Win Books
The blogger at The 3 R’s: Reading, ‘Riting, and Randomness has won some books and wants to share the wealth. Yay for us!
I was a lucky winner of the Hachette Book Group’s Summer Reads Giveaway via Literary Feline, who was one of quite a few book bloggers hosting it this summer. Getting books for free is always lucky, isn’t it? Now I’d like to share some of that luck.
Did you enter the giveaway on someone’s blog and not win? Were you
hosting the giveaway, and couldn’t enter? Did you miss it entirely,
because you just don’t visit enough book blogs? Well, if you have no
objection to re-gifting, here’s your second chance at some summer
reading, which of course can be done at any time of the year.There were 14 books in the giveaway. After looking them all over, a
couple will be given to family members, I’ll keep a few for my own
reading, and I’m offering the rest of them right here. I’m grouping
them by similarity in theme, genre, or author, so when you enter the
giveaway, you’ll have to specify which package(s) you want. (Click on
the link for info about each book.)Book Bag #1
The Monster of Florence, by Douglas Preston (nf, hc)
Miscarriage of Justice, by Justice “Kip” Gayden (f, hc)Book Bag #2
A Rose by the Door, by Deborah Bedford (f, pb)
Remember Me, by Deborah Bedford (f, pb)
He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not, by Trish Ryan (nf, hc)Book Bag #3
Child 44, by Tom Rob Smith (f, hc)
Close, by Martina Cole (f, hc)Book Bag #4
Made in the U.S.A., by Billie Letts (f, hc)
Off Season, by Anne Rivers Siddons (f, hc)
Go here to enter!
I used to read mystery novels but since i am on the South Beach Diet I bought The South Beach Diet Quick & Easy Cookbook by Dr.Arthur Agatston.
It has 200 delicious recipes you can cook in 30 minutes or less.The recipes are very helpful because they have from breakfast to dessert.Also from Phase 1 to Phase 3.
Robert Heinlein’s Rules Of Writing
1. You must write.
2. You must finish what you write.
3. You must never rewrite, except to the editor’s/publisher’s specs.
4. You must submit what you write a market.
5. You must keep submitting it until it sells.
If I know Heinlein, there’s probably another rule about naughty nurses always being a good addition to the story.
Via Taking the Plunge: Becoming a Freelancer | Get Paid to Write Online
“Chicken Soup For The Soul” Seeking Submissions
Are you a writer? Have you ever made a resolution? Here’s your chance to put your story to good use, and particpate in a best-selling series.
101 Heartwarming, Healthful, and Humorous Resolutions… and how they turned out!
Chicken Soup for the Soul is looking for stories about your future resolutions or your past resolutions and how they worked out – your failures and successes, what you learned.
Do you have a great story about:
Going “green”
Adjusting to the new economic reality – gas and food prices, losing a job etc.
Improving your health
Getting more organized
Changing your behavior
Restoring a relationship with someone
Spending more time with family and friends
Any other resolutions…
We pay $200 plus ten free copies of the book for each story published. Deadline is August 30th. Please submit your story to: http://chickensoupforthesoul.com/form.asp?cid=submit_story.The stories should be nonfiction and no more than 1200 words. Authors retain the rights to their stories and can publish them again anytime after the book is published. If you need any more information you can feel free to contact me.
Via My Resolution - Chicken Soup for the Soul Looking for Stories | Freelance Writing Jobs
Young Readers
i have always wanted someone to read me a bedtime story when i was still a little kid. both my parents are busy so we are mostly left with nannies to care for us. one of my nannies was very patient and would tell me a story at night.
now that i have a child of my own, i make sure that i can read him stories during our nap times. some books like the ones from Ladybird have nice and colorful images that can get a toddler’s attention. it would just require us to be careful and go easy on a child so that he wont tear the pages. when reading, i try to have my son sitting next to me and i would point out the words as i say them. this way, he would know which word is being said. sometimes i would also challenge him to repeat the word i’ve read. I would be too proud if he gets them right of course. By reading this way and having an interaction while reading with my son, i am hoping that i can instill in his this habit of reading while he is still young. This interest and reading habits will do well as he is growing up.
