Books

Giveaway – World Book Day 2017: Blogger Schenken Lesefreude (Bloggers Give Books)

~ Hanna ~ 5 Comments
Happy World Book Day, Book Lovers!

Bloggers Give BooksTo celebrate World Book Day and our Fourth Blogiversary, I’m giving away a copy of Mohsin Hamid’s Exit West that is provided by our friends at Penguin Random House UK. I chose this novel because it is one of the best books I’ve read so far this year and I’d love to share its story with you.
If you’d like to enter the giveaway, all you have to do is answer one quiz question. The giveaway is open to people with an address in the EU, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Monaco and Norway and you have time to enter from today until April 30, 2017. Good luck!

 Mohsin Hamid Exit West
Exit West
Image provided by Hamish Hamilton¹

Synopsis quoted from Hamish Hamilton¹
An extraordinary story of love and hope, traveling from the Middle East to London and beyond, from the bestselling, Man Booker-shortlisted author of The Reluctant Fundamentalist

Nadia and Saeed are two ordinary young people, attempting to do an extraordinary thing – to fall in love – in a world turned upside down. Theirs will be a love story but also a story about how we live now and how we might live tomorrow, of a world in crisis and two human beings travelling through it.

Civil war has come to the city which Nadia and Saeed call home. Before long they will need to leave their motherland behind – when the streets are no longer useable and the unknown is safer than the known. They will join the great outpouring of people fleeing a collapsing city, hoping against hope, looking for their place in the world . . .

  • The giveaway is open to people with an address in the EU, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Monaco and Norway.
  • You have to be 16 or older to participate.
  • The giveaway runs from April 23, 2017 until April 30, 2017.
  • Be fair! One entry per person/immediate family/household.
  • I am not responsible for lost or damaged items. Neither is Penguin Random House UK.
  • There will be one winner who will receive one English language copy of Mohsin Hamid’s Exit West, sponsored by Penguin Random House UK.
  • You you have to enter through Giveaway Tools.
  • The winner will be selected at random and notified via e-mail. If the winner does not respond within 72 hours, another winner will be drawn.
  • The personal information you enter will only be used to contact you in case you win. It will be deleted after the giveaway.
  • I can amend and interpret these official rules at any time, and terminate, suspend or cancel the giveaway at any time for any reason.
  • All decisions are final.
If you want to win a copy of Exit West, enter the giveaway here!
Do you want to find out about the other books you can win trough Blogger Schenken Lesefreude? Look no further than here.

Good Luck and Happy World Book Day!

The Giveaway is over and we’ve contacted our winner Lili!

¹ https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/300265/exit-west/9780241290088/

Winner – World Book Day 2015: Blogger Schenken Lesefreude (Bloggers Give Books)

~ Hanna ~ Leave a comment
Hi,

It’s finally time to announce the winner of our giveaway to celebrate World Book Day and our Second Blogiversary. Unfortunately, I had to disqualify one entrant for entering the giveaway multiple times. Did you really think I wouldn’t notice?

Edit (5/5/2015 05:12pm):

[Anyways, Rachel, you are the lucky winner of a copy of Donal Ryan’s The Thing About December. I just sent you an e-mail and you have 72 hours to reply.]  Sorry Rachel, but you didn’t answer my e-mail.

This is why we have a new winner: Fornika! Congrats! I just sent you an e-mail and you have 72 hours to reply.

If you haven’t won, don’t be sad, it’s the weekend. Go on and read a good book. There are many more out there 🙂

Blogger Schenken Lesefreude

 Donal Ryan The Thing About December
The Thing About December
Image provided by Transworld¹
Synopsis quoted from Transworld¹:

‘He heard Daddy one time saying he was a grand quiet boy to Mother when he thought Johnsey couldn’t hear them talking. Mother must have been giving out about him being a gom and Daddy was defending him. He heard the fondness in Daddy’s voice. But you’d have fondness for an auld eejit of a crossbred pup that should have been drowned at birth.’

While the Celtic Tiger rages, and greed becomes the norm, Johnsey Cunliffe desperately tries to hold on to the familiar, even as he loses those who all his life have protected him from a harsh world. Village bullies and scheming land-grabbers stand in his way, no matter where he turns.
Set over the course of one year of Johnsey’s life, The Thing About December breathes with his grief, bewilderment, humour and agonizing self-doubt. This is a heart-twisting tale of a lonely man struggling to make sense of a world moving faster than he is.

