Winners Announcement

Winners...We Have Winners..... 

 I finally tallied up all of the entries for the Freedom Giveaway Hop.  With all of the extra entries available, we had 972 shots at the prize.  Mr. Random Org chose: #746 belongs to Theresa H.(confirmed) The winner of the 20th Anniversary Edition of Outlander goes to: 

#26 is Deanna K

(confirmed)

Congratulations ladies!

Thank you to everyone who entered the drawings.  Stay close as I have a great one coming up on 7/12 - with FIVE winnners....

  
~~~~~ Disclaimer:  All opinions expressed on this blog are 100% my own.  I do not receive monetary compensation for my reviews.  I may receive books in  order to facilitate a review, but this does not guarantee a good review - only a completely honest one.  Each review post denotes how I obtained the book.

Blogiversary Giveaway featuring Diana Gabaldon's Outlander

I can't believe it has been one year since the first post went up here at One Book Shy of a Full Shelf ~ first titled "One Book Shy of a Full Library".  What a year of awesome readers, fabulous books and book-related fun it has been.  I feel that my insane love of books is finally justified because I found the book blogging community full of crazy, like-minded bibliophiles. I have met some fantastic people in the literary world with a major highlight being that I was finally able to come face to face with my favorite author of twenty years - Diana Gabaldon.  You can read my post detailing my much awaited meeting and my rabid fan-girl antics. 

I mention this incident above specifically because it ties into the fantastic giveaway I am having to celebrate our blogiversary.  While July 2nd is our official one year blogiversary; July 5th is the release date of the Outlander 20th Anniversary Edition by Diana Gabaldon. It's hard to fathom that the incomparable Jamie and Claire have been captivating fans for 20 YEARS. I have decided that to honor both of these momentous occasions, I will give away a copy of this special edition as a present to one of you wonderful readers just for following my blog and showing the love.  Because there's a lot going on this week, I will keep the contest very simple:

• You must be a GFC follower of One Book Shy
• You must be 13 or older
• You must comment on this post WITH your email and tell me if you've read Outlander and why you want to win this fantabulous book?
• Drawing ends at midnight PST July 7th, 2011
• Giveaway is open to US and Canada only as I will be shipping the book myself.  (International readers please see the Freedom Giveaway Hop contest also going on now as it is open worldwide.)
• Winner will have 72 hours to respond to winning email
• One entry per person

Good luck and thanks again for making this past year of bookish fun a memorable one.  Here is to many many more!


  Don't forget to enter my drawing in the Freedom Giveaway Hop also going on now.  If we reach 1000 followers during this week-long celebration, we will be adding another winner in that drawing.     
~~~~~ Disclaimer:  All opinions expressed on this blog are 100% my own.  I do not receive monetary compensation for my reviews but do utilize affiliate links.  I may receive books in  order to facilitate a review, but this does not guarantee a good review - only a completely honest one.  Each review post denotes how I obtained the book.

A Date with Destiny and Diana Gabaldon

I mentioned a while back that I was finally going to get a chance to meet my all-time favorite author ~ Diana Gabaldon. After a twenty year wait and an 1100 mile roundtrip drive, I can now mark it off of my bucket list!  Of course I hope to get a chance to see her again sometime without that long of a wait.

Outlander 20th Anniversary Edition

available July 5th!

This trip came about because several things came together in time and space:

• I have been a MAJOR fan of Diana Gabaldon for over 20 years ~ just a fact
• My inlaws live in Kingman, Arizona
• Diana Gabaldon would be in Kingman for KABAM from May 11-14th
• I had furniture that I needed to take to my father-in-law
• My mother-in-law had a ton of stuff to send back with me in the truck
• Two of my dear pals (also Diana fans) were up for a little girlie road trip
• ALL of us really, really wanted to meet Diana and have her sign our books



Cindy & Jeanne in the desert somewhere



Soooo..... Jeanne, Cindy and I loaded up my truck and trekked/trucked down to Kingman. Over 500 miles and about 9 1/2 hours later, we arrived on the inlaws' doorstep. The next day we ran around Old Town Kingman checking out a museum, thrift & antique stores and of course, book stores! The best book store was the last one of the day where we were first in line for the much anticipated KABAM book signing featuring - Diana Gabaldon.

