Imprint Extra: Celebrating Good Books & Giveaway

Today marks the third anniversary since I tentatively published my first post, which happened to be about red wines to drink with pizza. My second post was about books. This is my 1,324th post, and I can tell you truthfully that if you had asked me on September 13, 2008, if I thought I'd still be blogging three years later, I would have said no.

I've never celebrated my blogoversary, but I thought I'd use it as an excuse to have an Imprint Extra giveaway. My imprint awareness project started in January 2010, when I decided to host the Amy Einhorn Books Perpetual Reading Challenge. Since then, every Friday I've spotlighted a book from one of my favorite imprints.

Over the last twenty months, I've introduced you to literary fiction, historical fiction, light fiction, memoirs, short stories, and nonfiction from several genres. I have been blessed to have had the chance to work with some great publicists and marketing people, to have gotten to know some fabulous authors, and to have read some of the best books out there.

Today is all about sharing my love of reading and celebrating some terrific imprints by hosting a fairly large giveaway. The giveaway is open worldwide, and you can enter for a chance to win any of the following books. You can pick more than one title to increase your chances of winning, but there will be only one win per person. To enter, just fill out the form and I'll pick the winners on September 26.

Look over the titles and click on the links for more information. Then make your choices. Good luck!

1. Remedies by Kate Ledger is an Amy Einhorn Book that received a starred review from Publishers Weekly, was an August 2010 Indie Next Pick, a book club selection for Self magazine, and the community read for the Twin Cities Jewish Book Fair. It's book about a strong, smart couple who puts all their energy into everything but their marriage and daughter. It's about a family in crisis and what happens when everything finally falls apart. Author Kate Ledger has generously offered two signed copies of her book (two winners, one book each) and she has volunteered to send the books internationally.

2. The Call by Yannick Murphy is a Harper Perennial book that I reviewed and featured this past July. The book is about David, a New England large-animal veterinarian and his relationship with his patients and their owners and his family. It's about how a family deals with profound and unexpected changes and it's about everyday life. I love the unique format that Murphy uses to tell the story and I love the way she captured small-town life. I am pulling a copy of this off my shelves to share with one of you because I think this is a book that has universal appeal. This book has been gently read.

3. Saving CeeCee Honeycutt by Beth Hoffman, published by Pamela Dorman Books, was one of my top-ten reads for 2010. I absolutely fell in love with CeeCee and the strong women who helped her through and past the difficult years of her childhood. This is a multilayered novel that touches on many themes, but your heart will go out to twelve-year-old CeeCee and you will carry her and the very wise Oletta with you for long time to come. I still think about them even a year after I first met them. I am so pleased to have a copy of the unabridged audiobook (on CD) to give away (brand new). Thanks to Beth for kindly sending me a copy so I can offer it to you. I listened to the book and I can assure you it's a great audio and a wonderful way to read the novel for the first time or the second.

4. When She Woke by by Hillary Jordan, from Algonquin Books, hasn't been released yet. In fact, I won't be featuring it for Imprint Friday until early October. I did, however, introduce you to the novel in June when I talked about the Hot Book Club Titles panel at BookExpo America 2011. Some reviews are already out there. This is an adult dystopian novel that is set in the not-so-distant future and has its roots in The Scarlett Letter. What would happen if your crimes were made visible for all to see? Where could find peace, safety, and new life? This book is already generating a lot of buzz, and I am adding my gently read ARC to the giveaway.

5. Quiet Chaos by Sandro Veronesi is from Ecco Books. The novel won the Strega Prize (the top literary prize in Italy) and came out in English translation last April. I haven't yet read this one, but it's high on my list and I just happen to have an extra unread ARC to share. Here's a bit from the description: "an unforgettable contemporary fable about stepping out of life after it cruelly turns everything upside-down, and finding a resolution to the unsolvable problem of loss in the beauty and strangeness of the everyday."


6. Freedom by Jonathan Franzen is now available in a Picador edition. Do I really need to tell you about this prize-winning, best-selling look at contemporary life? Well, just in case you're not sure what it's all about, I'll share part of the publisher's summary: "Freedom comically and tragically captures the temptations and burdens of liberty: the thrills of teenage lust, the shaken compromises of middle age, the wages of suburban sprawl, the heavy weight of empire. . . . Franzen has produced an indelible and deeply moving portrait of our time." Thanks to the wonderful people at Picador, I have a brand new copy of the novel to offer to one of you.

I hope you're as excited for the chance to read these as I am to share them with you. Thanks to everyone who has been supportive and friendly and kind to me over the last three years. Now on to the entry form. Good luck!