BLOG CONTEST! BLOG CONTEST!

And it's about time.  The air may still be chilly here in the big city, but finals are this week and, to me, that means I might have some SUMMER READING time ahead of me.  Or at least I might be able smuggle a few contraband novels covertly into a park or beach during those weekends when I should be studying spreadsheets for the Foundations of Finance class I'm taking.

But what should I read??? YOU tell ME.

Anyway, here are the rules.  They aren't very complicated.  There isn't much room in my life for complicated right now.

The Rules:

There are 3 ways to enter the contest!   You choose which way(s) you want to enter.

Category 1) Comment with one, two or three book recommendations.    You will earn one, two or three entries.  You are welcome to recommend more, but three is limit for Category 1 drawing entries.

Category 2) Post this contest on your blog and link to me.  You get 3 extra entries for this one!  Be sure to provide me with a link of where to find it on your blog.

Category 3) Send someone over.  If someone comments and tells me you sent them, you get one more entry per person sent.

No matter the number of entries, no person can win more than once.

The Deadline:

That word has always given me chills.  Deadline.  It's so rough, so final and bloody.  This sensation has only gotten worse since I went back to grad school.

Anyway, this contest begins now and entries are accepted through the end of my finals and the subsequent celebration of the semester's end, which means Sunday, May 11, 2008 at noon (or whatever time I sober up).

The Winners:

There will be 4 winners, all chosen at random by our lovely EmmaTeazle:

Better get on her good side.

Winners will be chosen in order.  The first name drawn gets to choose one of these four gifts.  The second will choose from the remaining three gifts; the third winner has the two remaining choices.  Winner number 4, well, you get what you get, but you're still  a WINNER! 

The contest is open to INTERNATIONAL entrants as well as New Yorkers.  I have lots of stamps and I know how to use them.

The Loot:

The offering today is an astounding assortment of Spider-lishish goodies.

Prize 1:

One copy of Knitting Through It, featuring my story, The Castle of Our Dreams.  Whether you've got knitting fever or not, you'll enjoy reading these touching stories of people doing what they can to get through the tough times. 

You can read more about my contribution to the book here, if you need a refresher. 

With the book comes a special surprise gift - I'd show it to you, but then I'd have to kill you because it's still top-secret for now.  The gift that comes with this book will be one of the first versions of a handcrafted sewing design I will be creating for special occasions and special people and, if it is a hit, perhaps for an Etsy shop one of these days.  If you are an early adopter, or if you like a pleasant surprise, this one's for you. 

Prize 2:

A Schrodinger Original Cube, in this delightful Monkeys pattern, handmade by Schrodinger, of course.

Whoever wins this will have to pry it out of my clenched fingers.  Those little monkeys are so cute they make my eyebrows pucker every time I look at them. 

That curly tail would sure come in handy for slipping out the office window on beautiful days like these.

Oh, and you might find a fun little something-something inside that bag, if you know what I mean (it's bad luck to give someone an empty bag, after all).

Prize 3:

My criteria for prizes was to give away fabulous stuff that I'd love to win myself.  Which makes it so much more difficult to actually give away the stuff.  But I will be brave.

Take for example this pookeh Heart Shaped Box necklace.

Sandra outdid herself with this one.  Look, it even opens.

Prize 4:

Brooklyn Handspun's hand-dyed Green Valley superwash soft spun sock yarn!

Speaking of SPRING, I just want to romp naked through those fluffy green strands.  But I won't.  I promise.  You'd never get it untangled.

If you've tried this yarn, you know you love it.  If you haven't tried it, well, why not??  Win your very own skein, right here, right now.  This 4 ounce hank is more than enough for a fabulous pair of socks.  Now stop petting your computer screen, those smudges are unseemly.

Should you win this yarn and you are certifiably not a knitter, then you send me foot measurements, I send you exquisite handknit socks.  In about a month.  This part of the prize only applies to non-knitters so don't be all, knit me socks if you have a knit blog and published patterns floating around.  I'll catch on eventually and send you crappy socks with a special little present from Emma inside.  Did I ever tell you about the time in DC we found half  a mouse in our bedroom? 

