I've been very lucky lately. I won a book from John @ The Book Mine Set and Daphne from the Bronte Bloggers. I need to pass this good luck on!

Since it's Buy a Friend a Book Week and... BIG ANNOUNCEMENT... Linda Wisdom author of 50 Ways to Hex Your Lover will be making a guest appearance here at book-a-rama on April 11, I'm going to give away my gently used (by me) copy of 50 Ways to Hex Your Lover to ONE lucky reader.

Hello Book Lovers! We have a winner for 50 Ways to Hex Your Lover by Linda Wisdom:

Christina from Ardently Book Reviews

I didn't pick her because she has a great name. My girl drew her name out of the basket. All was fair! So I hope to get that out to her soon. I hope you'll all stop in next Friday when Linda Wisdom visits.

More buzz:

-This is the neatest thing: A personal library kit.

With Valentines Day next week, I'm wondering if any of you have any romantic plans for this weekend. Any that you can share..hem, hem.

My taste of romance this weekend will be watching Pride & Prejudice on Sunday's Masterpiece Theatre.

Speaking of movies, Lindsay Lohan or Kiera Knightley could be the latest Catherine Earnshaw in Wuthering Heights. I can see Lohan as Cathy. She's got the crazy down.

As it is Buy A Friend A Book Week, there are many book giveaways going on. I will keep on adding to this post about new giveaways! Don't forget to check this out!

1) Dewey at The Hidden Side of the Leaf is holding one here. Do check out her link for further details!

2) Literary Feline at Musings of a Bookish Kitty is giving out two books. Check it for further details!

Scribbit (Michelle) continues her Winter Bazaar. I ran out of ideas ages ago. I'm impressed that Michelle seems to have a never ending supply of them.

I did think of this one though. Something pretty for spring: Flower Hair Clip.

You need a bouquet of silk flowers (Dollarama)
A pair of wire cutters
floral tape
hair clips (spring loaded)

In my part of the world, we're wringing out after the deluge we had on Thursday morning. Overflowing manholes everywhere. And that lovely covering of snow is gone. The backyard looks nasty. Anyway, I have a busy weekend of running the kiddie all over the place. I'll try to squeeze some reading in somewhere. Here's all the book news:

Neil Gaiman fan? He'll be offering one of his books for free online. Vote for your choice.

Gaiman is just one of the six authors to have their book posted on the Harper Collins website for free. Yay! Free books!

I wonder what one it was?

So, are you planning on eating, I mean, reading anything good this weekend? I'm not as behind in my reading as I usually am. I think it's my plan on not joining too many challenges. So far, so good. Anyway, what's new?:

Good or bad news, depending on how you look at it. Books-A-Million moves into Nebraska.

Kindle and Cook Books? It's funny I used the internet to look for a recipe last night.
I was too lazy to look in my cook books.

Here is a lot of book giveaways going on. Do check those out!

Booking Mama is giving out a copy of The Woman who is always Tan and has a flat Stomach by Laren Allison and Lisa Perry. It endes on March 16, 2008. Check that out too!

Stone Soup is offering two copies of A Year of Fog by Michelle Richmond: check it out too. It is on until March 17, 2008.

Every year the same thing happens. As Good Friday approaches, I forget about my hubby's 'no meat on Friday' thing. I'm not Catholic, so of course, it doesn't really cross my mind. I don't know why hubby always forgets since he is Catholic and all. I happened to remember a couple of days ago, so it's halibut tonight.

Last night was the last new Lost episode until April 24. Kookiejar has the discussion. Talk amongst yourselves. Also here's a funny Lost show by show recap.

Anyway let's find take a peek around the web:

- Put on a bib, you're about to drool. Look at these bookshelves!

Wahoo! First, Bookish Buzz of the new year. I don't have a lot of links because of my laziness over the holidays. I could also whine about the flu, but I won't.

