Merry Wanderer of the Night [Search results for award] 

The 32-year-old star looked stunning in the Dolce & Gabbana dress, which she teamed with a pair of black Christian Louboutin heels and a sexy side-swept hairstyle.
Red carpet style: Christine teamed her white Dolce & Gabbana dress with a pair of black Christian Louboutin heels
Christine, who presented the National Movie Awards on ITV, spoke recently about her future with Lampard, admitting she wasn't sure if marriage was on the cards.
She said: 'People keep asking when he’s going to ask me to marry him. But I’m the last person who should know that.
'We went to Paris for two days a few weeks ago and suddenly it was, “Look, they’re ring shopping.” No, we weren’t and he certainly hasn’t asked.
Quick change: After her red carpet appearance, Christine changed into three more dresses for the show
'We’ve only been seeing each other a year and a half, which isn’t long enough for me.'
However, Christine added: 'I can’t imagine not being with Frank, and I’d like to enjoy being married to him for a while before having children. Frank would have more tomorrow, but he knows I’m not ready for it.’
Following her walk down the red carpet, Christine changed into a stunning figure-hugging red dress as she began presenting the ITV coverage.
Date night: Nicole Scherzinger and Lewis Hamilton were another celebrity couple to attend the event
Relaxing: Nicole and Lewis looked as though they were enjoying themselves at the event
She then decided to showcase her sense of style in a further two dresses - a mint green pleated number and a tight knee-length dress.
Other couples to arrive at the ceremony included Nicole Scherzinger and Lewis Hamilton, who made their first red carpet appearance in a while at the event, held at London's Wembley Arena.
Don't Hold Your Breath singer Nicole wowed in a pretty nude dress and matching sky-high heels, while Hamilton looked smart in his grey three-piece suit.
Screen stars: (Left to right) Jodie Whittaker, Mandy Moore and Georgie Henley all glammed up for the occasion
Nicole spoke recently about her figure, and while she looked stunning on the red carpet, she said she has 'gained a few pounds'.
She told Glamour magazine: 'I’ve grown as a woman to just accept myself. You’re not going to feel great all the time – so you’ve just not got to be hard on yourself.
'Right now I’ve probably gained a few pounds, but it’s OK because at the right time I’ll lose a couple of pounds. When I put my mind to it, I hit the gym.'
Take That opened the night's entertainment with a performance of their never-before-heard single Love, Love - taken from the upcoming X-Men: First Class.
Full-length glamour: Singers Dame Shirley Bassey and X Factor reject Katie Waissel went for all black outfits
Gary Barlow, Robbie Williams, Mark Owen, Jason Orange and Howard Donald were joined on stage by a group of dancers as they performed the bass-thumping track.
But the song didn't go down too well with viewers, with many taking to Twitter to voice their disappointment over the record.
One viewers tweeted: 'Take that are massiveeeee let downs, what the hell is this? and robbie williams just ruins everything.'
Boys will be boys: JLS stars (left to right) Jonathan "JB" Gill, Marvin Humes, Oritse Williams and Aston Merrygold pose on the red carpet
Suited and booted: Inbetweeners stars Blake Harrison, Joe Thomas and Simon Bird look smart
While another added: 'What the chuff happened to Take That's songs when Robbie came back? Awful!'
The first award of the evening was for Best Comedy film, presented by The Inbetweeners stars Blake Harrison, Joe Thomas and Simon Bird.
After shamelessly plugging their own movie, the trio gave the award to Paul, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost's alien comedy.
Opening the show: Take That kicked the evening's events off with a performance of their new single Love Love

Men in black: The boys pose up for photographers ahead of their performance
Dame Shirley Bassey was next to take to the stage, ready to present the award for Best Drama.
And the winner was The King's Speech, with Geoffrey Rush accepting the award along with director Tom Hooper and the film's producers.
Explaining star Colin Firth's absence, Rush said: 'Colin Firth sends his apologies. He is off shooting a light comedy, which is a form of therapy I guess.'
And when Hooper took the microphone, he joked: 'I would like to thank the Queen and the Royal Family for thoughtfully arranging the Royal Wedding the Friday before the release of The King's Speech DVD.'
Winners: Nick Frost and Simon Pegg accept the Best Comedy Award for their alien movie Paul
Speech time: Mandy Moore accepts the Best Animation award for Tangled, while Dame Shirley Bassey presented the prize for Best Drama
After an exclusive clip of Cars 2, Lewis Hamilton, who makes a cameo in the movie, presented the award for Best Animation to Disney's Tangled.
Accepting the award was one of the film's main voice characters, Mandy Moore, who looked incredible in a long moss green dress.
But after the diminutive Hamilton had spoken into the microphone, statuesque Mandy had to stoop down to accept the prize.
Performers: JLS got one of the biggest screams of the night when they performed their new single Eyes Wide Shut
Victory: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I producers David Heyman, David Barron and actress Bonnie Wright
James McAvoy was up next, presenting the Best Fantasy prize to Bonnie Wright for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1.
JLS were the next performers of the evening, performing their new track Eyes Wide Shut.
Alice Eve took to the stage next to present the award for the L'Oreal Paris Performance of the Year award to Colin Firth for The King's Speech.
As Colin couldn't be there, he requested his two on-screen daughters from the film, Freya Wilson and Ramona Marquez, to collect the award on his behalf.
Excited: Colin Firth's on-screen daughters from The King's Speech, Ramona Marquez (left) and Freya Wilson, accepted the Performance of the Year award on his behalf
Tribute: Keith Richards recorded a special video message to Screen Icon winner Johnny Depp
Gossip Girl star Ed Westwick presented the Must-See Movie of the Summer award to Bonnie Wright and the film's producers for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II.
Geoffrey Rush returned to the stage to present the Screen Icon award to Johnny Depp.
Talking about Depp, Rush said: 'Johnny Depp is so cool. He can come to rehearsal in a crazed blouse and a bit of mismatched jewellery and he can look hip - I would look like my mother.'
Success: Eliza Doolittle and Lloyd Wade performed their huge hit Pack Up
Here come the boys: James Corden and James McAvoy were among the guest presenters for the evening
And Depp's other Pirates co-star Keith Richards recorded a special tribute video message in honour of the actor.
In the message, which had been interspersed with footage of Johnny's most famous films, Richards said: 'There ain't another movie star who comes close to this guy. And to think that he didn't even start off as an actor first of all. That's my boy.'
And, as Depp was unable to attend, he recorded a message of thanks for viewers, calling the award a 'sublime honour'.
Eliza Doolittle was the third musical performance of the evening, having changed out of her Missoni dress into a pink crop top and blue pleated skirt.
James Corden was next up, treating viewers to a glimpse of which films to look forward to during the rest of the year.
Gwyneth Paltrow was next to take to the stage, presenting the Special Recognition Award to The King's Speech.
Accepting the award, director Tom Hooper said: 'This isn't the first award we have received for The King's Speech and of all those presenters, I have to say a special thanks to Gwyneth Paltrow for presenting this award.'