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So there it is, an actual contest on the OSOH blog.  Will wonders never cease.  Now, get those book recommendations coming.  I will also compile and post a nice listing of these for everyone's benefit, post contest.

Comments

[Sandra]

wowee! look at all these GOODIES! i dunno if all that grad school is getting to you but this is an amazing and quite generous assortment of prizes. damn yo.

all kidding aside, i'm gonna link to this post on my blog. gotta let people know about this awesome contest but PLEASE do not include me in this contest. i have a good share of schrodinger bags, brooklyn handspun, and pookeh jewelry (for very obvious reasons). we need to introduce other folk to all this spidery goodness.

thank again for showcasing my necklace! so glad you like it. :D YAY!

[Sandra]

oh, and congrats again! it must be so exciting to see your name in print like that!! can't wait to read your story.

[Sarah]

I'm going to recommend the book I read last summer that's still haunting me: Nancy Milford's Savage Beauty: The Life of Edna St. Vincent Millay. It's a fascinating biography grippingly told, and I think it's especially intriguing for people who write and love language the way you do. I couldn't put it down, and I still think about it often. Also Theft, by Peter Carey, a smart art heist caper stewed with high-brow/provincial conflict, complex and gritty double-dealing characters, clever literary tricks, all visceral and raunchy and sublime. I inhaled it in two plane rides and loved it.

[lelah]

I am going to recommend _Slammerkin_ by Emma Donoghue. It's seriously great, and kind of shocking!!! http://www.amazon.com/review/product/0156007479/ref=dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt?%5Fencoding=UTF8&showViewpoints=1

[grigorisgirl]

I'm recommending The Island by Victoria Hislop. It's set in Greece and is about leprosy but don't let that put you off. It's a real page turner and set in a real place (Spinalonga)that I have visited.

[Sharon]

Hmmm, books...the last few not-for-school books I've read have been pretty interesting. In no particular order, my recommendations:

- The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (not exactly 'feel good', but super interesting.)

- Peace like a River by Leif Enger

- Ines of my Soul by Isabel Allende (one of my favoritest writers.)

[Jackie]

I am going to recommend a light hearted series of books by Charlaine Harris called the Southern Vampires series. There are 8 books in it I think. There are vampires, and werewolves, a little bit of love and a good amount of laughter.

[Harper]

1) long but engrossing -- Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke

2) apocolyptic, dark and funny -- London Fields by Martin Amis

3) puzzles and adventure -- The Eight by Katherine Neville

4) Book I haven't read yet but want to -- Life of Pi by Yann Martel

5) I second Sharon -- The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

[anushka]

1) Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood
2) The Collector by John Fowles
3) Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys

[Emily / knitwhere]

These are some of my favorite pleasure reading books:

1. Loving Frank by Nancy Moran. I'm no romance book reader, but this book has something for everyone: feminism, architecture, extra-marital affairs (jk!). It's super duper enjoyable
2. Smart Girls Like Me by Diane Vadino. I picked this up on a whim at NYPL and was really pleased with it.
3. The Sister: A Novel of Emily Dickinson by Paola Kaufmann. Do you sense a theme of historical fiction? My Civil War buff father would be so proud.

BTW, I love your blog! And this contest rocks - I'm getting great ideas for summer reading, myself.

[Nell]

Eat, Pray, Love- Elizabeth Gilbert
The Red Tent- Anita Diamant
Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell- Susanna Clarke

I was sent by "I may be knitting a ranch house."

Cool contest!

[Spacedlaw]

Not knowing what you might like, I am striking at a wide spectrum:

Patry Francis' "Liar's Diary" (It did remind me of Margaret Atwood stories a little).

"The Lonely Werewolf Girl" by Martin Millar (I liked it and I am not even a fan of werewolf stories)

"Look me in the eye" by John Elder Robison (it is a book about growing up with Asperger's, way before it was something diagnosed - very interesting)

[Spacedlaw]

Oh and I liked Slammerkin and the Life of Pi, which were recommended by others.

