I'm back...

...and I have the winner of my little contest:

Maeve!

Congratulations :D
I don't even have to post it out (I'm so cheap)

Oh by the way, it was my blogiversary

Three days ago, this blog turned three! I didn't forget, I was just lazy. But I like traditions, and blogiversary means giveaway. I can't skip that. Now, since I'm even poorer than last year, I'm going to give away only one book. But the good part (for me) is that I get to browse around all the fabulous charity shops and pick a book for the lucky winner. You know the feeling you have when you look at second-hand books you really love and are really cheap? You're really tempted to buy them again and bring them home, but usually there is no point. You already have that book and you also already read it. I keep seeing books I love all over the place, because I'm more than even browsing charity shops few times a week. And it's OK when there's someone with me whom I can recommend the book to. But when I'm alone I feel very guilty to just buy it for future gifts. So now you have a chance to make me feel less guilty! See, I'm not generous at all, it's all for my selfish pleasure :D
All you have to do to get the book is comment below. If you don't have a wish list, start making one! Also, if you don't have an online catalog, get one! Otherwise, you'll just have to go with whatever you get and risk to get a book you already read/have.
Deadline is June 22. I know, it's ages from now, but I'm going on holiday next Monday, and it's not even a week from now, so I thought I'd give more time to spread the word, until I come back. Good Luck!

photo credit:http://blog.pinkcakebox.com/

A Moorehawke giveaway and other stuff

The lovely Celine Kiernan is hosting a giveaway for her fab fantasy Moorehawke Trilogy. The third and final book, the Rebel Prince, is coming out soon but the winner of the competition will be able to hold the book in their hands five months before the publication date. They will also win a copy of the first and second volume, The Poison Throne and Crowded Shadows.
I read The Poison Throne last year and loved it, so you should probably get your hands on a copy too. I'm ashamed to say I haven't read the second yet, but its time will come! Might give it a try with the competition, but if I don't win, I'll probably wait till the third is out to read the second.
So, all you have to do to win the three books is cast the main characters. We always do that anyway, right? Or at least I do it almost all the time. So just pick the people you think are the best to play Razi, Christopher and Wynter and tell Celine. She'll pick her favourite ones and they will be announced on her blog. You have until the 22nd of June to send your suggestions.
I'd say you give it a try even if you haven't read them. At least you have a chance to win the books!

On my life front, I'm having a good time these days. One of my best friend came to visit me from Italy for the first time and it was amazing to have her here. I introduced her to the town and all the places I love, and we had a great time together.
Among the things we did, there was a Eurovision Party in Pantibar, a gay bar. So, being Italian I had a vague idea of what Eurovision really was, and this only because I live here. None of my italian friends even knew it existed. I only knew the gays were mad for it here! Anyway, we went and it was MENTAL! People screaming, cheering, singing along, with their eyes glued on the big screen for the whole bloody thing. I can't believe the scoring system took so long and that the people there followed it so closely...That aside, I LOVED it. Only saw bits of the performances, cause we got there late, but I knew the Irish song (not the best, unfortunately) and the German one, which is kinda cute, despite what everyone's saying (because I like Kate Nash and she sounds just like her). But nothing prepared me for THAT! The trashiness, the costumes, the trashiness, the global flash mobs, the trashiness, the people going crazy, the sparkles, the bad songs, and the trashiness! I'm telling you, it was like being stuck in the 70's. But in a good way.
After the competion, the drag queens completed the night with some oldie eurovision songs, and, of course, being in Ireland, with a mad rendition of Riverdance. Can't wait for next year's.

Today I got my two books for Nerds heart YA. I'd say I should get starting with those asap, as I'm so slow these days. I'm still reading the Various, and I'm loving it, because...hello? fairies, but I might have to put it aside to do my nerdy judge duty. Life is tough, sometimes.
OK, I'm off to eat me dinner, which is an improvised experiment of sautéed potatoes and onions, with mushrooms, eggs and melted cheese on top. Hope it's yummy.

I leave you with a lovely, but sad comic about the love for books, read it:)
Mister Bookseller by Darko Macan

Habemus Winners!

I have the winners of my little contest! I had a pretty hard time picking the first place. There were some really good recommendations there, thank you guys! Now I want to read all of the books mentioned. But I said I was going to pick just one and so a ruthless decision had to be made:

I choose Pam, who recommended Life of Pi. This book has been sitting on Mt tbr for way too long now and she really refreshed in me the enthusiasm that made me buy it.
Thank you again to all the others who took the time to look at my list and urge me to read their favourites. I will, I promise.