¹ http://www.transworldbooks.co.uk/editions/the-thing-about-december/9781781620090

Giveaway – World Book Day 2015: Blogger Schenken Lesefreude (Bloggers Give Books)

~ Hanna ~ 14 Comments
Happy World Book Day, Book Lovers!

To celebrate World Book Day and our Second Blogiversary, we’re giving away a copy of The Thing About December by Irish author Donal Ryan. I chose this novel because it is one of the best books I’ve read in 2014 and I would love to share this wonderful story with you. All you have to do is answer one quiz question. The giveaway is international and you have time to enter from today until April 30, 2015. Good luck!

Blogger Schenken Lesefreude

 Donal Ryan The Thing About December
The Thing About December
Image provided by Transworld¹
Synopsis quoted from Transworld¹:

‘He heard Daddy one time saying he was a grand quiet boy to Mother when he thought Johnsey couldn’t hear them talking. Mother must have been giving out about him being a gom and Daddy was defending him. He heard the fondness in Daddy’s voice. But you’d have fondness for an auld eejit of a crossbred pup that should have been drowned at birth.’

While the Celtic Tiger rages, and greed becomes the norm, Johnsey Cunliffe desperately tries to hold on to the familiar, even as he loses those who all his life have protected him from a harsh world. Village bullies and scheming land-grabbers stand in his way, no matter where he turns.
Set over the course of one year of Johnsey’s life, The Thing About December breathes with his grief, bewilderment, humour and agonizing self-doubt. This is a heart-twisting tale of a lonely man struggling to make sense of a world moving faster than he is.

  • You can participate as long as The Book Depository ships to your country for free.
  • You have to be 16 or older to participate.
  • The giveaway runs from April 23, 2015 until April 30, 2015.
  • Be fair! One entry per person/immediate family/household.
  • I am not responsible for lost or damaged items. There will be one winner who will receive one English language paperback copy of Donal Ryan’s The Thing About December, sponsored by All That Magic.
  • You you have to enter through Giveaway Tools.
  • The winner will be selected at random and notified via e-mail. If the winner does not respond within 72 hours, another winner will be drawn.
  • The personal information you enter will only be used to contact you in case you win. It will be deleted after the giveaway.
  • I can amend and interpret these official rules at any time, and terminate, suspend or cancel the giveaway at any time for any reason.
  • All decisions are final.
If you want to enter the The Thing About December giveaway, click this link: Entry-Form

¹ http://www.transworldbooks.co.uk/editions/the-thing-about-december/9781781620090

Second Blogiversary – Two Years of Magic

~ Hanna ~ Leave a comment

Hi There,

I’ve been a little quiet over the past few weeks because writing my thesis is taking up quite some time and energy. I might have to make temporary changes to my review format to be able to publish book reviews on a regular basis up until my graduation. I’ve not stopped reading books, and I won’t stop writing this blog. So please bear with me 🙂

And now on to the fun part 😉

Blogoversary

It’s All That Magic‘s Second Blogiversary today! Two years of reading, writing, cooking, eating, crafting (in secret [I’ve just sewn a book cover]), taking bad pictures, going to book fairs and making new friends. I wouldn’t want to miss any of that.

Last year was particularly exciting. I got to be part of a cooperation between bloggers and a local bookstore (Rupertus Buchhandlung) and made new friends this way. I went to Frankfurt Book Fair for the second time, met old friends and got acquainted with new ones. I also won 10 Penguin Random House books in a reading challenge for reading 49 English-language books in 2014.

Which brings me to the last part of my blogiversary monologue: I’d like to thank everyone who has supported me so far. The publishers who kindly supply me with review copies, among them Canongate Books and Penguin Random House UK, Rupertus Buchhandlung for the great time I had in the past months, the authors who spend months writing books for us, and I’d like to thank You for stopping by and for reading what I have to say!

P.S.: Like last year, I will run a book giveaway on World Book Day, April 23rd.

Frankfurt Book Fair 2014 – It’s Been A Pleasure

~ Hanna ~ 2 Comments

Hello,

I’m back from a wonderful weekend at Frankfurt Book Fair. Fortunately, this year we didn’t have a snow storm, so we arrived Friday late afternoon, just in time for a quick stroll through the halls and the Virenschleuder-Preis award ceremony.

