Giveaways Roundup - February 2020 - #giveaway #win

Welcome to February's Giveaway Roundup post!

The table below shows a snapshot of all the Literary Flits Giveaways I'm hosting that are currently running or due to start soon. There's  books up for grabs here, plus Amazon gift cards and other prizes including vegan sweets! Click the book covers or titles to visit their individual blog posts (after the start date!).

I'll post another snapshot update here on the 17th of next month. Keep up to date in the meantime by visiting the Literary Flits Current Giveaways page or by following my Pinterest Giveaways Board for on-the-day notifications of new giveaways starting!

	Win a $25 Amazon gift card to celebrate the Haskell Himself by Gary Seigel blog tour Open internationally from the 9th to the 20th February.
	Win 3x $5 Amazon gift cards + ebook of Etched In Stone by Liv Arnold Open internationally from the 16th to the 20th February.
	Win a $15 Amazon gift card and a copy of Omegaverse #1, Broken, to celebrate the publication of Destroyed (Omegaverse #3) by Eva Dresden Open internationally from the 18th to the 20th February.
	Win ebooks of Martha Reynolds' Happy Ever After series to celebrate the A Jingle Valley Wedding blog tour Open internationally from the 10th to the 21st February.
	Win a signed copy of Killing Them With Kindness by Andy Paulcroft Open internationally from the 17th to the 27th February.
	Win a signed copy of The Brotherhood by Jo Fenton to celebrate the publication of her new novel, Revelation Open to the UK only from the 24th to the 27th February.
	Win a $100 Amazon gift card or Monsterland Reanimated by Michael Okon print or ebooks (Monsterland review post) Open to the USA only from the 5th to the 28th February.
	Win a $100 Amazon gift card or Monsterland Reanimated by Michael Okon print or ebooks (Monsterland Reanimated review post) Open to the USA only from the 11th to the 28th February.
	Win ebooks of Martha Reynolds' Happy Ever After series to celebrate the April In Galway blog tour Open internationally from the 21st to the 28th February.
	Win print books or ebooks or jewellery to celebrate the publication of The Wolf Of The Baskervilles by Majanka Verstraete Open internationally from the 31st January to the 29th February.
	Win a Peachy Green Vegan mixed sweets bag to celebrate HirlGrend's What You Eating? recipe linkup for February (link goes to HirlGrend blog) Open to the UK from the 1st to the 29th February.
	Win $25 via Paypal to celebrate The River Jewel by Kathleen Shoop blog tour Open internationally from the 12th February to the 1st March.
	Win a $50 Amazon gift card to celebrate the publication of The Nutcracker Conspiracy by Lauren Carr Open internationally from the 19th February to the 6th March.
	Win ebooks of Martha Reynolds' Happy Ever After series to celebrate the All's Well In Jingle Valley blog tour Open internationally from the 28th February to the 6th March.

Good luck!

Bookishly Inspired Etsy Finds #EtsyAffiliate

I add a fun little ending to each post on my daily Literary Flits book blog. It's Etsy finds, each inspired by that day's featured book, and I'm loving browsing the Etsy website for connected ideas!

If you want to browse the items without their books, I've set up a Rainbow of Pinterest Boards. Before you click away though, here's a selection of my favourite finds from the past few weeks ...

I found a

SciFi Books tote bag by In Pages Shop

for Off Balance by Aileen Erin

I found

Purple Slime by The Simply Slime Co 

for Monsterland Reanimated by Michael Okon

I found a

Let Me Overthink badge by Lazy Mice

for Deconstructing Anxiety by Todd E Pressman

I found a

Mind Your Own Hijab t-shirt by The Reminder Series

for It's Not About The Burqa by Mariam Khan

I found

New York Sewer Cover Coasters by Vernakular

for Dead Ringer by Kat Ross

I found an

Isabel Allende greetings card by Madalinartz

for A Long Petal Of The Sea by Isabel Allende

I found a

Werewolf Boyfriend rosette by Occult Trash

for The Last Starling by C L Denault

I'd love to hear from book bloggers (or anyone else!) with an Etsy shop who would like to see something of theirs featured. Please feel welcome to add your links in the Comments.

(Book links go to their Literary Flits blog pages. Etsy links are affiliate links and go directly to each Etsy item page.)

Cover Characteristics - Aeroplanes

I've long been a fan of the beautiful Cover Characteristics posts that Kristen curates over at Metaphors And Moonlight so I thought I might try putting together a similar post myself. The idea is to choose book covers which are linked in some way (featuring an object in common, perhaps, or a similar title font) and to then display them artfully. Sounds easy, turns out not to be! But it is fun to look back through my old reviews.

