Pope Joan by Donna Woolfolk Cross has been on my Favorite Books of All-Time since…well, since I read it. I read it long before I had a blog, so I have no review for you. You’ll just have to take my word for it. What’s it about? Well, I’m glad you asked!

Pope Joan takes a very small piece of unknown Catholic history and imagines how the story actually happened. According to the author, for hundreds of years (up until the middle of the 17th century), this woman’s papacy was believed and taught as truth. Why is that interesting? Because Pope Joan is a WOMAN. The Catholic Church would have never knowingly installed a female pope, so how did it happen? This is the story that the author tells and imagines.

Do I have you intrigued yet?

There’s some great questions and answers on the author’s website, such as “How would it have been possible for a woman to pass herself off as a man for so long and under such circumstances?” These Q&As are really fascinating; you should go check them out!

Pope Joan has been made into a movie (though there’s no release date for the United States, yet)! To celebrate this, the author is having a fantastic contest! You can join the author and her family as they walk the red carpet on the night of the Pope Joan movie premiere! Get all the details from the author’s website, but here’s how you can enter:

Simply buy a new, Three Rivers Press/Crown Publishing paperback edition of Pope Joan by August 9 and send me the original receipt. In August, I’ll pick randomly from the pile of receipts to select someone and their guest to join me at the U.S. movie premiere in the fall (exact date still to be determined).

The author has graciously offered a book to give away here, and I have decided to match her offer. That means I have TWO copies of Pope Joan to give away. Unfortunately, neither copies will get you entered to possibly go to the movie premiere, so I suggest you buy a copy and THEN enter for the giveaway, because surely you’ll be able to find someone to pass along your extra copy to.

(for you lazy bums, you can buy Pope Joan from Powell’s, Amazon, or any local independent bookstore)

To enter the contest, simply answer this question: What’s one book you’ve read that you think is great but no one seems to have even heard about? If you don’t answer this question, your entry will be removed.

Extra entries:

+1 for Twittering, Stumbling, or otherwise doing whatever you can to let others know about this fantastic giveaway (blog posts, sidebars, emails to friends with me cc’d, etc). Please leave a comment for each additional entry. You should know I check each additional entry and read each and every comment, so no cheating!

This contest will be open through August 1, 2009 and is open internationally.

Rules strictly enforced under the threat of tickling.

I loved The Hunger Games. No, make that I LOVED The Hunger Games. I loved it so much that I told everyone I knew about it. I loved it so much that I was bummed when Scholastic had a contest where you could write an essay about something (I don’t remember what, exactly, you had to write about, and the contest is gone from the site) and if you were picked, you’d get to go see Suzanne Collins. But you had to be between the ages of 12 and 17 (I think that was the age range), and, well, let’s just say I’m at least of drinking age.

Then when I heard there would be ADVANCE COPIES of Catching Fire, the sequel to The Hunger Games, at BEA in New York, I cried because I couldn’t go to New York. I thought maybe I should write a post about how I want to have Suzanne Collins’ babies, because then maybe she would scrounge up a copy for me. But then I realized that I’m no one in a sea of fans, and besides, she probably doesn’t need my womb for her babies. And it’s kind of creepy. But I’m willing to risk creepy to snag a copy of Catching Fire.

I DID get to go to BEA and I DID get a copy of Catching Fire and I read it in almost one sitting (I would have read it in one sitting but my plane ride wasn’t long enough). I was worried that the sequel wouldn’t be as good as the first book. I was worried that I had built up the potential of the sequel so much in my head that there was no way the author could deliver what I was expecting.

I was wrong.

Catching Fire was fantastic. I loved it! Suzanne Collins does a great job of developing Katniss’ character and keeping up the tension in the triangle with Peeta and Gale. I’m not going to tell you any more than that after the book is released on September 1, 2009.

But for right now, I’m giving away a copy of both The Hunger Games and Catching Fire. This way, if you haven’t read The Hunger Games you can still enter the contest and you won’t have to wait until September 1st for book two. And if you have read The Hunger Games, you can still enter the contest.

Everyone has a level playing field for this contest: Leave a comment on this post answering this question: What would you give up to read Catching Fire? If you haven’t read The Hunger Games yet, then tell me if you’ve ever been at a midnight release party for a book. (I ask because I think I might do that for Catching Fire.)

This contest will be open through July 31st and is open internationally.

Water Ghosts by Shawna Yang Ryan is a poetically written story about a small town, Locke, near Sacramento, California in the year 1928.

Three Chinese women inexplicably appear out of the mist one afternoon (ghosts!), one of whom claims to be married to Richard Fong, who happens to manage the local gambling parlor, and who is having an affair with one of the local prostitutes. Richard left his wife, Ming Wai, 10 years earlier in China to come to America to work, and instead of trying to bring her to America (though it would have admittedly been very expensive), he sends her money and enjoys the single life in Locke.