The Virenschleuder-Preis award is a German marketing award established in 2011 by Leander Wattig and Carsten Raimann. The winners of this year’s awards were:

On Saturday, my friend and I were on a tight schedule. First on our list was the dotbooks and Skoobe blogger breakfast. When we arrived, the stand was already bustling with bloggers. We were served coffee, orange juice and pretzels and soon got talking with Lena and Adrian from Büchernest. The breakfast ended with dotbooks and Skoobe handing out nice little goodie bags containing postcards and a smart phone wiper.

Kein & Aber stand
Particularly beautiful stand by Kein & Aber publishers

On our way to my next meeting, we came by the stand of the Museum of the Printing Arts Leipzig where we were able to do an etching which we printed using a historical press from the mid-19th century. This was most definitely one of my highlights at the fair.

Etching Eye
The etching I did

After our creative rest, we moved on to meet Ulrike from Penguin Random House UK. We had a very nice time and were treated to coffee (my friend said it was the best she had on our trip) and coke. I’m going to tell you more about our meeting with Ulrike in a separate blog post in the upcoming weeks.

Frankfurt Book Fair
A foggy view of Agora at Frankfurt Book Fair

As soon as the meeting was over, we had to rush to hall 4.1 to be engulfed by a mass of (mainly) girls at the Lovelybooks readers’ and blogger get-together. We had a great time talking to Tina and Dani from Lovelybooks, IraWira of … always time for a nice cup of tea and a good book!, Mareike and Maike from Herzpotenzial and, again, Ulrike. The get-together was a blast and Lovelybooks made our day by serving cupcakes and cookies and providing us with a huge goodie bag with lots of books, notebooks and a teeny-weeny stamp in it. Thank you so much! My shoulders and legs hurt for three days and some Christmas gifts are already covered. 😉

Finland Kids
Kids’ corner in Finland’s hall

On Sunday, we spent a large part of our remaining three hours visiting the hall of the guest land Finland and the antiquarian fair. I have to admit that I had expected more of Finland’s hall. It was very basic and cold. I also wasn’t tempted to browse the books on display, as they were arranged chaotically with all sorts of languages and topics mixed up. The only thing I found nice was the children’s area, as it was warm and inviting. The antiquarian fair was warm and inviting as well and so we stayed there for a while to gaze at delicately painted book pages, beautiful old leather bindings and books as big as modern TV screens. We were so in awe of these very expensive artifacts from another time, we didn’t dare to touch a single book. Another highlight at the fair!

Finland
Finland’s hall

Soon after, we had to leave the fairgrounds to hop onto our bus to make our long way home to Austria. But there’s one more thing left to tell you. Strolling through the halls, I’ve written down the names of a few books that grabbed my attention.

Unfortunately, many stands in hall 8 weren’t very inviting. A lot of the publishers were packing, many had already left, others had arranged a wall of chairs to hinder you from browsing their books.

Empty Stand

Finally I’d like to direct special thanks to Mr Besold from Buchhandlung Besold for helping us out of a difficult situation. Buchhandlung Besold is a local bookstore in Carinthia that offers free shipping ;).

The Winners – World Book Day: Blogger Schenken Lesefreude (Bloggers Give Books)

~ Hanna ~ Leave a comment

To celebrate World Book Day and my First Blogoversary, I was doing a giveaway of the following three books: Life After Life by British author Kate Atkinson, the German edition of Y (“Hier könnte ich zur Welt kommen”) by Canadian author Marjorie Celona and the German edition of The Art of Fielding (“Die Kunst des Feldspiels”) by US author Chad Harbach.

Just so you know, all your answers were correct! 🙂 Unfortunately, not all of you lovely entrants got to win something. The winners were chosen at random by Giveaway Tools. I’ve already contacted them, but to make things official, here they are. They’ve got 72 hours to reply to my e-mail.

Thank you for entering!

Blogger Schenken Lesefreude Banner

Also: A big “Thank You” goes out to Dumont Verlag and Insel Verlag for offering the two German-language books to give away to two lucky readers!

 Kate Atkinson Life After Life
Life After Life
Image provided by Transworld¹
Kate Atkinson’s Life After Life goes to: Melanie D.
You can also double-check in the Entry-Form
 Marjorie Celona “Hier könnte ich zur Welt kommen“
Hier könnte Ich zur Welt kommen
Image provided by Insel Verlag²
Marjorie Celona’s “Hier könnte ich zur Welt kommen” goes to: Bettina
You can also double-check in the: Entry-Form
Chad Harbach “Die Kunst des Feldspiels”
Die Kunst des Feldspiels Cover
Image provided by Dumont Verlag³
Chad Harbach’s “Die Kunst des Feldspiels” goes to: WolfgangB
You can also double-check in the: Entry-Form
¹ http://www.transworldbooks.co.uk/editions/life-after-life/9780552776639
² http://www.suhrkamp.de/buecher/hier_koennte_ich_zur_welt_kommen-marjorie_celona_17562.html
³ http://www.dumont-buchverlag.de/buch/Chad_Harbach_Die_Kunst_des_Feldspiels/12836

Win Books – World Book Day: Blogger Schenken Lesefreude (Bloggers Give Books)

~ Hanna ~ 7 Comments
Happy World Book Day Book Lovers!