All this month's book covers feature:

Aeroplanes

Click each cover image to see its book review post on Literary Flits

#WorldReads - Five Books From Chile

If this is your first visit to my WorldReads blog series, the idea of the posts is to encourage and promote the reading of global literature. On the 5th of each month I highlight five books I have read by authors from a particular country and you can see links to previous countries' posts at the end of this post as well as finding out how to join in the challenge.

Click the book titles or cover images to visit their Literary Flits book review pages.

This month we are going to Chile!

Told From The Hips by Andrea Amosson

This collection of ten short stories and vignettes is mostly set in Chile or features people emigrating to or from the country. The tales centre around strong women or women whose situations bring out their inner strength and I found it a remarkably inspirational and uplifting book to read, despite the dark turns of some of the stories.

Where The Bird Sings Best by Alejandro Jodorowsky

Where the Bird Sings Best tells the fantastic story of the Jodorowskys’ emigration from Ukraine to Chile amidst the political and cultural upheavals of the 19th and 20th centuries. Like One Hundred Years of Solitude, Jodorowsky’s book transforms family history into heroic legend: incestuous beekeepers hide their crime with a living cloak of bees, a czar fakes his own death to live as a hermit amongst the animals, a devout grandfather confides only in the ghost of a wise rabbi, a transgender ballerina with a voracious sexual appetite holds a would-be saint in thrall. Kaleidoscopic, exhilarating, and erotic, Where the Bird Sings Best expands the classic immigration story to mythic proportions. 

My Invented Country by Isabel Allende

Isabel Allende evokes the magnificent landscapes of her country; a charming, idiosyncratic Chilean people with a violent history and an indomitable spirit; and the politics, religion, myth, and magic of her homeland that she carries with her even today.

Seeing Red by Lina Meruane

Lucina, a young Chilean writer, has moved to New York to pursue an academic career. While at a party one night, something that her doctors had long warned might happen finally occurs: her eyes haemorrhage. Within minutes, blood floods her vision, reducing her sight to sketched outlines and tones of grey, rendering her all but blind. As she begins to adjust to a very different life, those who love her begin to adjust to a very different woman - one who is angry, raw, funny, sinister, sexual and dizzyingly alive.

Humiliation by Paulina Flores

From the dusty backstreets of Santiago and the sun-baked alleyways of impoverished fishing villages to the dark stairwells of urban apartment blocks, Paulina Flores paints an intimate picture of a world in which the shadow of humiliation, of delusion, seduction and sabotage, is never far away. This is a Chile we seldom see in fiction. 

With an exceptional eye for human fragility, with unfailing insight and extraordinary tenderness, Humiliation is a mesmerising collection from a rising star of South American literature, translated from the Spanish by Man Booker International Prize finalist Megan McDowell.

That's it for February's WorldReads from Chile. I hope I have tempted you to try reading a book from this country and if you want more suggestions, click through to see all my Literary Flits reviews of Chilean-authored books!


If you missed any earlier WorldReads posts, I have already 'visited'

Africa: Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Zimbabwe

Americas: Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Jamaica, Mexico, United States of America,

Asia: China, India, Iraq, Iran, Israel, Japan, Pakistan, Russia, Singapore, South Korea, Syria, Turkey

Australasia: Australia, New Zealand,

Europe: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Northern Ireland, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Scotland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Wales

In March I will be highlighting five books by Malaysian authors. See you on the 5th to find out which ones!

January 2020 Reading Challenges Update

I've usually got several challenges on the go so, instead of cramming all the information into my Month In Books roundups, I thought I would post these Reading Challenge roundups instead.
Here's how my 2020 Reading Challenges are looking at the end of January:
(Unlinked titles are books I've read, but not yet blogged)

2020 Alphabet Soup Challenge

To read a book beginning with each letter of the alphabet (from 1st Jan to 31st Dec 2020)

A Long Petal Of The Sea by Isabel Allende
Bloodchild by Octavia Butler
C
Dead Ringer by Kat Ross
E
Farewell Mama Odessa by Emil Draitsev
G
H
It's Not About the Burqa edited by Mariam Khan
Josephine: Singer Dancer Soldier Spy by Eilidh McGinness
K
L
Monsterland by Michael Okon
Not As Nature Intended by Rich Hardy
O
P
Q
R
S
The Dressing Up Box by David Constantine
U
V
W
X
Y
Z

2019-20 Decade Challenge

To read a book that was first published in each of the decades from 1900 to 2020 - 13 in all. (from 1st Sep 2019 to 31st Aug 2020)

