Between now and December 17th, anyone who buys a book from our online storefront will receive a FREE advanced reading copy (ARC) I have in stock (and I have lots!). Once you make your online order, I'll email you and give you a list of free books to choose from.
Free book with any purchase + free shipping 'til 2010 = how can you lose?
Thanks for supporting Avid Bookshop.
Showing posts with label giveaway. Show all posts
Showing posts with label giveaway. Show all posts
Friday, December 11, 2009
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Join the IndieBound movement & get a prize!
You've heard me talk about IndieBound before. It's a way for independent businesses (notably bookstores) to network with one another. It's a way for traveling customers to easily search for indie stores wherever they may roam. But did you know it's also a great tool for communicating with other community members? Learn about friends' recommendations, events at your local bookstore(s), what the bestselling titles are at independent bookstores, and more, more, more.
Here's a bonus for those of you reading the blog. Join the IndieBound movement (it's cost- and spam-free!), befriend Avid Bookshop, and get a prize! Three of you will be randomly chosen to receive a free ARC (advanced reading copy) of a book I have in stock, and every person that enters will get a wee treat.
After you befriend Avid Bookshop on IndieBound, leave a quick comment here to let me know you've done so--then you'll be entered in the contest. And if you're on Facebook or Twitter and share this message, you get an extra entry!
So what are you waiting for? Since this blog doesn't have a huge readership (yet!), you have a very good chance of winning a free book--as if the wee treat and an IndieBound profile weren't enough!
Here's just a handful of Athens businesses that are already on IndieBound & need more fans.
1000Faces Coffee
Jackson Street Books
Bizarro-Wuxtry record store
The National restaurant
Athens Cine bar, cafe, & arthouse theatre
Schoolkids Records
Harry's Pig Shop restaurant
Vision Video (Homewood Hills location)
Kingpins Bowl & Brew
Winners will be picked on Sunday, November 8, so please don't hesitate!
The randomly chosen winners are as follows:
Margo (randomwalk), Lindsay (lindzsmile), & Lauren (laurengallaspy). A few of you participated without leaving a formal comment, but don't worry--I made sure to include everyone! Thanks so much.
Here's a bonus for those of you reading the blog. Join the IndieBound movement (it's cost- and spam-free!), befriend Avid Bookshop, and get a prize! Three of you will be randomly chosen to receive a free ARC (advanced reading copy) of a book I have in stock, and every person that enters will get a wee treat.
After you befriend Avid Bookshop on IndieBound, leave a quick comment here to let me know you've done so--then you'll be entered in the contest. And if you're on Facebook or Twitter and share this message, you get an extra entry!
So what are you waiting for? Since this blog doesn't have a huge readership (yet!), you have a very good chance of winning a free book--as if the wee treat and an IndieBound profile weren't enough!
1000Faces Coffee
Jackson Street Books
Bizarro-Wuxtry record store
The National restaurant
Athens Cine bar, cafe, & arthouse theatre
Schoolkids Records
Harry's Pig Shop restaurant
Vision Video (Homewood Hills location)
Kingpins Bowl & Brew
The randomly chosen winners are as follows:
Margo (randomwalk), Lindsay (lindzsmile), & Lauren (laurengallaspy). A few of you participated without leaving a formal comment, but don't worry--I made sure to include everyone! Thanks so much.
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Book Recommendation & Giveaway! ELI THE GOOD by Silas House
What were you like as a child? I'd like to think I'm now pretty similar to the person I used to be, but of course I can't be sure--memories are constantly being recreated and there's no telling how many Whiny Baby Janet memories I've blocked out in favor of the ones wherein I'm being smart and charming.
As a kid, I spent hours of every day outside. My sister, neighbors, and I had every square foot of our wooded neighborhood memorized by heart. We knew all the secret passages, all the best climbing trees, all the best places to play in the creek without chancing a spill into the creek--because of course a stumble into the water would mean wet pants, a dead giveaway to our mothers that we were, once again, playing in the forbidden stream. (Sorry, Mom--but I'm sure you knew we played back there, right?)
It seems that many older (e.g., non-kids) folks have been complaining over the years about how The Kids These Days don't spend enough time outside. They're overbooked with piano lessons, baseball practice, church groups, and video games. Maybe that's true for lots of kids, but I happen to know several awesome children who still explore their yards and play pretend.
At the SIBA trade show a few weeks back, I attended an author luncheon. While I ate a lunch of boiled vegetables smothered in 2" of cheese, I listened to some formidable authors speak about their work and read excerpts of their writing. Though all four authors' books sounded intriguing, I could tell immediately that Silas House's Eli the Good would mean something special to me. House spoke of the ways in which he revered the environment around him as a child, of the ways in which he felt he communicated with the trees and nature in a way that most children do not these days. This was the kind of kid I was, scrambling up the magnolia tree in our front yard so I could stare at the patterns in the bark and maybe even read my latest Sweet Valley Twins installment. I thought nothing of spending hours on end outside, peeing in the woods when I needed to rather than having to go back indoors.