I need to note here, I have had never been a person to get starstruck. Over the years I've met many famous and well-known people. My opinion and reaction has always been the same ~ they're just people like everyone else. Now I have to admit that I was beyond excited about meeting Diana and have come to understand what a rabid fan feels. Diana was extremely gracious to me and my mother-in-law who was also really thrilled to be there. I started her on Outlander well before I married her son - my own Red Jamie.

Outlander and the rest of Diana's books have been constant companions of mine for the last twenty years. I've mentioned before that I was a member of that original Lit Forum on Compuserve way back then. Diana began posting excerpts from her "practice book" after another member (a male) started arguing with her regarding what childbirth is like for a woman! We will all be forever grateful to this now-informed man for taking on a woman with the experience of three births who also just happened to be trying her hand at novel writing. 2011 marks the 20th Anniversary of Outlander and there is a special edition coming out in July. I think it's sort of poetic that this is the year I finally managed to meet her!

Anyhow, the next day Diana was doing a talk about An Echo in the Bone and reading excerpts from her upcoming book. It was held at the Kingman Library and was a really special event. The hostess from the library outdid herself and had scrumptious treats and drinks for the group. ~ I must confess to eating THREE of the huge, chocolate-covered strawberries!

Diana has a distinctive speaking voice as well as that for the written word.  She made her characters come alive for us during her readings.  We are all in for a HUGE treat when these new books come out. Diana read two different beginnings for her next installment in the Lord John series: Lord John and the Scottish Prisoner. They just made us all want more, more and more. (Mature fans of Jamie will love this excerpt that she shared with us. It made one of the much older ladies at the presentation gasp out loud and cause us all to giggle!) It will be very interesting to see if this one or the beginning with Lord John is chosen to start the book.  I really liked them both and would have a hard time picking.

Her dry sense of humor and very quick wit both come across in person as much as in Diana's writing.  She patiently answered lots of our questions and was very nice about explaining various aspects of the books.  Because of the small venue we were actually able to have conversation with this lovely woman who is very generous to her readers.  She shared a lot about herself, her life and her writing. It really struck a chord with me when she detailed her unorthodox way of writing a story. She told us that she might write Chapter 7 or 16 before she starts on Chapter 3 or even 1. She doesn't write in the "linear" method that is taught in most places. Her stories come to her in chunks that she then has to piece together and make fit into the overall puzzle. This truly was a light bulb moment for me and I'm sure, others in the audience who dabble in writing. I have never been able to write an outline and then follow it.  I tend to go backwards with it and make my outline fit what I've written.  My creative endeavors have always been little nuggets that don't always flow together or in a logical order, but do belong to the same story. Thank you for letting us all know that it's OK to write in whatever way suits us!

 

The girls and I were on our way out of town on Saturday when we stopped at the festival in the park that was wrapping up KABAM's happenings for the week. Diana was also scheduled to speak there, but we were disappointed to find out that it was one of the last events of the day. Due to the fact that we had a 9+ hours drive ahead of us, we decided we would have to miss it and get on the road. As we were walking back to the truck with our purchases, who do you think was pulling in? The lady herself! I must say it made my day when she recognized us and stopped to chat for a few minutes. It was icing on the cake to get to say our goodbyes to her and thank her again for being so patient and gracious to some of her rabid and adoring fans.

If you'd like to learn more about Diana and her world, you can visit her website and Twitter. The books that are available now are:

   

   

 

   

***I will be writing a bit more about our girl's road trip over at my other blog:  MoonCat Farms Meanderings later this week.  You'll have to check out a couple of the creatures we met on the road!

