Friday, August 20, 2010

Saramago and "The Elephant's Journey" Giveaway

If you have been following my blog for any amount of time, or know me from TNBBC on goodreads, you will know my unabashed love of Jose Saramago and his writing ever since I accidently stumbled across his novels in a Borders Bookstore back in 2007.

Back in June, as the first blog entry in a monthly series I planned to roll out, I proclaimed myself as a Saramago Book Whore to the entire blogosphere. It thrilled me to be sharing Saramago and his amazing stories with everyone. (Sadly that is where the blog series ended because exactly two weeks to the day it premiered, Saramago passed away. And I can't help but wonder if he would still be alive today had I not posted that cursed blog!)

I knew he had some novel translations in the works, and his sudden death initiated a frantic scramble to get my hands on his 2008 novel "The Elephant's Journey", which will be released in english on September 9th. I sent emails out like a mad woman to the hard working folks at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. I was reaching out to contacts at other publishing companies to try to get an "in". And finally, I got a reply to my request. The ARC was on it's way!!! I would have a brand new Saramago to fall in love with.

Imagine my surprise when, two days after the book arrives on my doorstep, a second copy hits the deck! I can only think that at some point, somewhere, someone else came across my request and decided to just ship the book out. Oh, if I only knew who to kiss and thank for that!

This is where the giveaway comes into play.

I have one ARC of "The Elephant's Journey" to share with someone who either (a) already loves Saramago and his writing or (b) is ready to fall in love with Saramago and his writing.



Since I will be shipping this copy out, the giveaway will be International!
The contest will end on August 27th.

Here's how you enter:

1 - Post a comment here and tell me which author YOU are a book whore for. Who is it? What crazy desperate things would you do to meet them? Why are they your favorite? Or maybe you have already done crazy desperate things to meet them.... do tell!!

2- Be sure to include a way for me contact you (via email, blogger contact, goodreads profile) so I can notify you if you are winner.

Best comment wins! But don't try to outdo one another. You never know which will impress me most. Good luck everyone and I can't wait to see who your favorites are!!!

10 comments:

  1. Hey Lori! I was so excited to see you got a copy of this for yourself, and am now even more excited to see you got a second copy! :D So awesome!

    So, I am totally a book whore for Madeleine L'Engle. I was OBSESSED with her throughout junior high and high school. She was such an honest writer. Her characters were compelling and complex, and really spoke to who I was and where I was in life. Her writing really spoke not just to the teenager in me who craved relationships and adventures, but to the old soul who wondered what life really meant, what connected people to each other, and what belief and love looked like. After devouring all of her "YA" fiction, I quickly moved on to her "adult" fiction, journals, and poetry, and to this day, her books have their own special shelf in my bookcase, despite the fact that most of them are rather bedraggled. Some of her more rare, out-of-print books were my first purchases on Ebay. My senior year of high school, my big english project was written on her life and works.

    I used to write her letters all the time, but only got the guts to mail one of them to her, through her publishing company. Imagine my surprise when I got a letter back! Of course, it wasn't from her, but from her manager or something, but still, I found it quite touching that she had someone responding to her fan mail.

    I would have loved to meet L'Engle in person, but she passed away on September 6, 2007. :( I am most sad because there won't be any more books from her to enjoy.

    I think you can find me on goodreads, but if it is easier, my email is rmbars @ gmail.com. And of course, I hope I win! :D

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  2. Wow Rach, what a detailed post! I am so glad that you have stuck with writer from your teen years, and still have such a strong adoration for her!

    Thanks for sharing such a great story. (and thanks for being excited for me on goodreads when the book arrived!)

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  3. I'm a book whore for Jonathan Safran Foer and his lovely wife Nicole Krauss! I would do anything to meet them!! I became obsessed with EL&IC and it has been an obsession since then. I think I've pushed that book in the way that a drug pusher does with crack. lol I listen to podcasts and other interviews that he does and I just melt and I just wonder how so much creativity and awesomeness is in one marriage! It's too bad they weren't alot older than me..I'd probably try and convince them to adopt me! :)

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  4. Now THAT is a creative way to get close to your favorite authors - have them adopt you!!! I like that!

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  5. Lori you know I like Saramago, but I totally am crazy about David Mitchell. He is the cutest thing since baby bunnies. The man can write a good story. You have heard of Irish storytellers well it is David Mitchell. He spins yarns as fast as the sheep get sheared.
    What I would do to meet him , I think I would
    give him my first child. My son might not want to go, but what can I say. I think my son is older than David. LOL

    akittykat_66@yahoo.com

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  6. Some of my favorite authors are Mahfouz, Saramago , Nuruddin Farah. mahfouz and Saramago are now dead. But when I heard Farah was visiting my country, I connived and schemed my way to an invite for a dinner party he attended.

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  7. KinnaReads, I love the header on your blog!

    Hooray for another Saramago fan.

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  8. Congrats Lori! I'm not entering, I just wanted to say AWESOME! I'm super glad you managed to grab a (2!) copies! WTG!

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  9. Well when I was a preteen, I read The Good Earth. So I went in pursuit of anything written by her and accumultated all of the books she wrote. Everytime, I went to new or used book store, I searched for her books and my father even found some of her least published ones.
    There is no chance of meeting her since she passed away some time ago. I connected with her so much.
    P.S. By my name, you'd think that I am Chinese but I am not. On three different occaisons, I have been told that I am Chinese more than regular Chinese.

    CarolNWong(at)aol(dot)com

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