CONTEST prizes: all about Neil Gaiman; SIGNED How to Talk To Girls at Parties Print

Have you entered my Book Blogging to Save Japan contest yet! Do something to help Japan in this time of crisis, let me know what you did (either in a comment or by e-mail - zedster.tbb(at)gmail(DOT)com), and be entered to win!
Below is just one of the many awesome prizes you have the opportunity to win!

This is a print that was done in conjunction with Neil Gaiman's short story,How to Talk to Girls at Parties, which can be read by clicking this link! It's a great story, so I highly recommend reading it! The print will be signed by the artist!
This was donated thanks to Cat from neverwear.net. It's beautiful, and I SO wish I could be the one to win it. All you've got to do to win is something to help Japan (it doesn't have to involve money, for you poor people like me). Let me know what you did, and you're entered!
You don't want to pass this up!
The contest will only be going on for a couple more weeks no, so HURRY and ENTER!

CONTEST Books: SIGNED copy of Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen

Have you entered my Book Blogging to Save Japan contest yet! Do something to help Japan in this time of crisis, let me know what you did (either in a comment or by e-mail - zedster.tbb(at)gmail(DOT)com), and be entered to win!
Below is just one of the many awesome books you have the opportunity to win!


A signed copy of Water for Elephants!

Title: Water for Elephants

Author: Sara Gruen

Publisher: Algonquin Books

Summary:Though he may not speak of them, the memories still dwell inside Jacob Jankowski's ninety-something-year-old mind. Memories of himself as a young man, tossed by fate onto a rickety train that was home to the Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth. Memories of a world filled with freaks and clowns, with wonder and pain and anger and passion; a world with its own narrow, irrational rules, its own way of life, and its own way of death. The world of the circus: to Jacob it was both salvation and a living hell.

Jacob was there because his luck had run out - orphaned and penniless, he had no direction until he landed on this locomotive 'ship of fools'. It was the early part of the Great Depression, and everyone in this third-rate circus was lucky to have any job at all. Marlena, the star of the equestrian act, was there because she fell in love with the wrong man, a handsome circus boss with a wide mean streak. And Rosie the elephant was there because she was the great gray hope, the new act that was going to be the salvation of the circus; the only problem was, Rosie didn't have an act - in fact, she couldn't even follow instructions. The bond that grew among this unlikely trio was one of love and trust, and ultimately, it was their only hope for survival.

I read and ADORED this book long before I started book blogging. If you haven't read it yet, with the upcoming release of the movie, you totally should. All you have to do is do something to help Japan, let me know what you did, and you'll be entered to win!

CONTEST Books: If You Follow Me by Malena Watrous

Have you entered my Book Blogging to Save Japan contest yet! Do something to help Japan in this time of crisis, let me know what you did (either in a comment or by e-mail - zedster.tbb(at)gmail(DOT)com), and be entered to win!
Below is just one of the many awesome books you have the opportunity to win!

Title: If You Follow Me

Author: Malena Watrous

Publisher: Harper Perennial

Summary:Hoping to outpace her grief in the wake of her father's suicide, Marina has come to the small, rural Japanese town of Shika to teach English for a year. But in Japan, as she soon discovers, you can never really throw away your past . . . or anything else, for that matter.

If You Follow Me is at once a fish-out-of-water tale, a dark comedy of manners, and a strange kind of love story. Alive with vibrant and unforgettable characters from an ambitious town matchmaker to a high school student-cum-rap artist wannabe with an addiction to self-tanning lotion it guides readers over cultural bridges even as it celebrates the awkward, unlikely triumph of the human spirit.

This book totally sounds like it's all about me! I can't wait to read it! Be sure to enter for your chance to win!

CONTEST Books: Hopeful Monsters by Hiromi Goto

Have you entered my Book Blogging to Save Japan contest yet! Do something to help Japan in this time of crisis, let me know what you did (either in a comment or by e-mail - zedster.tbb(at)gmail(DOT)com), and be entered to win!
Below is just one of the many awesome books you have the opportunity to win!

Title: Hopeful Monsters

Author: Hiromi Goto

Publisher: Arsenal Pulp Press

Summary:“Hopeful monsters” are genetically abnormal organisms that, nonetheless, adapt and survive in their environments. In these devastating stories, the hopeful monsters in question are those who will not be tethered by familial duty nor bound by the ghosts of their past.