Now for the other two. I put all the names in the web hat (which is randomize.org obviously) and look at what happened:

There were 12 items in your list. Here they are in random order:

1. thebestvillain
2. Nymeth
3. etirv
4. throuthehaze
5. marie
6. amanda
7. silverhartgirl
8. lindsey
9. lexie
10. dag88888
11. mj
12. deedles

Congratulations to Pam, thebestvillain and Nymeth! You all can choose a book and e-mail me. If you really want one from the list I posted...great! If you want more options I'll e-mail you some more:)

2 years of blogging! and traditional giveaway!

And another year has gone by!
To be honest, I didn't feel like blogging at all today. It's been such a gloomy and rainy day. I've been shuffling around the house unable to do anything else apart from being miserable about the weather. Also, I tried to draw a pretty picture to represent my second blogiversary, but it was rubbish. I spent at least 3 hours trying to make it better with photoshop, but I forgot I can't use photoshop to save my life, so I ended up being extremely frustrated . My second, much less ambitious attempt will have to do. But enough with the moping, I should be celebrating here.
Whoohoo! 2 years of blogging!! Awesome!! I can't believe I'm almost a veteran.
Now, I DO want to keep the tradition alive by giving away books, BUT, since I'm much poorer (financially) than last year, I can't, unfortunately, offer to buy books as a prize.
I still want to give away something, so this year it's gotta be proofs! Yes, those I have aplenty:)
There's something for every taste: YA, chick lit, thriller, historical...you name it.
If necessary I will e-mail the full list to the winners. Which are going to be 3. Like last year. I like traditions. You can start choosing from this list:

Chains by Laurie H. Anderson (YA historical)
The Bohemian girl by Kenneth Cameron (thriller/mystery)
The Information Officer by Mark Mills (thriller/mystery)
Broken Glass by Sally Grindley (kids/YA)
Inside the whale by Jennie Rooney (General Fiction)
Winter song by Jean-Claude Mourlevat (YA adventure)
Waterslain Angels by Kevin Crossley-Holland (YA thriller)
How Kirsty Jenkins stole the elephant by Elen Caldecott (kids)
Blue Flame by K.M. Grant (YA fantasy)
The Twin by Gerbrand Bakker and David Colmer (General Fiction)
The Mother's Tale by Camilla Noli (General Fiction)
The Household Guide to Dying by Debra Adelaide (General Fiction)
Black Rabbit Summer by Kevin Brooks (YA)
Shire Hell by Rachel Johnson (General Fiction)
Counting the Stars by Helen Dunmore (historical fiction)
Tethered by Amy McKinnon (crime/mystery)
All we ever wanted was everything by Janelle Brown (General Fiction)
Real World by Natsuo Kirino (general fiction...crime?)
A Bad Boy Can Be Good for a Girl by Tanya Lee Stone (YA chick lit)
The Undrowned Child by Michelle Lovric (YA fantasy)
Beautiful Dead by Eden Maguire (YA zombies)
Sunbathing Naked and other miracles cures by Guy Kennaway (Memoir)
The book of Fires by Jane Borodale (Historical Fiction)
The Madonna of the Almonds by Marina Fiorato (Historical Fiction)
The Lady in the Tower by Marie-Louise Jensen (YA historical)
The War of the Witches by (YA fantasy)
The Gypsy Crown by Kate Forsyth (kids - historical)
The Atlas of Impossible Longing by Anuradha Roy (historical Indian fiction)
Carved in Bone by Jefferson Bass (crime/thriller)

So, what you gotta do to win one of these alluring ARCs?
You need to look at another list of books! Mine:)
To be specific, you need to browse the TBR Mountain and tell me which books I should totally move to my nightstand. You can choose a max of 3, a min of 1. And you should REALLY make me want to read it. Like, really. Some of them have been there for years, so it would take a big push to convince me they are the business. OK, I bought them/took them home at some point. But you know the attraction of new shinier books all too well! Instead of typing here the whole bleedin' list, I'll give you the link to my tbr tag on library thing which is --->here<---.(ETA: Sorry, I put the wrong link, I hope it works now!)
Oh and please avoid to praise:

- Firmin
- Middlesex
- The elegance of the hedgehog
- The time traveler's wife
- The Hunger Games
- The Goose Girl
- Neverwhere
- What I saw and how I lied
- Tapping the Dream Tree

- Shadow of the Wind

Because they're already in the priority queue.
Ah! You thought this was gonna be easy :P
To make things more interesting, I'll give away three books: First prize to the person who will write the most irresistible praise for the book chosen. Second and third will be drawn randomly.
Also if you help spread the word about the giveaway, I'll throw in your name twice.
Deadline: Next Saturday, June 13th
Ah, yes, the competition is open worldwide.

