Read, Remember, Recommend by Rachelle Rogers Knight

Read, Remember, Recommend by Rachelle Rogers Knight is an excellent organizing journal for passionate readers, but maybe not for book bloggers.  As an avid reader with a to-read list in the hundreds, there are not enough pages in this book to house all of my reading wants and needs.  An online version of this book may have been a better product, allowing readers to continuously add pages to their loaner and recommendation lists. . . but then wouldn't we call it Good Reads or LibraryThing?

The explanations on how to use the journal at the beginning seemed unnecessary, but could be helpful for a reader who has never kept track of their reading.  

However, what is really useful in this journal are the lists -- lists of Pulitzer Prize winners, National Book Award winners, and more.  There's room to add new book award winners, but again there should be more spaces attributed to this.

The loaner pages and recommendation pages are essential to any reader interested in lending their books to friends, family, and neighbors or recommending specific books to the other readers in their lives.  It seems that these sections are thinner than the others, and depending on how many books a reader owns and loans out or recommends, these blank pages should be photocopied before they are filled up.

Finally, the journal includes a list of online resources for book lovers, which seems pretty comprehensive in terms of places to search for book blogs and lit blogs, but I take issue with the term "lighter" to describe some wonderful bloggers who may not have PhD's in literature, but have valid points about structure, theme, literary devices, etc.  While many are not professional reviewers, their perceptions and analyses of books are no less valid or insightful, which the term "lighter" implies. 

With all of that said, however, Read, Remember, Recommend is an excellent resource for stellar literature, online recommendations and information, and a place to write down reader's thoughts about their books as they go along -- whether or not those thoughts end up on a blog.

I plan on using this book for a completely different purpose.  I've attended a number of writing conferences and have often heard the best way to figure out where your writing will be accepted by publishers and literary journals is to check out the acknowledgments of authors and poets who have writing similar to your own.  As a result, I plan to use the journal pages to keep track of those literary magazines, publishers, and other locations where I should be sending my work, and hopefully that will translate into some publications.  I've got a ton of books to go through and a good stack of pages in this book to fill up.

I've got an extra copy for one of my readers anywhere in the world.  Here are the rules:

1.  Comment on this post about why you want to get your mitts on this reading journal.
2.  Spread the word about the giveaway via Twitter, Facebook, blogging, etc. and leave me a link.

Deadline April 12, 2010, at 11:59 PM EST

About the Author:

Rachelle Rogers Knight is a passionate reader who has enjoyed books her entire life. Rachelle self-published Read, Remember, Recommend and Read, Remember, Recommend for Teens in 2007, and earned the Bronze Medal for "Independent Publisher of the Year" from Independent Publisher Online Magazine in 2008. Sourcebooks, Inc. is releasing new and improved editions of the self-published hit this April.

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Also Don't forget to check out the next stops on the 2010 National Poetry Month Blog Tour, Jenn's Bookshelves and West of Mars.


FTC Disclosure: Thanks to Sourcebooks for sending me a free copy of Read, Remember, Recommend for review.  Clicking on title and image links will lead you to my Amazon Affiliate page; No purchase necessary, though appreciated.

© 2010, Serena Agusto-Cox of Savvy Verse & Wit. All Rights Reserved. If you're reading this on a site other than Savvy Verse & Wit or Serena's Feed, be aware that this post has been stolen and is used without permission.

Mailbox Monday #76

Since I have a book tour on Monday, I'm posting my Mailbox Monday post a day early.  Welcome to another edition of Mailbox Monday on Sunday!

I hope everyone has been enjoying the National Poetry Month Blog Tour; If you haven't checked out the schedule or the posts, go here.

Marcia at The Printed Page and Kristi of The Story Siren both sponsor memes in which bloggers share what books they've received in the past week.  I'm going to continue calling these Mailbox Mondays, but The Story Siren also has In My Mailbox.  Just be warned that these posts can increase your TBR piles and wish lists.

Here's what I received:



1.  Letter to My Daughter by George Bishop, which I received for TLC Book Tour in May.



2.  SOS!  The Six O'Clock Scramble to the Rescue by Aviva Goldfarb for a tour in April around Earth Day!



3.  One Amazing Thing by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni for review in June.

What did you get in your mailbox?

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Don't forget to visit today's stop on the National Poetry Month Blog Tour at Indextrious Reader who will feature a poetry publisher of Brick Books.

FTC Disclosure: Clicking on title and image links will lead you to my Amazon Affiliate page; No purchase necessary, though appreciated.

© 2010, Serena Agusto-Cox of Savvy Verse & Wit. All Rights Reserved. If you're reading this on a site other than Savvy Verse & Wit or Serena's Feed, be aware that this post has been stolen and is used without permission.

39th Virtual Poetry Circle

Are you ready for the 39th Virtual Poetry Circle this week?  I hope you are because this one's special.  It's the first of the VPCs that fall during National Poetry Month.

