Posts Tagged ‘giveaway’

Happy 2012! A few business items: I’m happy to announce that Laura has won the Pride and Prejudice note cards, while Kate won Dust Tracks on a Road.

If you’re interested in my literary new year’s resolutions (and a giveaway of The Heroine’s Bookshelf), you should head over to The Literate Housewife, who is currently featuring me on her blog.

And now, before I plunge into book proposal writing for the new year, is a little treat for you. I spoke to Diane Burrowes in Harper’s academic marketing department to learn a bit more about Harper’s involvement with Their Eyes Were Watching God and the Zora Neale Hurston estate.

EB: How did HP end up publishing Zora books?

DB: Originally published in 1937, Their Eyes Were Watching God met significant commercial success. Somewhat forgotten after her death, Zora Neale Hurston was rediscovered by a number of black authors in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and reintroduced to a greater readership by Alice Walker in her 1972 essay “In Search of Zora Neale Hurston,” written for Ms. magazine. Long out of print, the book was reissued after a petition was circulated at the Modern Language Association Convention in 1975, and nearly three decades later Their Eyes Were Watching God is considered a seminal novel of American fiction. J. B. Lippincott & Co published Their Eyes Were Watching God in 1937. Their Eyes Were Watching God came to HarperCollins Publishers when Harper & Row merged with Lippincott in the 1970s.

EB: What’s the most rewarding/challenging part of working with a classic?

DB: It’s rewarding to work on a timeless classic. To learn of people constantly discovering books and learning of new readers’ reactions to the books are hugely gratifying. It’s also been wonderful to work with Zora’s heirs on the ongoing campaign to promote her work.

EB: Any facts that surprised you as you embarked on this?

DB: Discovering Zora’s own life is one of the fascinating things about working on her books.

EB: Why should readers still think of Zora’s work as relevant?

DB: Her books are the story of a woman discovering herself and her own abilities. They go across color and gender lines and are really about a person discovering his or her inner worth and own selfhood.

Thanks for weighing in, Diane! Dear readers…what’s on your literary list for 2012?

Birthdays are a big deal…even more so when you’re turning 236, like the inimitable Jane Austen. I’m excited to participate in Austen’s Birthday Soiree today along with dozens of other Janeites worldwide…and to be giving away a copy of Potter-style Pride and Prejudice notecards to one lucky commenter! 

I’ve done lots of book events over the past few months, and the issue keeps coming up. Why is Jane Austen so revered and so relevant 236 years after her birth?

The answer is probably one that will annoy academics and occupy writers for centuries to come. In celebration of her birthday, I’ll tell you why I find Miss Austen so refreshing, two centuries on.

You see, the more I appreciate her body of work, the more I realize that it’s not Austen’s love stories that interest me. It’s the sense of inner amusement with which the author approaches all of society. Nobody found other people as ridiculous and as gently amusing as Jane, and even today in a world without the marriage market, the fumbling country-dance or the Empire waist, there’s something to be relished in passages that poke at all we once held dear.  Things haven’t changed so much in the many years since Jane Austen helped invent the modern novel, and what better birthday present could you wish for than the gift of timelessness?

Why do you find Jane Austen relevant today (or not)? Comment below and you could win a set of Potter-style Pride and Prejudice notecards!  The contest will close next Friday, December 24, and is open to residents of the United States and Canada only.

Don’t forget to visit the other Austen’s Birthday Soiree participants, listed below, for your chance to win even more Austenesque gifts.  Thanks to Maria Grazia of My Jane Austen Book Club and  Katherine Cox of November’s Autumn for organizing.