Contest! It's BAFABW (totally did not know) and Dewey is giving a book away. It might take some creativity on your part, however. Also, check out Rhinoa, for more book giveaways.

I skipped the buzz last week because of Karen's book tour. Thanks to Karen and everyone who dropped by. I'm into week 2 of NaBloPoMo and so far, so good. It's been challenging but not impossible. So here is what I found in the bookish news category this week:

Darling Stephanie at Confessions of a Bookaholic bestowed this award to me. I think she's the bees knees too. Thanks, Steph! Here's the explanation:

I must have had the luck of the Irish on the weekend because I won Daphne from the Bronte Blog. Looking forward to reading this book based on Daphne DuMaurier's life. I also won a book from LASR, though I'm not sure which Lynsay Sands book it is. Maybe I should buy a lotto ticket while I'm on a roll.

For your Irish pleasure, here's a couple of interesting things:
-Chris tells us about a New Orleans cabbage pelting tradition.

I just stumbled upon some book blogs I've not seen before and they are giving books away!

She Reads Books is giving away 5 books but the deadline is Thursday, June 3 at midnight EST so hurry on over! A comment give you one entry. Posting about the contest on your blog earns you two more!

A Book Blogger's Diary has very frequent giveaways! The current one is A Fatal Waltz by Tasha Alexander. Enter by June 15!

Mama Bear Reads is giving away her copy of Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons by Lorna Landvik. Contest ends June 10 (her birthday)

Book Room Reviews is giving away a copy of The Safety of Secrets by Delaune Michel. Contest ends June 15

I haven't been posting for awhile, a whole week almost went by! That's crazy! So it was a nice gift to come back and go thru my favorite blogs to see that Alisia over at Book Haven has given me an award! The You Make My Day Award!! Now I get to have fun choosing 10 blogger friends who make my days a little brighter.... Thank you Alisia!!!

Now this is going to be really hard because I love every blogger in my blog roll. I would most definitely choose Alisia because she is one of my favorites but since she was the one who chose me, here are a few more that stand out:

Kookiejar from A Fraternity of Dreamers makes my day because her blog just cracks me up, but Wednesdays she has all kinds of goofy news and links! Check her out!

Hello! We made it through the week. The kid's ear seems to be cleared up (thank goodness!). Hopefully I can get some more reading done. I just got Marie-Therese: Child of Terror and am looking forward to reading it.

* Ellen Page will play Jane Eyre. Whoa! I'm of two minds on this one. First, she's a Nova Scotia girl so Wahoo! But... This is Jane Eyre. I hope she can do that accent. Still, I like this writer's take on it: So what! Anyway, good for Ellen.

*Nuala O-Faolain died. She had some interesting things to say before she went.

*The Book Carnival is up. Theme: Urban Fantasy.

*Dewey is plotting another Read-a-thon. The last one was fun. Go sign up.

Books and films both tell stories, but what we want from a book can be different from what we want from a movie. Is this true for you? If so, what’s the difference between a book and a movie?

How can one even think of comparing books and movies? Both are entirely different mediums. I am not much of a movie person. I seldom even watch a movie. I prefer reading anyday. When a book is made into movie, no doubt it gets better publicity, lot more people watch it then reading the book. However, I find most of the movies that have been adapted from a book, leave me wanting more. In a book, everything is happening inside your mind. You form certain opinions about certain characters. I would rather escape the world reading a book than watching a movie. Most of the times, I get distracted from a movie but not while reading a book.

Checking it twice. Okay, I'm making my book lists for 2 future challenges:

The 2nd Canadian Book Challenge hosted at The Book Mine Set. I'm picking The Free Spirit approach. I don't like being boxed in. Well, mostly it's because I still have a bunch of books I haven't finished for the last challenge. I will do better this time. Here's my list:

From Dewey:

The theme for Week 2 is something I borrowed (yes, she said it was ok!) from Darla at Books and Other Thoughts. She says in her sidebar that if she reviews a book that you’ve reviewed, you can email her and she’ll link to it in her review. I love this idea for three reasons.

