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Sway Giveaway

When I read about this book giveaway - it sounded so fun I jumped at the chance to participate. I will be giving away 5 copies of Sway by Zachary Lazar. Want to know what it's about?

Three dramatic and emblematic stories intertwine in Zachary Lazar's extraordinary new novel, SWAY--the early days of the Rolling Stones, including the romantic triangle of Brian Jones, Anita Pallenberg, and Keith Richards; the life of avant-garde filmmaker Kenneth Anger; and the community of Charles Manson and his followers.

Lazar illuminates an hour in American history when rapture found its roots in idolatrous figures and led to unprovoked and inexplicable violence. Connecting all the stories in this novel is Bobby Beausoleil, a beautiful California boy who appeared in an Anger film and eventually joined the Manson "family."

With great artistry, Lazar weaves scenes from these real lives together into a true but heightened reality, making superstars human, giving demons reality, and restoring mythic events to the scale of daily life.

"One hypnotic tone poem.... It is not the now-historic acts of violence that make Sway so riveting, but its vivid character portraits and decadent, muzzy atmosphere, all rendered with the heightened sensory awareness associated with drugs and paranoia.

The near miniaturist precision with which he describes Keith Richards's attempts to master his guitar, Brian Jones's acid trips and Anger's obsessive desire for Beausoleil bring this large-scale tableau into stunning relief." --Liz Brown, Time Out New York

I haven't read it so I can not tell you a thing about it - but hey, it's free! It's worth a try! AND, it has a reading guide available so it might be great for a book club. Only stipulation?? You must leave a comment WITH your email address to participate and you must have a US or Canada address - no PO Boxes, please. Drawing will be held, Sat. March 14 and the books will be shipped shortly thereafter. (This giveaway is courtesy of Hachette Book Group.)

Hachette Books/Chronicle Books

When a box comes from Hachette - It is a BIG deal!!! And this box is no exception!!
I received the book, When Louis Armstrong Taught Me Scat by Muriel Harris Weinstein and illustrated by R. Gregory Christie. I am pumped about this book - we don't have very many books on Jazz/Scat and this one will be a wonderful contribution. It is PERFECT for our Summer Reading Program theme this summer AND a beautiful tribute to Louis Armstrong - read, you'll be doing Scat in no time!

Also in the box were three Rosie Flo coloring books. These are NOT your normal coloring books and let me just tell you - my daughter thinks she NEEDS all of them. They are beautiful - I mean exquisite - coloring books - designed by Roz Streeten. She designed the books based on ideas from her daughters - they used to ask her to draw dresses so they could color them - and that is just what she did. THEN, you can add arms, legs, heads, etc. They are WONDERFUL - you do NEED to see these!