Participants in Austen’s Birthday Soiree

• Sharon Lathan
  Blog: Sharon Lathan
  Giveaway: one copy of Miss Darcy Falls in Love
• Emily Snyder
  Blog: O! Beauty Unattempted
  Giveaway: one copy of Letters of Love & Deception 
• Laurel Ann Nattress
  Blog: Austenprose
  Giveaway: one signed copy of Jane Austen Made Me Do It
• C. Allyn Pierson
  Blog: SemiTrue Stories
  Giveaway: one copy of Mr. Darcy Little Sister (open internationally)
• Cindy Jones
  Blog: First Draft
  Giveaway: one signed copy of My Jane Austen Summer and a package of Lily Berry’s Pink Rose Tea by Bingley’s, Ltd.
• Farida Mestek
  Blog: Regency stories set against the backdrop of Regency England
  Giveaway: one copy of I was Jane Austen Best Friend, by Cora Harrison
• Marilyn Brant
  Blog: Brant Flakes
  Giveaway: A canvas ACCORDING TO JANE tote bag and a pair of A SUMMER IN EUROPE luggage tags
• Prue Batten
  Blog: Mesmered’s Blog
  Giveaway: one copy of Georgiana Darcy’s Diary: Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice continued, Anna Elliott
• Erin Blakemore
  Blog:  The Heroine’s Bookshelf
  Giveaway: Pride and Prejudice notecards, by Potter Style
• Blog: vvb32 reads
  Giveaway: Jane Austen’s Little Instruction Book (Charming Petites), by Jane Austen, edited by Sophia Bedford-Pierce, illustrated by Mullen & Katz, introduction by Barbara Paulding
• Karen Doornebos
  Blog: The Fiction vs. Reality Smackdown
  Giveaway: 2 Jane Austen candles and 2 signed copies of Definitely Not Mr. Darcy plus drink coasters and tea!
• Regina Jeffers
  Blog: ReginaJeffers’s Blog
  Giveaway: one signed copy of Christmas at Pemberley
• Alyssa Goodnight
  Blog: Alyssa Goodnight   
  Giveaway: one Jane Austen Action figure
• Deb Barnum
  Blog: Jane Austen in Vermont
  Giveaway: 2012 calendars from the Wisconsin JASNA Region
• Laura Hile, Susan Kaye, Pamela Aidan, and Barbara Cornthwaite
  Blog: Jane Started It!
  Giveaway: one copy of Young Master Darcy: A Lesson in Honour, by Pamela Aidan; one set of Frederick Wentworth, Captain (Books 1 and 2), by Susan Kaye; two copies of Mercy’s Embrace: So Rough a Course (Book 1), by Laura Hile; one copy of George Kinghtley, Gentleman (Books 1 and 2), by Barbara Cornthwaite
• Juliet Archer
  Blog: Choc Lit Authors’ Corner
  Giveaway: one copy each of Persuade Me and The Importance of Being Emma
• Jane Greensmith
  Blog: Reading, Writing, Working, Playing
  Giveaway: one copy each of Intimations of Austen, and Sense & Sensibility (Marvel Illustrated)
• Jenny Allworthy
  Blog: The Jane Austen Film Club 
  Giveaway: a copy of Northanger Abbey DVD starring Felicity Jones and JJ Feild (The winner will choose region 1 or 2 DVD)
• Sitio Jane Austen
  Blog: El Salón de Té de Jane
  Giveaway:  one copy of the Spanish edition of Sense and Sensibility and one copy of  DVD package with adaptations of Jane Austen. (It’s only zone 2, but it’s in Spanish and English ), and one copy of BBC’s Emma with Romola Garai (Blue-ray)
• Kaitlin Saunders
  Blog: Kaitlin Saunders
  Giveaway: one copy of A Modern Day Persuasion
• Becky Rhodehouse
  Blog: One Literature Nut
  Giveaway: selection of Austenesque Reads
• Patrice Sarath
  Blog: Patrice Sarath
  Giveaway: one copy of The Unexpected Miss Bennet
• Adriana Zardini
  Site: Jane Austen Brasil
  Giveaway: DVD – Sense and Sensibility (1995) – English / Portuguese subtitles
• Jane Odiwe
  Blog: Jane Austen Sequels 
  Giveaway: one mug with one of Jane Odiwe’s illustrations and one copy of Mr. Darcy’s Secret
• Courtney Webb
  Blog: Stiletto Storytime
  Giveaway: one copy of Noble Satyr by Lucinda Brant (Regency Romance)
• Jennifer Becton
  Blog: Jennifer W. Becton
  Giveaway: one copy of the eBook of the Personages of Pride and Prejudice Collection, which contains Charlotte Collins, “Maria Lucas,” and Caroline Bingley. Open internationally.
• Vera Nazarian
  Blog: Urban Girl Takes Vermont
  Giveaway: a copy of Vera Nazarian’s gift hardcover edition of her inspirational calendar and diary, The Perpetual Calendar of Inspiration
• Abigail Reynolds
  Blog: Pemberley Variations
  Giveaway: one signed copy of Mr. Darcy’s Undoing
• Blog: AustenAuthors
  Giveaway: one copy of Georgette Heyer’s Regency World, by Jennifer Kloester
• Katherine Cox
  Blog: November’s Autumn
  Giveaway: one $10 B&N Gift-card (US only)
• Maria Grazia
  Blog: My Jane Austen Book Club
  Giveaway: A selection of Austenesque reads

