One of my most engrossing reads this year was a book by Kamila Shamsie titled "Burnt Shadows". This is a novel that spanned generations beginning with the bombing in Nagasaki and ending in New York to the present. The novel was shortlisted for the 2009 Orange Prize, and I hope it WINS! Do NOT miss this one! My review of the book can be found here: Burnt Shadows. And then read the interview that resparked my interest today here. The author's other works include Kartography and Broken Verses.

I finished and adored The Day The Falls Stood Still which was the answer to Thursday's question, Most Recent Best Read. Stay tuned for a giveaway coming September 1st, part of a blog tour for the book. Do not miss it! The book releases the day I am having Endometrial Ablation. Such joy. Right now I am reading, or should be reading, "Highland Rebel" by Judith James, a romantic historical set in the days of King James II. It's been one heckuva week so I am not getting far at all, and next week is going to be more heckonwheels with a new daycare starting for the devilchild and second grade starting for the spaceychild and my husband's new shift starting and surgery and.. I'll stop because I'm already tired. I am so incredibly behind in my reading and reviewing. Thank the Lord for my simple mailbox post that you'll see Monday, and you'd be shocked.

Unless you've had surgery yourself this week, or otherwise hiding under a rock, you've noticed the BBAW FEVER! Book Blogger Appreciation Week Nominations have been sent out in many categories which have included roughly 1,000 blogs per Amy's calculations. Wow. So amazing are those organizational gals. I want to thank whoever nominated me: Most Chatty, Best New Blog, Best Historical Fiction, Best Reviews and this just in: Best Community Builder. Fun stuff! Which is so funny about the Community Builder nod because I just happen to be working on getting some of my favorite HF Bloggers to join in the BBAW fun with our own HF Action for the week to add to the fun! Stay tuned! Giveaways and interviews of each other.. YAY!
Last Feb/March when I started my reviewing I had no idea I was going to be nominated for anything at all so it has been a gratifying whirl so far, although I have slowed my pace and I apologize. With summer nearing its end, I am praying for earlier bedtimes for the heathens so that I can wind down myself at a decent time and get some reading in.
Speaking of AWARDS ~ What a WEEK~ I've received a zillion and a half, and I've previously neglected my duties here about passing them on so I am catching up now since I've gotten ALL THESE IN A WEEK and I'd feel like a heel if I didn't mention it.

Lizzy at Historically Obsessed topped it all for me by awarding me a new award:

What is the criteria to be a H.F. Lovely Ladies Award you ask? You obviously have to be a woman to get this one. Specializing in Historical Fiction, be it novels, historical events, or fine art. These special ladies are the type who go above and beyond the call of duty daily and enjoy it! Since like me they are obsessed with HF theses ladies are a constant support with a flowing wealth of knowledge in the blogging community. They also play a active role in the blogger community hosting events and letting us all know events that they are not hosting. Being super blogger's who constantly are viewing and commenting on other sites with positive feedback. Their blogs have unique qualities like being beautiful and having excellent content. What is amazing is they do all this on the daily and still manage to run a household in their own physical domain. The "super women" blogger's of historical fiction."

Even though she does not need awards to feel special I MUST pass this to Arleigh at Historical-Fiction.com to adorn her blog with. Arleigh has been my source of comfort in the bookblogosphere, and I award Ms. Lucy at Enchanted by Josephine too even though Lizzy named every one else I would name as well and I won't bore them to death by re-distributing this to them although they deserve it a hundred times over..

And Allie from Hist-Fic Chick awarded me the Zombie Chicken award, thank you.. and I also received another new one "I Keep Coming Back for More" from Cathy! Thank you!

