August 31, 2006

Thursday Giveaway: Lisa Teasley's Heat Signature

This week, I'm giving away a copy of Los Angeles-based novelist Lisa Teasley's new book Heat Signature. Heat charts the emotional journey of loss, as a young man tries to cope with the murder of his mother, which occurred sixteen years ago. The book has already received great reviews from the San Francisco Chronicle and the Los Angeles Times.

The first person to send me an email with the subject "Heat" gets the book. Also be sure to include your mailing address.

Update: The winner is Cigdem A. from Toronto.

August 10, 2006

Thursday Giveaway: T.C. Boyle's Talk Talk

This week, I'm giving away a copy of T.C. Boyle's Talk Talk, which just came out last month. Of the novel, the Washington Post's Ron Charles wrote: "Talk Talk grabs hold of the fragile structures that establish who we are and what we own and shakes them apart. Considering Boyle's recent subjects -- sex research (The Inner Circle), hippies (Drop City), environmental apocalypse (A Friend of the Earth) -- it's remarkable that his most exciting novel yet should focus on the tedium of ruined credit scores and fraudulent drivers' licenses. But Talk Talk benefits from Boyle's highbrow/lowbrow style: He knows how to drill down through the surface of everyday life into our core anxieties, and he knows how to write constantly charging, heart-thumping chase scenes."

As usual, the first reader to email me with a request gets the book. Please use the subject line: "Boyle." Please include your mailing address. Previous winners excluded.

Update: The winner is Rebecca H. from Bethel, Connecticut.

July 27, 2006

Giveaway: Breaking Ranks

My last giveaway for today is Ronit Chacham's Breaking Ranks: Refusing to Serve in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, a collection of interviews with members of the Israeli Defense Force about why they refused to serve in the Occupied Territories. These refuseniks' account is more topical today than ever, when Israel is bombing Lebanon and Gaza, and when more than 600 civilians have already paid the price of this folly.

As usual, the first reader to email me with a request gets the book. Please use the subject line: "Chacham." Please include your mailing address. Previous winners excluded.

Update: The winner is Donna S., from San Antonio, Texas.

Giveaway: Instant Love, Autographed

I'm doing another giveaway today: Jami Attenberg's Instant Love, which the author kindly signed when she came through Portland last month. Told through the alternating points of view of several women, the novel focuses on the difficulty of making connections and forming relationships. Some of you may already know Attenberg through her blog, whatever-whenever.net, or through her many published writings, including, most recently, this great piece for Nextbook.

So. The first reader to email me with a request gets the book. Please use the subject line: "Attenberg." Please include your mailing address. Previous winners excluded.

Update: The winner is Shabana S. from New York, New York. There will be another book given away later today. Good luck.

Giveaway: Kiffe Kiffe Tomorrow

This week, I am doing several giveaways, scattered throughout the day. The first is a copy of Faïza Guène's Kiffe Kiffe Tomorrow, a debut novel by a young French-Algerian author. It's a coming-of-age story set in one of Paris's infamous cités, and it has been praised by Sandra Cisneros ("a tale for anyone who has ever lived outside looking in"), and, uh, me ("moving and irreverent"). It's also received quite a bit of attention, from the NYT to the SF Chronicle to Salon.

You know the drill: The first reader to email me with a request gets the book. Please use the subject line: "Kiffe Kiffe." Please include your mailing address. Previous winners excluded.

Update: The winner is Beau G. from Chicago, Illinois. There will be another book given away later this morning. Good luck.

June 22, 2006

Giveaway: Fun Home, Autographed

I have a very special giveaway for one lucky reader this week: A signed first edition of Alison Bechdel's Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic. This graphic memoir tells of Alison Bechdel's relationship with her closeted gay father, Bruce, and of the discovery of her own sexuality. It's set in a small Pennsylvania town, where Bruce Bechdel ran a funeral home (the 'fun home' of the title), where he taught high school English, and where he spent years restoring his house, an 1857 Gothic revival house. It's an honest and bittersweet portrait of a father-daughter relationship, and easily the best graphic memoir of this year.

