Sunday, October 31, 2010

Announcing Winners Our Stephen King Spooktacular Giveaway


Congratulations to our winners.  I printed out the emails of all our entries and those getting more than one entry I printed more times.  I shuffled the stacks and spread the entries out on the floor upside down for each of our pets to choose a winner for a book.  Here are the results:

Manny chose April X of Princess Reviews to win 
Four Past Midnight.
Abby chose Arceli (Half broke college student) to win  
The Tommyknockers.
Spunky Doodle chose Christine of Christine Senter's Blog to win The Dark Half.

We hope you all enjoy these books which I hope to get in the mail to you this week and everyone has a happy and safe Halloween!

Watch for our next Gratitude Giveaway for our fabulous followers November 17-27.  All you will need do to enter is be a follower and leave a comment.  We will also be running a giveaway for our fabulous followers over at "My Funny Dad, Harry."  Hope you will visit that blog too.

Saturday, October 30, 2010

“Who Switched Off My Brain? Controlling toxic thoughts and emotions” by Dr. Caroline Leaf

I want to thank Rebecca at The Freaky Frugalite for recommending Who Switched Off My Brain? By Dr. Caroline Leaf when she commented on my Things I Learned This Week post.  I found this to be fascinating and very helpful.  I am interested in scientific research that relates to my everyday life which is in abundance in this short book about the brain.  The beginning chapters were pretty technical and had a lot of words related to the brain that I am unfamiliar with so that part dragged along a bit for me.  However, after reading those beginning chapters, I have a much better understanding of how thoughts are processed and stored. 

Caroline Leaf goes into a lot of detail in the first four chapters about how inter-related our thoughts are to our emotions and our health.  Who Switched Off My Brain gives scientific research that supports what the Bible has said relating to our thoughts and thinking on things that are positive rather than negative.  I liked the last two chapters best because those are the ones which focused more on how we can actually take control of our thoughts.

There are 13 techniques listed in the last chapter to implement to detox our brains.  The one that "jumped" out at me describes exactly how if feel Mondays through Fridays which I share with you here:
Rush, rush, rush!  Hurry, hurry, hurry!  Busy, busy, busy!  The ever-increasing pace of life is called the “acceleration syndrome,” and it is causing a global epidemic of hurry sickness.  The next time you think you don’t have time for exercise or relaxation, think again.  The reality is simply that you have chosen to fill your time with activities and things other than exercise and relaxation. P. 135-136
  
I really need to relax during the weekdays too!  Just to give you a sampling of some other things I learned by reading Who Switched Off My Brain?:  Laugh and play every day, exercise, take time alone for prayer, love others no matter what, forgive freely, don’t eat when angry, touch, and root of stress is fear. 

I do not normally purchase books, but this is one I would like to own.  I’ll be checking www.PaperbackSwap.com for it.  I would love to own this as a reference book.  I highly recommend this book!
(Karen's review)

Have you read this one? What did you think of it?

Check out our Stephen King Book Spooktacular Giveaway but hurry--entries end 12:30 p.m. on Halloween, Oct. 31, 2010.

"Dewey, The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched The World" by Vicki Myron

I give Dewey, The Small Town Library Cat Who Touched The World as many stars as in the sky!  This is one worth buying! My favorite book of the year!
Here are 4 things about this book:

1)  You will LOVE this book.
2)  You will not want to put it down.
3)  You will cry a lot!
4)  You will never forget it!

That being said, this is a wonderful book. I plan to get this book to have and read it again and again!!  This book will touch you like it did me.  What a special cat Dewey was and wonderful person Vicki is.  Thanks for telling the story, Vicki.  I wish I could have met Dewey and pet him!!  Treasure and enjoy this book!!
(Gerard's Review 10/08)

Dewey, The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched The World by Vicki Myron is a true story about the love between a lady and the cat she found in the library book drop box that she let live in the library. It was a very friendly, affectionate, energetic cat who became famous and who greeted the patrons and laid in their laps. It reminded me of my relationship with my cats and how special they are. The end as he aged reminded me of our Moe cat. I think anyone who likes cats would enjoy reading this book.
(Karen's review 10/08)

Check out our Spooktacular Giveaway but hurry--Entries close at 12:30 p.m. on Halloween, Oct. 31, 2010.


