Sunday at Tiffany's by James Patterson Audiobook Giveaway

Who wouldn't want to win a copy of James Patterson's book Sunday at Tiffany's on Audio? Well, 3 lucky people will have that chance. To enter, just leave a comment and I will draw 3 winners on January 24th. Only residents of the US and Canada are eligible, and please no P.O. Boxes. Thanks!

About the Book:

As a little girl, Jane has no one. Her mother Vivienne Margaux, the powerful head of a major New York theater company has no time for her. But she does have one friend--Michael--and no one can see him but her. But Michael can't stay with Jane forever, and on her eighth birthday, her imaginary friend must leave her.

When Jane is in her thirties, working for her mother's company, she is just as alone as she was as a child. Her boyfriend hardly knows she's there and is more interested in what Vivienne can do for his career. Her mother practically treats her as a slave in the office, despite the great success of Jane's first play, "Thank Heaven." Then she finds Michael--handsome, and just the same as she remembers him, only now he's not imaginary. For once in her life, Jane is happy--and has someone who loves her back. But not even Michael knows the reason behind why they've really been reunited.

The 2009 ARC Reading Challenge

This sounded like a great challenge to me and I am going to follow Teddy's version of ARC - anything sent to me by a publisher or author-as an ARC. I do know that this isn't truly what an ARC is, but this will help me keep track of the books I receive.

Here are the rules:
1. To sign up, leave a comment and a direct link to your blog post about this challenge that includes your list from rule #2.

2. List all of the ARC's that you have to read right now. Then throughout the year, you must continue updating that list as you receive more ARC's. (This is important). You should also strike out the ones that you finish.

3. a. All of us who have or will have more than 12 ARC's must read and review 12.

b. All of us who have or will have less than 12 ARC's must read all of the ARC's we have. Note, that if you have 11 ARC's and then receive a 12th one you will be bumped up to catagory a.

4. You don't have to make a list of which ARC's you plan to read, but you can if you want.

5. Crossovers with other challenges are allowed and Audio-books are allowed as long as they are ARC's.

6. Read the books and review them on your blog. If you don't have a blog, you can post your review on sites like Powells, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, etc. Leave a comment on this post with a link to each of your reviews.

7. Please subscribe to my blog, as I will be posting updates to the challenge periodically.

8. Enjoy!

To sign up click here.

Here is my current list:

1. An Offer You Can't Refuse by Jill Mansell

2. Sucks to be Me by Kimberly Pauley

3. Ruby River by Lynn Pruett

4. Modern Magic by Anne Cordwainer

5. Roads to Quoz by William Least Heat-Moon

6. Lost and Found by Carolyn Parkhurst

7. Kitty and the Dead Man's Hand by Carrie Vaughn

8. Be Strong and Curvaceous by Shelley Adina

9. Drood by Dan Simmons

10. Rock Bottom by Michael Shilling

11. Run For Your Life by James Patterson

12. Houston, We Have a Problema by Gwendolyn Zepeda

13. Love and Other Natural Disasters by Holly Shumas - finished 01/02/09

14. Above the Law by Tim Green

15. The Little Giant of Aberdeen County by Tiffany Baker

16. Cross Country by James Patterson (audio)

17. Call Me Ted by Ted Turner (audio)

18. Along Stone's Throw by Alphie McCourt (audio)

19. No Experts Needed by Louise Lewis

20. Katie and Kimble by Linda Thieman

21. Blood Harvest by Brant Randall

22. Beat the Reaper by Josh Bazell

23. Kissing Games of the World by Sandi Kahn Shelton

Against Medical Advice by James Patterson and Hal Friedman

Hardcover: 304 pages
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company; 1 edition (October 1, 2008)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0316024759
ISBN-13: 978-0316024754

About the book:

Cory Friedman woke up one morning when he was five years old with the uncontrollable urge to twitch his neck. From that day forward his life became a hell of irrepressible tics and involuntary utterances, and Cory embarked on an excruciating journey from specialist to specialist to discover the cause of his disease. Soon it became unclear what tics were symptoms of his disease and what were side effects of the countless combinations of drugs. The only certainty is that it kept getting worse. Simply put: Cory Friedman's life was a living hell.

AGAINST MEDICAL ADVICE is the true story of Cory and his family's decades-long battle for survival in the face of extraordinary difficulties and a maddening medical establishment. It is a heart-rending story of struggle and triumph with a climax as dramatic as any James Patterson thriller.

I must admit, the story itself is heart wrenching. I'm sure anyone who reads this book will feel a small sense of the desperation and despair that the Friedman's felt for the best part of 13 years.

And the courage shown by the entire family in general, and by Cory specifically, shows what special people they are. To even share the story at all took an enormous amount of courage, and for that they are to be commended.

With all that said though, I personally had a hard time reading this book. While I understand the need to explain the behaviors, "tics" as they are called, since they are central to the story itself, I felt it was over explained and made the book drag and become difficult to read.

Also, I didn't feel it was necessary to spend as much time as was devoted to medications. Again, while some of that information was certainly necessary, I felt it was discussed too much.

"Against Medical Advice" isn't a bad book. It surely is a triumph of the spirit and I applaud the Friedmans for having the courage to share this very intimate journey with us all. The writing, as always, is fantastic, and although the details bored me at times it is no fault of the authors. This book just wasn't for me.