It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is hosted by J.Kaye at J.Kaye's Book Blog! Each week we share which books we finished last week, which books were currently reading, and what we hope to read this week.

Books I Finished Last Week:

The Twisted Heart by Rebecca Gowan (review to come): Although this one started off slowly for me, I did end up enjoying the conclusion. It was a very intricate book.

The Sleeping Beauty Proposal by Sarah Strohmeyer (review to come): After reading a review of this one on another book blog I decided to take it out of my library. I had the feeling that I'd already read it, and I was right! It was worth another read, though, and once I picked it up I had a hard time putting it down.

I'm Pages Away From Finishing:

24 Hours London by Marsha Moore: This unique travel guide to London, England is not your average travel guide. This will definitely coming with me when I eventually travel overseas.

This Week I'm Hoping to Read:

Girl Trouble by Holly Goddard Jones: I'm really looking forward to reading this collection of short stories. I've already read a preview (included in Leo Tolstoy's Family Happiness) so I know that I'll enjoy her writing.

The Opposite of Love by Julie Buxbaum: This is another book that I got from my wonderful local library and I plan to read it before it's due. I loved Buxbaum's After You so I'm sure that I'll love this one as well.

That's it for me! What do you plan to read this week?

Giveaway: "Seven" by Jaqueline Leo

Book Description from the Publisher's Website:

"What is it about the number seven that has such a hold on us? Why are there seven deadly sins? Seven days of the week? Seven wonders of the world, seven colors of the spectrum, seven ages of man, and seven sister colleges? Why can we hold seven numbers or words in our working memory--but no more? Author Jackie Leo explores everything about this mystical, magical, useful, and fun number in her new book.

SEVEN REASONS YOU NEED THIS BOOK

1. SEVEN is a tool to improve the quality of your life. It is a way to define time, synthesize ideas, and keep your mind performing at top speed in an era of distractions.

2. SEVEN is culturally significant. It pops up everywhere, structuring our world in ways so fundamental, we notice them only when we pause to look. Across the ages and across cultures, the number has acquired a huge scientific, psychological, and religious significance.

3. SEVEN is intriguing. Why, out of hundreds of recipes in a cookbook, do people return to the same seven, over and over? Why, when asked to choose a number between one and ten, does such a large majority of people choose seven? Why does it take seven rounds of shuffling to obtain a fully mixed deck of cards?

4. SEVEN is influential. You'll learn how the number seven shapes our thinking, our choices, and even our relationships.

5. SEVEN is practical. Throughout this book are Top Seven lists covering the best ways to get someone's attention, to build your personal brand, and to put yourself in the path of prosperity and good luck.

6. SEVEN is fun. You'll encounter surprising facts, intriguing puzzles, and hilarious anecdotes.

7. SEVEN is wise. You'll hear stories about the meaning of seven from Mehmet Oz, Sally Quinn, Liz Smith, Christina Ricci, and many others.
Artfully designed and full of enough insights to keep you engaged in conversation at the water cooler for years, SEVEN will provoke, enlighten, and amuse."

How To Win:

Thanks to the Hachette Book Group I have five copies of Jaqueline Leo's Seven to give away! To enter:

1. Leave a comment telling me what your favourite number is (mine is 9 or 19- my birthday is on the 19th, and so is my wedding anniversary!). Please leave me your e-mail address! If I don't have an e-mail address, I have no way to contact you if you win!

2. *Bonus Entry* Become a follower of this blog and leave me a seperate comment letting me know that you follow. Current followers are eligible, just leave me a seperate comment stating that you already follow.

3. *Bonus Entry* Spread the word about this contest in any way that you wish (Tweet, Facebook, Blog, Sidebar, whatever!) and leave me a seperate comment letting me know how you did it.

This contest runs until November 26, 2009 at midnight. Winners will be contacted after contest close by e-mail. This contest is open to US and Canadian residents only, no PO Boxes please! Good luck!!

Book Blogger Holiday Swap

I just signed up for the Book Blogger Holiday Swap! It sounds like a lot of fun, and this is my first year participating. Here's the general overview (a detailed FAQ section is on the site): you sign up to participate, and after sign-ups are completed you will receive information on the person that you have been assigned to buy a gift for. The person that you are buying for doesn't know who's buying for them until the gift arrives! The gift should be small (under $20) and you can choose if you would like to ship within your country or internationally. How great is this? Interested? Sign up here. HURRY! Sign up deadline is November 12th to allow the organizers to match up secret santas!!!

Review: "The Brightest Star in the Sky" by Marian Keyes

The Brightest Star in the Sky by Marian Keyes is the story of the seven very different residents of 66 Star Street, as told from the point of view of a star on a mission. We, as readers, don't know what the star's mission is (in fact, we don't find out what it is until the last quarter of the book) but we do know that he has 60 days to complete his task and that he's all on his own until then. The only problem is that the star isn't sure who the subject of his mission is, so we get to meet all of the very different residents of 66 Star Street. There's Katie, inhabiting the fourth floor, who works in PR and is pushing 40. She isn't sure about much of anything right now, especially how to pick the right man. Below her, on the third floor, lives Andrei and Jan, Polish brothers earning money to support their family back home and Lydia, their spitfire Irish roomate with a barbed-wire personality. Jemima and her dog, Grudge, live on the floor below. Jemima is 88 and works for a psychic hotline, but only so that she can make sure that the young women who call her don't end up wasting too much of their money on the calls. Finally, Matt and Maeve live on the main floor. They appear to be as close as one couple can be, doing everything together, but beneath their sunny exterior something seems to be missing.

