Help A Bitch Out

S-HaBO-Day Thank You from Gwen Hayes

Last week, y'all identified a HaBO from author Gwen Hayes. She is most grateful – who wouldn't be, freed from the unending job of describing a book to librarians and booksellers, watching as their faces crumple into disbelief and confusion as more outlandish and disordered plot details are revealed? So Gwen would like to offer a prize!

She wants to give one of y'all a $25 gift card to the bookstore of your choice to say a big whopping thank you. So! S-HaBO-Day Givaway time! 

To enter, please leave a comment and tell us one book you would never, ever want to lose, the one that will keep moving with you from home to home all the way to the retirement community with the incredibly good-looking grounds crew. Leave a comment and you're entered to win. I'll choose the winner at random on Monday, 25 February 2013 at 8:30am ET.   

Standard disclaimers apply: void where prohibited. Open to international residents subject to applicable law. Must be over 18 and wearing excellent socks to win. Close cover before striking. And stop striking – didn't your mom tell you not to hit people? 

Thanks to Gwen for the impromptu giveaway – hope you're enjoying your lost book!

Comments are Closed

  1. Fiona Coles says:

    I would never ever want to lose my copy of Tully by Paullina Simons – not only is it a fabulous book, but I bought my slightly tattered copy for a book signing once and she (Paullina) said that it was her favourite cover and she was a little sad that they’d changed the covers.

  2. Carrie C says:

    My copy of Pride and Prejudice-bought for high school freshman English and I still have it ten years later and plan to have it many more than that.

  3. CostumeChic says:

    Outlander by Diana Gabaldon. It’s my literary Mr. Pointy.

  4. BitsyRavenclaw says:

    I’d be wrecked if I lost my copy of ‘Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets’. It’s a paperback British copy I found in a second hand shop on New Year’s Day several years ago. It’s just a sentimentally good find.

  5. M. C. says:

    Usually I’m not sentimental about specific volumes, it’s the content that matters most so I worry about ones that would be harder to replace. I’d be really upset if I lost my copy of Katie Waitman’s The Merro Tree. It’s out of print (but worth tracking down a used copy) and not available digitally and it’s _such_ a wonderful book. And one that I’m surprised not to see mentioned more often when people discuss good scifi romance novels. Really lovely, and occasionally heartbreaking, M/M romance between a humanoid alien and another species of alien that resembles a giant snake, definitely not run of the mill stuff.

  6. Sherri says:

    Lord of Scoundrels by Loretta Chase. Somehow I missed this when it first came out and I picked up about 15 months ago after reading a comment from Ms. Chase about why people love that book so much – the glove scene. And that scene is great. And the book has now become my go to book when I am feeling out of sorts. Have the flu? Read Lord of Scoundrels. Life is kicking my butt? Read Lord of Scoundrels. I just love the way both of them fall in love and how they take care of one another along the way. I will keep it forever.

  7. Aislinn says:

    My copy of Daughter of the Forest by Juliet Marillier. Not only is it one of my all-time favourite books, but it has many happy memories attached to it.

  8. Sally says:

    I can’t part with Island Masquerade by Sally Wentworth. It’s a favorite reread.

  9. Liz H says:

    I’ve taken my copy of Faking It by Jennifer Crusie with me on moves from NJ to CA to Scotland and on a cross country trip.
    But for specific volume- I have a copy of the Anthology of Children’s Stories by James Herriot that was my first book ever that I will never ever part with.

  10. ms bookjunkie says:

    I had a really difficult time making a choice because in this time of online shopping, nothing is irreplaceable. Difficult to replace, no doubt, but not irreplaceable. Many books are awesome, but not all books have the author’s signature (with my name spelled correctly) so I’ll go with Lauren Dane’s COMING UNDONE.

    (Also, since I took the book off the shelf to check the signature, I am now rereading favorite bits…)

  11. Kasey Miller says:

    How to pick? There are way to many, but I think I would have to pick Malibu Singh ‘s first Pay Changeling book Slave to Sensation. (Of c, since it’s on kindle, the chance that I would lose it is pretty slim – it’s on 2 kindles plus backed up on my computer and Amazon of course.)

  12. Emily says:

    The English Patient.

  13. CG says:

    Gah, I’ve spent the last 20 minutes mentally reviewing my bookshelves and I don’t know if I can pick just one. I think maybe Iris Johanson’s The Wind Dancer, for sentimental reasons.

  14. Sarah Wynde says:

    Lois McMaster Bujold’s Paladin of Souls. In fact, I think I’ll go reread it right now.

  15. peggy h says:

    Princess Bride.  There is a part in the book where a scene (a reunion scene of some kind?) was supposedly removed and one could write a letter (to the publisher?) to get a copy of the scene that had been deleted due to some reason I can’t remember now—of course this is all part of the joke that William Goldman was just recounting the good parts of a story by S. Morgenstern.  I’d read somewhere that there would be a reply to such letters and as a student in the early 90s (with nothing better to do, apparently) I wrote a letter and did get a funny response involving Goldman being contacted by his lawyer, etc.  I’ve saved that letter in my copy of the book.  Though I have an e-version of Princess Bride, I will not part with that print book, with the letter inserted.  (And yes, I’m wearing socks as I type this—not sure they’re that excellent, though!)

  16. Erin says:

    Alice Hoffman’s Practical Magic. I’ve worn out 2 copies already, but I received a Kindle version last year for Christmas, so I’m set for life now!

  17. Katrina Fast says:

    Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones. 