In honour: Geoffrey Rush collected the Screen Icon award on behalf of his Pirates of the Caribbean co-star Johnny Depp
Nicole Scherzinger and Lewis Hamilton interview at the National Movie Awards 2011

Harry Potter wins big at National Movie Awards,click
JLS - Eyes Wide Shut at 'The National Movie Awards'

Eliza Doolittle - Pack Up - National Movie Awards 2011 Live

Simon Pegg interview: Star Trek 2 and Tintin at the National Movie Awards 2011

Eliza Doolittle interview at the National Movie Awards 2011

source: dailymail

VIA Trying to drop a hint, Christine? Ms Bleakley arrives at National Movie Awards

Okay I have recently received a lot of awards, and unfortunately have not been on top of award posts. This means that I have gotten a few awards that I am not quite sure where they came from. Also, since I have gotten so many awards at once I'm not going to be passing them onto 30 gagillion blogs because that would mean I would have to go out and find blogs I don't actually read, and then give them awards. Since I don't want to do that I will just pass on these awards to blogs I truly love and feel deserve them. So the list...

I received the Silver Lining Award from my good friend Jade at Chasing Empty Pavements. As I understand from her post, this award means that I always try to look at the upside of things. It's pretty amazing I got this award, because I was known as the resident debbie downer at my high school when I was about 15. But hey, what can you expect from a 15 year old? I have five more years of wisdom now! Thanks for this award!

I am now going to pass this award on to Displaced English Major, Southern City Mysteries, Helen Loves Books, and Confessions and Ramblings of a Muse in the Fog.

The next award I received was from a blog I truly respect (not that I don't respect the others), A Guy's Moleskine Notebook. This reading journal is a daily go to for me and I know I can always depend on it for honest reviews and musings that have a lot of heart.

I am going to give this award to Dyxie Land: Gay/Straight Take on Nothing, Books and Movies, and Laura's Reviews. I realize some of you have probably gotten this award before, it circulates quite a bit (this is my second time) so sorry about that. But I wanted to give you all something!

Laura at Reading and Rooibos gave me the Kreativ Blogger award. I only recently discovered her blog but it has quickly become a favorite of mine. For this award I am supposed to list seven things about myself... but more on that later. Thanks Laura!

I am giving this award to A Guy's Moleskine Notebook, The Book Whisperer, Bookmarked!, and A Bookish Way of Life.

And last but not least, I received the Sugar Doll award from Michele at Southern City Mysteries. Hers is a wonderful writer's blog that I urge you to check out. She also has a new weekly meme called Writing Prompt Wednesdays, be sure to join in on that! This award requires to me say ten things about myself...

And I am giving this award to Stuck in a Book, Boarding in My Forties and Chasing Empty Pavements.

So what I'm going to do is tell you fifteen things about myself. I think that's fair. I think I should get some kind of theme going though. So maybe I will tell you fifteen things about since college.

1. I only applied to one school, the University of Iowa. I knew I would get in, I knew it was where I wanted to go, and I didn't want to spend a lot of money on application fees when I knew I was only going to consider Iowa.
2. When I first came to Iowa I was a Journalism and English double major. At the end of first semester my freshman year I quit Journalism, even though that is what I thought I really wanted to do. My roommate and I had a very lengthy discussion the night I decided to quit Journalism. She was a Journalism major too.
3. Since quitting Journalism I have considered French, Communication Studies, Linguistics, American Studies, and History as possible second major or minors. Right now I am interested in History and Museum Studies. That seems to be where life is taking me.
4. My freshman year my boyfriend and I were attending different schools. He was at Kansas State and I was obviously at Iowa. He decided to transfer to Iowa this year and it has made a world of difference in both of our lives, but I am thankful we had that time apart because it makes us appreciate each day together even more.
5. A couple other people joined me at Iowa this year. My best friend from high school, Katharyne, and my other good friend from high school Benjamin. Having both of them with me makes school quite the trip!
6. I asked for a coffee pot my senior year so I could have coffee in my dorm room. I rarely make coffee now, just like my family told me I wouldn't. I just don't have time.
7. Last semester I took all English classes. A hint for everyone else: Never, ever do that.
8. Going on a year and a half now I have worked at the lovely Currier-Stanley Residence Halls Front Desk. I steal pens (But don't tell Barb!)
9. The first English class I took at Iowa was a class on Virginia and Leonard Woolf taught by the lovely Lara Trubowitz. It was a fascinating class and sparked my interest in Victorian literature, mostly because Virginia hated those Victorians so much.
10. In my Victorian Lit class last semester there were two males. And about thirty students. It was an interesting class, and my prof brought Christmas cookies to our final!
11. I have started four (I think?) blogs since I came to college. This is the only one that has stuck. Why that is I do not know. I think I had a different attitude with this one, and an actual purpose.
12. I had season tickets to Iowa football games my freshman year. Yeah, that was a waste of my parents' money. I rarely went to football games in high school.
13. My class was supposed to be the last class to graduate from out old high school, but they didn't get the new high school finished in time so we were the second to last class to graduate from our old high school. I will lie to my children about this because second to last sounds stupid.
14. Last year I saw Ben Folds twice. I also saw Jack's Mannequin twice. I geek out for pianos.
15. Since coming to college I have found out that I love to read literary criticism. So sue me.

Thanks everyone who gave me an award! Sorry this was such a sloppy post, it'll teach to be more on top of this in future!

I have recently received two awards, which is very exciting!!! First off the Super Scribbler Award from Jenny Loves to Read. Here are the rules:

■ Each Superior Scribbler must in turn pass The Award on to 5 most-deserving Bloggy Friends.

■ Each Superior Scribbler must link to the author and the name of the blog from whom he/she has received The Award.

■ Each Superior Scribbler must display The Award on his/her blog, and link to This Post, which explains The Award.

■ Each Blogger who wins The Superior Scribbler Award must visit this post and add his/her name to the Mr. Linky List. That way, we’ll be able to keep up-to-date on everyone who receives This Prestigious Honor! (I think it might be maxed out, I couldn't get it done. I just left a comment on the original post).

