Winners!

Congratulations to the winner of "Seven" by Jaqueline Leo:

Jaime

MoziEsme

renee

Marjorie

bekki1820cb

Winners, you've been sent an e-mail with instructions on how to claim your prize. Anyone with questions can e-mail me at jonitathebookchick(at)gmail(dot)com. Thanks to everyone who entered!

Giveaway: Win a $5 Amazon.com Gift Card!

Today I was dutifully cleaning out my e-mail inbox (okay, okay, I was actually trying to avoid having to do the dishes and laundry that are accumulating at an alarming rate!) and I came across an old $5.00 Amazon.com electronic gift card! Since I shop at Amazon.ca, I thought that I would pass this along to one of my lucky readers! Yeah, I realize that it's only worth $5.00, but it's better to pass it on than waste it, right? You can almost buy an e-book with that!

Rules:
-This contest is open to absolutely anyone who shops at http://www.amazon.com/. Please note that this electronic gift card is not valid on amazon.ca, amazon.co.uk, or any other Amazon that is NOT amazon.com.
-This contest runs until December 10, 2009 at midnight. I will draw the winner on the 11th and will e-mail the electronic code to that person at that point.
-Since this is an old gift card, I take no responsibility if the value has decreased or the code is no longer valid. I haven't personally used it and as far as I know, they don't expire.

How to Enter:
-Leave me a comment letting me know one of the books on your Christmas wish list this year! Please include your e-mail address so that I can contact you if you are the winner.
-*Bonus Entry* Become a follower of this blog and leave me a seperate comment letting me know that you are now a follower. Current followers are eligible as well, just let me know that you already follow in a seperate comment.
-*Bonus Entry* Add this contest to your sidebar, blog about it, or Tweet about it and leave me a comment letting me know how you've spread the word.

Good luck!

Review: "Mennonite in a Little Black Dress" by Rhoda Janzen

After Rhoda Janzen's bi-polar husband, Nick, leaves her for a man that he meets on Gay.com, her life starts to fray a little at the edges. She has a huge mortgage on a house that she can no longer afford, she's a little sore at having been left by her husband for a man, and to top it all off she's in an accident with a drunk driver which leaves her bruised and battered. Seeking comfort that only a mother can provide, Rhoda heads back to the Mennonite home that she grew up in. What follows is the often hilrious, yet often insightful story of the time that Rhoda spends at home with her parents as she begins to heal both emotionally and physically.

This was an absoutely hilarious and very honest memoir. Last night I was waiting for the pizza that I ordered to be ready, was reading this book and I kept laughing- OUT LOUD. I'm sure that the pizza guys thought that I was a little touched in the head, but this book is laugh-out-loud funny. Rhoda's parents come across as people that you would want to meet in person: her mom is comfortable with discussing body parts and bodily fluids, even while cooking, and her dad insists that everyone comes into his office when he receives a funny e-card. This book was more than just a funny recollection of a series of events in the author's life, though. It went far deeper than that. While she's home with the people that love her the most Rhoda is able to come to terms with the issues that she hasn't been dealing with. She examines why she has left her faith behind while she pursues a life of academia; she examines why she refused to leave her husband who could be the sweetest guy in the world at some times, and emotionally abusive at others. She reflects on how lucky she is to have her friends, her sister, and her sympathetic students (she teaches English at a University) and she finds that by confronting her past she is able to move into the future. This book is also enlightening regarding the Mennonite way of life- Rhoda even helpfully includes a section at the end about Mennonite history for anyone who is interested (which I found fascinating). The moral of the story? Home is where the healing often begins, and humour can assist with the process.

I would love to read a follow-up to this novel. I'm dying to know if Rhoda gets to keep her house or if she decides to sell it, and I also want to know if she finds love again. I'm sure that anyone who reads Mennonite in a Little Black Dress will want to know what happens to this intelligent, witty woman.

