Sunday 14 March 2010

Sunday Salon - Happy Mothers Day and Competition Winner

Happy Mothers Day to all the mums in England, as I know every where else seems to celebrate Mothers Day on a different day. I am having a lazy day and will be taken out for dinner later, along with my mum and my sister in law, so we all get spoilt together. Now what is the best thing to buy someone like me for Mothers Day, easy, books! We all went to the book store yesterday and hubby and girls helped me pick some books. My daughters thought it was a boring present to buy me, but I personally am thrilled to have more books.
I picked out three books I wanted and hubby found another that I had mentioned to him and purchased it as a surprise with the other books.
1) Brooklyn by Colm Toibin - an ideal choice for the New York challenge and winner of the 2009 Costa Novel Award.
2) Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel - I am so pleased to see this one finally out in paperback, as I did win a copy before Christmas but I never received it. That has happened to me a couple of times in the last year and it is rather annoying when you win something and it never arrives.
3) Making Rounds With Oscar by David Dosa. This was the one that hubby picked up as I kept telling him about this wonderful cat who helped people by being with them in their last hours on Earth.
4) Of Bees and Mist by Erica Setiawan. Now I saw this recently on some one's blog and I can't for the life of me remember where. I tried finding it on Google Reader, but it didn't come up. It is listed as an adult fairytale, so I am really looking forward to this.
Now I have picked up loads of charity books too this week as well as library books, but I will show those tomorrow, so it doesn't seem like I really had an overload of books entering my house this week.
My reading week began very slowly as we were due to have visitors yesterday and I decided that the house needed a really big spring clean. I went mad, washing sofa covers, cleaning behind and underneath sofas, cleaning kitchen cupboards, even went as far as weeding the garden. The more I cleaned, the more jobs I found, only to discover on Thursday that my visitors could not come until next week now. I was not happy!
So on Friday, I spent the whole day just reading as I was extremely knackered and didn't feel like doing anything else and I have to say it was bliss. It is very rare to give myself a whole day devoted to reading as I always feel so guilty and that I should be doing something else, but on Friday I gave myself the day off. I managed to finish reading To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, which I adored and nearly finished Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistlestop Cafe by Fannie Flagg, which was also a wonderful book. It was really nice to read to books set in similar time frames in the state of Alabama, as I felt I got a real feel for the place as they dealt with similar issues that were common within the state at that time. I feel like my literary journey of America has truly begun.
I thought I had better announce the winner of Thaw by Fiona Robyn too as I forgot to do this during the week.
I used the randomizer and the winner is
Diane from Bibliophile By the Sea.
Well done Diane, if you send me your address via email I will send the book on to you.
Well I am off to laze around and be spoilt rotten. Have a lovely day everyone.

22 comments:

  1. Happy Mother's Day, Vivienne! Look at those books! Happy reading to you. :D

    Glad you've finished To Kill A Mockingbird. I'd love to read your review on it.

    Also congratulations to Diane for winning the book!

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  2. Happy Mother's Day to you! I hope your day is grand and all of your books are wonderful.

    Congratulations, Diane!

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  3. Happy Mother's Day! I didn't realize it was on a different day there. Thanks for letting me know. :)

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  4. WOW -- I don't think I have ever washed the sofa covers (I am finding that I detest cleaning more and more).

    It looks like you have started Mother's Day with a great gift! The books look wonderful.

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  5. I know about books that never arrived :(

    I hope you will like Mantel, a tip though, read slow and carefully. It was just that kind of book

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  6. A most happy and relaxing day to you, Vivienne,and also to your Mom and sister-in-law. Enjoy all your new books.

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  7. Happy Mother's Day! I see you got some nice books there. Can't wait to hear what you think about them! Have a nive day, Vivienne!

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  8. I forgot it was Mother's Day in England! Happy Mother's Day! My husband and I happened to be in England over mother's day five years ago and joked around about me getting to celebrate it twice.

    I know I'm probably strange, but I love it when I clean like crazy and then people cancel. I think it's because I'd never do such a great job of cleaning otherwise, and then instead of entertaining I've got free time and a clean house. :)

    Enjoy your reading! I'm looking forward to the book about Oscar.

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  9. Happy Mother's Day Viv to you and the other mums/moms in England. You have some awesome books there. I loved Making the Rounds With Oscar, and I liked Brooklyn as well.

    Also a great big THANK YOU for the giveaway win; I'm thrilled. I'll email you my info. Thanks again and have a great day and great week Viv.

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  10. Happy Mother's Day! Reading all day sounds so perfect! I love the cover of Wolf Hall which looks so different from the U.S. version. Happy reading!

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  11. Happy Mother's Day! I hope it you feel special and spoiled. You received some great books and I am must say I am happy you liked both Mockingbird and Fried Green Tomatoes--they are both among my favorite books list.
    I just saw a Cecilia Ahern book on your sidebar--I am crazy for her books and this one has not ever been released in the states! What is up with that?? I am going to get my hands on a copy one way or another--(actually amazon.uk will send me a copy!)
    *happy day wishes and smiles to you*

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  12. Happy Mother's Day, Vivienne! I hope you are being properly spoiled all day long! lol You received some wonderful books for Mother's Day, all are on my tbr list or pile! Enjoy!

    Glad to hear you read all day Friday after spending a good portion of the week cleaning. Sorry that your guests weren't able to come but now your house is clean for a bit! Love, love, love Mockingbird and Fried Green Tomatoes, such wonderful books, glad you enjoyed them!

    I'm trying to get back to visiting friends' blogs at least a little bit. I hope you're doing well (your family too!)
    ~ Amy

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  13. Happy Mother'a Day, Vivienne! I also didn't know you celebrated it in March. Over here it's just in May.

    Sorry about the cancelled plans! If only the place could magically stay clean until they came :P

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  14. Happy Mothers Day, aren't you lucky to have received all those books. My problem with blogger sorted, I'm now thankfully catching up with all my visiting.

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  15. I've won books and never received them too. It's pretty annoying, isn't it?

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  16. Happy Mother's Day! I really enjoyed Wolf Hall, so I hope you do, too. Brooklyn was also just recently chosen as the city of Chicago's read for the spring. I am thinking of reading it, but I'm not sure yet- I'm looking forward to seeing what you think.

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  17. You're almost two months ahead of us, Vivienne. Happy Mother's Day! Spending a day reading--in a clean house, too--would be wonderful.

    Congrats to Diane!

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  18. Happy Mothers Day Viv!
    Happy reading :)

    and congrats to diane :)
    http://thebookworm07.blogspot.com/

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  19. Oh, my! Happy Mum's Day. I'm actually surprised that my son (who lives in Berlin) didn't send a greeting today, but I guess he remembers the day we celebrate.

    But then again, is today only England, or all of Europe?

    I've had that happen to me...cleaning like mad for visitors who cancel at the last minute. That is SO ANNOYING!

    What a nice book haul you got!

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  20. Happy Mothers Day! :) And you have Wolf Hall! Woo hoo! ;)

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  21. Sounds like a fantastic day Vivienne.

    As for your wins, well speaking as someone who comps regularly I would email the host of the comp. This has happened to me a couple of times, funnily enough with books too. I emailed the host and they were under the impression I had received my prize because it was sent direct from the publisher - they just passed the address details on. So they got on to them and within days I had my books. I know it feels cheeky chasing a prize but they offered it so they should provide it. Otherwise it is false advertising. And really it provides extra traffic to their site/company. I felt REALLY cheeky the first couple of times it happened - now I give people a month and if it doesn't show up I would drop a polite, friendly email to them.

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  22. I know I'm late but Happy Mother's Day Viv!

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