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!

Mystery and Suspense Reading Challenge 2011

I signed up for this challenge earlier this year, but I did not do a post!  I have been keeping track of  all of the challenges that I signed up for in a discussion thread on goodreads.com .  

Here are the books I have read that fit into this challenge from January 1st 2011

Deadly Lies  by  Cynthia Eden

Deadly Heat by  Cynthia Eden
Deadly Fear by Cynthia Eden

Pursuit  by   Karen Robards

Weekend Warriors by Fern Michaels 

Payback by Fern Michaels 
Next Time You See Me by Katia Lief
Damage by Pamela Callows
Indefensible by Pamela Callows
All the Pretty Girls by J.T. Ellison
Blood Stains by Sharon Sala
Power by Jackie Collins
Vendetta by Fern Michaels
The Jury by Fern Michaels
Blood Ties by Sharon Sala
14 by J.T. Ellison
Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson
The Green Mile by Stephen King




One more to go and I have completed the challenge!!!   I should be finished the challenge by the end of the week, as I am starting the 3rd book in the Sisterhood series by Fern Michaels tonight!!

Edited to add  :  Apparently, I did do a small post back in December! 
( http://lusravesandrants.blogspot.com/2010/12/once-i-will-be-participating-in-mystery.html )Not sure why I couldn't find it when I looked for it, which was what prompted me to post this one!!

Random Acts of Kindness

Isalys and Vanessa at Book Soulmates have started this great monthly feature, Random Acts of Kindness.  If you love to give and/or receive books, you should check it out!  However, you should also keep in mind that just because you register, that does not mean you will receive something. It is random.  This will be my first time participating, and I have posted a wishlist.   I am also browsing other wishlists so that I can find something to send!

To see my wishlist, (the short version)  click here !  

RULES:

• Sign up each month that you'd like to participate.

• Show off your participation by posting a  RAK button on your blog :)

• Create a wish list (on Amazon, Goodreads, or your blog etc) and post it in the Google Doc located in each R.A.K post for the month.

• If you choose to do a R.A.K for someone, check out their wish list and contact that blogger for their address.    (my email is  lusravesandrants AT  gmail DOT com )

• At the end of the month, SHOW US YOUR R.A.K!  Make a post saying 'Thank You' to whoever granted one of your wishes and share it with us :)

OPEN TO EVERYONE!

Let's keep our International bloggers in mind and in our hearts.

Remember, there's always the Book Depository and they offer FREE shipping!

Sign up for May [HERE]

See who else is participating [HERE]