Have you read this one? What did you think of it?

Friday, October 29, 2010

Happy Birthday To My Mom The Bookworm

  My mom loved to read and read all her life.  As a kid, she always loved to read.  She would read up in her room way passed her bedtime.  One of her goals was to read all the fiction books in the library.  She started with the authors whose names began with A.  Her birthday was October 29 and I always think of her more that day than usual.  I still miss her very much and wish she were still here, but know she is enjoying heaven and one day I will join her. 
 
Growing up she always encouraged me to get into reading.  She would read to me and got me a magazine subscription to JACK AND JILL.  I brought them home from dad’s after he died and was going to try selling them on Ebay, but they weren’t in very good shape so I ended up tossing them out.  I still remember reading the witch story that was continued each month.  She also enrolled me in a book club and I still have some of those books.  Two I gave to my nephews as gifts.  One was about trucks and the other about a fish that kept growing because it ate too much.  She also bought quite a few other books for me and my dad built me my own bookcase that was in my bedroom.  Today, it is in my den. 
 
Once I got into school though, I actually had trouble reading because my eyes were bad and I couldn’t see the blackboard.  My first grade teacher held special sessions after school for those who were having trouble reading and that’s when she realized I needed glasses and told my parents.  What a difference it made when I could see.  That teacher, Ms. Franz, was on the ball. 
 
My love for reading never really jelled in spite of lots of trips to the library to encourage it.  I remember getting the shortest books I could find for book reports and reading about some baseball players and Peppi Longstocking.  I would much rather be active and do other things though.  Reading never made my list of priorities.  My mom loved reading novels about other countries and romance.  She liked Danielle Steele and subscribed to The Reader’s Digest book club that sent condensed versions. 
 
When my mom got to be housebound, I would go to the library for her and pick out books.  She was very appreciative of this but sometimes I picked books she didn’t care for.  Most of the time, I did pretty good.  I wish now that I read regularly, she were still here so we could discuss books.  I blew it but know she would be happy now that I am finally reading for pleasure.  It just took me a long time to catch the bug.  (I still don’t care for Danielle Steele books.)
 
What passion do you want to pass along to your children or what did your mom want you to love doing?  Please check out our Spooktacular Stephen King book Giveaway--closes at 12:30 Oct. 31.

Related Posts About Mom:  
A Letter To Mom Because I Can't Write Poems
Me and My Piano
Boo On Halloween

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Stephen King Spooktacular Book Blog Giveaway (This is Over)

Winners Announced here!

We are so excited because this is our first “Grab A Book From Our Stack” giveaway! It being Halloween and all and Stephen King being a favorite in our author poll in our side bar, Gerard is graciously giving away the following three Stephen King books:

The Tommyknockers

  Excerpt from the dust cover (558 pages):
Late last night and the night before,
Tommyknockers, Tommyknockers,
knocking at the door.
I want to go out, don't know if I can,
'cause I'm so afraid
of the Tommyknocker man.
It begins with nothing more frightening than a nursery rhyme; yet in Stephen King's hands it becomes an unforgettable parable of dread, a threat from an unimaginable darkness that drags the practical inhabitants of a New England village into a hell worse than their own most horrible nightmares...and yours.

It begins with Bobbi's discovery of the ship in the earth, a ship buried for millions of years, but still vibrating faintly, still humming with some sort of life...faint...weak...but still better left alone.

The townspeople of Haven are "becoming"--being welded into one organic, homicidal, and fearsomely brilliant entity in fatal thrall to the Tommyknockers.

