Monday 8 July 2013

Summer book giveaway

Oh woe is me, I have really bad toothache! Having had part of my back tooth shaved off (without anaesthetic…) this morning, I'm now on antibiotics, which don't take effect for 48 hours. Whinge whinge, cry, cry! I feel like Dudley Moore in '10'!

Let's look on the positive side instead shall we? The sun is shining in London, a British man has just won Wimbledon for the first time in 77 years and I have a book to give away. Hoorah!

Here's a little bit about the book:

Gregoire Delacourt’s The List of My Desires is about Jocelyne, a 47 year old woman who lives in a provincial French town and runs a haberdashery shop. She also writes a blog about needlecraft and knitting, which brings together a community of women who find pleasure and inspiration through their love of sewing. Everything changes when Jocelyne wins the lottery and realises that her life could change completely. Without cashing the cheque, she writes down a ‘list of desires’ and weighs up whether the simple, good things in her life will make her happier than a new Chanel handbag.  


I was sent a copy to read by the publisher a few weeks ago, who described it as a beautiful book about dressmaking. In my honest opinion, it's a charming novel and a VERY quick read (I read it on one return train journey) but it's pretty light on the dressmaking/sewing content I was expecting. Jocelyne's haberdashery shop and blog are very minor elements of the plot. To me, the novel seemed to focus more on the different relationships in her life (husband, parents, children, friends) and the choices she's forced to make. Some of her experiences and choices are ones that we've all had to make, which I did find quite thought provoking. And the small town French setting and daily interactions with her fellow shopkeepers reminded me a tiny bit of Chocolat by Joanne Harris, but maybe that was just the French setting? 

Anyway, I'd recommend it as an enjoyable, holiday read, perfect for the summer in fact. So if you'd like to win your own copy of this book, all you have to do is leave a comment on this post. If you have any holiday reads of your own that you'd like to share in your comment, that would be great (it's not compulsory though). The giveaway is open worldwide and closes at midnight GMT on Friday 12th July 2013. Please make sure you leave your email address if it's not linked to your blogger profile so I can contact you if you're a winner. Good luck everybody. x

A copy of The List of My Desires was given to me free of charge for review. All views my own.

44 comments:

  1. It sounds an interesting read if not exactly what you expected. My holiday reading is going to be wartime diaries like A few eggs and no oranges by Vere Hodgson.

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  2. I will put this book on my wish list-sounds interesting. I just finished reading Rules of Civility, by Amor Towles, a good book set in NYC in the 30's.
    feel better! and thanks for the opportunity.

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  3. Ooh definitely count me in, sounds like good sunshine reading :) I have just finished 'The Rosie Project', very funny, I really recommend it!

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  4. I hope the pain goes away really soon ~ This book sounds really interesting. I love the movie Chocolat ~ one of my favorites - especially when Johnny Dep steps in :) Thanks for the giveaway!

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  5. Feel better soon! Ice cream will make your mouth feel better! I'd love to win the book. Sounds like a fun read. And I would share it with my friends in my quilt group.

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  6. Get well soon! Shaving the tooth... ouch! I like the sound of the book... not rushing to spend the money and thinking it through... I've just read a really well written book called Eleanor & Park... it's kind of a teenage romance with a backdrop of '80's punk music (just my time and era) and it had some twists and turns and made my heart sing. It was such a well executed book... the best I've read in a long time. (for just a novel - author Rainbow Rowell)

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  7. This sounds like just the kind of light summer reading we can do with in this lovely weather! Count me in. I just finished Flight Behaviour by Barbara Kingsolver, which I can highly recommend though maybe not for a summer holiday - it's a bit bleak x

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    1. ps your tooth sounds VERY painful! feel better soon!

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  8. Would love the book! I will spring for postage to the US if I win!

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  9. I just finished reading The Lilac House, Bet Me and The Loom. Yes, may taste varies. I go through about two books a week. Please toss my name into the hat for the giveaway.

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  10. I would recommend Life After Life by Kate Atkinson - wonderful and it will stay with you for along while after you have read it.

    http://asaucystitch.blogspot.co.uk/

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  11. I'd recommend The Bride Stripped Bare by Nikki Gremmell. Please may I enter the giveaway too. And hoping for your speedy recovery once the antibiotics start to get going.

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  12. tooth ache, bad luck and get well soon. Atonement I could read over and over.

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  13. Feel better tooth aches are the worst.

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  14. My recommendations would be The Last Samurai by Helen DeWitt (because everyone should have read this brilliant book!) and The Rivers of London series by Ben Aaronovich.
    Get better soon!

