Out With the Old....

Out With the Old....is a look back at the week in books and the book-review world. If I missed something important, please let me know and I'd be happy to update the information!

I got two books out of this Buy a Friend a Book Week thing --- yipee! Amy over at Passages to the Past sent me the #1 book on my wishlist, The Name of the Wind (The Kingkiller, Chronicle Day 1) by Patrick Rothfuss and Luanne at A Bookworm's World graciously sent me her copy of Booth's Sister, by Jane Singer; you can read Luanne's great review here. Thank you so much to both of you, I'm tickled pink (well, maybe not pink exactly, but a nice flushed color instead)!

Lest you all think I am completely selfish and needy, I did give away a few books as well....it's good karma, right?

The next Buy a Friend a Book Week will be the first week in January -- you can even pick up a count-down timer for your website here. I'll be expecting a good turnout for this next one!



A sampling of books (just a sampling, mind you) that made their way into my Leaning Tower of Pisa TBR Pile this week:

• The Other Queen, by Philippa Gregory, courtesy of Book Club Girl (thank you!).
• The Book of Nonsense, by David Michael Slater, courtesy of the author.
• Jenford, by Hendrik E. Sadi, courtesy of the author.
• The Devil's Brood, by Sharon Kay Penman, courtesy of Amazon.
• The Ark, the Reed, and the Fire Cloud, by Jenny L. Cote, courtesy of the author.
• Hugh and Bess: A Love Story, by Susan Higginbotham, courtesy of local bookstore.
• The Spanish Bow, by Andromeda Romano-Lax, courtesy of local bookstore and thanks to Reading the Past for the recommendation!
• The House at Riverton, by Kate Morton, courtesy of library sale.
• Eragon and Eldest, by Christopher Paolini, courtesy of my brother not paying attention while I steal books off of his shelves. You'd do the same thing and you know it.
  
• Shadowbrook, by Beverly Swerling, courtesy of a library sale.
• Katherine Howard, by Jessica Smith, courtesy of a library sale.
• Silent in the Grave, by Deanna Raybourn, courtesy of local book store and thanks to Wendi's Book Corner for the recommendation!
• Birdsong, by Sebastian Faulks, courtesy of a library sale.
• The Mask of Apollo, by Mary Renault, courtesy of Book Mooch.
  

List of books added to my wishlist this week (I've really got to stop adding to it. Seriously.):

• A Constant Heart, by Siri Mitchell, courtesy of My Friend Amy.
• The Stonewylde Series, by Kit Berry, courtesy of Confessions of a Book Addict.
• An Uncommon Reader, by Alan Bennett, courtesy of Booking Mama (and there's a giveaway)
  
• The Fire and the Light: A Novel of the Cathars and the Lost Teachings of Christ, by Glen Craney, courtesy of the author's blog History into Fiction.

List of posts I hope you didn't miss:

• Author Michelle Moran was a guest blogger over at Literarily and there's a giveaway of Michelle's book, The Heretic Queen. (Which if you haven't read yet, you need to!).
• Author C.W. Gortner offered a very interesting perspective on the independent book seller vs. giants like Amazon on his blog, Historical Boys.
• My Friend Amy had a good discussion going about book reviewers and the negative review.
• Loaded Questions featured a very funny book related poem - go check it out if you missed it.
• Educating Petunia had a reminder about National Novel Writing Month which has some great writing activities associated with it, so if you are a writer (and you know who you are!), head over to participate and get to writing so I can add your book to my Leaning Tower of Pisa.
• Kelly Hewitt at Loaded Questions featured her second interview with Sharon Kay Penman. If you are a Penman fan, I suggest hopping over there to read about her next book!
  
• Alpha Heroes is still hosting the Blog Hopping Challenge. It's fun, try it!
• And don't forget, the giveaway contest for Requiem for the Author of Frankenstein, by Molly Dwyer is still open. You can enter here.
• Oh and just in case you missed it, a friend of mine over at LibraryThing sent me a photo of what I think heaven looks like (you can see more photos and read the article here). Yes, this is someone's personal library: