Stephanie and Lisa at  Once Upon A Chapter  are hosting the Sizzling Summer Read-A-Thon this weekend.  When I read about it this morning, and realized how simple the rules are, I couldn't resist joining in.  

The only thing expected of you is that you create a post indicating your participation, and then read as much as you can between 12:00 AM Friday August 5th until 11:59 PM Sunday August 7th!  There are no mini-challenges that you are expected to complete throughout the weekend.  The hostesses are so easygoing that they will allow you to just do a final wrap up post!  At the end of the read-a-thon, post a wrap up post letting the other participants know how your weekend went. That's it! Easy-peasy! 

For more info, and to sign up click here!

Wordless Wednesday

I can not type the things I want to say right now. So, I am sharing this photo.  My next post will explain why I chose this one.

The Winners Are.......

I FINALLY had a chance to do the draw for the Literary Giveaway Blog Hop!!  I was pleased with the amount of entries!

There was a total of 72 entries for my copy of Of Mice and Men.  I wrote every entry down on a sheet of paper,  in the order in which they were posted, using the entrants name. I then used random.org to randomly select a number between 1 and 72.  
The winning entry was 
 # 19  BrittanyGale 

I followed the same steps to select a winner for the bookmarks, for which there was 51 entries.  
The winning entry was
#36    Ricki


Congratulations to both of the winners! I hope you enjoy your prizes!  I will be sending you both an email within the next day or two requesting your address.  If you see this post before receiving an email from me, please email me at   lusravesandrants AT gmail DOT com

Top Ten Tuesday

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish. This meme was created because they are particularly fond of lists over at The Broke and the Bookish.  They  love to share their  lists with other bookish folks and would LOVE to see your top ten lists!  So, every week, a topic is posted. Bloggers create their Top Ten List based on the topic. 

This week's topic :  Ten Bookish Websites, Organizations, Apps. Etc.  ( NOT blogs!)

I am not sure that I can come up with ten, but I really wanted to participate since there are some bookish websites I just love!!   Other than the first two, which I spend too much a fair amount of time on, they aren't in any particular order.  (I linked them! You should check them out if you aren't familiar with them!)

1.  GoodReads
2.  Bookcrossing
3.  LibraryThing
4.  Bookmooch
5.  Fantastic Fiction
6.  Book Depository 
7.  Fresh Fiction 
Okay, so I only came up with seven. I can't really think of any more, which is probably a good thing because I spend way too much time of a few of these ones....lol!!  

Welcome to stop 69 of the Literary Giveaway Blog Hop!!

***  It is June 25th in some places, so go ahead and enter!!

The Literary Giveaway Blog Hop is being hosted by hosted by  Leeswammes.  The hop starts on Saturday, June 25th and lasts until Wednesday, June 29th. You can hop to over 70 different blogs, all offering one or more giveaways of books or bookish things!  I have included a list of participating blogs, at the bottom of my post.  ( Please keep in mind that some giveaways will go live at different times throughout the day due to the blog owners being in different time zones!)
I will be giving away 2 prizes.  I was originally going to have my giveaway limited to Canada and the US, but have decided to open it internationally!
The first one is

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck

This is one of my old favourites. The copy I am giving away is one of my gently used copies.
The 2nd prize will be an envelope containing some bookmarks.  Not exactly sure how many, but at least 4, probably more.    This giveaway will end on June 29th at 11:59 EST. 
To enter  
 Leave a comment  and let me know which prize you would like to enter to win. You may enter for both.  Please also leave your email address in your comment, so I can contact you for your mailing address if you win! 
Want an extra entries??
1. Follow my blog through GFC. ( Make sure that you follow publicly as I will check to confirm your entry) 
2. Like Lu's Raves and Rants on facebook.   Leave a comment with your first name and last initial. 
Don't forget to leave your email in your extra entries!  Good luck, and have fun hopping around to the other participating blogs!  Here is the list