The I Keep Coming Back for More! Award is for a blog you just can't stay away from. If you've been busy and your Google reader is over 1,000 unread posts, these are the blogs that you single out to read. These are the ones that are never victims to the dreaded Mark All As Read. There may be many different reasons why you can't stay away: a taste in books that mirrors your own, the same sense of humor, always knowing the latest in the book world... for whatever the reason, these blogs are flat out addictive and you have no wish to be cured!Since I am a firm believer in the K.I.S.S. method, the rules are rather simple:
Enjoy the award. If you don't want to put it on your blog, don't. Just get the warm, fuzzy feeling that I'm sending your way!
You don't have to reveal any deep, dark secrets about yourself or answer any sort of questions. You've already earned it!
You don't have to link back to me.
You don't have to give it to anyone else.
I am sending along a Warm Fuzzy Feeling to these blogs that cannot be Marked As Read without reading them first (in alphabetical order):

Enchanted By Josephine
Historical-Fiction.com
Historically Obsessed
Hist-Fic Chick
Marie Antoinette's Gossip Guide to the 18th Century
Medieval Bookworm
The Maiden's Court

I keep going back to those blogs for MORE! And remember, you don't have to do a darn thing with this award except get all warm and fuzzy inside :) Thanks to these ladies, who should NOT BE MISSED, as I MISSED Ms. Lucy when she was out of pocket for a little while last week, I was going through withdrawal symptoms.

And thank you for this award at Lib's Literary Library:

Pugtastic George, For Going Above and Beyond .. LOL Thank you! She gave me this one instead of the Lemonade stand since I had that one already!

And a week or two ago.. or three.. I had also received from Stacy's Books the Let's Be Friends award.. Thank you!

And then thrice bitten this week THREE times by Melissa's Bookshelf, Lizzy & Dolleygurl for the B I N G O Award.. They all called me Outstanding.. you are all too Kind.. Thank you..

Passing BINGO along on to 5 other blogs that represent qualities represented by B-I-N-G-and-O. And will try and pick DIFFERENT blogs then they picked although obviously I'd agree with all of them..

B- Beautiful - Marie Antoinette's Gossip Guide

I- Informative - Scandalous Women

N- Neighborly - Jenny loves to read

G - Gorgeous - 18th Century Blog (*FAB Photos!)

O- Outstanding - Reading The Past

There you are folks.. Please visit all these fabulous and fun blogs if you haven't before.. and enjoy the rest of your weekend!!

Thanks to all my little blogging buds for commenting on my Sunday Salon post, someone is actually reading my blog!! Woohoo!


I've received few awards recently, and I thank you to everyone who thought to mention me. From Amy at Passages to the Past I had gotten the Friendly Blogger Award.. and from Teddyree at The Eclectic Reader I have received a "Your Blog is Enchanting" award. So I feel it is time for me to spread the love.

Your Blog is Enchanting:

The only requirement for this award is that you shared it with whomever you like, sharing the love is always a good thing. The blog has to show only one characteristic, caring. So, start sharing this enchanted award with five other bloggers. Let your bloggers know they have received this enchanted award. (Remember, fairies are fickle wee things, don't incur their displeasure by ignoring their gift)
So without further ado I'm passing this one on to just some of my favorite blogs to visit:

Amy at Passages to The Past
Amy at My Friend Amy
Arleigh at Historical-Fiction & Royal Intrigue, I love them both equally!
Jenny of Jenny Loves to Read
Melissa of Melissa's Bookshelf
Alaine of The Queen of Happy Endings
Sheri at A Novel Menagerie
Kristi of Books and Needlepoint

Congrats to those that I've mentioned, I hope you like your award :)
There are actually a lot of Blogs that I enjoy, and if you see my Blogroll on the Sidebar, those are the ones that I visit whenever they are updated. If you are on that list then give yourself a pat on the back :) IF you are not, then it is clearly an oversight on my part. I'm not perfect ya know!

And then about once a week or more I browse through even MORE blogs through the many blogs that I also follow through the blogger dashboard feature.