■ Each Superior Scribbler must post these rules on his/her blog.

I'm passing this on to:
Sasha & the Silverfish
Muse in the Fog
Bookmarked!
Coffeespoons
Desperado Penguin

I also received the One Lovely Blog award from Books on a Rainy Day (hers is really lovely, mine is okay). Here are the rules:

Accept the award, and post it on your blog together with the name of the person who has granted the award and his/her blog link. Pass the award to 5 other blogs that you've newly discovered.

Remember to contact the bloggers to let them know that they have been chosen for this award.

This means I have to pass the award on to five more blogs! Okay I pass this one on to:
Kat's Books
Regular Rumination
Smokin' Hot Books
Cheeky Reads
From the Desk of a Writer

I'm very sorry to all ten of you if you have gotten either of these awards before. I tried to find people who at least hadn't gotten it recently.

One last thing. I just wanted to say thanks to all of my great followers!!! I recently just surpassed fifty. When I started this blog I was just trying out book blogging because I thought it would help me read more. In the process I've met so many great people and found so many great blogs. My followers are really what keep me going with blogging. I love you guys!

I'm warning you right now — this is going to be a bit of a long post. But I promise it will be well worth it!

For all of those participating in the Award Winning Reads Challenge hosted by myself and Jacinda at The Reading Housewives, or any of you thinking you might want to participate but haven't decided yet, this post is for you.

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In our intro post to the Challenge, both Jacinda and I made promises for lots of great prizes and giveaways for participants. This post is just to offer a little more detail and explanation for how each giveaway will work.

To start — The most basic:

For each level of participation, there will be a specific giveaway. So those who sign up to read three books will have a drawing independent of those who sign up to read nine. Each of the four levels will have one winner.

Jacinda and I both have a selection of books that we are going to donate, with titles from both the Newbery and the Printz list. Some are brand new, some look brand new, and some are gently used. This forms our prize pool. A full list will be provided at a later date.

To be chosen as the winner from your reading level, you must complete your goal. You can read more than your challenge level, but you must at least reach it. This will earn you one entry.

For every book you read past your reading goal, you will gain an additional entry.

For every review you post a Newbery or Printz honor or award, you will gain an additional entry.

To encourage people to sign up for the reading level they think they are capable of, and not just sign up for level one and then read 100 books, the number of books you can win increases with each level increase.

The winner from Level one will receive 2 books from the prize pack.
Level two will receive 3.
Level three will receive 4.
And Level four will receive 5.

We are also going to have a giveaway for one random participant, whether you complete your level or not. Everyone who signs up and agrees to participate will be eligible for this prize, although if you win the prize pack for your reading level, you will not be able to win this one.

The final giveaway that is for sure going to happen is a special giveaway, just from me. Jacinda and I are on the same page with the whole challenge, and are working very well together, but I wanted to include this giveaway, because I am a book pusher. I like the idea that other people are reading my favorite books, and that authors I find especially gifted are getting extra love.

So, I decided to offer the participants of this challenge a special incentive for reading my favorite books. Below, I have compiled a list of 10 (ish) books each from both the Newbery and the Printz award lists. I've included a Goodreads and Amazon link to each title for your convenience. If you want more information about a book, or if you want to know why I seriously think you should read it, just ask! Comment, email, tweet, whatever!:) I love talking up my favorite books!

Anyone who reads any of these books will be entered in to win a special drawing. Reviewing the book will gain you an additional entry as well. (Note — if you don't have a blog, that's totally okay! Posting a review anywhere will count! Goodreads, Shelfari, LibraryThing, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Borders, Books A Million etc etc etc. As long as it's a review, it's online and you can link me, it counts!)

The number of winners and the prizes to be won for this giveaway are yet to be determined. Part of this is going to depend on the number of participants, some will depend on how my pocket book is feeling come September, and some will depend on how excited I am that (hopefully) so many people are reading my favorites. At this point, it's likely to include at the very least a book of your choice from the complete awards lists, but I might also include some of my own personal favorites in there as well. Suggestions and preferences are welcomed. And now:

THE LIST: Printz: * Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta (amazon; goodreads) (2009 Award) * The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart (amazon; goodreads) (2009 Honor) * The Book Thief (amazon; goodreads) / I am the Messenger by Marcus Zusak (amazon; goodreads) (2007 Honor/ 2006 honor, respectively) * Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson (amazon; goodreads) (2000 Honor) * Monster by Walter Dean Meyers (amazon; goodreads) (2000 Award) * The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer (amazon; goodreads) (2003 Honor) * Hard Love by Ellen Wittlinger (amazon; goodreads) (2000 Honor) * Going Boving by Libba Bray (amazon; goodreads) (2010 Award)
* how i live now by Meg Rosoff (amazon; goodreads) (2005 Award)
* The Body of Christopher Creed by Carol Plum-Ucci (amazon; goodreads) (2001 Honor)

Newbery: * When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead (amazon; goodreads) (2010 Award) * Rules by Cynthia Lord (amazon; goodreads) (2007 Honor) * The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Spear (amazon; goodreads) (1959 Award) * Dicey's Song (amazon; goodreads) / A Solitary Blue by Cynthia Voigt (amazon; goodreads) (Books 2 and 3 of the Tillerman Saga) (1983 Award/ 1984 Honor, respectively) * Walk Two Moons (amazon; goodreads) / The Wanderer by Sharon Creech (amazon; goodreads) (1995 Award/ 2001 Honor, respectively) * Pictures of Hollis Woods by Patricia Reilly Giff (amazon; goodreads) (2003 Honor) *Enchantress from the Stars by Sylvia Engdahl (amazon; goodreads) (1971 Honor) * The Wednesday Wars by Gary D. Schmidt (amazon; goodreads) (2008 Honor) * The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by Avi (amazon; goodreads) (1991 Honor) * The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman (amazon; goodreads) (2009 Award)
I can't wait to see what everyone plans to read! Stop by here or over at The Reading Housewives tomorrow for our kick off posts. I'll be including links to previous Newbery/Printz reviews here on the blog and giving you a peek at my tentative reading pile. I believe we will also have a linky with the post, so feel free to link up your starting post!
Tomorrows the day! Happy reading!
*Ashley and Jacinda reserve the right to change the number of prizes for each level. We will keep you informed of any and all decisions regarding prizes. Three months is a long time. I can't guarantee that everything in this post is going to remain exactly the same. But take heart. This also means we can give you more books!:)