Thank-you to Henry Holt and Co. for sending me this review copy. You can read an excerpt here or check out the reading group guide here (this would make a great book club book!).

Review: "A Little Distillery in Nowgong" by Ashok Mathur

A Little Distillery in Nowgong is the story of three generations of the Khargat family, told from the point of view of a child not yet born. It begins with the birth of Jamshed. As a young child Jamshed does something that is different from other small children his age: he "goes right". This going right is mysterious to anyone watching the young child; Jamshed will suddenly stop what he is doing and look to the right for an undetermined period of time. What Jamshed is doing is having a conversation with a being only identified to him as "Sunny", who says that he is Jamshed's unborn grandchild. Jamshed grows older and falls in love with Parvin, even though it is Sunny who leads him to her initially. Jamshed and Parvin lose two male children while they are still in infancy, and are thrilled when they are finally able to conceive and give birth to a daughter, Piroja. Piroja is Sunny's intended mother (he continues to converse with Jamshed, Parvin, and even Piroja on occasion). Piroja grows and decides to train to become a nurse and when she meets a Hindu and falls in love, she decides to keep their marriage a secret from her parents, who will be devastated. Piroja's mother dies before Piroja is able to confess her secret, and it is her father who must come to terms with having a Hindu for a son-in-law. Finally Piroja decides to have a child, a daughter named Sunila, who is headstrong and representative of the progress that the Khargat's have made as a family.

I really enjoyed this book, following three generations of the headstrong and intelligent Khargats. The voice of Sunny ties it all together; he is the glue that holds the Khargat's together and offers sound advice during difficult times. This is the story about what it means to be a family. It is also the story of how people change and grow through generations: something that was unacceptable at the time of the father may be grudgingly accepted at the time of the daughter and welcomed at the time of the granddaughter. This story also seemed to be a reflection on acceptance: accepting people for who they are and accepting that change does happen for a reason. The book is a rather large one, although not at any point is it slow going. All of the pieces are relavant to the big picture and absolutely necessary. In addition each individual chapter is short, making it suitable for someone who only has a short period of time to read. My only complaint about the book would be the conclusion, and that is because for me it left too many questions unanswered. I felt that this was the point of the author, to allow the reader to drawn their own conclusions, however I would have liked a more concrete ending. This ending alone should not deter one from reading this book; it was an interesting commentary on the Parsi culture as well as a reflection on what it means to be a family.

Thank-you to the Arsenal Pulp Press for this review copy! You can visit this book's website at http://www.littledistillery.com.

Mailbox Monday

Mailbox Monday is hosted by Marcia over at The Printed Page. Each week we share which books found their ways into our mailboxes (and our TBR piles!) last week. I had a pretty great week in new books last week. Here's what joined my books that are waiting to be read:

Seven by Jacqueline Leo:

"What is it about the number seven that has such a hold on us? Why are there seven deadly sins? Seven days of the week? Seven wonders of the world, seven colors of the spectrum, seven ages of man, and seven sister colleges? Why can we hold seven numbers or words in our working memory--but no more? Author Jackie Leo explores everything about this mystical, magical, useful, and fun number in her new book." (Thanks to the Hachette Book Group for this review copy).

The Book of Tomorrow by Cecelia Ahern:

"Tamara Goodwin has always got everything she′s ever wanted. Born into a family of wealth, she grew up in a mansion with its own private beach, a wardrobe full of designer clothes, a large four poster bed complete with a luxurious bathroom en-suite. She′s always lived in the here and now, never giving a second thought to tomorrow.

But then suddenly her dad is gone and life for Tamara and her mother changes forever. Left with a mountain of debt, they have no choice but to sell everything they own and move to the country to live with Tamara′s Uncle and Aunt. Nestled next to Kilsaney Castle, their gate house is a world away from Tamara′s childhood. With her mother shut away with grief, and her aunt busy tending to her, Tamara is lonely and bored and longs to return to Dublin.