Book sale!
books are very important possessions. some keep it as a collection especially if they are from your favorite authors or they are of your favorite genre. but books especially the new ones can be quite heavy on the budget especially for young students.
i had a great time scouring for bargains yesterday and i was able to purchase a number of books from a book sale. these sales can really give you big big savings. you should just have a great deal of patience and energy to search for books that would interest you. bestsellers and books from known authors or popular genre has more than 70% mark down on prices and nothing can beat that for savings. i got books for my self from the authors - amanda quick and hanna howell both romance writers and three childrens book from ladybird for my son. and guess.. it never even amounted to the original price of a single book. one had an 80% slash off in its price!
so next time, try and check out these book sales. you never know what you’ll find especially if you just have the patience and the energy to look for them. its all worth it.
Too Fond Of Books
When I first heard that the premise of Too Fond of Books is positive-only book reviews, I didn’t expect to like it. I was expecting a list of titles and “This book was so good! You should read it!” after each one.
I changed my mind after reading MC’s thoughtful responses to each book. There are only positive reviews (MC must follow the adage that if you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all!), but they are not repetitive, since the collection of books and authors that she’s discussing is so varied, her responses are varied as well.
Here’s a recent example (because I am a big Ondaatje fan since reading The English Patient and In The Skin Of A Lion):
Michael Ondaatje first came to international attention with his gorgeous novel, The English Patient, which won the Booker Prize. It cannot be easy for a writer to follow up on such acclaim, but with Anil’s Ghost he does just that. And though the two novels are vastly different in scope and subject, Anil’s Ghost is as lovely, thought provoking, and unforgettable as the first.
Anil’s Ghost takes place in Sri Lanka during the early 1990s in the days following the “emergency” (read civil war) of the late 80’s. Anil Tissera is a young Sri Lankan expatriate who has returned to the island after being educated abroad. She is a forensic anthropologist sent by an international human rights group to investigate disappearances and organized murders perpetuated by the government against citizens thought to be involved in one of two anti-government insurgent groups. Anil is assigned by the “cooperative” Sri Lankan government to work with an archeaologist, named Sarath Diyasena, who may or may not be sympathetic with her work.
The story centers around Anil’s and Sarath’s investigation, so there is a mystery at the heart of the novel, but Ondaatje gracefully weaves the stories of other characters into it as well. For every clue the scientists uncover as they build a case against the government, we learn of the human cost of civil war on the families of the victims, on the doctors who treat them, on the fabric of a society torn apart by fear and mistrust. The incredible thing about this novel is that while the story is often heartbreaking, Ondaatje offers it to us honestly and with a forthrightness that is never grotesque or hard to bear.
Via Too Fond of Books: Anil’s Ghost by Michael Ondaatje
Sharing Books
I saw this today on Best Places to Get Free Books - The Ultimate Guide and I wanted to pass it along to other readers. Some of these are e-books to download, some are free physical books. Check it out! And don’t forget your local library also has free books.
- ManyBooks - Free eBooks for your PDA, iPod, or eBook reader - Thanks Tony Bryan & abben
- BookCrossing - Where real books are released into the wild to be found by others - Thanks Engtech
- LibraryElf - The perfect companion to a public library system - Thanks Engtech
- Scribd - Open library to publish and discover documents online - Thanks CincauHangus
- Word Public Library - 400,000 PDF ebooks for download - Thanks Ellen
- Free Tech Books - Free computer science and engineering books (+ lecture notes) - Thanks Ellen
- Bookins - Swap real books with other readers - Thanks Jimbob
- WellToldTales - Free short story podcasts (like audiobooks, but shorter) - Thanks Kevin C.