To celebrate World Book Day and my First Blogoversary, I’m giving away books to three lucky people. Life After Life by British author Kate Atkinson, the German edition of Y (“Hier könnte ich zur Welt kommen”) by Canadian author Marjorie Celona and the German edition of The Art of Fielding (“Die Kunst des Feldspiels”) by US author Chad Harbach. Please be aware of the terms & conditions of each giveaway. While the Life After Life giveaway is open internationally (some restrictions do apply), the “Hier könnte ich zur Welt kommen” giveaway and the “Die Kunst des Feldspiels” giveaway are only open to participants with an Austrian mail address*. You have time to enter from today until April 30, 2014. Good luck!

Blogger Schenken Lesefreude Banner

A big “Thank You” goes out to Dumont Verlag and Insel Verlag for offering the two German-language books to give away to two lucky readers!

*I would have loved to open these giveaways for EU participants, but the Austrian Post is ridiculously expensive. Mailing a book within Austria costs more than Germans pay at German Post to mail a book within the EU. The Austrian Post charges almost 10 € to mail a book from Austria to a EU country. 😦 I hope you understand. You can still enter the Life After Life giveaway if The Book Depository ships to your country for free.

 Kate Atkinson Life After Life
Life After Life
Image provided by Transworld¹
  • You can participate as long as The Book Depository ships to your country for free.
  • You have to be 16 or older to participate.
  • The giveaway runs from April 23, 2014 until April 30, 2014.
  • Be fair! One entry per person/immediate family/household.
  • I am not responsible for lost or damaged items. There will be one winner who will receive one English language paperback copy of Kate Atkinson’s Life After Life, sponsored by All That Magic.
  • You you have to enter through Giveaway Tools.
  • The winner will be selected at random and notified via e-mail. If the winner does not respond within 72 hours, another winner will be drawn.
  • The personal information you enter will only be used to contact you in case you win. It will be deleted after the giveaway.
  • I can amend and interpret these official rules at any time, and terminate, suspend or cancel the giveaway at any time for any reason.
  • All decisions are final.
If you want to enter the Life After Life giveaway, click this link: Entry-Form
 Marjorie Celona “Hier könnte ich zur Welt kommen“
Hier könnte Ich zur Welt kommen
Image provided by Insel Verlag²
  • You have to have an Austrian shipping address!
  • You have to be 16 or older to participate.
  • The giveaway runs from April 23, 2014 until April 30, 2014.
  • Be fair! One entry per person/immediate family/household.
  • I am not responsible for lost or damaged items. There will be one winner who will receive one German language hardcover copy of Marjorie Celona’s “Hier könnte ich zur Welt kommen”, sponsored by Insel Verlag.
  • You you have to enter through Giveaway Tools.
  • The winner will be selected at random and notified via e-mail. If the winner does not respond within 72 hours, another winner will be drawn.
  • The personal information you enter will only be used to contact you in case you win. It will be deleted after the giveaway.
  • I can amend and interpret these official rules at any time, and terminate, suspend or cancel the giveaway at any time for any reason.
  • All decisions are final.
If you want to enter the “Hier könnte ich zur Welt kommen” giveaway, click this link: Entry-Form
Die Frage ist auf Englisch. Die Antwort ist aber in beiden Sprachen fast gleich. Solltest du Probleme haben etwas zu verstehen, kannst du mich gerne fragen.
Chad Harbach “Die Kunst des Feldspiels”
Die Kunst des Feldspiels Cover
Image provided by Dumont Verlag³
  • You have to have an Austrian shipping address!
  • You have to be 16 or older to participate.
  • The giveaway runs from April 23, 2014 until April 30, 2014.
  • Be fair! One entry per person/immediate family/household.
  • I am not responsible for lost or damaged items. There will be one winner who will receive one German language paperback copy of Chad Harbach’s “Die Kunst des Feldspiels”, sponsored by Dumont Verlag.
  • You you have to enter through Giveaway Tools.
  • The winner will be selected at random and notified via e-mail. If the winner does not respond within 72 hours, another winner will be drawn.
  • The personal information you enter will only be used to contact you in case you win. It will be deleted after the giveaway.
  • I can amend and interpret these official rules at any time, and terminate, suspend or cancel the giveaway at any time for any reason.
  • All decisions are final.
If you want to enter the “Die Kunst des Feldspiels” giveaway, click this link: Entry-Form
Die Frage ist auf Englisch. Die Antwort ist aber in beiden Sprachen gleich. Solltest du Probleme haben etwas zu verstehen, kannst du mich gerne fragen.
¹ http://www.transworldbooks.co.uk/editions/life-after-life/9780552776639
² http://www.suhrkamp.de/buecher/hier_koennte_ich_zur_welt_kommen-marjorie_celona_17562.html
³ http://www.dumont-buchverlag.de/buch/Chad_Harbach_Die_Kunst_des_Feldspiels/12836