The star has his work cut out for him as he begins to infiltrate the resident's memories and shadow them so that he can figure out who it is he is supposed to help. The residents certainly keep him hopping, as they fall into one bad relationship after another, and have bizzare sexual encounters. As the clock ticks down we begin to wonder- will the star be able to complete his mission in time? Will the residents of 66 Star Street be able to find their happy endings?

It will come as no surprise to anyone who regularly visits this blog that I loved this book. The characters were quirky and lovable, even crotchety old Jemima and strange Lydia. This isn't your average chick-lit, though, as there's very little that's "fluffy" about the topics that Marian Keyes writes about. Keyes writes about some very serious issues, one that are bound to have affected the readers in some way, no matter how remotely (in an effort to prevent plot spoilers, I won't say what they are). She manages to insert these issues in among well-written and intelligent chick-lit, and she reveals her plot tantalizingly slowly, leaving the reader racing to reach the end to discover the conclusion. Keyes even managed to surprise me a little by injecting an unexpected plot twist into the epilogue.

Both new and old Marian Keyes fans will love her latest, The Brightest Star in the Sky. A big thank-you to Barbara and Bronwyn at Penguin Canada for this review copy. This book is on sale as of today, November 3! You can take a peek inside this book here.

*Please note: My review copy was an ARC, meaning that it was not a final published copy.*

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is hosted by J.Kaye over at J.Kaye's Book Blog. Yes, I know that it's actually Tuesday. You could say that I'm a day late and a dollar short, but I'm still recovering from the weekend and the two Halloween parties we attended (one for the kids, one for the adults). When I got home during the wee hours of Sunday morning it looked like a tornado had torn through the house in my absence and I'm making up for it now. Order seems to be mostly restored, and I finally have time for a blog post!

What I Read Last Week:

Ruby's Diary by Ruby Gettinger: This was an encouraging story about Ruby's very personal, yet very public struggle to lose weight. A great story for any fan of the Ruby show.

The Brightest Star in the Sky by Marian Keyes (review to come): Does it come as any surprise that I loved this one? I thought not. However, I'm still mentally writing my review, as the plot certainly gave me a lot to think about (this isn't your cotton-candy fluffy chick lit, ladies!).

What I'm Currently Reading:

The Twisted Heart by Rebecca Gowan: I just started this one last night and the jury's still out. This is the story of a lonely post-graduate in London and her tentative new romance. I'm 98 pages in and still waiting for it to grab me, but I'll continue on.

What I Plan On Reading This Week:

24 Hours London by Marsha Moore: The author was kind enough to send me a copy of this brand new, very fun tour guide about London, England. It looks fascinating and I can't wait to start it!

Bergdorf Blondes by Plum Sykes: This one is something that I personally bought a while ago at my local Coles store. I like chick lit, so I'm looking foward to giving it a try!

That's my plan for this week- what's yours??

Winners!!!

Congratulations to the winners of a copy of "Permission Slips" by Sherri Shepherd:

ellie
mindy
Mandy
Marie
Mishia
(notice an M-theme going on? Don't blame me, blame random.org!)

And to the winner of a copy of "Fierce Style" by Christian Siriano (the original winner did not respond):

enyl

Congratulations, all! I've e-mailed everyone and you have 72 hours to respond with your full name and mailing address or I will draw another winner.

Review: "Ruby's Diary" by Ruby Gettinger with Sheryl Berk

Ruby's Diary by Ruby Gettinger with Sheryl Berk is the story of Ruby and her personal weight-loss journey. At her heaviest, Ruby weighed 716 pounds, but her friends and family didn't realize how large the problem had become because Ruby never let her weight curb her sparkling personality. After being weighed on a scale used to weigh boxes, Ruby became determined to lose weight. She lost about 200 lbs. and then lost her motivation. Later she decided to try to beat "the Beast" again, but this time she enlisted the help of some friends to videotape her struggles. These videotapes eventually led to her own TV show on the Style Network, Ruby, where viewers are shown Ruby making healthy food choices, exercising, and ultimately trying to overcome her obesity. At the time of the book's printing Ruby was down to 333 lbs. and well on her way to reaching her goal of 150 lbs.

I enjoyed this book because it was a very personal reflection, written by Ruby, of her weight loss battle. She has a genuine love for people and a desire to help others like herself, and this aspect of her personality shone through. The book is filled with "Rubyisms", little words that Ruby uses in place of others ("hacky" is a mix of happy and wacky, "helicopter" is used in place of hell). It contains letters from friends wishing Ruby well, as well as a sample diet plan from her doctor and encouragment from Ruby's personal trainers. I love that Ruby refuses to undergo stomach stapling to help her to lose weight. She is insistent on losing the weight the old-fashioned way, and actually conquering her demons along the way. Ruby has almost no memories of her life before the age of 10, and some wonder if a traumatic event around this time caused Ruby to overeat. By losing weight this way, Ruby is able to deal with things emotionally, as well as her struggles with food.

My only complaint is that there were not more entries from Ruby's diary. I realize that a diary is a personal thing, but I would have liked to have read more about her daily struggles and triumphs and less from her friends and family. Although the letters from the friends and family were intended to allow the readers to get more of a feel for Ruby's personality and struggles, I would have preferred more from her point of view.

Ultimately this was an inspiring book for anyone trying to lose weight or to overcome their personal addictions and demons. Ruby's story truly inspires hope in those around her, because if Ruby can do it, so can we! Thank-you to Deanna at HarperCollins Canada for this review copy! You can read the beginning of this inspirational book here.