Winner - So Much Pretty

Lucky number twenty.

Karen-Holmes of Simply Inspired. Congrats! Please email me with your mailing address. Thanks to everyone who entered to win a copy of So Much Pretty by Cara Hoffman.

Last day to win So Much Pretty

For all the passion in this intense narrative, Hoffman writes with a restraint that makes poetry of pain. She also shows a mastery of her craft by developing the story over 17 years and narrating it from multiple perspectives. While each has a different take on the horrific events that no one saw coming, the people who live in this insular place remain willfully blind to their own contributions to the deeper causes that made this tragedy almost inevitable." —The New York Times Book Review

“A haunting suspense novel about a murder mystery based on a real-life missing-persons case.”
—Entertainment Weekly, #3 on “The Must List”

"So Much Pretty is harder to pin down, trickier in its aims and delivers a skillful, psychologically acute tale of how violence affects a small town, its tentacles enmeshed so deeply into the collective fabric that it takes the thoughts and actions of one intelligent adolescent to shake things up and force everyone to examine their duplicitous complacency. To say more about Hoffman's constantly surprising story is to reveal too much, but the payoff is more than worth the slow-building suspense."
—The Los Angeles Times

Enter to win a copy of So Much Pretty by Cara Hoffman here.

So Much Pretty - giveaway

“I feel that we are inundated with violence and it becomes something that drives our aesthetics. There is a banality and a predictability to it all: the disappearance, the search, and the inevitable discovery of a dead woman or girl, who has nearly without exception been sexually assaulted. When I was a young reporter I was shocked by this, and as a novelist I wanted to explore it.” ~ Cara Hoffman

I recently read Cara Hoffman's first novel, So Much Pretty. I really, really liked it. Due to fortuitous timing, while I had just started reading it, I happened upon a live chat with the author on Twitter. I learned two exciting things that day: 1. this book is being made into a film and 2. Hoffman is working on another book that sounds like it will be just as good as her first.

So Much Pretty is compared a lot with the Stieg Larsson trilogy and The Lovely Bones, probably because these books are so popular and more people will be able to relate. I think So Much Pretty is actually more comparable to Winter's Bone, American Rust and Songs for the Missing. To say Hoffman's writing reminds me of Stuart O'Nan is high praise from me.

I enjoyed this book because of its many themes (rural culture, violence against women, leftist idealism, ecological issues, adolescence, poverty, healthcare). Interesting issues aren't enough though -- there are plenty of writers who utilize news headlines and topical controversial issues for their stories. Hoffman's book is so enjoyable because she writes with intense authenticity and a journalist's ability to keep the story moving along at an engaging pace. I didn't detect a single false note.

Giveaway Details:

•A hardcover copy of So Much Pretty has been kindly provided by Simon & Schuster.

•To enter to win, leave a comment on this post that includes your email address.

•For another entry follow this blog via Google Friend Connect in the side bar or subscribe via email -- current followers/subscribers are eligible too. Leave a separate comment for this.

•And, for yet another entry, Blog/Tweet/Post on Facebook about this giveaway. Leave a separate comment with your twitter user name and/or link to blog post (side bar is cool).

NOTE: Giveaway reserved for residents within the U.S. and Canada.

The winners will be selected from the comments using random.org.
Deadline: midnight, April 28. Winner announced April 29.

Good luck!

October Bookshelf Cleaning

Something for everyone...especially if you are fond of memoirs:

Giveaway Details:
These books are in great condition and have been read once by me, except for Jesus Land which I bought used and in good condition.  Entries are open to the US only.

To enter leave a comment on this post stating which book(s) you are interested in, including your email address.

For an extra entry,  leave a separate comment indicating you follow this blog or have just signed up to follow (via Google Friend Connect, RSS Feed, or email subscription, etc.).

The winning entries will be selected by use of random.org on Oct. 23rd.