Partial to the Past--Historical Fiction {Give@way H O P}

WINNER:  Nirmala!

Welcome to my stop on the hop! Sorry for the late posting.  Busy, busy work week.  Anyway, what I'm giving away today is a copy of my current read-a-long, Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel.  It is an excellent book so far and I think it's author earned the Man Booker Prize well.

About the book:

In the ruthless arena of King Henry VIII’s court, only one man dares to gamble his life to win the king’s favor and ascend to the heights of political power 

England in the 1520s is a heartbeat from disaster. If the king dies without a male heir, the country could be destroyed by civil war. Henry VIII wants to annul his marriage of twenty years, and marry Anne Boleyn. The pope and most of Europe opposes him. The quest for the king’s freedom destroys his adviser, the brilliant Cardinal Wolsey, and leaves a power vacuum. 

Into this impasse steps Thomas Cromwell. Cromwell is a wholly original man, a charmer and a bully, both idealist and opportunist, astute in reading people and a demon of energy: he is also a consummate politician, hardened by his personal losses, implacable in his ambition. But Henry is volatile: one day tender, one day murderous. Cromwell helps him break the opposition, but what will be the price of his triumph? 

In inimitable style, Hilary Mantel presents a picture of a half-made society on the cusp of change, where individuals fight or embrace their fate with passion and courage. With a vast array of characters, overflowing with incident, the novel re-creates an era when the personal and political are separated by a hairbreadth, where success brings unlimited power but a single failure means death.

Details:
I'm shipping from Better World Books so it's open worldwide.  It will be a used copy.  Just leave me a comment with your email address to enter.  Would love a follow, but it's not required to enter.  Take a look around while you're here and maybe my blog will suit your fancy. ;O)  Giveaway ends on Thursday, August 30 at 11:59pm CST.  Good luck!

No Strings Attached {Give@way} H o p

Welcome to my stop on the No Strings Attached Giveaway Hop! Today I'm giving away a brand new audio book copy of Black Site by Dalton Fury.

About the book:
From former Delta Force commander and New York Times bestselling author of Kill Bin Laden comes the first novel in an explosive new series.


After September 11, 2001, Delta Force troop commander Dalton Fury was given the secret mission to hunt down and kill the most wanted man in the world, the details of which were recounted in his extraordinary New York Times bestseller Kill Bin Laden. Now, Fury draws upon his hard-won combat experience—and his gift for true-to-life storytelling—to offer a brand-new series of thrillers that are as close to reality as readers can get.


Meet Kolt Raynor. A Delta Force operator and one-time American hero, he is still trying to make sense of his life—and duty—after a secret mission gone bad. Three years ago, in the mountains of Pakistan, Raynor made a split-second decision to disobey orders—one that got some of his teammates killed and the rest captured. Now he’s been given a second chance to do right by his country, his men, and himself. But Raynor’s shot at redemption comes at a price.


A shadowy group of former colleagues has asked Raynor to return, alone, to Pakistan’s badlands. His assignment seems clear: find his missing men and bring them home. What Raynor never expected was to uncover a sinister al Qaeda plot to capture a Black Site--a secret U.S.­­ prison--and destabilize the region. Meanwhile, a ruthless, unknown enemy is on his trail…and he will stop at nothing to make sure that Raynor’s mission is not accomplished.


An intense, gritty work of edge-of-your-seat suspense, Black Site is the first of what promises to be one of the most exciting fiction series of the new millennium.


Good luck!

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Visit the other blogs on the hop!

No Strings Attached {Give@way} Hop

Welcome to my stop on the No Strings Attached Giveaway Hop, hosted by Kathy at I Am a Reader, Not a Writer.  I have up for grabs....

This is a gently used, trade paperback edition.


About the book:
A true story of love, murder, and the end of the world’s “great hush”

In Thunderstruck, Erik Larson tells the interwoven stories of two men—Hawley Crippen, a very unlikely murderer, and Guglielmo Marconi, the obsessive creator of a seemingly supernatural means of communication—whose lives intersect during one of the greatest criminal chases of all time.

Set in Edwardian London and on the stormy coasts of Cornwall, Cape Cod, and Nova Scotia, Thunderstruck evokes the dynamism of those years when great shipping companies competed to build the biggest, fastest ocean liners, scientific advances dazzled the public with visions of a world transformed, and the rich outdid one another with ostentatious displays of wealth. Against this background, Marconi races against incredible odds and relentless skepticism to perfect his invention: the wireless, a prime catalyst for the emergence of the world we know today. Meanwhile, Crippen, “the kindest of men,” nearly commits the perfect crime.

