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Thanks to those who participated to the recent giveaway I organised to celebrate the 10000 mark on this blog.
France (the country where I was born): In a couple of posts, I mention things I miss from France; can you name one of them (no, it’s not wine!)? The answer is the Lily of the Valley! I would also have accepted “salt”, which I mentioned briefly in a post. The good news is that I do not miss these two things anymore as I now bring back salt each time I go to France and I got some Lily of the Valley offsprings from my grandfather’s garden and they are now thriving in my own garden.
Ireland (the country where I live): In one of my posts, I pay a tribute to something that always amazes me in Ireland; what is it? I just love “The big Irish sky” (see my header picture as well).
Canada (a passion): What big event brought me to Canada last year? The 11th International Conference for the Short Story in English was the reason why I went to Toronto last June.
And the winners are….
Mel U at The Reading Life wins The Little Prince by Antoine St Exupéry.
The Little Prince by St Exupery (edition may vary)
Barbara at Words, Words, Words wins That They May Face the Rising Sun by John McGahern.
That They May Face the Rising Sun by John McGahern
Dragonflyy419 at Dragonflyy419 Attempts to Combat Boredom wins Moral Disorder by Margaret Atwood.
Moral Disorder by Margaret Atwood (edition may vary)
Congratulations and happy reading!
A while ago, I won a prize at a giveaway held by Shannon at Giraffe Days. She explained how the first giveaway she ever won was at a blog that had reached 10,000 visits and decided she would do the same when she reached that number. Believe it or not, but it was also the first time I was winning a giveaway, so I decided to perpetuate the tradition and hold my own giveaway when I would reach the 10,000-visit mark.
Although I started this blog three years ago, it is only in the past few months that I have really become involved. My activity on this blog previously was only sporadic. I would delay writing posts and would then feel overwhelmed with catching up, so I would not write at all. I have since adopted a more laid back attitude, because I do like writing on this blog and, although many topics are actually related to my academic work, it is a place where I take a breath from too strict writing. The impetus really came when I returned from Canada, with many posts in my head, and joined the Canadian Reading Challenge, which has enabled me to virtually meet people with similar interests. Interaction is indeed a great motivation for blogging, so a big thank you to all of you who are reading and commenting on these posts.
For this giveaway, there are three categories you can enter. Each category is a country that represents me in a way or another and the prize for each of them is one of my favourite books from that country. All you need to do is answer a question and fill the form below. The answer is easily found on my blog through a bit of browsing (hint: think about the category). Easy!
You can answer one, two or three questions, but you can only win one prize. It is open internationally and you can enter the draw until the 30th of April at midnight (GMT). I will announce the winners at the beginning of May.
France (the country where I was born): In a couple of posts, I mention things I miss from France; can you name one of them (no, it’s not wine!)?
The Little Prince by St Exupery (edition may vary)
The Little Prince by St Exupery is my favourite book of all times. My grandmother used to read it to me when I was a kid and I took a lot of pleasure reading it again as an adolescent and as an adult. You can read my review of it here.
Ireland (the country where I live): In one of my posts, I pay a tribute to something that always amazes me in Ireland; what is it?
That They May Face the Rising Sun by John McGahern
That They May Face the Rising Sun is a beautiful novel by John McGahern. Although it is anchored in Irish life, it also touches on universal emotions and feelings. I haven’t reviewed it on this blog, but I mentioned it in a post, here.
Canada (a passion): What big event brought me to Canada last year?
Moral Disorder by Margaret Atwood (edition may vary)
If you have visited this blog before, you will probably be aware that Margaret Atwood is my favourite writer. Moral Disorder is one of her latest collection of short stories. It is a sort of hybrid-novel and each story allows us to recreate the life of the main protagonist, Nell. You can see a full review here.
As I am running a bit late, I give you until tomorrow 10am (GMT) to find and send your answers for the giveaway…
Just to let you know that I am still posting about my trip to Canada and you can view those posts in the archives from June 2010.
It’s great, each time I write a post, it brings me back there!
New post on Wards Island.
I am not one for making New Year’s resolutions and this year was no exception to the rule. However, today I have made the resolution to start blogging again and to manage to find the time to do so.
My last post is ten-month old; many things have happened in the mid-time (celebrating my ten years in Ireland and completing my MA thesis are probably the most significant to me) and I have no intention to catch up on the many posts that went through my head and never got written down, so I will have a fresh start and see how it goes.
C'est la vie! 