In Eli the Good, we meet a quiet, introspective boy (Eli) who's slowly waking up to the idea that the romanticized view he had of his life might not be entirely accurate. His best friend is the vivacious Edie, a girl who lives next door and who's tougher than any of the boys in the neighborhood (but who, of course, has some soft spots, too). Eli's marked with a fierce love for his family, even when he can't firmly grasp why his dad gets so violent and why his mom always sticks up for him, what his beloved Aunt Nell and protective older sister Josie are whispering about in the dark. As the story moves along, we watch Eli grow more mature, opening himself up to some of the profund sadness, beauty, and pleasure of the world. Like many gifted children, Eli seems hypersensitive to sensory experiences and emotional interactions with people, even when he's not quite able to verbalize what he's feeling. Silas House is adept at his characterizations, especially as he shows us Eli growing less sheltered but more mature by the day.
In the midst of Eli's love affair with trees and the outdoors, we have the oft violent presence of his Vietnam War veteran father, who is struggling with post traumatic stress disorder and can't quite figure out how to get help--or if he wants to get help at all. I learned a lot about the effects of war on family life by reading Eli the Good; in fact, the war itself is an ominous, forever-lurking character in the book, always waiting around the corner to pounce on an otherwise peaceful moment. Eli lives with the pressure of dealing with the war every day, never knowing when it will thunder down and disrupt the peace he's trying so hard to cultivate. I imagine that veterans and their kids might do well to read this book.
All that being said, Eli the Good is neither a scary book about an abused family nor an idyllic description of growing up a weird, woodsy kid. Eli's age and intelligence are clear to the reader; he's never imbued with an overly mature point of view (as many "kids" in young adult literature tend to be, thereby giving away the fact that the writer is, in fact, old and wise, looking back on his or her life).
I really encourage you to buy a copy of Eli the Good to read it for yourself.I also encourage you to try to win an advanced readers copy of the book that I have to give away, courtesy of Candlewick Press. To enter this contest, please use the comments field below to share what book reminds you of your childhood. Is it a book you read as a child? One you read as an adult that reminded you of your childhood, as Eli the Good did with me? If you feel uncomfortable leaving your full name in the comments field, please just make an anonymous comment and then email me to let me know which entry was yours.
Congratulations to Barbara, who's won a copy of the book! Barbara, please email me at avid[dot]athens[at]gmail[dot]com with your mailing address so I can get the book out to you.
As a kid, I spent hours of every day outside. My sister, neighbors, and I had every square foot of our wooded neighborhood memorized by heart. We knew all the secret passages, all the best climbing trees, all the best places to play in the creek without chancing a spill into the creek--because of course a stumble into the water would mean wet pants, a dead giveaway to our mothers that we were, once again, playing in the forbidden stream. (Sorry, Mom--but I'm sure you knew we played back there, right?)
It seems that many older (e.g., non-kids) folks have been complaining over the years about how The Kids These Days don't spend enough time outside. They're overbooked with piano lessons, baseball practice, church groups, and video games. Maybe that's true for lots of kids, but I happen to know several awesome children who still explore their yards and play pretend.
At the SIBA trade show a few weeks back, I attended an author luncheon. While I ate a lunch of boiled vegetables smothered in 2" of cheese, I listened to some formidable authors speak about their work and read excerpts of their writing. Though all four authors' books sounded intriguing, I could tell immediately that Silas House's Eli the Good would mean something special to me. House spoke of the ways in which he revered the environment around him as a child, of the ways in which he felt he communicated with the trees and nature in a way that most children do not these days. This was the kind of kid I was, scrambling up the magnolia tree in our front yard so I could stare at the patterns in the bark and maybe even read my latest Sweet Valley Twins installment. I thought nothing of spending hours on end outside, peeing in the woods when I needed to rather than having to go back indoors.
In Eli the Good, we meet a quiet, introspective boy (Eli) who's slowly waking up to the idea that the romanticized view he had of his life might not be entirely accurate. His best friend is the vivacious Edie, a girl who lives next door and who's tougher than any of the boys in the neighborhood (but who, of course, has some soft spots, too). Eli's marked with a fierce love for his family, even when he can't firmly grasp why his dad gets so violent and why his mom always sticks up for him, what his beloved Aunt Nell and protective older sister Josie are whispering about in the dark. As the story moves along, we watch Eli grow more mature, opening himself up to some of the profund sadness, beauty, and pleasure of the world. Like many gifted children, Eli seems hypersensitive to sensory experiences and emotional interactions with people, even when he's not quite able to verbalize what he's feeling. Silas House is adept at his characterizations, especially as he shows us Eli growing less sheltered but more mature by the day.
In the midst of Eli's love affair with trees and the outdoors, we have the oft violent presence of his Vietnam War veteran father, who is struggling with post traumatic stress disorder and can't quite figure out how to get help--or if he wants to get help at all. I learned a lot about the effects of war on family life by reading Eli the Good; in fact, the war itself is an ominous, forever-lurking character in the book, always waiting around the corner to pounce on an otherwise peaceful moment. Eli lives with the pressure of dealing with the war every day, never knowing when it will thunder down and disrupt the peace he's trying so hard to cultivate. I imagine that veterans and their kids might do well to read this book.
All that being said, Eli the Good is neither a scary book about an abused family nor an idyllic description of growing up a weird, woodsy kid. Eli's age and intelligence are clear to the reader; he's never imbued with an overly mature point of view (as many "kids" in young adult literature tend to be, thereby giving away the fact that the writer is, in fact, old and wise, looking back on his or her life).
Silas House speaks at SIBA trade show
I really encourage you to buy a copy of Eli the Good to read it for yourself.
Congratulations to Barbara, who's won a copy of the book! Barbara, please email me at avid[dot]athens[at]gmail[dot]com with your mailing address so I can get the book out to you.
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