The title page reads "To a Moorishgirl.com reader" and is signed by Alison Bechdel. (You can thank Alex for this. I was in DC that night, giving a reading myself, but he took an extra copy and had it signed.) The first reader to write gets the book. Please use the subject line: "Bechdel." Please include your mailing address. Previous winners excluded. Update: The winner is Sheila O. from Jackson, MS.

June 08, 2006

Thursday Giveaway: Sayed Kashua's Let It Be Morning

This week, I'd like to give away a copy of Sayed Kashua's second novel, Let It Be Morning, translated from the Hebrew by Miriam Schlesinger. (You can read a review of Kashua's first book, Dancing Arabs, in the Moorishgirl archive.) In Let It Be Morning, the unnamed narrator moves his family from Jerusalem back to his native village of Tira, in the Galilee, where he hopes that life will be more bearable. Within a few days however, Israeli tanks surround the village, without warning. Is it an attack? A siege? Or something entirely different? It's a gripping tale of displacement, isolation, and belonging. The first reader to email me with a request gets the book. Please use the subject line: "Kashua." Please include your mailing address. Previous winners excluded.

Update: The winner is Shelley E., from Queens, New York.

June 01, 2006

Thursday Giveaway: Steve Erickson's Our Ecstatic Days

This week, I'd like to give away Steve Erickson's latest novel Our Ecstatic Days. In his Washington Post review, Bill Sheehan wrote of the novel:

for all its convolutions and stylistic excesses -- and for all the demands it makes on the reader's patience -- it is the work of a serious writer with a singular, deeply personal vision. By the end, this messy, ambitious novel pulls itself together, illuminating a society in which chaos almost -- but never quite -- wins, in which primal human connections, particularly the connection between parents and children, keep us going in the face of catastrophic loss. Our Ecstatic Days is a baroque, visionary novel rooted in fundamental truths, and is well worth the considerable effort it requires.

The first reader to write in with the titles of two of Erickson's previous books wins this one. Please use the subject line "Erickson." And please send a mailing address, so we can both save time. Good luck!

Update: The winner is Rich J. from Philadelphia.

May 25, 2006

Giveaway: The Attack

This week, I'm giving away a copy of Yasmina Khadra's The Attack, translated by John Cullen. The novel is about a Palestinian-Israeli surgeon named Amin Jaafari, who is on duty when victims of a suicide bombing are brought in to the emergency room. Among the dead and dismembered, he discovers the body of his wife, and learns that she played a crucial role in the attack. The book has received two reviews in the New York Times, one by Janet Maslin, the other by Lorraine Adams, and is sure to get more attention from the media. For my money, though, the best review I've read of Khadra's work appeared a couple of years ago in the London Review of Books. Check it out.

The third person to correctly answer this question gets the book: What is Yasmina Khadra's real name? Please use the subject line "The Attack" in your email. And please include your street address. Previous winners excluded. Update: The winner is Richard G. from Brooklyn, New York.

May 11, 2006

Giveaway: The Nimrod Flipout

This week, I'm giving away a copy of Etgar Keret's The Nimrod Flipout, translated by Miriam Schlesinger and Sondra Silverston. It's a collection of thirty of Keret's short stories, including the bizarre and wonderful "Fatso," which you can listen to here, read by Ira Glass.

You know how it works: The first person to send me an email with the subject line, "Nimrod" gets the book. Please include your mailing address. Previous winners excluded, of course.

Update: The winner is Michael T. from Amherst, New York.