[Navi]

I was sent by Sandra from http://www.imaybeknittingaranchhouse.com/

And I love to recommend books, so

1) House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski, spooky and crazy.

2) Grotesque by Natsuo Kirino, even though you won't like any of the characters you can't stop reading it.

3) Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood, post-apocalyptic and dark.

[Jodi]

Books! YAY!

- Cold Comfort Farm, by Stella Gibbons (very funny, Jane Austen-inspired, satiric, and set in the future from when it was actually written)

- Stones from the River, by Ursula Hegi (a German dwarf woman encounters prejudice but also love during WWII)

- The Seven Sisters, by Margaret Drabble (an older Englishwoman slowly comes to embrace life, literature, and travel after her divorce)

[Karin]

Category 3-- I'd like to enter please. Thank you!

[reese]

wow... i saw this through sandra's blog. just wanted to say how cool it is! uh... i don't think that i'll win or anything, but i have a couple book recommendations:

1. the namesake by jhumpa lahiri - ok, if you haven't read this, please read it. then go see the film, or do it the other way around to.

2. water for elephants by sara gruen - it's like amazing... great portrait of life in the circus and all the associated complications.

3. the fountainhead by ayn rand - this is like a classic and whatnot, isn't it? well, it is to me. and i swear to god, i am totally in love with howard roark. i'll have his fictitious love child, but i won't expect him to ever love me, cuz he doesn't roll like that. he's an idealist and all that.

[allison]

One Hundred Years of SolitudeGarcia Marquez

Annie John Jamaica Kincaid

In Cold BloodTruman Capote

...after glancing randomly along my bookshelves.

sent by imaybeknittingaranchhouse.com

[CatsPlay]

OMG SUPER FUN!!!! Since I'm not a huge reader and I think you've read the Diana Gabaldon series (Voyager, etc) (if not, I HIGHLY recommend them), I'm running a mega big campaign on my site to send people over. THE MONKEY BAG IS MINE!!!! *evil laugh*

[Bronwen]

I was sent here by Emily of Knitwhere.

I'm a Comp. Lit. PhD student, so reading is my job. But when I think of relaxing summer reading, here are some books that come to mind:

1. Here Be Dragons by Sharon Kay Penman. A nice brick of historical fiction that is both gripping and very satisfying. That or I'm just a sucker for the Welsh.

2. Gaudy Night by Dorothy Sayers. A witty mystery novel about Lord Peter and Harriet. I have this novel on CD, and I was knitting and listening as an escape from all things academic. Thing is that in it Harriet is nostalgic for all things academic. Ironic? Highly enjoyable.

3. The Blue Sword by Robin McKinley. A great fantasy novel that is more about personality than magic with just a hint of mystery and turmoil. Kidnappings, learning new skills rapidly, drinking strange chocolately beverages, sexual tension. All good things.

Happy Reading!

[Bronwen]

Oops, got my blog address wrong before. Now it's correct.

[Mintyfresh]

I would prefer to recommend books you should not read, but that's not really how the game is played, is it? OK, OK, here are three that I definitely think you should read if you haven't already:

1. Tender at the Bone by Ruth Reichl (a memoir--plus some recipes)

2. The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin (a kids' book, but seriously the greatest book ever written, and perfectly summer-reading paced)

3. Passage to Juneau by Jonathan Ravin (a friend recommended it to me; it's nonfiction and sounds very interesting)

[SnoopyLover1967]

I really enjoy Kate Mosse's books. She has written Labyrinth and Sepulchre. They both deal with women who have a connection with a past of which they only have slight conscious inklings. Real page turners.

CatsPlay sent me over, BTW.

[Sasha]

The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon

Kentucky Straight by Chris Offutt

[Mary]

I'd be happy to recommend some books!
1)Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen
2)Life of Pi, by Yann Martel
3)the Post Secret books, compiled by Frank Warren.