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Persephone Secret Santa: Revealed!


About a week ago, I received a package in the mail with the telltale Persephone postmark on it, and yesterday I finally opened it to find… Marghanita Laski’s Little Boy Lost, which was given by Allie at A Literary Odyssey. A couple of years ago I read The Victorian Chaise Lounge and enjoyed it, so I’m eager to read this one as well. Thank you so much! I gave a copy of Someone at a Distance to Colleen at Colreads. I make no secret of the fact that Dorothy Whipple is one of my favorite Persephone authors, so when I saw this was on her wish list, this was a no-brainer. Interestingly enough, we live in the same state (Pennsylvania)!Happy Persephone Secret Santa! What did you give or receive, if you participated?

Comments

Helen said…
Oh, I'm so excited!! My lovely Secret Santa (http://www.karolinescorner.blogspot.com/) gave me Greenbanks! I adore anything Whipple and this is one I've pined for for a long time. Not only that, but I also got the scrummiest smelling bag of spiced Christmas tea from Betty's. I'm going to make a pot this very afternoon (after I decorate the tree) and have a relaxing cuppa with Ms Whipple. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!
Col (Col Reads) said…
Thank you, thank you, thank you for Someone at a Distance! It has been on my TBR for a while. Part of me wants to save it for Persephone Reading Weekend in February, but the other half wants to dive in while I have winter break to enjoy it!

I've enjoyed finding your blog through Persephone Secret Santa, because like me you review a wide range of books. And it's always nice to meet another PA blogger. I'll be back soon! Col
Allie said…
I'm glad the package got there okay! I hope you enjoy the title! :)

Col from ColReads was my secret santa-funny how that worked out! :)
Anonymous said…
I so want to read Someone at a Distance and I love love love the coloured in version of it. I got my Secret Santa one of the ten coloured Persephone novels and I think I've fallen in love with those.

I received a new to me Whipple (my post is a bit late and will go up tomorrow for it!) and I just can't wait to read it.
Bellezza said…
I received Little Boy Lost last year, and I loved it! It was one of my favorite reads for 2011. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did; Laski is such a wonderful writer. The Victorian Chaise-Longue still gives me shivers. ;)
Anonymous said…
Love that bookmark! I was lucky enough to receive The Priory by Dorothy Whipple from Care. Really enjoyed participating!
re: book review request by award-winning author

Dear A Girl Walks Into a Bookstore...

I'm an award-winning author with a new book of fiction out this fall. Ugly To Start With is a series of thirteen interrelated stories about childhood published by West Virginia University Press.

Can I interest you in reviewing it?

If you write me back at johnmcummings@aol.com, I can email you a PDF of my book. If you require a bound copy, please ask, and I will forward your reply to my publisher. Or you can write directly to Abby Freeland at:

Abby.Freeland@mail.wvu.edu

My publisher, I should add, can also offer your readers a free excerpt of my book through a link from your blog to my publisher's website:
http://wvupressonline.com/cummings_ugly_to_start_with_9781935978084

Here’s what Jacob Appel, celebrated author of
Dyads and The Vermin Episode, says about my new collection: "In Ugly to Start With, set in the eastern panhandle of West Virginia, Cummings tackles the challenges of boyhood adventure and family conflict in a taut, crystalline style that captures the triumphs and tribulations of small-town life. He has a gift for transcending the particular experiences to his characters to capture the universal truths of human affection and suffering--emotional truths that the members of his audience will recognize from their own experiences of childhood and adolescence.”

My short stories have appeared in more than seventy-five literary journals, including North American Review, The Kenyon Review, Alaska Quarterly Review, and The Chattahoochee Review. Twice I have been nominated for The Pushcart Prize. My short story "The Scratchboard Project" received an honorable mention in The Best American Short Stories 2007.

I am also the author of the nationally acclaimed coming-of-age novel The Night I Freed John Brown (Philomel Books, Penguin Group, 2009), winner of The Paterson Prize for Books for Young Readers (Grades 7-12) and one of ten books recommended by USA TODAY.

For more information about me, please visit:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Michael_Cummings

Thank you very much, and I look forward to hearing back from you.

Kindly,

John Michael Cummings
re: book review request by award-winning author

Dear A Girl Walks Into a Bookstore...

I'm an award-winning author with a new book of fiction out this fall. Ugly To Start With is a series of thirteen interrelated stories about childhood published by West Virginia University Press.

Can I interest you in reviewing it?

If you write me back at johnmcummings@aol.com, I can email you a PDF of my book. If you require a bound copy, please ask, and I will forward your reply to my publisher. Or you can write directly to Abby Freeland at:

Abby.Freeland@mail.wvu.edu

My publisher, I should add, can also offer your readers a free excerpt of my book through a link from your blog to my publisher's website:
http://wvupressonline.com/cummings_ugly_to_start_with_9781935978084

Here’s what Jacob Appel, celebrated author of
Dyads and The Vermin Episode, says about my new collection: "In Ugly to Start With, set in the eastern panhandle of West Virginia, Cummings tackles the challenges of boyhood adventure and family conflict in a taut, crystalline style that captures the triumphs and tribulations of small-town life. He has a gift for transcending the particular experiences to his characters to capture the universal truths of human affection and suffering--emotional truths that the members of his audience will recognize from their own experiences of childhood and adolescence.”

My short stories have appeared in more than seventy-five literary journals, including North American Review, The Kenyon Review, Alaska Quarterly Review, and The Chattahoochee Review. Twice I have been nominated for The Pushcart Prize. My short story "The Scratchboard Project" received an honorable mention in The Best American Short Stories 2007.

I am also the author of the nationally acclaimed coming-of-age novel The Night I Freed John Brown (Philomel Books, Penguin Group, 2009), winner of The Paterson Prize for Books for Young Readers (Grades 7-12) and one of ten books recommended by USA TODAY.

For more information about me, please visit:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Michael_Cummings

Thank you very much, and I look forward to hearing back from you.

Kindly,

John Michael Cummings

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