The First Hunt, or Why Working at a Library Isn't Such a Good Idea for a Book Hunter

Okay, I've embellished a bit. The top and bottom book were not purchased at the current book sale. The second to last book - Children of Wrath - is actually a book I snagged from a giveaway from LibraryThing, where I also snagged three e-books - Ministry of Morgasm (Richard Buzzell), The New Death and Others (James Hutchings), and Dirty Little Angels (Chris Tusa).

After missing work yesterday, I walked in to see that the Friends of the Library book sale table was set up this morning. A day wasted on reading and back pain could've been used on perusing these orphaned windows. Unlike like the last time - which only amounted to purchasing one book, Tuck Everlasting - the table held more promise in the form of Joyce Carol Oates' Foxfire, Borders by Pat Mora, a children's book by Ursula K. Le Guin - Catwings - and Che Guevara's Reminiscences of the Cuban Revolutionary War.

As for The Poe Shadow by Matthew Pearl, well, that was just a library gift shop fine. The week that I saw it, I told Lee - the gift shop runner - that if the book was there the following Monday after work, I'd buy it. It just so happened that the book gods wanted me to have it.

Total price for these beauties? $6 

Remember to shop smart and keep on huntin'.

Free Book Giveaway!!!

12 hours ago, I received my final check from my summer job. This was exciting news, but how does it affect you? Well, it allows me some more swinging room with the giveaway I mentioned earlier. 

The Deportees and Other Stories by Roddy Doyle Giveaway:

The Rules (Blogger):

1. The giveaway is now open to residents of the USA, UK, Canada and Mexico.
2. To enter, you must comment below and tweet this post's link - be sure to mention @EnnuiPrayer.
3. Fifteen days after this post or the Tumblr post hits 30 comments/notes, I will draw a winner. I will announce the winner on both blogs and Twitter.
4. The winner will have 48 hours to respond - either through e-mail, Tumblr or Twitter - before I draw another winner.

The Tumblr account has its own set of rules for specific reasons. You may choose either giveaway to join, but I'm only giving out ONE copy of the collection.

I thank you all for reading this blog and hope that you continue to do so. Until next time, keep on huntin'.

The Deportees and Other Stories by Roddy Doyle

Purchase: [Amazon] [B&N] [Kindle] [Nook]

"Ireland America was never Ireland America to me." It's Langston Hughes rewritten, but the message works an ocean away from Harlem. And that's what drew me into Roddy Doyle's stories. Racism isn't just an American issue, nor is immigration. I'm sure the world will like to think so, but Doyle has painted a clear picture that it's not. But it's those topics that hit home. That made these stories memorable. 

The book collects nine stories - eight of which are set in Ireland, one in New York - and each deals with the xenophobia\racism of a nation. 

The title story is a sequel of sorts to Doyle's novel, The Commitments, in which Jimmy Rabbitte decides it's high time for another band. No whites, he wants to write in the ad. In fact, that's part of the interview. Do you like the Corrs? Are you sure you're not white? With a rag tag of immigrants, Jimmy decides that the name of this new band is The Deportees and they will sing folk songs rather than soul. 

"The Pram," a Polish nanny decides to seek revenge on her troublesome charges, two daughters who seemingly sabotage her romantic life, by telling them a ghastly story. Only the hauntings enter her waking life rather than their nightmares. The story echoes The Turning of the Screw with a slightly different ending.

In "Guess Who's Coming for the Dinner," a liberal-thinking father is faced with the fact that one of his daughters might be seeing a black man. How he acts surprises him and his family. Luckily, they're there to make sure he doesn't embarrass himself.

A group of teenagers shine some light on racism and stereotypes at local shops and how it hurts the stores financially in "Black Hoodie."

The Deportees and Other Stories is an eye opener at the state that we're in. Cross out Ireland and Irish and replace with America and American, and you'll see how this stories echoes across the sea. It makes the reader take a side step and evaluate how low we've come as a people by refuses others the seem benefits and dreams that we hold close to our hearts.

Before I close this post, I want to announce that I do have an extra copy of The Deportees and Other Stories by Roddy Doyle. And because I'm such a nice guy, I've decided to give one away.