Review - Outlander by Diana Gabaldon

TITLE:    Outlander
AUTHOR:    Diana Gabaldon
INFO:    Paperback, Fiction, 850 pages
PUBLISHED:   Delacorte, 1991
ISBN#:   978-0-3853-1995-9
SOURCE:   Received from Pump Up Your Book Tours for Review and Blog Tour
  

FROM GOODREADS:  The year is 1945. Claire Randall, a former combat nurse, is back from the war and reunited with her husband on a second honeymoon--when she walks through a standing stone in one of the ancient stone circles that dot the British Isles. Suddenly she is a Sassenach--an "outlander"--in a Scotland torn by war and raiding Highland clans in the year of Our Lord...1743.

Hurled back in time by forces she cannot understand, Claire is catapulted into intrigues and dangers that may threaten her life...and shatter her heart. For here she meets James Fraser, a gallant young Scots warrior, and becomes a woman torn between fidelity and desire...and between two vastly different men in two irreconcilable lives.

MY TAKE:    Anyone who knows me or is familiar with my bookish obsession will be aware (possibly painfully aware) that Outlander is my favorite book of all time.  There is no wiggle room, it just IS.  So while I jumped at the chance to be on this blog tour to celebrate this masterpiece, I also felt a bit of hesitation.  How do you describe something that in the many re-readings has touched different parts of your heart and mind?  Bear with me and I will attempt it.

I actually "met" Claire and Jamie when Diana Gabaldon was first writing their story.  I belonged to the writer's forum on Compuserve for a while where Diana was submitting excerpts from her "practice story".  I must admit I fell in love with Jamie back then!  Fast forward a few years and I stumble across a book called Outlander.  The entire time I was absorbing this mesmerizing story I felt it was familiar.  It took a while to figure out that I had actually read bits and pieces years before.

This is an epic story that truly does have something for everyone.  It doesn't fit neatly into any one niche or genre though.  Fiction, history, romance, science-fiction, paranormal, family, military, Scotland, American, Celtic, fantasy ~ do you see what I mean?  I have recommended this book and entire series to men and women, of various ages including my then husband-to-be.  He was also touched by this book, so much in fact that we implemented part of their wedding vow into ours:

"Ye are Blood of my Blood, and Bone of my Bone.

I give ye my Body, that we Two might be One.

I give ye my Spirit, 'til our Life shall be Done."

As I don't want to give away any spoilers, I will end my glowing tribute with a quote from one of my favorite parts of the story.  It occurred in their bridal chamber right after Jamie & Claire's forced wedding when they are getting to know each other.  As they are drifting off to sleep, Jamie tries to comfort Claire and says, "Don't be afraid, there's the two of us now."  To me, this statement sets the tone for the rest of the story and series and sums it all up.

~~~~~ 

  

*Just needed to share this last bit:  I had "General Hospital" on in the background as I was writing this post.  One of the actors was gifting her hospitalized sister with books.  That made me look up and I started "whoo hooing" when she presented the girl with OUTLANDER!  Excellent taste ladies!  I have also gifted this book to many, many people.  It is the only book I have ever bought more than ten/five/two copies of! 

Out of 5 JEWELS, I give it:

WHERE TO BUY IT:    Amazon, The Book Depository, Powell's Books, IndieBound

    

   

The eighth installment of this phenomenal saga is in the works now.  In the meantime, Diana and her legion of fans are celebrating the 20th anniversary of Outlander this year.  You can read more about Jamie and Claire as well as Diana herself by visiting her website at http://www.DianaGabaldon.com. 

~~~~~ Disclaimer:  All opinions expressed on this blog are 100% my own.  I do not receive monetary compensation for my reviews but do utilize affiliate links.  I may receive books in  order to facilitate a review, but this does not guarantee a good review - only a completely honest one.  Each review post denotes how I obtained the book.