With his superb narrative skills, Erik Larson guides these parallel narratives toward a relentlessly suspenseful meeting on the waters of the North Atlantic. Along the way, he tells of a sad and tragic love affair that was described on the front pages of newspapers around the world, a chief inspector who found himself strangely sympathetic to the killer and his lover, and a driven and compelling inventor who transformed the way we communicate. Thunderstruck presents a vibrant portrait of an era of séances, science, and fog, inhabited by inventors, magicians, and Scotland Yard detectives, all presided over by the amiable and fun-loving Edward VII as the world slid inevitably toward the first great war of the twentieth century. Gripping from the first page, and rich with fascinating detail about the time, the people, and the new inventions that connect and divide us, Thunderstruck is splendid narrative history from a master of the form. (from Goodreads.com)

To enter:  Fill out the rafflecopter form below.  No follow required.  Giveaway ends on April 22, 2012 at 10:59pm CST.  Be sure to visit the other blogs on the hop.  Check out the linky at the end of the post.

Good luck!
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Banned Books Week Giveaway Hop Winners!

The winners of my Banned Books Week Giveaway are:

Liya (The Lovely Bones)

and

Janelle (Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil)

Congratulations! I will be sending you an email to obtain your mailing information.  Please respond within 48 hours or I will draw a new winner(s).

Thank you to all who entered!

Banned Books Week Giveaway Hop!

Welcome to my stop on the Banned Books Week Giveaway Hop! This hop is being hosted by I Am a Reader, Not a Writer and Jen from I Read Banned Books! It was inspired by the ALA’s Banned Books Week that runs from September 24th to October 1st. For more information on BBW, visit the ALA HERE.

I have been a supporter of Banned Books Week for about five years now. Although there are certain genres that I do not read (erotica, for instance), I firmly believe that no book should be removed from the shelves just because certain persons believe it immoral, racist, or whatever the reason. When I think of books being challenged/banned, Fahrenheit 451 always comes to mind. We do not want to become a society that burns books because the powers that be think they provoke dangerous thoughts and/or actions. That is why events like this are so important. This Monday - Friday, I will be featuring historical fiction books that have been banned/challenged, along with historical fiction authors who have had their works banned. Over at Castle Macabre, I will be featuring banned/challenged horror books and authors. Hope you will stop by!

Now for the giveaway goodies!

(Click covers for book descriptions)

Trade Paperback-movie tie-in edition

Years of, and reasons for, being challenged/banned:

2006-2008

Challenged at the Coleytown Middle School Library in Westport, Conn. (2007).  The school superintendent acknowledged that the book is "for mature readers" and also acknowledged that "the book is appropriate to be part of a middle-school library collection serving students from ages 11-14, many of whom possess the maturity level to read this book."

2007-2008

Moved to the faculty section of the John W. McDevitt Middle School library in Waltham, Mass. (2008) because its content was too frightening for middle school students.

2008-2009

Moved to the faculty section of the John W. McDevitt Middle School library in Waltham, Mass. (2008) because its content was too frightening for middle school students. 

Hardcover edition

2008-2009

Banned for just four days from the Beulah, N.Dak. High School library (2008). Two school employees followed school policy to request removing the book after their son brought it home from an accelerated‑reading program, in which students pick from a couple of hundred titles. The parents said the 1994 runaway nonfiction best seller was too pornographic and at odds with student behavior promoted in the school handbook. The board reversed its decision at the encouragement of the board president, who said the board moved too fast and unleashed a possible court case it would never win. He said there might be more palatable alternatives, like creating a list of restricted books that parents have to approve before their children can check them out. A decision to review school policies and investigate less‑restrictive means to control library books was approved by the school board.

(all info obtained at ala.org/bbooks)

To enter the giveaway, you must leave me a comment telling me your favorite banned book OR the name of a book you were surprised to hear was banned/challenged.  Also, let me know which book you would prefer.  Please include your email address for notification if you're a winner.  There will be 2 winners chosen by random.org  First winner chosen will receive their choice, second winner receives the remaining book.  Open to US only.  Giveaway ends October 1st at 11:59 pm CST and I will announce the winner on the 2nd or 3rd.  Winners will also be notified via email.  Winners must respond within 48 hours to the winning notification email, or another winner will be selected.

Thanks for 'hopping' by! Good luck!