May 04, 2006

Thursday Giveaway: Ticknor

This week, I'm giving away a copy of Sheila Heti's, Ticknor, which was nominated for the LBC Read This! selection (but lost out to Jean-Philippe Toussaint's Television, translated by Jordan Stump.) Of Heti's short novel, Mark Sarvas writes:

Unlike the real-life Ticknor, this one is an embittered also-ran, full of plans and intentions never realized, always alive to the fashionable whispers behind his back. Heti seamlessly inhabits Ticknor's fussy 19th-century diction with a feat of virtuoso ventriloquism that puts one in mind of The Remains of the Day. Heti's Ticknor would be insufferable if he weren't so funny, and in the end, the black humor brings a leavening poignancy to this brief tale. But don't let the size fool you -- this 109-page first novel is small but scarcely slight; it is as dense and textured as a truffle.

You know how it works: The first person to send me an email with the subject line "Ticknor" gets the free copy. Please include your mailing address. Previous winners excluded.

Update The winner is Danielle L. from Ann Arbor, Michigan.

April 20, 2006

Thursday Giveaway: Come Together, Fall Apart

I met Cristina Henriquez at the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference last year, and we've been in touch since. Having read a couple of her stories, I was eagerly awaiting the release of her first collection, Come Together, Fall Apart. (Henriquez is now on the road, promoting the book; you should try and make it to one of her readings. ) This week, I'd like to give away a copy of this lovely collection, to the first reader who correctly answers this question: What is the title of the novella included in this debut? Please include your mailing address. Previous winners excluded.

Update: The winner is Amanda R. from Cookeville, Tennessee.

March 16, 2006

Thursday Giveaway: Jane Stevenson's Good Women

Today I'd like to give away a copy of Jane Stevenson's Good Women, a collection of three novellas. Publishers' Weekly praised the author's voices as "distinct," adding that "her eye for detail [is] keen, making these short forays into ordinary lives anything but."

The first person to email me the title of the three novellas wins the book. Please include your mailing address, so we can both save time. Previous winners excluded, of course.

Update: The winner is Shanna G. from Portland, Oregon.

March 09, 2006

Thursday Giveaway: White Ghost Girls

This week I'm giving away a copy of Alice Greenway's White Ghost Girls, which was long-listed for the Orange Prize on Monday. You can read more about the American, Edinburgh-based author in this Scotsman article. A review of the book appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle in February.

The first person to email me gets the book. Please use the subject line "White Ghost Girls," and please also include your mailing address. Previous winners excluded.

Update: The winner is Pooja M. from Stamford, Connecticut.

February 09, 2006

Giveaway: Rereadings

This week, I'm giving away a copy of Rereadings: Seventeen Writers Revisit Books They Love, edited by Anne Fadiman, and with contributions from Luc Sante, Patricia Hampl, Vivian Gopnick, and many others. The first person to email me wins the book. Please use the subject line "Rereadings" in your email, and please also include your mailing address. Previous winners excluded.

Update: The winner is Ally R. from Austin, Texas.

February 02, 2006

Giveaway: Gate of the Sun

This week, I'd like to give away a copy of Elias Khoury's Gate of the Sun. You can read all about this remarkable new novel in this earlier post here at Moorishgirl.

The second person (sometimes, it pays to be second) to correctly answer this question gets the book: When and where was Elias Khoury born? Please use the subject line "Gate of the Sun" in your email, and please also include your mailing address. Previous winners excluded.

Update: The winner is Mohammed S. from Mississauga, Ontario.

January 26, 2006

Giveaway: The People's Act of Love

This week I'm giving away a copy of James Meek's The People's Act of Love. Set in 1919 Siberia, the novel follows a gulag escapee who unwittingly wanders into a village where followers of a mystical Christian sect cohabit with Czech soldiers desparate to get home from the war.

The fifth (yes, fifth) person to correctly answer this question gets the book: What is the name of the Siberian town in which the story is set? Please use the subject line "Meek" in your email, and please also include your mailing address. Previous winners excluded.

Update: Pete A. from Joliet, Illinois has won the book.