If you missed my earlier announcement this week (don't worry, it's a sticky post), you can check out the 2010 National Poetry Month Blog Tour details here.

Today, we're going to travel back in time for a classic poem.

Remember, this is just for fun and is not meant to be stressful.

Keep in mind what Molly Peacock's books suggested. Look at a line, a stanza, sentences, and images; describe what you like or don't like; and offer an opinion. If you missed my review of her book, check it out here.

Today's poem comes from Osip Mandelstam.

The Stalin Epigram (translated by W.S. Merwin)

Our lives no longer feel ground under them.
At ten paces you can’t hear our words.

But whenever there’s a snatch of talk
it turns to the Kremlin mountaineer,

the ten thick worms his fingers,
his words like measures of weight,

the huge laughing cockroaches on his top lip,
the glitter of his boot-rims.

Ringed with a scum of chicken-necked bosses
he toys with the tributes of half-men.

One whistles, another meows, a third snivels.
He pokes out his finger and he alone goes boom.

He forges decrees in a line like horseshoes,
One for the groin, one the forehead, temple, eye.

He rolls the executions on his tongue like berries.
He wishes he could hug them like big friends from home.

Let me know your thoughts, ideas, feelings, impressions. Let's have a great discussion...pick a line, pick an image, pick a sentence.

I've you missed the other Virtual Poetry Circles, check them out here. It's never too late to join the discussion.

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Please also stop by today's National Poetry Month Blog Tour stop at Regular Rumination on Claudia Emerson.

© 2010, Serena Agusto-Cox of Savvy Verse & Wit. All Rights Reserved. If you're reading this on a site other than Savvy Verse & Wit or Serena's Feed, be aware that this post has been stolen and is used without permission.

Dawn of the Dreadfuls by Steve Hockensmith

Steve Hockensmith's Dawn of the Dreadfuls is a whimsical prequel to the Pride and Prejudice and Zombies mash-up.  But even though it is a prequel, the struggles with the zombies occurred long before this story begins and this is just a rebirth of the plague.

"Capturing a dreadful, it turned out, was the easy part.  Getting it to go where one wanted -- that was nearly impossible.

Dr. Keckilpenny's custom-built zombie net fit over the unmentionable's head and upper torso snugly enough, pinning its arms to its sides.  But the only way to get the creature to do anything other than hurl itself, snarling, at the nearest sign of life was to push or pull it by the attached rod."  (Page 192)

In this story, the Bennet girls are being trained in the dark arts following the rise of the undead in the English countryside.  Unlike previous mash-ups, Hockensmith stays true to Austen's language and characterizations, as much as he can with the introduction of zombies and ninjas.  Mr. Bennet seeks to take on the tutelage of his daughters on his own, but the Order soon sends him Master Hawksworth, a young man of 26, who takes a keen interest in his daughter Elizabeth.

Along the way the Bennet sisters work hard to polish their skills, vanquish unmentionables, and reclaim their dignity in a society that finds their modern ways unappealing until it is convenient for them.  From the strong and reserved master to the single-minded Dr. Keckilpenny, the Bennets meet obstacles head on and overcome them.  Some of the same societal prejudices exist in this mash-up, but it's also full of fun dialogue, swift action, and bungling antics.  And readers will see a different side of Mr. Bennet and learn some of Mrs. Bennet's past in Dawn of the Dreadfuls.

And for fun, check out this cool book trailer.


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Don't forget to stop over at 32 Poems Blog and Diary of an Eccentric today as part of the National Poetry Month Blog Tour today!

This is my 22nd book for the 2010 New Authors Challenge.

This is my 4th book for the Jane Austen Challenge 2010.

FTC Disclosure: Thanks to FSB Associates and Quirk Classics for sending me a free copy of Dawn of the Dreadfuls for review.  Clicking on title and image links will lead you to my Amazon Affiliate page; No purchase necessary, though appreciated.

© 2010, Serena Agusto-Cox of Savvy Verse & Wit. All Rights Reserved. If you're reading this on a site other than Savvy Verse & Wit or Serena's Feed, be aware that this post has been stolen and is used without permission.

Winner of The Birthing House and Ravens

Out of 9 entrants...which is so sad for a giveaway...Random.org selected:

#1 Marjorie

Now, we can't say that being #1 is unlucky!

Congrats Marjorie; Enjoy the audiobooks!

Thanks to all the other entrants and don't forget to enter into my Winter Garden giveaway.




FTC Disclosure: Clicking on title and image links will lead you to my Amazon Affiliate page; No purchase necessary, though appreciated.

© 2010, Serena Agusto-Cox of Savvy Verse & Wit. All Rights Reserved. If you're reading this on a site other than Savvy Verse & Wit or Serena's Feed, be aware that this post has been stolen and is used without permission.