I also wanted to mention that I have some giveaways going on .. the links to the direct Giveaway posts are on the top right corner of the sidebar. (Follow Me by Joanna Scott, The Noticer, and Made in the USA) I am thinking maybe my little humble blog is not tailored to giveaways since I am not getting much traffic yet, so I've already deleted a future giveaway I was going to do for Hachette Publishing. Which is fine, less work for me, and if I have to beg for entries there is something wrong there. I think when there is the same book going around and around the Blogosphere for giveaways there is not a lot of glamour in it.
So I just wanted to say hey I still love giveaways, and to prove it here are some of the different ones I've seen still going on this week:

Booking Mama is giving away 5 copies of Things I Want my Daughter to Know
and also Mistress of The Sun by Sandra Gulland
Bridget at Readaholic is having A Boomer Beauties Giveaway
Books and Needlepoint has several giveaways going on .. such as Made in the USA, The Girl Who Stopped Swimming and Dear Mom.

Kelly is having a Book a Day Giveway at A Novel Bookworm!!

Jenni James does some really unique Antique book giveaways, and even if you don't want the book I enjoy reading her posts, so check out this one here for Ann's Great Adventure by, E.E. Cowper

And for another something different, Shelly at Write for a Reader does this Weekly Round Up post (which I voted for on her survey as my favorite feature of hers) so check out this weeks Weekly Round Up post where she brings us news from the blogs she visits.

And finally, Teddyrose always does her Giveaway Galore post and she has hers up and ready to go, which is always subject to additions :)

My two year old is in the foyer and I am hearing a lot of noise from that section of the house. I am pretty scared to go look & see what the heck he is dragging and dropping in there. I really do not want to know, do I?

This is such a Funny award, I am soooo honored for the nomination from Teddyree at the Eclectic Reader!! She has a great blog, go on over and check her out (I bet you already have!)

"The blogger who receives this award believes in the Tao of the zombie chicken - excellence, grace and persistence in all situations, even in the midst of a zombie apocalypse. These amazing bloggers regularly produce content so remarkable that their readers would brave a raving pack of zombie chickens just to be able to read their inspiring words. As a recipient of this world-renowned award, you now have the task of passing it on to at least 5 other worthy bloggers. Do not risk the wrath of the zombie chickens by choosing unwisely or not choosing at all..."

LOL Do YOU believe in the Tao of the Zombie Chicken? At the risk of the wrath of the Zombie Chicken, I hope I choose wisely as I nominate the following blogs for this Award:

S. Krishna at S. Krishna's Books
Serena at Savvy Verse and Wit
Sheri at A Novel Menagerie
Anna at Diary of An Eccentric
Luanne of A Bookworm's World

Enjoy your Zombie Chickens, ladies!

I am loving my Blogosphere of Book Junkies and Friendly Bloggers, and I have received two more awards since last week's Sisterhood Award.. The hard part is finding new people to pass them on to; I am sure the ones I picked last week don't want me awarding them with awards they've already received 10 times over, right?! But I didn't want to just ignore the process altogether.



Thank you to Misfit, for At Home with A Good Book and cat.. (who can't love that title?!) for this "Where Life Hands you Lemons Award" :)

The rules:
1. Put the logo on your blog or post.
2. Nominate up to 10 blogs which show great attitude and/or gratitude!
3. Be sure to link to your nominees within your post.
4. Let them know that they have received this award by commenting on their blog.
5. Remember to link to the person from whom you received your award.

The Blogs I am awarding:

Alyce from At Home With Books
Marta from Marta's Meanderings


And now, on to the Second Award I am passing along:


About this award: "This blog invests and believes in the PROXIMITY-nearness in space, time and relationships. These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in prizes or self-aggrandizement! Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers! Deliver this award to eight bloggers who must choose eight more and include this clever-written text into the body of their award."

Thank you so much for choosing me Alabama Book World, the feeling is mutual! ♥

Well I am not coming up with eight this time around, but I chose:

April for Cafe of Dreams; she also received Blog Tour Host of the month from Pump up your Book, she is a busy gal!

To Sally, Leah & Amy at The Friendly Book Nook; this site is clean and organized with lots of reviews & tours.

To Bella from Confessions of a Convicted Bibliophile; she also has tons of reviews peruse, as well as newsworthy snippets.

All these blogs are not interested in awards either, which is what is awesome about the premise of both of these awards; and just wanted to do a round of applause and Thanks to all these wonderful blogs!