Review – Life After Life by Kate Atkinson (Reread)

~ Hanna ~ 5 Comments

Oops… I did it again 😀

When I first got the chance to read Kate Atkinson’s Life After Life it was in German, and I have loved it since then and decided that I had to read the English original someday. It’s been a year since this novel was first published and Black Swan released a truly beautiful paperback edition of Life After Life this January. Fortunately, I was provided with a copy to read in a Lovelybooks online book club. Thank you Random House UK!

So here is my second review of this truly amazing novel:

Life After Life
Image provided by Transworld¹

Life After Life is a 2013 novel by British writer Kate Atkinson. This review will be about the paperback edition, published by Black Swan in January 2014.

As the title Life After Life suggests, Ursula Todd lives her life more than once. During the Great War, she grows up among her four siblings in England. In her numerous lives, Ursula relives the Great War and World War II, repeatedly travels to the continent and tries to find ways for people to survive.

Kate Atkinson’s onomatopoeic language and her vivid descriptions make the setting of Life After Life very realistic. As mentioned in my first review, the reader constantly feels as if they were inside the book. Kate Atkinson also manages to create a different feel for every setting, that way, war for example does feel different depending in which country Ursula goes through it. Atkinson is brilliant at creating settings.

Ursula, the main character, is a very flexible character. Although she stays the same person, she develops from life to life, adapting to the given circumstances. Another great character is Ursula’s mother Sylvie Todd. Sylvie is struggling with the changing society. The tension between the person she wants to be and the person she has to be is palpable. Unlike Ursula, Sylvie isn’t able to develop much throughout the book.

Life After Life features a very unique plot. Even though Ursula’s life repeats itself multiple times, it never gets boring. When you first read this book, you have no idea how Kate Atkinson will make Ursula relive her lives. You will ask yourself if she has any control over the process or not. These are questions that you may find answers for in the book. Life After Life is a novel that caters for all tastes. It doesn’t fall short of sorrow and happiness and leaves more than enough room for thought.

5beans

¹http://www.transworldbooks.co.uk/editions/life-after-life/9780552776639

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The Winner of the Canada Day Blog Hop

~ Hanna ~ 2 Comments

Hi all!

Thank you for entering my Canada Day Giveaway and welcome to all my new followers! I hope you’ll enjoy my blog!

The winner of the Canada Day Giveaway is Ileana A. (I just sent her an e-mail) Congratulations!!

As soon as she has her book, I’ll tell you all what she got 🙂

Thank you Chrystal of Snowdrop Dreams of Books, Aislynn of Stitch Read Cook & Carmel of Rabid Reads for organizing this great blog hop!

canada

Offer – Neil Gaiman Kindle Books

~ Hanna ~ 1 Comment

You haven’t read all Neil Gaiman books? Me neither. Well, now seems to be the perfect time. As Neil Gaiman’s new book The Ocean at the End of the Lane is out since yesterday (June 18th), it seems Amazon decided to lower the price on many Neil Gaiman Kindle books. You can get books like The Graveyard Book, Coraline or Stardust for under 5 Euros (I think they also are under $5 for US customers, I only see the price they charge for European customers and that’s usually higher and they are still under $5. Unfortunately, I cannot see the price information for the UK, but I think the same applies here. Just check.).

Just head over to your country’s Amazon site and search for Neil Gaiman Kindle books 🙂 Happy Shopping!

(It could be that other e-book platforms also lowered their price for the books. Go check!)