It's Back! The Second Incarnation of the Award Winning Reads Challenge is here! Who else is totally excited for this?! I know it can't just be me!!:)
Last year, Jacinda and I hosted this reading challenge from May through September. And it rocked. I have personally been meaning to read all the Newbery and Printz books for years. And I've found some absolutely phenomenal books because of it. (Umm hello and thank you — Jellicoe Road, my absolute most favorite book ever.) And last years challenge gave me the motivation I needed to pick my list back up and get reading. (I think I read 16).
Because it was so awesome last year, Jacinda and I decided that this year, it would be a year long challenge of awesome (with extra awesome during the months of the original challenge).
My goal for this year is even bigger. I am so close to finishing both award lists. (Just the winners, not the honors). I only have 4 Printz winners and 13 Newbery winners left to read (including the 2012 winners to-be-announced). I would love to finish these lists next year.
So that is my goal. But I would like to read more than only 17 of the books on the list, so my official goal is going to be 24. That's only 2 a month, totally do-able.:)
To see the books on either list that I've already reviewed on the blog, you can click the corresponding tags below
Newbery Award
Newbery Honor
Printz Award
Printz Honor

And now — Onto the rules!:)

Last week Becky asked for posts about the book award winners -- predictions, analysis, lists, or reviewing award winning books.

Sherry looked ahead and tried to predict the winners of the Printz Prize (a literary award for YA literature). Similarly, Jen did some predictions for many of the ALA Youth Media Awards.

Puss Reboots shared that she's a Cybils Award judge for the graphic novels (can I tell you how jealous I am?). She couldn't tell us winners just yet, but she did show the book she's getting to consider.

Laura, a new participant in Weekly Geeks, looked at award winners from her childhood.

Becky got into things, by posting lists of all the major winners on Monday with some of her own impression of the picks. Keeping with the YA themes, Suey looked at winners for both the Newbery Award and Printz Prize, plus pointed out some on-going challenges for both awards.

Bookwormans did a spotlight on previous Newbery Award winning books including a couple of my favorites, From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler and Number the Stars. KT also highlighted some of her favorite Newbery Award winners including and The Westing Game and Julie of the Wolves.

A few years ago, I made the goal to read every book that has been, or will be, awarded the Newbery Award and as many of the honors as possible. Every year, beginning in 1922, the Medal is awarded to the book considered to be the most distinguished contribution to children's literature of that year. A year or so after I decided to read all of the books on the Newbery list, I decided to add the winners of the Printz Award as well, which is the YA equivalent of the Newbery.

I've never been quite about this goal, and it's actually been, for the most part, an amazing and rewarding experience for me. Although I've read some winners that I feel less than favorable towards, for the most part I've loved the experience, and I've discovered some very, very favorite books through these two lists. I mentioned something about these lists on Twitter and Jacinda from The Reading Housewives mentioned that it would make a great challenge idea. And so, here we are.

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For a long time, this has been an individual and personal goal for me. My sister mocks me regularly for being stuck to a list, citing The Story of Mankind, Gay-Neck and Hitty for reasons I should stop, overlooking the absolute love I now have for The House of the Scorpion, The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks and Jellicoe Road, all books I would have either overlooked, ignored or never heard of without these lists.
So now, along with The Reading Housewives, I am extending an invitation to all of you to join me in my quest to read these two amazing book lists. I want to share the love I have for these lists, and I've gotten Jacinda all excited about it too!
So — onto the *Rules *Details *Guidelines *General Information
The challenge will run from Memorial Day to Labor Day — May 30th until September 5th.
There will be 4 levels of participation-
Level 1 — Underachiever: Read 3 books
Level 2 — Nerd: Read 6 books
Level 3 — Brainiac: Read 9 books
Level 4 — Teacher's Pet: Read 12 books

No matter which level you chose to participate in, you must read at least one book from each of the award lists. You can focus primarily on one or the other, but there must be at least one Printz honor/award and one Newbery honor/award.
There will be giveaways throughout the challenge as well. There are a lot of giveaway details, so there will be separate post specifically for the giveaway information. But, I will tell you now, that there is a guaranteed winner from each of the 4 levels, as well as a few other winners, including a super special giveaway that you can enter only by reading some of my very favorite titles from the list.:) Ya, I'm a book pimp. So what?!
Anyway — We would LOVE to have a lot of participants in this challenge. We have decided to keep it pretty low key — You can sign up for whatever level you think you can make (everyone should be able to handle one book a month!) and reviews are completely optional — although they will gain you an extra entry into the giveaways!
So what are you waiting for?! I'm staring a lovely pile that constitutes less than half of the books I'm going to be giving away, my lovely friends at The Reading Housewives have books to offer as well, and if no one enters, we are just going to have to keep all these lovelies for ourselves! Each of the following links will take you to a Goodreads page listing each of the winners of both the award and honor for the Newbery and Printz. Makes it really easy to just pop over and add it to your tbr!
Newbery Winners Newbery Honors Printz Winners Printz Honors
Come on and fill out the form, grab a button and start prepping those lists!

Bev over at Merry Weather has awarded me with the Premio dardos Award!

This award is for bloggers who distinguish themselves for showing cultural values, ethics, great and fun writing skills, as well as individual values through their creative writing.

Thanks, Bev!!

Becky, a fellow BB reviewer, awarded me with the Zombie Chicken Award! If she hadn't nominated me for this award, I would have given it to her! She gives great recommendations. Each time I read her blog my wish list increases by at least one or two!

Ok, back to the award!

"The blogger who receives this award believes in the Tao of the zombie chicken - excellence, grace and persistence in all situations, even in the midst of a zombie apocalypse. These amazing bloggers regularly produce content so remarkable that their readers would brave a raving pack of zombie chickens just to be able to read their inspiring words. As a recipient of this world-renowned award, you now have the task of passing it on to at least 5 other worthy bloggers. Do not risk the wrath of the zombie chickens by choosing unwisely or not choosing at all..."

Ok, so I'm going to do something I don't typically do! I'm going to pass on these awards so I don't face the wrath of the zombie chickens!

So, I will nominate:

Kathy from Bermudaonion's Weblog-Kathy is a very active book blogger! She's one amazing lady, always takes the time to comment on blogs (even on posts that don't involve giveaways!)

S. Krishna's books-another active book blogger. She posts reviews 6 days a week! She's the fastest reader I know! Her book tastes are quite eclectic and cover many genres.

Trish from Hey Lady! Whatcha Readin'?- Trish is a great mentor for a new book blogger. She offers great advice on how to improve your book blog. I love her "What are you doing here?" posts!