1900s:
1910s: Surrender To Night by Georg Trakl
1929: Isolde by Irena Odoevtseva
1930s:
1949: The Case Of The Demented Spiv by George Bellairs
1955: Death In Room Five by George Bellairs
1968: The Hills Reply by Tarjei Vesaas
1970s:
1984: Bloodchild by Octavia Butler
1995: Fate by Mary Corran
2000: The Amorous Nightingale by Edward Marston
2019: The Healer's Daughters by Jay Amberg
2020: The Missing American by Kwei Quartey

2020 More Than One challenge

To read a second book by authors I loved (1st Jan to 31st Dec 2020)
1. AE Warren - The Museum Of Second Chances and The Base of Reflections

2020 Found 'Em On Twitter challenge

To read books by at least 12 authors I follow on Twitter, but haven't yet read (1st Jan to 31st Dec 2020)
1.

50 Books with Vegan/Vegetarian Characters/People

Ongoing challenge to finish as soon as I read enough relevant books.

1. Fishing For Maui by Isa Pearl Ritchie
2. Farm Land: Sentience by Gemma Lawrence
3. All Things by Amber Belldene
4. The Night Tiger by Yangsze Choo
5. We, The Survivors by Tash Aw
6. The Seventh Train by Jackie Carreira
7. The Devil's Gorge by Dora Ilieva
8. In Love With The World by Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche
9. The Savage Detectives by Roberto Bolano
10. Everything You Ever Wanted by Luiza Sauma
11. Blue Tide Rising by Clare Stevens
12. Killer In The Band by Lauren Carr
13. Lost Feast by Lenore Newman
14. The Girl Who Reads on the Métro by Christine Féret-Fleury
15. The Daughter Of The Tigris by Muhsin Al-Ramli
16. Snowfall At Moonglow by Deborah Garner
17. Gumshoe Blues by Paul D Brazill
18. Single In Buenos Aires by Roxana Valea
19. Hope by Terry Tyler
20. Not As Nature Intended by Rich Hardy

Classics Club Challenge

To read 50+ classic books in 5 years (from June 2018 to 1st June 2023)

A Knife For Harry Dodd by George Bellairs
Alone In Berlin by Hans Fallada
And Death Came Too by Richard Hull
Animal Farm by George Orwell
Confessions Of Zeno by Italo Svevo
Death Going Down by Maria Angelica Bosco
Death In Room Five by George Bellairs
Death On A Quiet Day by Michael Innes
Demian by Hermann Hesse
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
Hard Times by Charles Dickens
Heidi by Johanna Spyri
Heroes And Villains by Angela Carter
I Capture The Castle by Dodie Smith
Ibn Fadlan And The Land Of Darkness
In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
Jacob's Room by Virginia Woolf
La Perle by John Steinbeck
Left-Handed Death by Richard Hull
Lost Profile by Francoise Sagan
Pocket Poets: Rupert Brooke
Salt Of The Earth by Jozef Wittlin
The Blazing World by Margaret Cavendish
The Case Of The Demented Spiv by George Bellairs
The Devil's Elixirs by E T A Hoffmann
The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald
The Hills Reply by Tarjei Vesaas
The History Of Mary Prince, a West Indian Slave
The Old Man In The Corner by Baroness Emmuska Orczy
The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
Tortilla Flat by John Steinbeck
Xingu by Edith Wharton
Yekl by Abraham Cahan
Zuleika Dobson by Max Beerbohm

A Month In Books - January 2020

Welcome to January's Month In Books roundup!

I've got fourteen new book reviews for you this month, plus three older reviews that I transferred over to Literary Flits and fourteen Spotlight posts.

Regular blog series:
In January I blogged Reading Challenge and Bookish Bingo, and State of the ARC updates as well as a Cover Characteristics collection featuring Fire - an unintentionally timely theme. My 5 Books, 1 Theme quintet were all books featuring homelessness and WorldReads visited Austria. I also continued my favourite Bookish Etsy Finds and posted a Giveaway Roundup, but I was too busy to compile a This Time Last Year. Hopefully I will do another for February.


Now, on with this Reading Roundup!
(Clicking each cover image will take you directly to my Literary Flits review or Spotlight page)

My Reviews

(Click the cover images to visit their reviews)

 

Spotlights

 

 

My Book Of The Month for January was a difficult decision because I loved Hope by Terry Tyler as much as both of the Tomorrow's Ancestors series novels by AE Warren. In the end though I plumped for Hope because it is just so reflective of today's hypocritical Britain and reading it got me very angry! I love novels which can provoke an emotional reaction.

I hope you have found some books to tempt you in this selection! You can keep up with my daily book posts on Literary Flits and don't forget all the Giveaways are listed in my Giveaway Linkup.