1. Leeswammes (Int)
2. The Book Whisperer (Int)
3. Kristi Loves Books (Int)
4. Teadevotee (Int)
5. Bookworm with a View (Int)
6. Bibliosue (Int)
7. Sarah Reads Too Much (Int)
8. write meg! (USA)
9. My Love Affair With Books (Int)
10. Seaside Book Nook (Int)
11. Uniflame Creates (Int)
12. Always Cooking Up Something (Int)
13. Book Journey (Int)
14. ThirtyCreativeStudio (Int)
15. Col Reads (Int)
16. The Book Diva's Reads (Int)
17. The Scarlet Letter (USA)
18. The Parrish Lantern (Int)
19. Lizzy's Literary Life (Int)
20. Read, Write & Live (Int)
21. Book'd Out (Int)
22. The Readers' Suite (Int)
23. I Am A Reader, Not A Writer (USA)
24. Ephemeral Digest (Int)
25. Miel et lait (Int)
26. Bibliophile By the Sea (Int)
27. Polychrome Interest (Int)
28. Book World In My Head (Int)
29. In Spring it is the Dawn (Int)
30. everybookhasasoul (Int)
31. Nishita's Rants and Raves (Int)
32. Fresh Ink Books (Int)
33. Teach with Picture Books (USA)
34. How to Teach a Novel (USA)
35. The Blue Bookcase (Int)
36. Gaskella (Int)
37. Reflections from the Hinterland (USA)
38. chasing bawa (Int)
39. 51stories (Int)
40. No Page Left Behind (USA)
41. Silver's Reviews (USA)
42. Nose in a book (Int)
43. Lit in the Last Frontier (Int)
44. The Book Club Blog (Int)
45. Under My Apple Tree (Int)
46. Caribousmom (USA)
47. breienineking (Netherlands)
48. Let's Go on a Picnic! (Int)
49. Rikki's Teleidoscope (Int)
50. De Boekblogger (Netherlands)
51. Knitting and Sundries (Int)
52. Elle Lit (USA)
53. Indie Reader Houston (Int)
54. The Book Stop (Int)
55. Eliza Does Very Little (Int)
56. Joy's Book Blog (Int)
57. Lit Endeavors (USA)
58. Roof Beam Reader (Int)
59. The House of the Seven Tails (Int)
60. Tony's Reading List (Int)
61. Sabrina @ Thinking About Loud! (Int)
62. Rebecca Reads (Int)
63. Kinna Reads (Int)
64. In One Eye, Out the Other (USA)
65. Books in the City (Int)
66. Lucybird's Book Blog (Europe)
67. Book Clutter (USA)
68. Exurbanis (Int)
69. Lu's Raves and Rants (Int)
70. Sam Still Reading (Int)
71. Dolce Bellezza (Int)
72. Lena Sledge's Blog...Books, Reviews and Interviews (Int)
73. a Thousand Books with Quotes (Int)

I know it is still Thursday here, but it is Friday somewhere!

Friday's Four Fill-Ins


1. When I reflect back upon my life, I regret some of the silly decisions I made.
2. I over use the word NO. ( I have a very active 2.5 year old boy, and a 12 year old girl!!)
3. The first time I saw the beach/mountains was when I was younger. I don't remember the first time I saw the beach. I remember the first time I saw mountains. I was about 11 or 12 and I was in Italy. They were beautiful, but driving up them made me feel nauseous. 
4. I can't think of anything that reminds me of the colour yellow.  Hmmmm, when I think of yellow a few things come to mind, but there isn't anything that makes me think of yellow.


Want to participate?  Answer the four fill-ins on your blog, and sign up on the linky. Please, do not forget to follow the host  Hilary from Feeling Beachie, and this week's co-host Jen from Makobi Scribe

Spring into Summer Readathon!!

This post is to announce to the world that I'm participating in the Spring into Summer read-a-thon hosted by Enna Isilee of Squeaky Books!


This read-a-thon is going to be so great! It's two days where you try do NOTHING but read. It's a great chance to get rid of some of those books that have been sitting on your TBR pile forever.


But that's not all! There will also be awesome mini-challenges and a TON of giveaways! In fact, just for signing up you are entered to win a $25 gift card to Amazon! SO GO SIGN UP! And if you say that Lu  sent you, you'll get 5 extra entries to win that gift card! CLICK HERE to enter to win, and know all there is to know about the read-a-thon.

Here's my goal:


I plan to spend as much time reading as I can. I am aiming for at least 12 hrs, but it really all depends on my kids....lol
I plan to read: at least 500 pages
I am not sure what book or books I will be reading, but I will update this post as soon as I decide! 


Well, have you signed up yet? DO IT NOW!

Click here to sign up!