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  15. Gin! That'll help with the pain :)

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    1. Ps - please count me in, and if anyone hasn't read 'A Fine Balance' they are in for a treat. It's one of my favourite books of all time!

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  16. Sounds like a good read so count me in. I am currently reading a series titled The Secret of the Rose by Michael Phillips. It is an excellent read.

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  17. I've just booked my holiday and I'm looking for something new to read!
    At the moment I'm reading Gillian Flynn's 'Gone Girl'

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  18. Ouch! I hope you feel better soon! I'm currently not reading anything, but my fave is the Wind Series by Cindy Holby.
    Thank you for the opportunity to win this book.

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  19. Ooh - I hope your tooth starts hurting soon, I can't imagine having a bit of a tooth shaved off without anaesthetic, sounds dreadful.

    The book sounds fab - would love to read it. I know you shouldn't judge a book by its cover but I LOVE the cover (buttons do it for me everytime!).

    I think my tip for holiday reads is the Sarah Cauldwell legal murder mystery series (the first book is Thus was Adonis Murdered) - an absolute joy to read, the plotting is just so spot on and the characters are irrestible. Great fun!

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  20. Toothache is awful. Feel for you and hope you feel better soon. Book sounds good count me in.

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  21. Sounds like a great summer read in this lovely sunshine :-)

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  22. Would love to be popped in the draw for this book. A few years back I read "Fitting End" which was recommended in a Threads magazine. It was a great sewing mystery, but would also be quickly consumed by a readerholic!

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  23. Please count me in - I love exploring new to me books, and a quick read can be such fun!

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  24. Oooh. I love crafting novels and I am always looking for books to read because I read voraciously.

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  25. Hope your toothache pain ends soon. I would love to read the book. My e-mail address is btbrts@gmail.com

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  26. OUCH! Toothaches & earaches are the worst! I hope the antibiotics kick in soon. Thanks for the giveaway-the book sounds fascinating!

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  27. Ohhh, sounds like a book I would enjoy. Hope the tooth is better soon, there are no words to describe the sheer agony of toothache.

    rachelmjaques@aol.com

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  28. I'd love to get that book, sounds easy and charming, a good way to practice my English.
    Hope you get better!

    elarasuri@gmail.com

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  29. I hope you're feeling better. I'm suffering now myself from a wisdom teeth pain and I know how it is. Thank you for the giveaway!

    elenaknits (at) gmail (dot) com

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  30. Hope you feel better soon! That sounds like an interesting, quick read. I just started "Three Bags Full", a mystery with sheep by Leonie Swann.

    Karen
    517 (at) gmail (.) (com).

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  31. Jane, that's a lovely thought of you, and I hope you feel better real soon. Had a tooth "surgery" done some weeks ago and still feel not overall happy with the result... :-( Besides the costs...

    Anyway, my holiday was just last week, but it was rather exhausting, as with 2 little ones on the beach and with my husbands Italian family was not really the kind of vacation that re-charges my empty batteries. But I managed to read 2 books, unfortunately, both in German by Mara Laue, even though the plot is always in Scotland. So the most of your blog followers would not be able to read them.

    However, as I love reading in English, I would most appreciate to win this give-away.

    Wishing you and all readers a happy summer!

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  32. I love the book cover - and I love your blog.
    I'm in New Zealand and am off to The Cook Islands in Oct., would love to read this on the beach!!!
    Get well soon
    jennypins43 (at) gmail (dot) com

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  33. Feel better soon. Isn't it crazy how just one tooth makes your whole body ache?! (uk561 at yahoo.com)

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  34. love to read this on holiday! I like fried green tomatoes at the whistle stop cafe by Fannie Flagg

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  35. Count me in please! And I hope the tooth is a bit better already...

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  36. Please count me in! My wife has French ancestry and she could use a nice read like this. :)

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  37. Book recommendation: The Calligrapher's Daughter (2010), by Eugenia Kim. Follows a privileged daughter of a Korean calligrapher from 1915 to 1935, a time of occupation by Japanese. Beautiful prose and lovable characters, with some references to fashion and clothing throughout (but not much about sewing).

    Email addy in case you need it: kjosib@gmail.com.

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  38. Your review is great, and I LOVE that cover! Thanks for the chance to win a copy!

    heatheranne99 at gmail dot com

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  39. My summer read is always The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. Spectacularly dream like and so well written I can smell those dreams sitting in the sun in my garden on a hot British Summer's day. Beautiful. I wouldn't say winning the lottery is my dream... But owning a haberdashery shop is. :-)

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  40. OMG! I just bought this yesterday. Tempted by the combination of sewing and France. sigh...

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