Dar from Peeking Between the Pages and Toni from A Circle of Books. Both of these great ladies are members of the online book club I belong to, Pageturners. They are both amazing and strong women. They each have overcome many things in their lives...things that would hold the typical person back but in each of their cases, it only made them grow stronger!

Ok..you all know that I typically don't like picking and chosing a few blogs to showcase for these awards..but these five women have made a particular impact on my book world :).

Hey everyone! This is an update post for everyone participating in the Award Winning Reads Challenge hosted by me and Jacinda at The Reading Housewives. If you are not yet participating, we are still taking sign ups! You can sign up as late and anything that you've read since May 30 counts toward the challenge!

Personally, I've been very productive. I've read a lot that fits with this challenge, because it's been a personal goal for years and when I get motivated to do something, I get motivated.: P

Personally — I've read 10 books for the challenge, some of which I have reviewed, some I have not and some of these will be future Award Winning Wednesday reviews. I've linked the ones I've already reviewed on the blog-

1 — Fat Kid Rules the World — K.L. Going (Printz Honor)
2 — Stolen — Lucy Christopher (Printz Honor)
3 — King of the Wind — Marguerite Henry (Newbery Award)
4 — Shadow of a Bull — Maia Wojciechowska (Newbery Award)
5 — Daniel Boone — James Daugherty (Newbery Award)
6 — Please Ignore Vera Dietz — A.S. King (Printz Honor)
7 — Rules — Cynthia Lord (Newbery Honor, reread)
8 — Fog Magic — Julia L. Sauer (Newbery Honor)
9 — Monster — Walter Dean Meyers (Printz Award, reread)
10 — Repossessed — A.M. Jenkins (Printz Honor)

I had originally planned to read 12 books for the challenge, but since I'm so close and this is the time in the challenge we are opening it up to everyone to adjust their goals, I'm now aiming for 24. I know it's not an actual level, but I'm the host, so I'm running with it.: P

I would like to encourage all the participants to offer a check-in post of their own! I really want to see how everyone is doing! I want to see what you have gotten read, what you plan to read, whether you think you are going to be able to meet your goal, etc. Use your check-in post to link up your reviews and then come link it up to us!

If you do not have a blog, but would still like to post an update, email me at basicallyamazingbooks [at] gmail [dot] com (or Jacinda at readinghousewivesofindiana(at)gmail(dot)com) and we would be more than happy to post something for you so that you have a place to share your updates as well.

As mentioned above, this is also your chance to update your challenge level. If you don't have as much time as you'd hoped and think that a lower level would be less stressful/more attainable, or if you are reading at a faster pace than you thought you would and would like a chance at a slightly larger prize pack, this is the month to make that happen! Just fill out the form below (that is also the giveaway form) and select your new level. If you don't remember which level you signed up for, contact me or Jacinda and we can get that information to you. To refresh, the levels are:

Level 1 — Underachiever: Read 3 books Level 2 — Nerd: Read 6 books Level 3 — Brainiac: Read 9 books Level 4 — Teacher's Pet: Read 12 books
For the giveaway, one participant will have a chance to win the book of their choice from the prize pool. To win this, you MUST be a participant of the challenge, and you MUST have completed at least one book that fits in with the challenge.
The prize pool is below. I promise I will update this soon with a picture, but things were a little crazy today, so I don't have it right now. The books I have available are
Jellicoe Road- Melina Marchetta Fat Kid Rules the World — K.L. Going The Summer of the Swans — Betsy Byers (used, very good condition) Adam of the Road — Elizabeth Janet Gray (used, good/okay condition) Postcards from No Man's Land — Aidan Chambers
Hope was Here — Joan Bauer When You Reach Me — Rebecca Stead The Watson's Go to Burmingham — Christopher Paul Curtis Dear Mr. Henshaw — Beverly Cleary
This giveaway will end in one week, last day to enter is July 5th! So, don't put this one off! You also only have a week to change your reading level! There will also be an email sent out to all participants, just in case you somehow missed this post.
in my blog TO ENTER THE GIVEAWAY AND/OR CHANGE YOUR LEVEL!!
Best of luck to you all!

Don't forget to link you reviewsposts!!

Thank you to Lori at Lori's Reading Corner for giving me this award!

"This blog invests and believes in the Proximity - nearness in space, time and relationships. These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in prizes or self-aggrandizement! Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers! Deliver this award to eight bloggers who must choose eight more and include this clever-written text into the body of their award."

I'm not going to choose eight more bloggers to bestow this award upon because I wouldn't want to exclude the many many other bloggers who are deserving of this award. So...I give it to you all :)

Hey all! Today is the official end of the Award Winning Reads Challenge. I've had a lot of fun hosting the challenge and I'm so glad that Jacinda from The Reading Housewives agreed to co-host!

I do want to encourage people to continue reading from the lists, whether it's a goal to read every book on the lists, just one list, only winners, or even just to pay especial attention to winners for possible reading choices. Honestly, there have been some books I picked up only because they were on the list and I didn't enjoy them. But, there have also been some that I wouldn't have picked up without the list that I have absolutely loved. And you know what, Jellicoe Road, which is one of my all time absolute favorite books is a book I picked up because of it's Printz Award. I might have read it anyway, but it was on my radar because of the Printz and it is such an amazing book. I can list so many others that are like that for me, and I love these two lists.

I strongly encourage participants of the challenge to keep going, and non-participants to maybe pick up some of the list books (I'm more than happy to recommend good starting places, if you'd like!:) ) and let's keep giving these two lists some love!:)

Anyway, at the last check in, I mentioned that I had read 16 award winners, and was hoping to finish off the Printz list. But... alas. I didn't get any new reading done, but I'm still very satisfied with the progress that I've made! I think I'll have to reform my goal for the end of the year, and we'll see where that gets me.:)

So now — We have the final check-in/accounting and giveaways! If you'd like to write up a finish line blog post, we'd love to see it! Love to hop over and check out your progress. If you don't have a blog, or don't want to write a post, just go ahead and fill out the form below. Jacinda and I will be contacting the winners of the giveaways this Saturday, the 10th, which gives you a week to fill out the form.

If you completed your challenge level, you are entered to win a giveaway for your level. If you signed up for the challenge, but didn't complete it, you are still entered to win a randomly drawn prize.