January 19, 2006

Giveaway: Garner

This week, the LBC unveiled its winter Read This! selection, choosing Kristin Allio's Garner. I'd like to give away a copy of this terrific book to a Moorishgirl reader. The third person (why third? why not?) to correctly answer this question wins the book: Which publisher released the novel? Please use the subject line "Garner" in your email, and please also include your mailing address. Previous winners excluded. And, while you're at the LBC site, do check out the other nominations, which are announced all this week.

Update: The winner is Sarah R., from Gastonia, North Carolina.

January 12, 2006

Giveaway: Women on the Edge

This week, I'd like to give away a copy of Women on the Edge: Writing from Los Angeles. Edited by Samantha Dunn and Juliana Ortale, and with an introduction by Janet Fitch, the anthology features short fiction by Aimee Bender, Carol Muske Dukes, Lisa Glatt, Dylan Landis, Lisa Teasley, and Rachel Resnick, among others.

The first person to correctly answer this question wins the book: What is the title of Lisa Glatt's acclaimed first novel? Please use the subject line "Women on the Edge" in your email, and please also include your mailing address. Previous winners excluded.

Update: Kimberly L. from San Carlos gets the book.

December 15, 2005

Giveaway: The Every Boy

This week, I'd like to give away a copy of Dana Adam Shapiro's debut novel, The Every Boy, which is about the sudden death of a troubled teenager, and the father's attempt to discover what happened by poring over his son's diary. The Every Boy, which was released last summer, has been praised by Amy Sedaris, Tom Perrotta, and Matthew Sharpe.

The first person to correctly answer this question wins the book: Which movie did Dana Adam Shapiro direct? Please use the subject line "Every Boy" in your email, and please also include your mailing address. Previous winners excluded.

Update: The winner is Ilham E. from Decatur, Georgia.

December 08, 2005

Giveaway: A Word A Day

The book I gave away earlier this morning went so fast I thought I'd give you guys on the West Coast a fair chance. I'd like to give away a copy of Anu Garg's fantastic A Word A Day. Back when I was in graduate school, lo these many years ago, I used to subscribe to Anu's mailing list, to which he sent out, well, a word a day, along with its definition, pronunciation, etymology, usage, quotation, and other tidbits. Anu put together some of these words into this book, which is a treat for language nuts.
I have one copy to give away, so if you want it, please send me an email with the subject line AWAD, and be sure to include your mailing address. Previous winners excluded.

Update: The winner is Adnan K. from Portland, Oregon.

Giveaway: A Left-Hand Turn Around The World

This week's giveaway is David Wolman's A Left-Hand Turn Around The World: Chasing the Mystery and Meaning of All Things Southpaw, an exploration of the mystery and culture of left-handedness. I should have saved it for my own lefty brother, but what the heck, it's more fun to give it away to readers. So: The first person to email me (subject line: Left Hand) gets the book. Please include your mailing address. Previous winners excluded.

Update: The winner is Tom N. from Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin. Congrats.

December 01, 2005

Thursday Giveway: Kathrada Memoirs

This week, I'm giving away a copy of Ahmed Kathrada's Memoirs. It's a gripping account of a life spent fighting against apartheid in South Africa. I read it on the plane when I travelled to the east coast for my book tour and couldn't put it down.

As usual, this is a first-come first-served opportunity. Please include your street address in your email to me, and please use the subject line "Memoirs."

Update: The winner is Lynn C from Pearland, Texas.

November 17, 2005

Thursday Giveaway: Waking Up American

Today's giveaway is Waking Up American: Coming of Age Biculturally, an anthology of original work by women who immigrated to the United States during childhood, or were born to a foreign parent here.

Here's how it works. Send me an email with the subject line "Waking Up American." Please include your street address. We here at Moorishgirl operate on a first-come, first-served basis. Good luck to all.

Update: Natasha T. from Maryland wins the book.

November 10, 2005

Thursday Giveaway: Minaret

Today's giveaway is Leila Aboulela's Minaret. The first person to correctly answer this question wins the book: What are the titles of Leila Aboulela's first two books (published in the U.K.)?