I was going to get all academic and give you tons of summaries and links, but then I realized that I find it really hard to talk at people about Their Eyes. I’d rather talk with them.

I feel that this book is unlike any that I’ve ever read. It challenges me and is hard to pull myself out of. It pains me to leave it.

Then there’s the story of the book’s reception and Zora Neale Hurston’s sad later years. There’s the knowledge that this book, which was left in the dustbin of literary history for so long, is now taught in high schools and colleges. It’s known, and I want it to be better-known.

Congratulations to Jen, by the way, who won a lovely edition of TEWWG. This week, Harper Perennial is giving a lovely copy of one of Zora’s other books, Dust Tracks on a Road, to one randomly-selected commenter.

Now’s your chance…what did you think of the book’s conclusion? Will you tell others about the book? What questions linger now that you’ve reached the end?

Thanks so much to everyone who participated in the readalong last week! Congratulations, Michelle…you won a $25 gift card to Barnes & Noble! This week’s giveaway is a gorgeous giftable deluxe edition of Their Eyes Were Watching God from Harper Perennial…thanks so much to HP for the donation. I’ll give one to a randomly-selected commenter so you can spread the Zora love.

Chapters 7-13

Today, I’m not going to give discussion prompts so much as bring up things that crossed my mind when reading Chapters 7-13.  Please discuss, question, and add your input. What struck you about these chapters? How do you like the story? How do you think Janie’s life will unfold?

Death and liberation

The first chapters of this week’s reading deal with the death of a marriage (and Jody’s own death). They also deal with liberation through language as Janie takes back her own voice and literally lets down her hair.

Awakening and attraction

Now there’s a new man in town…and we meet Tea Cake, a very different man than Jody. He’s a smooth talker, and attraction plays out through words.

Inner attraction, outside world

We see the contrast between Janie’s attraction to Tea Cake and the different ideas of the outside world. Janie’s frank enjoyment of this younger man sets everyone on edge.

The root of all evil?

Janie’s money brings up all sorts of fears…will Tea Cake take advantage of her? Has he stolen all of her money?

Ships at a distance have every man’s wish on board. So begins Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God, and so begins our readalong of Chapters 1-6.  Remember, next Monday (December 13) we’ll discuss Chapters 7-13. And if you participate in today’s readalong, I’ll put you in a drawing for a $25 Barnes & Noble gift card! I’ll announce the winner next week.

For now, let me dive into the story of Janie. Somehow I forgot it was her own story of her life. If you’re anything like me, you were immediately plunged into a vibrant world of language and imagery with the first pages of the book. Here’s a bit of background as we get going: 

The Author

Zora is commonly grouped as a Harlem Renaissance author…in fact, she was the only African-American student at Barnard College at Columbia University in Harlem during her studies there. She went to college late, graduating at age 36. Hurston was a self-made woman…after growing up in Eatonville, FL, the first all-Black town in the United States, she was abandoned by her parents while at boarding school. She reinvented herself once she was expelled, pursuing an academic life and eventually collaborating with the likes of Langston Hughes. What do these first chapters tell you about the book’s author?

The Book

Zora wrote Their Eyes when she was 46 years old. She wrote the book in just a few weeks while on a folkloric expedition to Haiti. At the time of its release, the book was widely scorned by Hurston’s Black colleagues…Richard Wright memorably called it a “minstrel-show turn that makes the white folks laugh.” Do you agree with this criticism thus far? How would you characterize the book?

The Language