sure that I would have bought myself, so I am glad that I received it from another blogger. I had been looking for something different, and it is the first time that I had read a book where a Medium was the main character.

4/5

Once Upon a Time Reading Challenge Update and Something Else

I just wanted to announce that I offically have read five books for the Once Upon a Time Challenge. I likely will read more off the list in the coming months, but I am done my challenge of reading 5 books off my list. I am a bit behind in my reviews. I have been taking time to read, but I have not had a lot of time to review. Anyways, the five books are:

1. Dragons of the Autumn Twilight by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman
2. Storm Front by Jim Butcher
3. Coraline by Neil Gaiman
4. The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale
5. Inkheart by Cornelia Funke

I loved all five of these books, so I recommend them all. Reviews will be forth-coming.

And, I am excited to say that I won another book for the BAFAB thing. This one from The Indextrious Reader!!!! I am excited to get all these books in the mail. This time, I am getting "Lucky Girls" by Nell Freudenberger. Lots of good reading to look forward to, get ready for the reviews!
My mother thinks I should go buy a lottery ticket. I don't think I am going to press my luck... I am just going to watch my mailbox.

A Few Announcements

I am very excited to announce that Colleen Gleason, the author of The Rest Falls Away and Rises the Night, will be guest blogging on Twisted Kingdom, and that is not all. Next Wednesday she will be back to do an interview, so I just wanted to take this opportunity to encourage everyone to make an appearance at Twisted Kingdom tomorrow, and also, if anyone has any burning questions that they want to ask Colleen, just comment here or TK, or email them in if you want them to be a total surprise, and we will make sure they get asked. Try and have them in by the weekend, though.

Next, there are only five days left of my Ten Books Bloggers Cannot Live Without meme, of sorts, and I was wondering if I was going to get anymore lists? I am pretty excited to announce the winners and the grand list, but I was hoping a few more people would join in? Also, let me know if you posted a list and I missed it, or if you see a list and I overlooked it. Or, even if people posted their lists in your comments. I do not want anyone to be overlooked!

Lastly, the coolest thing happened. I gave The Birth House away to two people. I gave it to the winner, Lynne, and to Marg from Reading Adventures because I told her that when it came out in paperback I would send her a copy, so what better time than BAFABW. Well, good karma happened, I won two books from other people having the competition. I won a book from Musings of a Bookish Kitty where I could pick a book for fifteen dollars or less, that was really hard, but I will get into that in another post. I also won a book from Lesley's Book Nook. This one was picked out for me, which was great, and I am getting The Love Season by Elin Hilderbrand. I am really excited because these last few weeks have been very very stressful.

Now, would everyone like to know the biggest news of all? If I do not screw up and do something stupid, yesterday was my last day of undergraduate classes. That means, that in like a month, I am going to GRADUATE FROM UNIVERSITY!!!!! I am pretty excited, and nervous, but mostly excited.

BAFAB Winner

I ended up with 19 people interested in The Birth House, so what I did was assigning everyone a number and got Tom to pick a number between 1 and 19. I didn't really have time to write everyones name out. School is crazy right now, and that is pretty much all I have time for. So, anyways, it is my pleasure to announce that the winner of the book is number 17,

Lynne

So, as soon as I get your address, Lynne, I will send a copy your way. I wish I could send everyone a copy because it is a great book, but I am not that rich. Everyone should just buy it and enjoy it.