1. As a blog reader, I like that I can have my review linked in someone else’s blog.

2. As a blog reader, I like that if I’m interested in a book Darla writes about, there will be other reviews linked at the bottom of the page, so I can get other viewpoints. You can see how this works here.

3. As a blog writer, when I review a book, I often remember that I read someone else’s review at some point, but whose? And when? With Darla’s method, people tell her about their reviews, and she can see what they had to say about a book that is still fresh in her mind.

Booking Through Thursday

Okay, even I can’t read ALL the time, so I’m guessing that you folks might voluntarily shut the covers from time to time as well… What else do you do with your leisure to pass the time? Walk the dog? Knit? Run marathons? Construct grandfather clocks? Collect eggshells?

Don’t forget to leave a link to your actual response (so people don’t have to go searching for it) in the comments—or if you prefer, leave your answers in the comments themselves!

Wow. A BBT that's not related to books. LOL! I've been reading so much lately that I hardly do anything else. There just aren't enough hours in a day.

I was tagged by Melody for this fun meme.

The rules of this particular meme are:

1). Pick up the nearest book (of at least 123 pages)
2). Open the book to page 123
3). Find the fifth sentence
4). Post the next three sentences
5). Tag five people

Although I am currently reading American Gods by Neil Gaiman, The Bonesetter's Daughter by Amy Tan was the nearest book. Here I go:

I was away over the weekend. It was a trip that was both fun and aggravating. Five year olds don't like to shop unless it's at Toys-R-Us.

Dana asked:

My question is, is there anything you wouldn't be able to stand your significant other reading? Or are you ok with anything? Let me know

...after reading this NY Times article. Aquatique, a single lady, had an interesting discussion about it in this post.

For myself, my husband doesn't read anything unless it's a manual for some electronic thing-a-ma-jig. This is in no way a reflection of his intelligence. Actually, it might be, because I can never understand manuals. I usually end up tossing them and using trial and error. Hubby never liked reading. Math and science is his thing. He's probably the smartest person I know (don't tell him that). I've always found intelligence attractive.

I'm all in a tizzy this morning. Our power was out and I had to pick the kid from school. I'm so off track. Anyway, some interesting things in the book world:

Contest: Girls Just Reading is giving away Change of Heart by Jodi Picault.

Please take Dewey's survey on a Spring Read-a-thon.

Estella's Revenge, March edition is now available.

Reviews on the film version of The Other Boleyn Girl: "tasteful, but unappetising" and "not recommended". Ouch.

How about a chance to play editor-in-chief? Fill in the blanks:

__________ would have been a much better book if ______________________.

First, I hate 'Springing Ahead'. I had a headache for 2 days because of the time change. My body can't adjust. Second, this week is kinda crazy. It's March break and I'm trying to entertain a 5 year old, meet my reading commitments, set up an Etsy shop and take over the wor... never mind. So if I don't reply to comments right away don't be offended.

While resting at stop lights, I did think of a few 6 Word Memoirs, as I was tagged by Stephanie last week.

The Six Word Memoir

I imagine all my American friends are awaking from their turkey comas this morning. There are a few blog worthy things in the book related news this week:

moar funny pictures

This is the last day of NaBloPoMo and I made it! Wahoo! A whole month of daily posts. I feel a little blog burnout. It was a challenge but it was one I met. Hopefully, they were all 'blog worthy' posts. And no I won't fall off the face of the earth now. Anyway, what's the buzz?

• Norman Mailer wins the Bad Sex Award. I read the excerpt that won all this acclaim. Oh yeah, he deserved it.

As this is BAFAB week yet again, I bought books for my nephews, nieces and friends. I also bought books for myself. A few book lovers too are offering books on their blogs. Do check those out for free books! This way, I won a few books in the last year! Do check out
Rhinoa's Rambling
Melody's Reading Corner