Gifting Books, A #XMasGiveaway Blog Hop!

#XmasGIVEAWAY

Gifting Books Christmas hop was organized by Reading Romances!

Welcome to Pagan Spirits book blog, my little corner of the book blogiverse! 

What was the most special book you've ever gifted or received?

I wish I had one great book that I received for a Christmas or Hanukkah present that was really meaningful to me personally. I don't, as far as I can remember. One year, my parents gave me Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters, and I love those. They're fun books, but I wouldn't really describe them as "special." In fact, my original paperbacks got water-damaged and I ended up having to replace them.

One year I really, really wanted a new novel that was a sequel to The Scarlet Letter, and I got that, but it wasn't very good (or at least I didn't think so at the time). I can't remember the name of the book now, or the author's name, although I think it was a male author. This was probably in the late 1990s, shortly after I read The Scarlet Letter as a high school assignment. Wikipedia is pretty clueless about the Scarlet Letter sequels, so if anyone's a rabid Hawthorne fan and they want to get on that, please do so.

(Update: I mean Hester by Christopher Bigsby, which is a prequel. It says in my diary that I got it on December 25, 1994.)



Come to think of it, the real reason I never got a "special" book for the holidays as a kid was probably that if I wanted a book bad enough, my parents would get it for me right when I wanted it. They taught me that books are never a waste of money, so when I want one badly enough, I just go get it.

I love to give books as gifts. This year my Percy Jackson-obsessed older niece is getting two books about Greek and Roman myths for Christmas. (Niece #2 is currently obsessed with Captain Underpants, but I hear  that Santa Claus will be bringing her the books in that series that she doesn't have yet.) Last year I gave my grandma The Mermaid Chair by Sue Monk Kidd. (Then after she read it, she got my mom to read it, too - that and Shanghai Girls by Lisa See are our three-generation books.)

The only one who won't accept a book as a gift is my hubby, Mr. Elingtin. He does not read - I read to him. (It's not that he can't read - it's just that he gets bored very easily. He's very visual and needs the free space in his head to imagine.)

What's the greatest book YOU ever got as a gift? Comment for a chance to win!

What you can win here: The Black Count: Glory, Revolution, Betrayal and the Real Count of Monte Cristo by Tom Reiss (paperback). If Alexandre Dumas' classic The Count of Monte Cristo is one of your favorites, you'll love the true story of Dumas' father, a general in the Napoleonic army. Held captive by the Kingdom of Naples, the real-life Edmond Dantes suffered many trials before he was able to return to his wife and children. 

Number of winners: One lucky winner

Open to (INT, US or US/CAN): U.S. only (sorry!)

How to enter: Leave a blog post comment, and make sure I can get in touch with you if you win. If I can find your e-mail address by clicking on your name, then all you have to do is comment. If not, leave your e-mail address in a "name AT Webhost DOT com" format within the comment. Being a follower of this blog is not necessary to win, but I would really appreciate it! 

Coffee Talk Week 2: Answer. Post. Link Up.

I finally gave in and joined Tumblr. Do you Tumble? Join me there.


Natalie Blair's blog, simply called Natalie Blair, is one of my new fave stalking reading grounds. On some things, we're similar, and on other things we're really different. I like that. I don't mind that she doesn't like The Hunger Games. No one who has any kind of human empathy likes it when Rue dies. (My uncle and I were just talking about it at brunch on Sunday.) I get that.

You should read Natalie's post about why she got an Arabic tattoo. P.S. Anybody who would judge a person for having a tattoo in Arabic is kind of a shit.

1. What's your favorite kind of coffee?

I like a hot, flavored coffee, or a plain coffee with a French vanilla or hazelnut creamer. I'm not opposed to whipped cream.



2. What is your dream laptop/computer? What are you using right now?

I still miss the mini-HP that my hubby tried to fix and ended up destroying. It was tiny. I could take it everywhere. Now I'm using a bigger HP laptop, a Pavilion g6. Not so easily portable.

3. Have you ever regretted a blog post?

Yeah - No More Content Warning. I thought I could get rid of my content warning, but apparently Google won't let me. I'm too dirty for my own good.