We have the winners!

So, the wheel of fortune has spoken...or should I say the bowl of fortune? Anyway, I've picked the three extremely lucky winners who will be able to choose ANY book that I've reviewed in this past year. Roll of drums....

The winners are, in drawing order:

- Sondra

- Teamirc

- Melody

Congratulations!!! and thank you to all the people who commented and spread the word, I loved your kind and supporting words. Thanks so much:D

My first year of blogging!

Today last year I posted my first review here. Little I knew about the blogging world, I hardly knew what a blog was. I just wanted a place where to write my thoughts about my reading and possible share them with other book lovers...And that's exactly what I've done, although I would have never guessed I would sign up to reading challenges, giveways, blog carnivals, blog tours, etc... A new world has opened up for me! Now I barely visit websites anymore, and I rather jump from blog to blog to see what other people are saying everyday. I would have never thought to fall behind with my reviews either. At first I would just write my review right after finishing the book, but now life always come in between me and my reviews and I seriously need to catch up :P

I really love blogging and reviewing, and buying books for friends, and that's why I want to celebrate my first blogaversary with a fabulous giveway!
Since this is about me and my reviews, I've decided to give away 3 BOOKS THAT I'VE REVIEWED, to 3 lucky people, anywhere in the world. You just need to leave a comment and if your name is drawn you can pick any book from my list of reviewed books. Or you can choose it straight away in your comment, it doesn't matter.
To help me spread the word you can post about in your blog, and I'll throw in your name twice:)

You can see the list of reviews on my side bar, including the picture book reviews.
For last year's list look here. Only those with a link were reviewed, obviously :D
You have one week to play, the deadline is Friday June 13th at Midnight GMT +1 (Uk and Ireland Time). I will draw the winners the next day.

And the winners are...

I've just picked the three winners of my first giveaway! I loved doing it, I wrote the names on little pieces of paper and then put them in three different bowls. Sometimes I use this method to choose which book I'll read next. I like to leave it to the chance. I wrote the names of the people who blogged about the giveaway twice for each book. And now I have the winners who are........

For Harriet the Spy

Bunny

For The Tygrine Cat

Ivan Girl

For The last elf

Heatherlo

Each winner will receive the world book day books as well, if they like :)

Also I've decided to have one last draw for those who specifically mentioned Odd and the Frost Giant and the lucky winner is....

Ikkinlala

Congratulations! and I hope you'll let me know how you liked the books!



This was great fun, I can't wait for the next BAFAB :D

Buy a Friend a Book Week aka Spread the Love!

I've decided to join in the fun this week and buy you a book, or better 3 books:-)
I love buying books for people especially when those books are my favourites, and what better occasion than BAFAB week? All you have to do is leave a comment and tell me which of the 3 books you'd like, or if you'd like all 3 of them say so. But since I'd like to make 3 people happy you can only win one each! I will throw your names in a bowl, I don't have a hat sorry, and draw the 3 lucky ones.
So, if you win one of the books, and you're lucky enough to be drawn another time, I'll draw another name to give more people a chance to win
To give people time the deadline to enter is at the end of the week, April 6th.


Oh and obviously, if you spread the word I'll enter you twice!

One last thing: since these are books I don't want to part with I will buy you a new copy, that's the whole point, right?

The books I'm giving away to spread the love are:


Harriet the Spy: An all time favourite, recently re-discovered. Read why I love it here.


The tygrine Cat: This book is lovely and so is its author. I think more people need to know her! Read why here.


The Last Elf: One of last year's favourite. I've spread the love for this book a lot: my mum, my best friend, her mum, her granny...It's worth it! Read why here.

ps: I have some extra WORLD BOOK DAY BOOKS to add as well. If you have kids or just would like to have them say so and I'll add them. To see this year's books look here. You can choose as many as you like.

ALSO IF YOU WANT EVEN MORE BOOKS GO TO NYMETH, SHE'S CELEBRATING HER FIRST YEAR AS A BLOGGER AND GIVING AWAY SOME GREAT BOOKS!

This week the giveaways are spreading like mushrooms...It's hard to keep up. So here's a list of those that I know of:
Dewey
Bell Literary Reflections
Book-a-rama
Verbatim
Bookstack
Stainless Steel Droppings
In spring it is the dawn
Musings of a bookish kitty
park avenue princess
a striped armchair
AndiLit
a garden carried in the pocket
chartroose
carp(e) libris
ready when you are, C.B.
the deblog
the story siren



Good Luck!