Chloe, a prostitute and Richard’s lover, is interested in Sofia Lee, the preacher’s daughter. This is a dangerous triangle as Richard is a jealous lover and Sofia is…the preacher’s daughter. Lesbian relationships = not good in 1928.

The brothel madam, Poppy See, is in love with Richard and used to be his lover, so she pines for the day when they will be lovers once again. She is also psychic and has premonitions. Her premonitions are not very hopeful once the water ghosts arrive.

I hustled to finish this book before I went to see the author at Book Passage. I was even more motivated to see the author when I realized I really wasn’t understanding the book. I mean, it’s not like she used huge words I couldn’t understand, but I felt like the story meandered and I really didn’t get where the ghosts came in. When I read the book, there were no ghosts.

Getting to talk to the author made me appreciate and understand the book a lot more, and even made me want to re-read the book so I could look at it with a new understanding (though re-reading a book right now is out of the question based on other commitments I have).

After talking to the author, a lot of things clicked for me in the book. I finally understood that water ghosts are a Chinese myth, though since that wasn’t explained in the book, that whole portion of the story went right over my head. That’s why I was so confused that this was touted as a ghost story, for as far as I could tell, there were no ghosts in the story, because my idea of ghosts and the Chinese tradition of ghosts are two different things. That being said, I think something at the beginning of the book explaining water ghosts would have been beneficial to the reader.

Also, while the prose is very poetic and beautiful…so was The English Patient‘s, and I guess I’m finding out that poetic prose just doesn’t do it for me. BUT! If you’re into very atmospheric books or poetic and flowery prose, then I think you’ll enjoy this book.

Rating: 79 out of 100

Buy Water Ghosts at Powell’s | Buy Water Ghosts at Amazon

Shawna Yang Ryan’s website

Other reviews:

S. Krishna’s Books

carp(e) libris reviews

Devourer of Books

Muse Book Reviews

My friend got pregnant so I wanted to knit/crochet everything I could for her. This friend was the recipient of the amigurumi giraffe. That giraffe was a HIT at the baby shower. A little boy picked it up, held it in front of his face, kissed it and then hugged it. He put it down for about an hour but then went back and picked it up and just held it tucked under his arm. I think I lactated.

Unfortunately, this blanket wasn’t completed by the time her baby shower rolled around, so I wrapped it up on the needles, let her look at it and made her give it back. I gave it to her this past Monday (two days ago), which was her due date, and she’s getting really close to going into labor as of today. Yay for getting the gift done before the baby arrived!

Anyway, I knew I wanted to make a blanket, and some experienced knitters recommended the feather and fan stitch. I found a quick and easy feather and fan pattern in a booklet that promised I could whip out a baby blanket in 8 hours.

I decided that I wanted something that she could wash but that was natural fibers. I settled on a wool/nylon blend that’s washable and dryable. This yarn is a sock yarn so I used two yarns held together.

It’s a petty easy stitch, but I had to cast on 121 stitches and it still didn’t end up being as big as I wanted.

It ended up being 20 x 32 inches. It’s not as big as a receiving blanket, but good for things like the car seat and throwing over the mom’s shoulder when holding the baby.

You can see the front and back here. The front is on the right and the back is on the left. The pattern is lovely from either side, and if you look at the pictures that show the scalloped edge, well, the pattern automatically scallops both edges. I knitted straight and that’s what happened. Isn’t that cool!

The blanket’s really soft; it’ll be perfect for the bebe.

The tension throughout the blanket is fantastic. I was really pleased with myself (my husband said, “Don’t break your arm patting yourself on the back!”) since this is only my third knitting project.

Are you working on any crafy projects?

(I know I’m well past the due date for picking winners, but hopefully you’ll forgive me!)

Before I announce the winners of The Chosen One by Carol Lynch Williams, I’d like to point out that you can become a fan of The Chosen One on Facebook. You should go do that right now before you even see if you’re a winner. Probably if you do that you’ll come back to find you’re a winner. Karma and all that.

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Ready? Me too! Here’s the 10 winners from The Chosen One contest:

1. Chris from book-a-rama
2. Stephanie from Stephanie’s Books
3. Jenners from Find Your Next Book Here
4. Helen
5. Jennifer Blanton from My Not So Hurried Life
6. Emily from The World Inside My Head
7. Kirsten from Folio Files
8. Anne Taylor
9. Jessica Danger from This Dangerous Life
10. Michelle Iliescu

Congratulations everyone! All winners will be contacted by email. If you didn’t win, I insist you go out and buy the book. Heck, here’s a couple of links if you’re lazy: Powell’s | Amazon