4. What is your favorite book?

That is not a fair question to ask a certified book nerd.

I'm a little obsessed with James Jones right now, but could I possibly pick a favorite between From Here to Eternity, The Thin Red Line and Whistle? No - I love them all. You can't break up a trilogy.

(A related obsession - Montgomery Clift.)

Seriously, I have a new favorite all the time, but if I were stranded on a desert island, I really hope I'd have Wuthering Heights. The Scarlet Letter is another one of my all-time favorites, and so is Fahrenheit 451.

5. What's in your bag?

Ugh, my bag. I'm a backpack-purse girl, 'cause my mini-HP used to fit in one. One day hubby and I were at the mall, and for some reason we went into Zumiez. I think we are the oldest people who have ever been in a Zumiez. (I'm a wannabe surfer, not a wannabe snowboarder/skater, anyway.) That's where I saw this rainbow-striped backpack purse I thought was really cool (I might have been a little drunk - we might have just come from Granite City). So I got it, but it turns out to be way bigger than I actually want or need.

So I'm not loving my current bag.

It's mostly full of empty space, but also a butterfly change purse, some i.d. and my debit card, $13 cash (not much of a cash person), my writer business cards, cherry Chapstick, sugar cookie lip gloss, a lipstick (but it's not really any good to me until I get a lip liner that matches - it's a lavender-ish neutral), pens and a list of books to look out for at next week's library used book sale.

https://amzn.to/467d0Kj - this is an affiliate link

Red, White and Blue Monday, Independence Edition

On Mondays I hook up with Pinning! at A Night Owl Blog/Baxtron{Life}. On Wednesday, it's Oh, How Pinteresting! at The Vintage Apple.  

Need something red, white, blue and sexy to read this Independence Day week? Try "Bomb Pop." It's only $1.50 for your e-reader. 

Now, continuing with our Memorial Day theme, I bring you the U.S. Independence Day pin-ups. Using a Bomb Pop as a fashion accessory is Ms. Kate Upton. Her uncle Fred is a lawmaker from Michigan, but not the one who can't stand to hear the word "vagina." 



Speaking of suggestively phallic-shaped objects...



If it's not too hot where you live, this could be your perfect July 4th outfit.

Or this.

Ms. Emma Stone, whom I loved in The Help and Easy A ('cause I'm always up for a riff on The Scarlet Letter, and if it works in some Huck Finn, so much the better!), knows how to rock a 4th of July ensemble. 

Maybe I just think this because my hubby, Tit Elingtin, was in the Navy back in the day, but guys can also rock the hot sailor look.

Of course, the ladies can do it pretty decently, too.

I love the curves on this Army pin-up girl. Her old-school stockings are way cute, too. 

Happy Independence Day! What are YOU pinning? 

Review of 'The Heroines'

The cover of my edition portrays a woods in which great heroines of fiction are lounging. Hester Prynne (with Pearl) and Scarlett O'Hara are the easiest to discern. The concept behind the book is something like Inkheart: the Heroines appear to Anne-Marie Entwhistle, take up residence in her inn and subsequently torment and fascinate her 13-year-old daughter Penny. Madame Bovary and Anna Karenina each make an appearance, as do J.D. Salinger's Franny and Emily Bronte's Catherine Earnshaw.

Catherine was the most problematic for a teenage Anne-Marie; for Penny, it's Deidre, the tragic Heroine of a Celtic ballad. Each of these Heroines brings with them a Hero, and this complication causes Penny's life to become more like a chapter from Girl, Interrupted.

The author, Eileen Favorite, is an instructor at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. That in itself appeals to me, as does her fictional blend of whimsy, second wave feminism and angsty YA soul-searching. The novel questions the nature of reality itself in an almost Buddhist fashion, giving it fascinating depth. I expected something more humorous, less tragicomic, but I'm pleasantly surprised.



I also like the opening quote, from Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen: "Alas, if the heroine of one novel be not patronized by the heroine of another, from whom can she expect protection and regard?"

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Image: Mary Hallock Foote, 1878 (public domain).