- Wowio - Public domain, free legitimate copyrighted materials & one of the only with a selection of Comic Books - Thanks Jane and Art Dardia
- BizBooktalk - Free book giveaway contests on Fridays - Thanks Brandon
- MoochMuch - Organize your book lending with your friends - Thanks Bobby
- CHMPDF - A collection of general interest and technical ebooks - Thanks Manish Garg & Brian Di Croce
- Realtime Publishers - free IT eBooks by many of the world’s best authors - Thanks Kevin
- FrugalReader - Trade Books for free - Thanks Brent
- TitleTrader - Swap books, movies, and music - Thanks Brent
- ZunaFish - Trade your old media and books items for new titles you’d rather have - Thanks Brent
- SwapSimple - Swap your used books here - Thanks Brent
- SwapThing - Community of users who swap items including books - Thanks Brent
- BookCart - Internet paperback exchange - Thanks Brent
- SF-Books - Exchange Sci-Fi Books here - Thanks Brent
- PaperbackSwap - Swap books for free - Thanks jane dough, IBelieveInFairies, & Lauren
- PinkMonkey - 450 Study Guides / Booknotes / Online Chapter Summary Notes and Analysis - Thanks Spellchecker
- eBookWorld - Technical resources - Thanks 5n7p3r
- Flaxx - IT and computer books - Thanks tejinder
- Baen Library - Free science fiction and fantasy novels - Thanks lanthus & Glen Davis
- LibraryThing - Social networking and free books - Thanks Michael
- Online Books Page - Facilitates access to books that are freely readable over the Internet - Thanks Aman
- Podiobooks - free audiobooks that you can subscribe to with iTunes or any other podcatcher - Thanks KJToo
- BookRags - Research material in the form of eBooks - Thanks Henry Delany
- Technical Books Online - Old tech books from the “vacuum tube age” of electronics- Thanks obiewiz
- ebookSearchr - Google powered Thanks Rico & Rokker
- Internet Archive - The Intenet indexed - that includes a vast text library - Thanks jojo
- BookYards - Books, videos, education materials- Thanks Victor
- Memoware - Free books for your PDA - Thanks Doug
Via Best Places to Get Free Books - The Ultimate Guide
Sophie’s World
Sophie’s World is a novel written by Jostein Gaarder. It was originally written in Norwegian with title Sofies verden in 1991, later on translated into English in 1995.
Sophie is a fourteen year old girl living in Norway with her cat named Sherekan, a goldfish, a tortoise and her mother. Her father is a captain of a tanker and is away most of the time. The teen=aged girl becomes suddenly shaken by two letters she found in her mailbox addressed to her. The letter said “Who are you? Where does the world come from?”. Then on, she has received succeeding letters and then becomes a philosophy student of an anonymous mentor, later on identified himself as Alberto Knox.
An old friend introduced me to this book. After he finished reading, he convinced me to read it myself. But I was just a teenager then, and after reading a few pages on philosophy, I eventually got bored and never got to finish the book. After a few years, I was looking for something to keep me busy while looking after my baby boy. So, I found the book hidden in my closet and I thought of starting to read it again.
I must say that this book is very engaging (maybe it just depends on the age of the reader). It’s a comprehensive major philosophy book, and a mystery novel in one. I definitely like how the story ended and it took me some time before I could figure out how the book will end. This is something I could not just put down.
Time Traveler’s Wife
A favorite book by Audrey Niffenegger.
This is not your typical love story.The book talks about how one’s love can really stand the ultimate test of time. Claire Abshire found her soul mate in Henry DeTamble - a man he knew when she was still a child. She is an ordinary girl, and he is not; but attraction and destiny conspired to make their love story come true. Henry, the man Claire admired when she was still 6 year old and loved even more throughout her fading life, time travels. Claire fell deeply in love and managed to live with a husband who seldom lives in the now and occasionally goes back to the past and travels to the future. They shared a great love that allowed them to overcome every distress, nightmare, and sorrow in every single test of time.
Although the book generally gives the reader a heart-rending end, the excitement of love and the joy of loving are always present in almost every page. Definitely this is a book a true lover should read; and this is a story for every one who has loved, been loved, wanted to love and still loving.
This favorite love story will be on film this year according to the Internet Movie Database and will star Rachel McAdams and Eric Bana as Claire and Henry. Grab you copy of Time Traveler’s Wife and let yourself enjoy the thrill and happiness love brings.