Thanks to You!!

Thanks to you, my readers, I keep reading.

Thanks to you, my readers, I keep blogging.

Thanks to you, my readers, I've made some new friends.

Thanks to you, my readers, I'm never alone on the computer.

Thanks to you, my readers, I continue to be able to host giveaways.

I know that many of you are taking off tomorrow, putting the computer aside, for family and friends.  I will be doing the same.  I didn't want to miss the opportunity to let each of you know how thankful I am that you have come into my life, through this blog, twitter, facebook, and your own blogs.  Thank you for sharing a part of yourself with me and allowing me to do the same.  My hope for you is that you will have a blessed time with family and friends tomorrow and over the weekend.  Remember to take the time to thank someone and be thankful for what you have.  We are all blessed in many ways!!

To say thank you, I want to hold a very fast giveaway.  You have until Friday night at midnight to enter this one.  Tell everyone you know, in order to earn extra entries.

You can win your choice of the following audiobooks.  Please let me know, in the comments, which one you'd like to win.

The Lovely Bones

"My name was Salmon, like the fish; first name, Susie. I was fourteen when I was murdered on December 6, 1973."

So begins the story of Susie Salmon, who is adjusting to her new home in heaven, a place that is not at all what she expected, even as she is watching life on earth continue without her -- her friends trading rumors about her disappearance, her killer trying to cover his tracks, her grief-stricken family unraveling. Out of unspeakable tragedy and loss, THE LOVELY BONES succeeds, miraculously, in building a tale filled with hope, humor, suspense, even joy.

The major motion picture version of THE LOVELY BONES, directed by Peter Jackson and starring Rachel Weisz, Susan Sarandon, Mark Wahlberg, Stanley Tucci, and Saoirse Ronan is scheduled for release on December 11, 2009.

 

My non-reading husband is listening to this one with me, in the truck, right now.  He can't wait for us to go somewhere together so that he can "read!"

Say You're One of Them

Uwem Akpan's stunning stories humanize the perils of poverty and violence so piercingly that few readers will feel they've ever encountered Africa so immediately.  The eight-year-old narrator of "An Ex-Mas Feast" needs only enough money to buy books and pay fees in order to attend school. Even when his twelve-year-old sister takes to the streets to raise these meager funds, his dream can't be granted. Food comes first. His family lives in a street shanty in Nairobi, Kenya, but their way of both loving and taking advantage of each other strikes a universal chord.
In the second of his stories published in a New Yorker special fiction issue, Akpan takes us far beyond what we thought we knew about the tribal conflict in Rwanda. The story is told by a young girl, who, with her little brother, witnesses the worst possible scenario between parents. They are asked to do the previously unimaginable in order to protect their children. This singular collection will also take the reader inside Nigeria, Benin, and Ethiopia, revealing in beautiful prose the harsh consequences for children of life in Africa.
Akpan's voice is a literary miracle, rendering lives of almost unimaginable deprivation and terror into stories that are nothing short of transcendent.

 

So, there you have it!  Leave a comment about which book you'd like.  Earn an extra entry for sharing this on Twitter, Facebook, or your blog.  Come back and leave me the link.  Hurry...ends Friday at midnight.