When a travelling library passes through Kilsaney Demesne, Tamara is intrigued. She needs a distraction. Her eyes rest on a mysterious large leather bound tome locked with a gold clasp and padlock. With some help, Tamara finally manages to open the book. What she discovers within the pages takes her breath away and shakes her world to its core.

Told in Cecelia′s imitable style, THE BOOK OF TOMORROW is a mesmerising and magical story for this spring." (Thanks to HarperCollins Canada for this review copy).

Last Thursday was my birthday so my wonderful hubby (knowing the way to my heart) sent me out sans kids to pick myself out a book or two for a birthday present. After indulging myself in the absolute beauty which is a bookstore, I picked out two titles to take home:

Once in a Lifetime by Cathy Kelly

Filthy Rich by Wendy Holden

Finally, last night my sister-in-law, Mandy, passed on her much-loved copy of My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult. She insists that I read it, and because I trust her good taste, I will, and soon!

That's it for me for this week! What was in your mailbox last week?

Giveaway: "The Gate House" by Nelson DeMille

From the Publisher's Website:

"#1 New York Times bestselling author Nelson DeMille delivers the long-awaited follow-up to his classic novel The Gold Coast. When John Sutter's aristocratic wife killed her mafia don lover, John left America and set out in his sailboat on a three-year journey around the world, eventually settling in London. Now, ten years later, he has come home to the Gold Coast, that stretch of land on the North Shore of Long Island that once held the greatest concentration of wealth and power in America, to attend the imminent funeral of an old family servant."

Thanks to the Hachette Book Group I have five copies of The Gate House by Nelson DeMille to give away. To enter:

1. Comment on this post and include your e-mail address so that I can contact you if you are the winner.

2. *Bonus Entry* Become a follower of this blog and let me know in a seperate post that you are now following. Current followers are also eligible- just leave me a comment letting me know that you already follow.

3. *Bonus Entry* Spread the word about this contest in some way. Facebook it, Tweet it, Blog about it, post it on your sidebar, do whatever- just let me know in a seperate comment what you've done.

This contest runs until December 5, 2009 at midnight with winners being selected on December 6. This contest is open to both Canadian and US residents, no PO Boxes please! Good luck!

2009 Holiday Reading Challenge

I have lofty plans for reading challenges in 2010. There are three year-long challenges that I am planning to join, although I have not signed up for them yet (I will, though, I will!). I'm frothing at the bit to get started with those, although they don't start until 2010, so what better way to warm up than to participate in the 2009 Holiday Reading Challenge? This challenge is hosted by Nely and here are the rules (from Nely's site):

1- Challenge will start Friday, November 20 and will end Thursday, December 31.

2- You can read anywhere from 1 to 5 books for the challenge and, of course, if you're like me, you are more than welcome to surpass that number.

3- And now, here's the clincher... they must be holiday related books. That's right, the holiday doesn't really matter, but it would be more "jolly" if your choices were Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, etc.

4- The size of the book does not matter, nor does the genre. It is also okay for the book to overlap with other challenges. The only thing I ask is that they are not children's books. YA is okay. And so are re-reads. I for one tend to read the same books every Christmas - they are tradition.

5- To sign up - leave a link back to your challenge post. There will also be a post for review links as well as one for challenge wrap-ups.

6- And.... there will be goodies. That's right, we'll call them presents. At the end of every week that the challenge is running I will choose one winner from the review links and I will allow them to pick a book of their choosing (of course, I will provide a list). Meaning the more books you read, review and link up, the more chances you have at winning a "present".

Since I have four Christmas books on my shelves just begging to be read, I think that I will stick with reading and reviewing four for this challenge. My choices are:

1. Matchless by Gregory Maguire

2. Wishin' and Hopin' by Wally Lamb

3. The Gift by Cecelia Ahern

4. Knit the Season by Kate Jacobs

If you would like to join this challenge (and come on, I know that you do) the sign up page is here.