  18. eleine says:

    There’s just too many books to choose from..but among them would be Mercedes Lackey’s The Black Swan. And Gail Carriger’s Soulless (and many, many more! :D)

  19. Betts says:

    Racing the Moon by Terri Prone. I’ve taken it every time I’ve moved since I was 18, even when I only had two suitcases. I just love it to pieces.

  20. Amy S. says:

    The Outsiders be S.E. Hinton plus the teen magazine from The Outsiders movie that I got too.  I special ordered it.

  21. Erin F says:

    I have a giant library that I would weep like a jilted bride if I ever lost. But if I had to do a Sophia’s choice and pick only one that would be 5 smooth stones by Ann Fairbairn. I had to hunt down and pay $45 for a new copy when the old, first edition copy I found for a $1 at a book sale fell apart. Love that book.

  22. KarenF says:

    Tam Lin by Pamela Dean.  In fact, I have two copies – a taped together copy from the original print run, which I later was able to have signed by the author.  It’s too fragile to read any longer, but luckily there was a re-issue trade version about five years ago. It’s my comfort book, and I’ve re-read it at least once a year since I first read it in the early 1990s.  In fact, I’ve even made a road trip to Northfield, MN (the town that is fictionalized in the book) and re-read it there, too.

  23. Karalee says:

    My entire Black Dagger Brotherhood series.  It’s ratted and barely hanging on a thread from many, many re-reads! 

  24. So many great ones that it’s hard to pick just one, but I’ll go with A Knight in Shining Armor by Jude Deveraux.  I once read it on tape for my best friend to listen to on a long drive she had to make alone. I still have both the print & recorded copies

  25. SarahJ says:

    I have two.  Daughter of the Forest by Juliet Marillier and Silver Fountains by Beverley Hughesdon.  I read both at least twice a year.

  26. SarahCW says:

    My copy of Slightly Dangerous by Mary Balogh is so worn that I’ll probably need a new one soon. I can never get enough Wulfric (he makes me shiver in the very best way!) and I secretly want to be friends with Christine.

  27. Julcad says:

    The book that I would take anywhere/has pride of place on my bookshelf/would grab in a burning building is a copy of Anne of Green Gables.  Not only is it one of my favourite books but the hardback copy I own was given as a school prize to my grandmother, who gave it to my Mum.  My Mum gave it to me when my daughter was born, saying that every girl needs to read the “Anne” books.

    So, a favourite novel and a battered copy with sentimental value.

  28. Marv says:

    Lord of Scoundrels, it’s the book I’ve most re-read ever. 

  29. Lostshadows says:

    Tempting Fate by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro. I love the book, it still makes me sob like a baby at one point, but it seems to be one of the books in it’s series that’s out of print. (In physical form anyway, I’m so totally buying it again if I ever get an ereader.)

  30. rissatoo says:

    I have a shelf of ‘must keep forever’ books, but my tattered copy of Anne McCaffrey’s Dragonsinger, which I’ve had since middle school, is THE one.

  31. Lisa J says:

    My copy of Noisy Nora.  My nephews and niece loved this book and we read it to them often.

  32. Tina says:

    With the internet and the library, there’s always something to read, so I rarely re-read anymore.  That said, as I mentally scanned over my library of books, the ones that I’d most one to hang onto are my Tanya Huff books, particularly the Blood books and the Quartered series.  If the house catches fire, those books are going into the cat carrier with the cats and we’re all getting out of here.

  33. Black Dragon Mama says:

    My copy of The Ringed Castle by Dorothy Dunnett.  It’s not my favorite of the series (that would be Checkmate) but it is the one I would save from a burning building.  I bought it at a used bookstore a few years ago and noticed after I got it home that it was autographed!  Since she has been dead a number of years it is an extra special copy.

  34. Shawny Jean says:

    Ditto on Daughter of the Forest. I think it’s the only one of my teenage fantasy books still on my shelf, meaning it’s moved across 4 provinces, 2 time zones, and at least 8 apartments/houses in the last 15 years.

  35. Milly says:

    Ivanhoe – Sir Walter Scott.  I first read it in Grade 8 and was totally awed by the descriptiveness.  As I got older, I was enamoured by the legends it combined and later came to wonder what would have happened if the hero actually defied convention and decided on the anti-heroine! Love that book.

  36. Pria says:

    Mary Stewart’s This Rough Magic. I read my aunt’s copy as a tween and have never given it back over the years! I love the Shakespearian actor characters, the setting and the heroine who doesn’t mind going out in the middle of the night to find her sister’s lost ring. It all seems absurd but it’s still one of my best comfort reads today (though the ending is all bloke-y and a bit gory!)

  37. Lanty11 says:

    Since I absolutely LOVE anything Kresley Cole writes, I have a soft spot in my heart for “A Hunger Like No Other,” the first book of hers I read.  In fact, I have 3 hard copies, in case like, you know, two of them spontaneously combust or something.

  38. Brandi E says:

    I have a copy of The Song of Roland that I’ve had since high school… Even then,  I had to go on a mission to find it in this little book store.  I live that book,  in all its crumbliness.

  39. rebecca moe says:

    I’m going to regress a bit and say two books I’ve re-read nearly every year since first reading them—The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare and Rilla of Ingleside (last in the Anne of Green Gables series by L.M. Montgomery). I had literally read three copies of Witch to pieces by the time I was in college, and now I have both books in print form, ebook, and audiobook.

    Not that I’m obsessed or anything. (My socks have manatees on them. Does it get more excellent than that?)

  40. charley says:

    I’ve had a copy of SUNSHINE by Robin McKinley with me since 2007, in half a dozen states, three countries, and two and a half continents.

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