AND, if you read any of the award winners from the list I posted in the initial sign up post, you are entered to win a special giveaway, just from me! So make sure you list all the books read in the form or your completion post and show us links to your reviews, no matter where they got posted so we can tally it all up!:)

Also, please let me know if you have any questions! Thank you all for participating! Let me know if this is something you'd like to see happen again next year!:)

Make sure you don't forget to link up! Link your finish line posts, and/or any reviews!!:)

July 8-11

Those that know me are aware of my obsession with thriller and horror fiction. Thrillfest is like my dream come true; the opportunity, according to Jon Land, Vice President of Marketing for ITW, to "mix and mingle with some of the biggest names in the business." But, alas, since I took time off to attend BEA in May, I can't take off any additional work time without experiencing intense feelings of guilt.

One of the highlights of the event is the coveted ThrillerMaster Award, recognizing outstanding contribution to the thriller genre. This year’s winner is noted author David Morrell, widely considered the “father” of the contemporary action novel with his 1974 debut First Blood (which introduced the character of Rambo to the world). The award celebrates Morrell’s amazing career, spanning 37 years and 28 novels published in dozens of languages across the globe.

The prestigious Silver Bullet Award, recognizing outstanding achievement in the encouragement of literacy and the love of reading, will be presented to the #1 New York Times bestselling suspense novelist Brad Meltzer (The Book of Fate).

Additional bestselling spotlight guests that will attend are last year’s ThrillerMaster award recipient Sandra Brown as well as Robin Cook, Katherine Neville, and David Baldacci.

The four-day event includes numerous author signings, a complete bookstore on premises, a cocktail party and reception for readers, a roasting of Clive Cussler, and a breakfast featuring first-time authors. The highlight is the annual ThrillerFest Awards Banquet, which this year will take place at Cipriani, one of New York City’s most spectacular event venues.

Some of the biggest names in the genre will be holding court with interactive panel sessions, including Kathleen Antrim, Steve Berry, Peter Rubie, William Bernhardt, James Rollins, Barry Eisler, Andrew Gross, David Hewson, Jon Land, Eric Van Lustbader, Gayle Lynds, Steve Martini, Donald Maass, Joan Johnston and many more.

2009 Thriller Award Nominees:

Best Thriller of the Year

Hold Tight by Harlan Coben
The Bodies Left Behind by Jeffery DeaverT
The Broken Window by Jeffery Deaver
The Dark Tide by Andrew Gross
The Last Patriot by Brad Thor

Best First Novel

Calumet City by Charlie Newton
Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith
Criminal Paradise by Steven Thomas
Sacrifice by S. J. Bolton
The Killer's Wife by Bill Floyd

Best Short Story

Between the Dark and the Daylight by Tom Piccirilli (Ellery Queen Magazine)
Last Island South by John C. Boland (Ellery Queen Magazine)
The Edge of Seventeen by Alexandra Sokoloff (The Darker Mask)
The Point Guard by Jason Pinter (Killer Year Anthology)
Time of the Green by Ken Bruen (Killer Year Anthology)

So, if you are able to attend Thrillerfest, do so! I plan on attending next year. For more information, and to register, visit The International Thriller Writers Web Site.

This past Monday, the American Library Association announced their awards. Some you've probably heard of: Newbery, Caldecott, Printz, etc. Some you might not be as familiar with: Geisel, Sibert, Batchelder, Odyssey, Schneider, etc.

This week you can do any one of these activities:

• Write a follow-up post discussing your thoughts on who won. Which winning books have you read? Which winning books do you want to read? Where there any surprises or shockers? Are you happy with this year's selections? (Include honor books, of course!)
• Choose an award (like the Printz and Newbery) and look at the list of previous winners/honors. Which books have you read and enjoyed? Are there any that you hated? Share a few 'favorites' with your readers. (If you haven't read any lately, maybe you might want to write up a post listing a few you'd be interested in reading soon.)
• Review a new-to-you award-winning book this week.
• Write a post discussing why awards matter, or don't matter. Are you influenced by awards and best lists? Do you seek out award winners? Or avoid them? Do you think award-winning books should be timeless? That they should always stay in print? Do you think time is a better judge of quality than an award committee?

My cousin, Emily, blogs over at In Which Ems Reviews Books and she and a friend have started a weekly Sunday feature. I have been a bit absent so far this year (my apologies) but when I saw her post today — the first post of the new feature and saw the topic, I decided this was something I had to take part in. I mean, I never miss an opportunity to talk up my favorite books and today's topic is to pick a favorite and talk about why it's special to you.

Any guesses as to which book I'm going to pick?:)

So there's this book... It's kind of a big deal to me. I talk about it all the time, and it's gotten to the point that if I send certain people a tweet saying — Ask them — they all know which book I'm talking about.

I decided several years ago that I was going to read all the books on the Newbery award list, and when I learned about the Printz award, and it is to YA what the Newbery is to MG, I decided I would read all of those too. And I read a brilliantly funny/witty/hysterical/intelligent Honor winner from 2009 called The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart. And let me tell you, I loved that book. It remains one of the smartest funny books I've ever read. But, that is not the book I'm going to talk about today. Because after I finished that book, I wondered why it didn't win the actual award. So I sought out the winner of the Award that year, wondering if I was going to be disappointed that this was the book that ultimately won.

But friends. Do you know what book won the Printz Award in 2009? DO YOU?!

I'll give you a hint... It's this one:

This book wrecked me. It tore me to pieces, pulled apart my heart and pulverized my soul. And then it put me back together again, different, but better. I am never at a loss for words, but I never feel like I can truly articulate what this book did to me. It just... consumed me. I was so incredibly captivated and involved with this book, these characters and their lives.

I've felt sad before, finishing a book and knowing that my time with the characters was over for now, and I've actively wished that some of the people in the book were real. But not even with Harry Potter do I remember being so overwhelmingly devastated that these people weren't real because I just felt them that much.

I have never come across a writer with an ability like Marchetta's before. Something about her writing just hits me, in that perfect way. I tend to get overly dramatic when I talk about Marchetta, specifically when referencing this book and I saw things like — Melina Marchetta owns my soul. And when I'm reading one of her books, she does.

I tell you what — Never have I read anything like this book. It causes me genuine physical pain when I hear that someone didn't like this book. Physical pain. (and I'll be honest and admit that the secret, shameful place inside of me wonders about their mental stability... But only for a minute).

I don't think I will ever run out of positive things to say about this book, but I need an ending point somewhere, so let me also just add this (because I still make giddy/squeaky noises every time I think about it)

After Just Contemporary month, when I emailed Melina (*dies*) I got a surprise package in the mail. From Australia. And I opened it to find this:

I cried.