Important: Please include your mailing address, so we can both save time.

Update: The winner is Elizabeth A. from Brooklyn.

November 03, 2005

Thursday Giveaway: The Pagoda in the Garden

This morning, I'm giving away a copy of Wendy Lesser's first novel, The Pagoda in the Garden. The first person to correctly answer this question wins the book: Wendy Lesser is the founding editor of what literary journal? Important: Please include your mailing address, so we can both save time.

Update: Erica W. from Louisiana gets the book.

September 29, 2005

Thursday Giveaway: Big Cats

Today's giveaway is Holiday Reinhorn's story collection, Big Cats. The first time I read Reinhorn's work was last year; a fine piece of hers had appeared in the Land-Grant College Review and I liked it quite a bit. When the book came out, I went to hear her read at Powell's and got my copy. (She's from Portland, but now lives in L.A.)

Here's your question of the day: What is the title of Holiday Reinhorn's story that appeared in Land-Grant? Send your answer, and your mailing address, to llalami AT yahoo DOT com. We here at Moorishgirl.com operate on a first-come first-serve basis.

Update: The winner is Robert S. from Charlotte, NC.

September 22, 2005

Giveaway: Simplify

Today I'm giving away a copy of Tod Goldberg's new collection of short stories, Simplify. This is the inaugural title for OV Books, the new imprint put out by Other Voices Magazine. Simplify has been praised by Pam Houston, Aimee Bender, Dan Chaon, and the LA Weekly, and has been generating some good word of mouth.

To make this giveaway a little more interesting, I'm asking that you answer the following question: "What are the titles of Tod's first two novels?" The first person to email me with a correct answer wins the book. (Please include your mailing address.)

Update: The winner is Laura C. from Chicago.

September 15, 2005

Giveaway: Willful Creatures

This week, I'm giving away a copy of Aimee Bender's new short story collection, Willful Creatures. Bender is one of those people who have a truly unique voice, whose stories are unlike anything else you've read, and who has a very faithful following among serious readers. You can read her talking about her book here and here.

Here's how it works: First person to email me at llalami at yahoo dot com with the titles of Bender's previous books gets the new one. Previous winners excluded, obviously.

Update: The winner is Lisa F.

Update 2: Jordan Rosenfeld has an interview scheduled with Aimee Bender for next Wednedsday at 7p.m PST on her radio show, Word by Word. You can stream it then, or check the archives later.

September 08, 2005

Giveaway: The Turkish Lover

This week, I'm giving away a copy of Esmeralda Santiago's The Turkish Lover. It's a memoir of her seven-year relationship with Turkish filmmaker Ulvi Dogan, a candid account of the tumultuous and abusive times they spent together, traveling from Florida, through New York, to Boston, where Santiago finally settled down and started attending college. The book was released to very good reviews last fall, and is now coming out in paperback. Here's how it works: First person to email me at llalami at yahoo dot com with the subject line 'The Turkish Lover' gets the book. Previous winners excluded, obviously.

Update: The winner is Suzanne K.

August 04, 2005

Giveaway: Bodies in Motion

This week, I'd like to give away a copy of Mary Anne Mohanraj's collection of short stories Bodies in Motion. The book tracks the lives of two generations of families in Sri Lanka and in America, and has received very favorable reviews in the San Francisco Chronicle and the Boston Globe.

This is how it works: The first person to send me an email at llalami at yahoo dot com with the subject line "Bodies in Motion" gets the book.

Update: The winner is Aziza K. of Chicago, Illinois. Congratulations!

July 28, 2005

Giveaway: Start Making Sense

I received a copy of Start Making Sense a couple of weeks ago in the mail, and figured it would make for a nice giveaway. It's an anthology of essays about how liberals can "turn the lessons of election 2004 into winning progressive politics." Contributors include Howard Dean, Arianna Huffington, George Lakoff, Amy Goodman, Barbara Ehrenreich, Barack Obama, and Markos Moulitsakis Zuniga (a.k.a. Daily Kos).