In this riveting, nightmarish story, Stephen King has given us his tautest, most terrifying novel to date.  And the next time someone raps at your door, you may want to keep the chain on.  It just might be the Tommyknocker Man.

Four Past Midnight

(
actually this is a collection of four chilling novellas):  Excerpt from the dust cover (763 pages):
One Past Midnight:  "The Langoliers" takes a red-eye flight from L.A. to Boston into a most unfriendly sky.  Only eleven passengers survive, but landing in an eerily empty world makes them wish they hadn't.


Two Past Midnight:  "Secret Window, Secret Garden" enters the suddenly strange life of writer Mort Rainey, recently divorced, depressed, and alone on the shore of Tashmore Lake.  Alone, that is, until a figure named John Shooter arrives, pointing an accusing finger.

Three Past Midnight:  "The Library Policeman" is set in Junction City, Iowa, an unlikely place for evil to be hiding.  But for small businessman Sam Peebles, who thinks he may be losing his mind, another enemy is hiding there as well--the truth.  If he can find it in time, he might stand a chance.

Four Past Midnight:  The flat surface of a Polaroid photograph becomes for fifteen-year-old Kevin Delevan an invitation to the supernatural.  

The Dark Half

  Excerpt from dust cover (431 pages)

Thad Beaumont is a writer, and for a dozen years he secretly published novels under the name of "George Stark" because he was no longer able to write under his own name.  He even invented a slightly sinister author biography to satisfy the many fans of Stark's violent bestsellers.  But Thad is a healthier and happier man now, the father of infant twins, and starting to write as himself again.  He no longer needs George Stark, and in fact has a good reason to lay Stark to rest.  
When Homer's pick-up truck truck is found, the bloody fingerprints of the perpetrator are all over it.  They match Thad Beaumont's exactly.  Armed with hard evidence, Pangborn [the sheriff] pays the Beaumonts a visit, and suddenly he too is thrust into a dream so bizarre that neither criminal science nor his own sharp mind can make sense of it.

At the center of the nightmare is the devastating figure of George Stark, Thad Beaumont's dark half--impossibly alive and relentlessly on the loose--a killing machine that destroys everyone on the path that leads to the man who created him.

Here is the The Dark Half, a tale of terror so real and fascinating that Stephen King's growing legion of fans will find themselves squirming in the master's heart-stopping, blood-curdling grip--and loving every minute of it.
Anyone in the United States Can Enter! This is open to anyone in the U.S., not just our followers or other bloggers! (We will be having a Follower Appreciation giveaway in November just for our followers as well as another open giveaway on Book Blog Jog Days.)

Easy To Enter:

(1) Just leave a comment here letting us know which book(s) you would like with a way of contacting you should you win (blog URL or email) or send an email to spunkydoodle[at]sbcglobal[dot]net with “Spooktacular Giveaway” in the subject line.
3 Optional Easy Ways To For Additional Entries:

(1) Leave us a comment on any of our other posts on this blog, mentioning the book(s) you would like to win. After all, we would like you to look around our blog a little bit.

(2) Add Grab A Book From Our Stack (www.ourstack.blogspot.com) to your blog roll—let us know you did it in your comment or email.

(3) Twitter (including #bblog in your tweet if you remember) or blog about this giveaway and leave a link to your post or your Twitter ID in your comment or email.
Winners will be announced here Sunday Night, October 31. We will do our best to contact the winners personally on Halloween and give them until November 3rd to email us their address so we can send the book(s). If we do not have an address for them by then, another winner will be chosen instead.

Entries close at 12:30 p.m. EST on Oct. 31. There will be separate drawings for each book on Sunday afternoon at 1:30 p.m. EST. Since the Browns have a bye week, this will give me something fun to do! We wish everyone a fun week and a happy and safe Halloween!

I included this post in the Saturday Sampling over at Half Past Kissin' time where you can link the best posts of the week.

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