Literary Blog Hop

My Book Self is organising a Literary Blog Hop! A number of blogs are offering literary prizes. Visit them all and try your luck. But first enter here at Leeswammes’ Blog! I have a book so new, it was published just a week ago and it’s fan.tas.tic! I finished it today and decided, this is the book to offer for the blog hop (no review yet). The publisher says: “Anna Benz, an American in her late thirties, lives with her Swiss husband, Bruno—a banker—and their three young children in a postcard-perfect suburb of Zürich. Though she leads a comfortable, well-appointed life, Anna is falling apart inside. Adrift and increasingly unable to connect with the emotionally unavailable Bruno or even with her own thoughts and feelings, Anna tries to rouse herself with new experiences: German language classes, Jungian analysis, and a series of sexual affairs she enters with an ease that surprises even her. But Anna can’t easily extract herself from these affairs. When she wants to end them, she finds it’s difficult. Tensions escalate, and her lies start to spin out of control. Having crossed a moral threshold, Anna will discover where a woman goes when there is no going back.”

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To enter

To enter, please read the rules and then fill out the form below.

The rules:

1. Anyone can enter. You do not need to have a blog.
2. You do not have to be a follower of my blog or become a follower, although if you like my blog I hope you will! You can follow by email or by RSS (see buttons in the side bar on the right at the top).
3. There will be one winner.
4. You need an address where bookdepository will deliver.
5. Leave a comment to say you’d like to win the book. You can enter the giveaway until Sunday April 12th. I will close the giveaway when I turn on my computer on April 13th (Netherlands time).
6. Tweet about the giveaway for ONE extra entry. Use this text: Win Hausfrau by Jill Alexander Essbaum in the Literary Blog Hop http://wp.me/pTjfK-4MG
7. Note that double or invalid entries will be removed.
8. I will notify the winner by email. The winner need to answer my email within 3 days, or I’ll announce a new winner.
9. That’s it! Good luck and thanks for playing.

Now go to the other blogs and try your luck!

Click here to view the list with participating blogs.

Literary Blog Hop: March 8-11

The Literary Blog Hop is organised by The Blue Book Case. It’s a monthly event for blogs that discuss primarily literary fiction and classics. Hop over to The Blue Book Case if you want to join in!

This week’s discussion question is:

How do you find time to read, what’s your reading style and where do you think reading literature should rank in society’s priorities?

My answer: The short answer on where I find the time to read is that I don’t work or study. In principle, every day is for my to fill in as I like. In practice, there is a household with 2 teenagers and a husband to take care of, although that doesn’t take all day. So, I fill up the rest of my time with other activities, like blogging, exercise, socialising, etc.

As a rule, I don’t read much during the day. Just as I never watch day-time television, I don’t sit down to read. Except: I read at all meal times, at “coffee break”, and sometimes I steal an hour during the day when I have a book that needs to be finished soon. Mainly, I read in the evening. Because by then I’ve already done all the chores that working people need to do in the evenings, I can spend evenings (and weekends) reading. That’s the secret behind me reading so much!

My reading style: fast, faster! When I have a great book in my hands, I want to read it with great speed. If I have a not-so-good book, I want it finished soon, too. 🙂 What bothers me, are some literary books that you can’t read fast. I dislike them for slowing down my reading and I love them for being written so well. Mixed feelings!

In general, if a book takes longer than 4 days to read, I’m getting restless.

As far as society is concerned, I think it’s great when people read at all. Just taking out quiet time to put your nose in a book sounds like a good idea for everyone. I think it’s a pity lots of people get stuck in simple romances that are (for them) brain candy but don’t stretch them in any way. Still, reading those is better than nothing!

I would like it if people were shown some slightly more demanding books, under the guise of “If you like this book with the half-naked man on the cover, you might also like to read this book set in the 1960s in which Jane finds herself with a lover who seems to good to be true” (I made up that last bit). But what I mean is: a bit of encouragement and showing people some other books would be good. I think World Book Night does that a bit, but a few of the books there will still be way too intimidating for a lot of people.

What about you? Do you recognise this in your own reading?

Literary Blog Hop: February 2-5

The Literary Blog Hop is organised by The Blue Book Case. It’s a biweekly event for blogs that discuss primarily literary fiction and classics. Hop over the The Blue Book Case if you want to join in!

This week’s discussion question is:

“What setting (time or place) from a book or story would you most like to visit? Eudora Welty said that, “Being shown how to locate, to place, any account is what does most toward making us believe it…,” so in what location would you most like to hang out?”

My answer: I would love to visit Alaska! I’ve read a few books in the last year or so that took place there and I think the nature must be so beautiful, rough, and scary, too. It can be a lonely place but where there are towns, I imagine the people to huddle together to face the bitter cold in winter.

Most recently I read Sukkwan Island by David Vann, in which a father and son try to survive for a whole year on an remote Alaskan island. I read Raven Stole the Moon by Garth Stein last year. Here, a woman goes back to Alaska where her family comes from, which (literally) is a magical place. And before my blogging life, I read Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer in which a man tries to survive on his own in the Alaskan wilderness.

Now I want to sample it for myself!

Literary fiction I read since my last literary blog hop:

East is East by T. C. Boyle – Very well-written book about a Japanese sailor (with an unknown American father) who illegally enters the US at Georgia, near an artists’ colony. One of the writers sees a good story in him and hides him in her cabin.

Sukwann Island by David Vann – Another very well-written book. A divorced man takes his 12 year old son to the Alaskan wilderness, to spend a year there living off the land. That is a lot harder than they thought. Recommended.

Other news:

Join the Literary Giveaway Blog Hop (February 19-23). Give away a (literary) book or book related item and link to other bloggers who are also holding a giveaway. Lots of blog traffic, lots of readers, lots of fun. Enter as a participant now. And did you notice the “Literary” bit?