Giveaway of Awesomesauce

Contest is now closed; winners will be announced on June 5.

I was going to wait until my hundredth post to do this, because 100 is one of those big round numbers, but in the end I couldn’t wait. Instead, I am celebrating my 62nd post. Not coincidentally, it is this one.

Behold, therefore, the Giveaway of Awesomesauce:

To celebrate my 62nd post, I am giving away not one, not three, but five books. Five! That is one for every finger on one of your hands. That is 2.5 for each of your eyeballs. That is a whole integer more than four. You get the idea.

Here are the lovely lovely books you can win:

1) Atonement, by Ian McEwan. Astute readers may remember that I hated this book. That doesn’t mean, however, that you will hate it — I keep hearing from people who loved it to bits. Fortunately, say I, there is a taste for every book and a book for every taste. And I will say this: McEwan’s prose is every-inch astounding. It’s seriously fantastic. Even if, like me, you do not like this book, I can say that you will nevertheless be enriched for having read it.

2) Dining with Death, by Kathleen Molloy. I got this book in the mail, read it, loved it, and then asked for another copy to give to one of you people. This book will also come with $0.05 in genuine and exotic Canadian Tire money, which inexplicably came tucked in between pages 218 and 219. You can find my review here.

3) Asleep, by Banana Yoshimoto. I bought this book basically because the author’s pseudonym is “Banana” and I’m the kind of person who finds that hilarious. And I was not disappointed in my choice! I though that Asleep was strange and perfectly delightful. There are three stories in this book: the first, about a young woman who begins sleepwalking as she mourns her lost lover; the second, about a young woman haunted in her sleep by a woman who had once been her rival in a love triangle; and the last, about a woman who is in a relationship with a man whose wife is in a coma, and suddenly cannot stay awake. Like I said — strange but wonderful.

3) The Ovum Factor, by Marvin L. Zimmerman. This is another one of those wonderful books that got sent to me in the mail (how I love that). It’s an “eco-thriller” (I still don’t really know what that means) and is fast-paced and quite enjoyable. Review is up here.

4) Swimming Pool Sunday, by Madeleine Wickham. You may know that “Madeleine Wickham” is the real name of Sophie Kinsella. This is her third novel, I believe, and it’s really very good. Like with Kinsella’s better-known works, her characterization is very strong — but this is rather less flippant than the Shopaholic novels, and I think much stronger as well. Review is here.

And here is what to do:

If you’re interested, drop me a comment on this post. Every comment earns one entry into the draw.

For more entries, link to this contest on your blog. That will earn you two more entries (over and above your one for commenting). Let me know by sending a trackback, posting with the address of your post, or emailing me the link at sadoatcakes[at]gmail[dot]com.

This contest will run from today, May 27, to Thursday, June 3 at midnight EST. On the fourth I’ll use a random number generator to pick the winners — drawn separately for each book in the order in which they appear above. I will announce the winners and begin contacting them on June 5.*

The end. And best of luck!

*Note: I am willing to ship worldwide, but if you are far away it’ll take longer to get your book because I’m cheap and I only send via surface mail. But that shouldn’t matter! It’s free!