You know the rules. First person to email me at llalami at yahoo dot com with the subject line "start making sense" will get a copy in the mail.

Update: The winner is Stephen S. from Los Angeles.

July 07, 2005

Giveaway: More Than They Could Chew

This week I'm giving away an autographed copy of More Than They Could Chew (bought with my hard-earned cash, you lucky bastards.) The novel is set in Long Beach, California, where Nick Ray, an alcoholic night clerk, stumbles on a stash of computers with prized Witness Protection Program info on them. He decides to make a fortune off them. And it works, until he gets greedy. Anyway, you know the rules: First reader to email me with the subject line "More Than They Could Chew" gets the book.

Update: The winner is John Taylor.

June 09, 2005

Giveaway: Under Her Skin

I don't get to read as much non-fiction as I used to, but Pooja Makhijani's anthology of essays Under Her Skin: How Girls Experience Race in America definitely caught my eye. The essays are all by women looking back on how they experienced race as children, both in terms of exclusion and inclusion. I was happy to see another copy of the book turn up in the mail, courtesy of Avalon Publishing, and I'd like to give that one away. If you're interested, send me email at llalami AT yahoo DOT com with the subject line Under Her Skin.

Update: The winner was Monica Jackson.

May 19, 2005

Giveaway: The Resilient Writer

Rejection is part of the writer's life and so Catherine Wald's book, The Resilient Writer: Tales of Rejection and Triumph by Twenty Top Authors is of particular interest to those who've experienced the sting of the unsigned rejection (or, worse, an empty SASE.) My personal favorite remains one by C. Michael Curtis of The Atlantic, which managed to be both flattering and insulting in just two lines. This week's giveaway is for you writers. The first person to email me a request at llalami AT yahoo DOT com will receive the book. Good luck.

Update: The winner is L. Alves from Brazil.

March 17, 2005

Giveaway: For Bread Alone

Here's a special treat for you while I'm away. I have an extra copy of one of my favorite books: Mohammed Choukri's Le Pain Nu. This is a classic of Moroccan literature with a lot of history--the banning, the translation by Paul Bowles, the alleged fight between the author and the translator over the copyright, etc. But really it comes down to an amazingly honest story, one that will grab you and not let go. This is a French translation, so you'll actually need to speak Moliere's language to get it. I'll give it to the first person who emails me with his/her address.

Update: The winner is Natasha T. Congrats!

March 10, 2005

Giveaway: The Baltimore Review

This week, I'm giving away the latest issue of The Baltimore Review, where my story "Better Luck Tomorrow" appears. If you're curious about my forthcoming collection, this story is a good place to start. The magazine features the work of Dave Schuman, Terri Scullen, Anh Chi Pham, Nathan Leslie, Toby Tucker Hecht, and many others. I'll send a copy to the first reader who writes in with his/her mailing address.

Update: The winner is R.G. from Lincoln, Nebraska. Congrats!

March 03, 2005

Giveaway: Best American Erotica 2005

This week, I'd like to give out a copy of Best American Erotica 2005, edited by Susie Bright. One of the reasons I picked up this book is because it contains "Surviving Darwin," a poignant and funny story by Alicia Gifford, who is, in my opinion, the best writer you don't know about.

I'll send a copy of the book to the first person who emails me at llalami AT yahoo DOT com. Please provide your mailing address.

Update: The winner is Roneesh V. from Sydney, Ohio. Congratulations!

February 24, 2005

Giveaway: Calamity And Other Stories

I'm starting a new feature this week, to run on Thursdays, in which I give out some free goodies to the first person who emails and provides a mailing address. I thought I would start with Calamity and Other Stories, a lovely new collection of short stories by Daphne Kalotay.

Update: The winner is David from Washington, DC. Congrats!

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04.26: LA Times Festival of Books
04.30: Claremont, California
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