Today I got the Honest Scrap award from one of my favorite blogs, Sasha & the Silverfish. This my first time with the Honest Scrap (or any award/meme) so I am very excited! There are a few rules for this award, they are as follows:

1. The Honest Scrap Blogger Award must be shared.
2. The recipient has to tell 10 (true) things about themselves that no one else knows.
3. The recipient has to pass on the award to 7 more bloggers.
4. Those 7 bloggers should link back to the blog that awarded them.

Okay so ten true things about myself. Hmm, I'm sorry to say that I am not very interesting but I will do my very best to wow you with tales of my exciting life.

1. My Grandma taught me how to read and therefore jump started my entire life. She is my idol and we share the same birthday. She also got me started on a couple of my other obsessions: baking and crossword puzzles. One of my favorite books she read to me when I was a kid was The Three Little Pigs. She read to me first and eventually when I caught on I would read it to her while she made breakfast.
2. My favorite part about elementary school was book borders. My parents gave me a limit and I would go insane trying to figure out which books I wanted. Not much has changed since then, except now they're not called bookorders they're called BarnesandNoble.com and Amazon.com. Yeah...
3. When Harry Potter came out I swore it was a crappy book. I read the first ten pages and didn't like it. A couple years later I started the first one again and became addicted to it. I then became a bigger Harry Potter fan than any of my friends. Just another tidbit, I was in Europe when the last book came out, so I have the British copy. Very exciting.
4. The scenario in #3 was repeated with Jane Austen. I spent all of high school hating Jane Austen, then I read Sense and Sensibility last year and now I am obsessed with her.
5. I have read On The Road by Jack Kerouac seven times. It's the first book I've ever read that mentions Iowa, and I think this might contribute to my obsession with it. Somehow seeing the name in print makes the place I live seem more legitimate. Kind of like the movie Adventureland and the six summers I worked at an amusement park called Adventureland (but that is a story for another day).
6. Last year I lived in this community at Iowa called the Iowa Writers Learning Community. It was basically two floors of freshman who qualified themselves as writers or did lots of drugs. It was pretty fun, but I didn't do that much writing until I took my first writing class second semester. It's kind of amazing how many different kinds of people lived there.
7. I thought I wanted to be an English teacher until my senior year in high school when I realized that I couldn't spend every day in a high school since I'd spent all of high school waiting to get out. Still, people like me were generally my favorite teachers in high school. But still... no.
8. The books I gave my boyfriend to read so he could understand me were On the Road, Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky, A Long Way Down by Nick Hornby, How to Be Good by Nick Hornby, and Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs by Chuck Klosterman.
9. Chuck Klosterman was the speaker during Iowa's welcome week last year and he signed my copy of Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs. He told me he liked my shirt, but I don't remember which shirt I was wearing.
10. Iowa City is a UNESCO City of Literature, and that's where I live if you didn't know. Because of this we have lots of readings every week. My favorite reading I have ever been to was a woman named Eula Biss. If you haven't read her essay collection Notes From No Man's Land you really should. It's fabulous.

So now I'm going to pass this on to seven other blogs.
Helen Loves Books
Stop Me If You've Heard This One Before
Chasing Empty Pavements
A Bookshelf Monstrosity
Laura's Reviews
Bookishly Fabulous
Jenny Loves To Read

Thank you to Rhaspsody in Books for giving me this award!

This is a “meme” award, so it gets passed on. The rules for passing it on are:

1. Put the logo on your blog.
2. Add a link to the person who awarded you.
3. Award up to ten other blogs.
4. Add links to those blogs on yours.
5. Leave a message for your awardees on their blogs.

I am passing this award on to:

Dar at Peeking Between the Pages

Bonnie at Redlady's Reading Room

Toni at A Circle of Books

Ruth at A Bookish Ruth

Becky at No More Grumpy Bookseller

These amazing ladies have some pretty awesome blogs with great reviews and giveaways!

Yesterday, the winners of the 2012 Newbery (MG) and Printz (YA) Awards were announced, along with the other ALA Award winners (Caldecott (illustrations) Morris (debut), Alex (adult w/ YA crossover appeal) etc).

I apologize for both being a bit absent from the online world lately and not getting this posted yesterday. I had every intention of posting yesterday, but had to be to work before they were even finished announcing the winners. ANYWAY

THE WINNERS!! (With commentary, of course: P)

Newbery Award Winner:

Dead End in Norvelt by Jack Gantos: I'll be honest with this, and admit that I'm disappointed. I don't actually know anything about this book, but I've read all four of the Joey Pigza books (book 2, Joey Pigza Loses Control won a Newbery Honor) and I have read his memoir(ish) book, Hole in My Life, which won a Printz Honor and I was not impressed with any of them. I'll read this one, but if I feel for it the way I've felt for his previous novels, it will be my last Gantos no matter what new awards he's won.

Newbery Honors:

Inside Out & Back Again by Thanhha Lai: This is one that I'm really excited to see. It has come highly recommended to me by Shannon at Books Devoured. It's also historical fiction, about the Vietnam era, which I think is very under mentioned in literature. And, it's a verse novel! I'm a huge fan of verse novels and love anything that gets them more attention! This has been on my TBR for a long time now, but knowing that it's won a Newbery Honor is going to push this to the very top of my TBR!

Breaking Stalin's Nose by Eugene Yelchin: I hadn't heard anything about this book prior to the announcement. But now, I've had a chance to look it over, and I'm definitely intrigued! It actually sounds like it could be really amazing!

I'll say that I'm quite surprised that out of three award/honors given., all are historical fiction. That's not something I think I've ever seen before and I find it very interesting. (In a good way, but interesting nonetheless).

Printz Award Winner:

Where Things Come Back by John Corey Whaley: Ginger over at Greads raved about this one a little while ago and her review was just so awesome that I immediately added this to my TBR/close watch list. It sounds absolutely amazing and although I haven't read it, I'm thrilled that it won because from everything I've seen, it's exactly my kind of book.

Printz Honors:

Why We Broke Up by Daniel Holder: This is a book that I was really surprised to see on the Printz list. I haven't read it yet, but it is one that has been on my list to read. But everything I had seen about it made is sound like more of a fun read than anything really serious. But it shall be interesting to read it and see what I actually think of it!

The Returning by Christine Hinwood: This is another book that I knew nothing about prior to the announcement. Looking at Goodreads, it seems to be one of those books that you either REALLY like or you really... DON'T. But... umm... MELINA MARCHETTA BLURBED THIS BOOK. I WANT.

Jasper Jones by Craig Silvey: This makes three books I had never even heard of before the announcements. It looks like it's another Historical Fiction, and the summary sounds intensely amazing. It sounds like there is really a lot of room for that book to just Wow and amaze you. Definitely one I'm going to need to get my hands on as soon as possible.

