Happy Thanksgiving 2009

As I will be traveling to spend time with family over the next few days, I thought I should get my Happy Thanksgiving post up early. I have so much to be thankful for this year - family, overall good health, being able to stay home with my daughter, good friends... My list is plentiful. Of course, I am very thankful for you, my blog readers. When I started this blog, I wondered if I would just end up talking to myself. Although it does feel like that a bit on some days, your comments encourage me. I love reading and discussing books and I love having a place of my own to do that.

Happy Thanksgiving to each of you. If you are traveling, I wish you safe journeys. I hope that you are all able to enjoy abundance of family, friends, and food on this wonderful holiday.

Deals at Amazon.com All Week

Don't forget to check out all the great deals at Amazon.com this week. They are running Black Friday Specials all week starting today. I love being able to do the holiday shopping online and avoid the crowds at the stores. New offers will be added each day this week and quantities are limited so make sure you check in so you don't miss out!

Happy Thanksgiving and Happy Shopping!

Note: The links above are Amazon Associate links and I do earn a small percentage from purchases made through those links.

The Sunday Salon November 22, 2009

City of Bones by Cassandra Clare was the only book that I finished this week. I enjoyed it but part way through I recognized some similarities to the Harry Potter books and then I couldn't stop finding them. I think I would have liked the book even more if I could have just read it without analyzing it as I was reading. I do plan to continue with the series to see if it gets better.

I also started reading The Whole-Food Guide to Strong Bones: A Holistic Approach by Annemarie Colbin and Dhampir (Noble Dead)by Barb & J.C. Hendee. Dhampir will finish off the 1st in a Series Challenge for 2009. One thing that I have discovered about my reading this year is that once I start a series I just want to keep reading that series until I am caught up. Switching series after the first or second book just is not working for me.

I found two places having Kindle give aways for the holidays. Fill out a simple form at Noobie and subscribe to the newsletter at Bibliofreak to enter each of the give aways. My husband and I have been talking about going electronic with our books in the future and winning a Kindle would be an awesome way to get started!

Plans for this week include very little reading or blogging time. Tomorrow I'm taking my daughter to get her second round of flu shots and my husband is working late so I have a feeling we are going to have a very long day. Then Wednesday we will be traveling to see the family for Thanksgiving and won't be home until sometime on the weekend. As a result, other than maybe getting one post up tomorrow if my daughter takes a nap, I will be participating in Blogger Unplugged.

I hope everyone has a safe and Happy Thanksgiving! I think this may be my favorite holiday because it is the best meal ever! Although our soup, salad, and dessert large family Christmas definitely runs a close second.

Earn Gift Cards & More with Swagbucks

Some days I feel like I am totally behind the times. Maybe most of you already know about Swagbucks but I thought I'd post about it in case you had missed it like me. Swagbucks is a search engine that allows you to win points (or bucks) that can then be redeemed for great gift cards or other items. I know I will be using my bucks for Amazon.com and Starbucks gift cards, although there are loads of other to choose from.

You won't win Swagbucks with every search but if you use their search, either from their homepage or toolbar, each time you search you are bound to get bucks sometimes. There are some other ways to gain bucks as well through shopping, free codes, and referring friends. There are some aspects of Swagbucks that are a bit confusing to me but as long as I just stick with the searching, it seems simple enough.

I'm hoping that over the course of this coming year I can win enough Swagbucks to use on Amazon.com gift cards to do a lot of the holiday shopping for next year. The Starbucks gift cards will be just for me! Free books and free coffee, what could be better than that?

Do you use Swagbucks already? What has been your experience with the program?

Note: The Swagbucks and Amazon.com links above are referral links and I do earn a minimal amount if you join Swagbucks or shop on Amazon.com through those links.

Book Review: City of Bones by Cassandra Clare

Title: City of Bones (Mortal Instruments)
Author: Cassandra Clare
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books
Publication Date: March 27, 2007
Format: Hardcover, 485 pages
Age Group: Young Adult
Series: Mortal Instruments (Book 1)

What would you do if you witnessed a murder committed by kids no one else could see and the body simply vanishes? Clary Fray has just discovered a world within our own that she didn't know existed. Now she must learn all she can about this world and her place in it, especially since her mother is now missing.

I started out really enjoying City of Bones. Unfortunately, when I was about halfway through I realized how similar the storyline and characters are to some of the Harry Potter books. Once I noticed this similarity I could not help but compare the two series and that resulted in my picking apart City of Bones much more than I normally would have.

Here are just a few of the similarities I noticed:

Main character Clary Fray knows nothing of demons, Shadowhunters, werewolves, vampires or any other fairy creature, although they apparently live alongside us hidden by a glamor. Harry Potter knows nothing of the magical, wizarding world of Hogwarts even though it exists alongside us hidden by a glamor. Both characters also have difficult family histories that they do not fully understand and learning about their family is central to the story lines of the books.

In City of Bones the bad guy, Valentine, has loyal followers, the Circle, and is presumed dead. In the Harry Potter books, Voldemort has loyal followers, the Deatheaters, and is presumed dead.

Even some of the character names in City of Bones reminded me of names in the Harry Potter books. Of course, both series also revolve around children facing dangers and truths that the adults are not willing to face.

I think that I would have enjoyed City of Bones much more if I'd not read the Harry Potter books because then I wouldn't have been constantly comparing them after I first started picking out the similarities. However, I also feel that Cassandra Clare tried to pack a bit too much information into this first book in the series. There were too many subplots and it was easy to get distracted by them.

With all of that said, I do plan to read the next book in the series to see if Clare can take the series in its own direction and tighten up her writing.

2009 Reading Challenges

1st in a Series Challenge
2009 Support Your Local Library Challenge

Another chance to win a Kindle II!

With the holidays fast approaching, I am seeing a few different Kindle contests out there. Here is your chance to win a Kindle II from Bibliofreak. The only required entry is signing up for the Bibliofreak Newsletter but there are lots of other ways to get extra entries. One Kindle II is definitely going to be given away but up to 14 more could be given away based on additional criteria. That is a lot of Kindles!! This is also an international contest, making it extra cool because I know so often people outside the USA and Canada get left out of these things. The drawing will be held December 18.

So what are you waiting for?! Head over to Bibliofreak to enter to win a Kindle II!

The Sunday Salon November 15, 2009

With all the company we had over last weekend, I didn't have a chance to get a Sunday Salon post up. It wouldn't have been a very interesting post anyway since I really didn't get much reading done either.

Last week, I was finally able to finish The Elves of Cintra by Terry Brooks. Although the storyline in The Genesis of Shannara series is dark and depressing, I am enjoying reading about the beginnings of Shannara. Brooks has packed this series full of action.

A wonderful surprise book that I received this week is cooking with the Chef's Academy: Perform like a chef with recipes & lessons from the classroom to your kitchen. My husband is lucky enough to work with the chefs who created this book each day. Although I haven't cooked from the book yet, I know the recipes will be fantastic as I have gotten so sample the food created by the authors on occasion. I posted more about this book in my weekend cooking post.

Next up on my reading agenda is City of Bones (Mortal Instruments). Although it is halfway through November, I am still really hoping to complete the 1st in a Series Challenge this year. City of Bones by Cassandra Clare will be my second to last book in completing this challenge. It will also count for the 2009 Support Your Local Library Challenge but since I need three more books to complete that challenge I am not sure I'll be able to pull that one off. Heading into the holiday season, I know I will have even less reading time if that is possible!