Now this giveaway will take place starting the moment the Tumblr post or this post hits 30 notes/comments.  The rules are simple:

1. This giveaway is only open to residents of the Continental USA, sorry.
2. To enter, you must comment below and tweet the link, mentioning me in said tweet (@EnnuiPrayer).
3. Once one of the two posts hits 30, a period of fifteen days will pass before I draw a winner. 
4. I will announce said winner on both pages and my twitter - hence the reason I want you to mention me. You will then have a period of 48 hours to contact me with your address. If you fail to do so, I will pick draw another winner.

If you have a Tumblr, there's more, but I feel no need mention those here. You can check out the page if you feel like it. Until next time, keep on huntin'.

Read the new rules here.

Get a free $10 Barnes & Noble e-Gift Card. 

Free Books, Giveaways & Other Musing

If there's one thing a book hunter loves more than a book, it's a free book! Cheesy and predictable, I know but that doesn't rob it from the truth. Last year, without much announcement, I found a copy of Madeleine Wickham's - otherwise known as the Shopaholic Series writer, Sophie Kinsella - A Desirable Residence. Fearing the worse - a book hunter blackout shopping spree - I didn't know where the book came from. I checked out GoodReads, vaguely remembering that I had signed up for several of their giveaways. Lo and behold, I learned that I had won the giveaway for the novel. 

Because I'm horrible at following my preassigned queue - take this year's challenge for instance: I was supposed to read a bunch of books of and about religion and so far only managed to read an essay and half of a book - I still haven't read the novel. Today, however, I got some more amazing news:

Congratulations Guillermo!

You are one of our First Reads lucky winners! You will soon receive a free copy of Doc: A Novel in the mail. Please allow a few weeks for shipping.

Don't forget to add the book to your Goodreads currently-reading shelf, and we encourage you to also add it to a "first-reads" shelf when you are done reading. Posting a review is optional, but please keep in mind that reviewing the book is in the spirit of First Reads. Publishers provide free copies to Goodreads in hopes of getting early feedback about the book. First Readers who post reviews are also more likely to win free books in the future!

If you have further questions, please contact [redacted], who listed this book for giveaway. Goodreads is not involved in the shipment of books to winners. Books usually arrive within 4-6 weeks. If you've waited more than 30 days, visit the Giveaway Details page to let us know you haven't received your copy.

Thanks for playing!

The Goodreads staff

I haven't a clue - well, I didn't at the time - who wrote the book (Mary Doria Russell) or what the novel was about (Doc Holliday), but that didn't matter. What mattered was I won it.

As I continued flipping through my e-mail, I came across a message sent to me via GoodReads from someone who works over at Quirk Books (the publishers who brought us Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Dawn of the Dreadfuls). Letting me down easily and then picking up my spirits, the writer informed me of the following:

Hey there Guillermo!

Saw you entered the giveaway for a copy of Pride & Prejudice & Zombies: Dreadfully Ever After. It just wrapped up and I was going through the folks who entered. Spotted your blog, saw you didn’t win… and thought I’d reach out to see if you wanted a review copy. :)

My name’s [redacted], I’m the social media marketing guy for Quirk Books, the publisher of Pride & Prejudice & Zombies. It’s my job to find book bloggers like you who are into our books, and I figured I’d see if you were still interested.

Let me know! I’ll drop a copy in the mail for you soon. :D

[redacted]

I nearly pissed my pants, I tell you. The excitement - not to mention several glass of cool, refreshing ice tea - was overbearing. I can't tell you how excited I am about this. Not only did I win a copy of a book about Doc Holliday - who I remember as Val Kilmer playing rather than Dennis Quaid - but my book blog was noticed by someone from Quirk Books. You bet your sweet ass I'm gonna sit down and read the hell out of those books - and A Desirable Residence - when they arrive. Until next time, keep on huntin'. And check out the giveaway section over at GoodReads.

P.S. While I'm on the subject of giveaways, I'm still strongly in favor of opening a giveaway for this blog. I haven't found a book to give out, but I'm working on it. Tomorrow I'm book hunting with Monica so who knows.

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