The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater: This is the only book on the list that I've actually read before and it is, sadly, not a book I was a fan of. I won't get too detailed, but basically it's 390 pages of absolutely nothing exciting (although some of it is interesting and beautifully described), with about 10 interesting pages scattered throughout the novel and 10 exciting and climactic pages right and the very end. I can, however (almost) see why some people really love this one, and do think Maggie is a talented writer, even if this one wasn't for me (because no amount of pretty writing is enough to make up for nearly 400 pages of extreme nothing.)

So there you have it! The winners of the Newbery & Printz awards as narrated by me!

What do you think?! Any of these books you are excited for/about!? Do you agree/disagree/dislike/like my commentary?! Do you even pay attention to or care at all about the awards? Let me know what you think & how you are feeling!!

AND — Stay tuned for tomorrow, because both Jacinda and I will be posting for the Award Winning Reads Challnege (have YOU signed up?!) and these books DO count!:)

Lots of info in this post today and it should have gone up yesterday, with Jacinda's post, but I've had a lot going on right now, and haven't been at home very much and just didn't have a chance to get the post written. And, this one will be sparse. (my apologies) REALLY — You should refer to Jacinda's post for details, because hers is currently way better than mine :)

SO: We are looking for guest posters for Wednesday posts, so that in the future, we can have a review or post talking about an award winner on every Wednesday. There is a form to fill out, and I'd love to have people participate, even if you aren't an actual challenge participant.

WE NOW HAVE A GOODREADS GROUP!! You can have a challenge counter on Goodreads & this will hopefully turn into a really awesome place to get together & discuss the awards, the challenge, and the books. It's just barely getting started, so it's a 'baby' right now, but we'd love to see you head on over to that!!

in my blog TO GO TO THE GOODREADS GROUP

Again — The ALA Award Winners for 2012 were announced!!!! Read my previous post on that.

LINKY: Here is where you link up any of the reviews you have written for any of the award winners!! LINK 'EM UP!

GIVEAWAY

a Rafflecopter giveaway

It's here!! Today marks the official start of the Award Winning Reads Challenge hosted by myself along with Jacinda from The Reading Housewives! Thank you for joining us!:)

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I think this challenge is going to be a lot of fun, and I cannot wait to see what everyone ends up reading and how they feel about the books they select!

For a recap of the rules, see this post here: Award Winning Reads Challenge

For additional information about the giveaways, (that also includes the list of my personal favorites you can read for a special giveaway) go here: Award Winning Reads Challenge Giveaway/Prize Information

I am going to try and get as many books from the two lists read as possible this summer. My personal owned TBR is getting completely out of control, and many of those books come from these two lists. So, while not all of the books I'm aiming to read are books I own, a great many of them are.

This is also a very tentative list for me. I can already guarantee that I will not read every book on this list and I will read some books that didn't make it onto this list. That's just how I seem to do things. But, it's nice to have a little guideline to give me an idea of where I'm going. I'll update as I go as well, either here, in additional posts, or on the Challenge page (that will soon be created).

Newbery:

After the Rain by Norma Fox Mazer
Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech (reread)
The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer (reread)
King of the Wind by Marguerite Henry
Shadow of a Bull by Maia Wojciechowska
Dobry by Monica Shannon
Surviving the Applewhites by Stephanie S. Tolan

Printz:

Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta (reread)
The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart (reread)
Fat Kid Rules the World by K.L. Going
Postcards from No Man's Land by Aiden Chambers
Monster by Walter Dean Meyers (reread)
Stolen by Lucy Christopher

So, leave us a comment with a link to your starting line post (if you have one) or just let us know in the comments some of the books you are hoping to get read this summer!

As always, if you have any questions or comments, or just need some great book recommendations, let me know! I'm always happy to help!:)

This is the last official Award Winning Wednesday of the challenge! I've loved having a reason to review an award winner once a week, since I read so many of them! I hope you all have enjoyed them as much as I have! So, be sure to wrap up your reading, wrap up your reviews and link up!

For my last official AWW post, I decided to review Please Ignore Vera Dietz by A.S. King which won a Printz Honor this year. It's the story of Vera, a teenage girl who just wants to make it through high school and out of her town as far off the radar as she can. But things don't always work out, and when her best friend Charlie starts acting like a total pr*ck and then has the nerve to up and die on her, she's left totally conflicted about what she's supposed to feel, what she wants to feel, and what she wonders if she's allowed to feel.

First, let me just say that I absolutely love the way this book was written! Like, seriously. Vera is the main character and the main narrator, but every few chapters we get A word from the dead kid (aka dead ex-best friend Charlie), advice and discussion from the dad (complete with flow charts) and a few thoughts from the Pagoda (yup. An inanimate architectural eyesore gives us a commentary). And each of them are given their own distinct voice, their own attitudes, their own way of speaking that I didn't need the headers announcing which narrator was being given voice, because it was just so surely theirs that it couldn't have been anyone else talking.

The story itself is also so well told. This is again why I love Contemporary YA. Seriously. It's a raw and emotional story of trying to deal with all the crap life throws at you in high school, and Vera has definitely had her share of the major crap. As the story progresses and you learn more and more of what Vera has gone through, more and more of what happened with her and Charlie, or to Charlie, the more your heart breaks and the more you just sit there and hope that there is going to be a way to happily settle the story. But when several of the chapters are narrated by the dead kid, it's not like he's going to be coming back.: (

But even with that, Vera is such a strong character. She is the type of person that I would love to know in real life. She's got just enough attitude and sarcasm to be funny and witty without being obnoxious or a total b*tch. One of my favorite lines from the book, one that I feel illustrates the large angst of the novel as well as both Vera and Charlie as characters perfectly is — "Let me tell you — if you think your best friend dying is a bitch, try your best friend dying after he screws you over. It's a bitch like no other."-pg. 7 And that right there my friends, is Vera.

I honestly and truly cannot think of one single thing that I didn't love about this book. Everything about it feel authentic and believable and it's just so incredibly real. This is a book that I could read over and over again and never tire of. There is just so much to this story and I absolutely loved it. Honestly and truly, Please Ignore Vera Dietz has been one of my favorite recent reads. This is the type of book that makes me love reading award lists. Because without the Printz Honor, I might have missed this one. It wasn't really one I'd seen around a lot. But it would have been a shame to have missed this one, and it's one that I highly recommend you go out and read. Now. (But no, seriously... Make this one a priority. If you haven't read it, go. Get it. Read it.)