Home becomes fraught, reality a nightmare as Hiromi Goto weaves her characters through tales of domestic crises and cultural dissonance. They are the walking wounded—a mother who is terrified by a newborn daughter who bears a tail; a “stinky girl” who studies the human condition in a shopping mall; a family on holiday wih a visiting grandfather who cannot abide their “foreign” nature. But wills are a force unto themselves, and Goto’s characters are imbued with the light of myth and magic-realism. With humor and keen insight, Goto makes the familiar seem strange, and deciphers those moments when the idyllic skews into the absurd and the sublime.

Doesn't that sound AWESOME?!? I know I can't wait to read it! Be sure to enter for your chance to win!

Book Blogging for Japan CONTEST!

Do something for Japan, let me know what it is, and WIN A BOOK!

Left is Sendai, Japan before.
Right is Sendai, Japan now.

As many of you know, I've been living in Japan for the past year, and as such, this recent tragedy has really struck close to home for me.

As such, I've decided to host a Book Blogging for Japan CONTEST!!!! Right now, there will be 9 winners! To enter, all you have to do is help Japan. You do something to help Japan and send me an e-mail (zedster.tbb(at)gmail(dot)com) or post a comment letting me know what you did, and you're entered!

You can do something as simple as donate money, or, if you're poor like me, you can be creative.

Some EXAMPLES of things you can do:
-Thursday night I went to a meditation session where we meditated for the survivors.
-A kindergarten teacher is having her class collect marbles for when they're good. For each marble the kids earn, parents are donating a dollar.
-make a paper crane - there is a myth in Japan that for every thousand paper cranes you fold, you get a wish.

What can you win?
#1 - a box of books from me! Old books I've read, whatever fits in the box!
#2 - Hopeful Monsters: Stories by Hiromi Goto - donated by Arsenal Pulp Press!
#3-5 winners will win If You Follow Me: A Novel (P.S.) by Malena Watrous - donated by Harper Collins
#4-2 winners will receive books donated by Egmont UK.
#5-a SIGNED copy of Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen


If you've never heard of these books, they will be being featured in the blog over the next few days, so keep a look out!

The contest will end at a date to be determined in the future. I look forward to seeing what kinds of things you guys come up with to help.

You don't have to spread the word to be entered, but the more people helping Japan the better, so I'd really appreciate it if you would!

**If you're hosting a contest for Japan, I'd love to link it up, so please let me know! Also, please let me know if you'd like to donate a book to the contest.**

Japan - fleeing and feeling and donating

So, as most of you probably know, I have been living in Japna for the last year. And with all of the things going on in Japan lately, I have received SO many wonderful comments and e-mails from you guys inquiring about my safety. First of all, I just want to say thank you SO much. I really appreciate all of your thoughts and concerns, and I am sure Japan and all of the Japanese people do as well.

Second of all, yes, I am safe. The area I live in was basically unaffected. I felt the quake a little bit (I was actually teaching 2 year olds at the time, and the building we were in shook like we were in a boat for about 4 minutes - the worst we got was some crying two year olds. And me feeling motion sick), but other than that my area was unaffected.

Still, because my family was worrying so much (and let's face it, when it came to radiation, me, too), I have returned to the states. It was a little bit crazy going through everything to get my re-entry permit and a last minute flight and to get myself packed, but now I have safely arrived in Colorado with my sister.

I've been a little bit blah and a little bit depressed about the whole situation, so I've been doing my best to avoid the internet. I'm therefore super sorry about the lack of reviews lately. I know I had promised some reviews for the 15th/16th, and if you are one of those people to whom I promised a review, I am incredibly sorry. They'll be up soon! Now that I'm starting to return to life a little bit.

Now, I know you all want to help Japan (I know I can't watch the news without crying and feeling sick), and what they need more than anything right now is money. There are lots of great ways to donate, and I hope you will. For a list of donation possibilites, go check out this article. If I can manage to get back on my feet anytime soon, I might have some kind of donation giveaway.

In the meantime, please keep Japan (and Libya, of course) in your thoughts (and prayers, if you have those), and I'll try to start posting reviews again soon. I have been on a mega YA kick to try to fluff this disaster out of my mind.