Literary Quote of the Month

"A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies," said Jojen. "The man who never reads lives only one." - George R.R. Martin, A Dance With Dragons

Thursday, December 31, 2009

Giveaway: The Little Giant of Aberdeen County by Tiffany Baker... A Great Book Club Selection!

The Little Giant of Aberdeen County by Tiffany Baker

Congratulations to Jonita, Beth and Marilu! They each won a copy of The Little Giant of Aberdeen County! Thank you to EVERYONE for joining in on the fun by entering and tweeting the giveaway!

When Truly Plaice's mother was pregnant, the town of Aberdeen joined together in betting how recordbreakingly huge the baby boy would ultimately be. The girl who proved to be Truly paid the price of her enormity; her father blamed her for her mother's death in childbirth, and was totally ill equipped to raise either this giant child or her polar opposite sister Serena Jane, the epitome of femine perfection. When he, too, relinquished his increasingly tenuous grip on life, Truly and Serena Jane are separated--Serena Jane to live a life of privilege as the future May Queen and Truly to live on the outskirts of town on the farm of the town sadsack, the subject of constant abuse and humiliation at the hands of her peers.

Serena Jane's beauty proves to be her greatest blessing and her biggest curse, for it makes her the obsession of classmate Bob Bob Morgan, the youngest in a line of Robert Morgans who have been doctors in Aberdeen for generations. Though they have long been the pillars of the community, the earliest Robert Morgan married the town witch, Tabitha Dyerson, and the location of her fabled shadow book--containing mysterious secrets for healing and darker powers--has been the subject of town gossip ever since. Bob Bob Morgan, one of Truly's biggest tormentors, does the unthinkable to claim the prize of Serena Jane, and changes the destiny of all Aberdeen from there on.

When Serena Jane flees town and a loveless marriage to Bob Bob, it is Truly who must become the woman of a house that she did not choose and mother to her eight-year-old nephew Bobbie. Truly's brother-in-law is relentless and brutal; he criticizes her physique and the limitations of her health as a result, and degrades her more than any one human could bear. It is only when Truly finds her calling--the ability to heal illness with herbs and naturopathic techniques--hidden within the folds of Robert Morgan's family quilt, that she begins to regain control over her life and herself. Unearthed family secrets, however, will lead to the kind of betrayal that eventually break the Morgan family apart forever, but Truly's reckoning with her own demons allows for both an uprooting of Aberdeen County, and the possibility of love in unexpected places.

The Little Giant of Aberdeen County by Tiffany Baker has the qualities of a great book club selection, with a good story, interesting characters, complicated family dynamics and a sympathetic protagonist. Plenty of story to make a good roundtable discussion at your next reading group get together. Below you will find the reading group guide from the publisher to help a discussion along. But even if you don't belong to a reading group, reading group guides offer an individual reader insight into the story too. A story of "friendship, love and identity", this book has gotten plenty of good buzz, and is coming out in paperback in January! Look for my review coming soon, but in the meantime would you like to read an excerpt? Here's a link to Chapter One! How about winning a copy for yourself?! Courtesy of Valerie of Hachette Book Group, I have 3 copies for a giveaway! Here's how...

To Enter this giveaway...

*For one entry leave me a comment with your email address!

*Get an extra entry for following my blog! Just leave a comment letting me know you're a follower! ( Not a follower yet? No problem, sign up by clicking on the 'followers" button on the sidebar to the right! Just let me know you became a new follower!)

*Blog or tweet about this giveaway and leave me the link.

This giveaway is open to US and Canadian residents only.(No PO boxes). The books will be shipped to the winners directly from the publisher. Contest ends 11:59pm EST on Jan. 23rd. I will randomly pick the winners the next day and email them! (please check your email.. winner must reply to me within 3 days! Thanks!) Good Luck!

...............................................

Reading Group Guide

1. Truly is the “little giant” of this book, yet her size seems to make her less, rather than more, visible to the town around her. Can you explain this phenomenon? What do you think the author is trying to say about her outsider status?

2. Serena Jane and Truly are as physically different as sisters can be, yet Truly sees that this difference is crucial, explaining “the reason the two of us were as opposite as sewage and spring water, I thought, was that pretty can’t exist without ugly.” (pp. 97-98) How would you describe Truly and Serena’s connection? How is it different from Truly’s relationship with Amelia Dyerson? Which seems the more genuine sisterhood to you?

3. As the successor to a long line of old-fashioned, small-town doctors, Robert Morgan is traditional, strict, and often cruel. I the end, however, the legacy terminates with him and he becomes Aberdeen’s last Dr. Morgan. How do he and Bobbie stray from the family paradigm? What Morgan characteristics stayed with each of them? Is the town “more modern” without a Dr. Morgan, and with Bobbie and Salvatore’s restaurant instead? Is the replacement of nurturing through nourishment rather than doctoring a symbolic replacement?

4. Death haunts Truly and all of Aberdeen, sometimes in unexpected ways. As a gardener, Marcus’s aim is to “make things live,” but, as Truly realizes, “wasn’t it also true that gardeners were always wrestling with death, whether in the form of drought, or blight, or hungry insects? In a garden, Marcus always said, death was the first, last and only fact of life.” What other parallels do you see in the ways Marcus and Truly court life and death?

5. Truly’s size marks her as an outcast, but throughout the novel, other characters have trouble “fitting in” in a more figurative way. Examine how this manifests in Bobbie, Marcus, Amelia, even Serena Jane. What larger point do you this the author might be trying to make about the importance of conforming?

6. What role does Aberdeen County play in the novel? Could the story or these characters exist elsewhere? Do the effects of the 60s and the Vietnam War seem to touch Aberdeen in the same way they touched the rest of the country? What is unique and what is not about Aberdeen as a setting?

7. When Amelia discovers how Priscilla Sparrow and Robert Morgan died, she asks Truly whether it was mercy or murder that killed them. What do you think? How do you feel about Truly’s actions? What in Truly’s character draws her to “collect souls” as she comes to call it?

8. When Marcus and Truly finally come together, Marcus says “We’re not exactly a match made in heaven, you and I, but I figure we’re good enough for here on earth” (p. 334) What does he mean by this? Do you agree?

9. Why doesn’t Robert Morgan “care” that his son runs away? What does it say about what he thinks of himself? How does this connect to Serena Jane’s leaving and his reaction to that event?

10. After Robert Morgan’s death, Truly gradually takes on some of his responsibilities as town doctor by using the knowledge she’s gained from Tabitha’s quilt. How is this a fitting purpose for Truly, and a fitting counterpoint to the legacy of Morgan doctors?

11. What about this story is larger than life or possesses elements of a tall tale or folklore? How are these details woven into the story? How is the book similar to or different from other works in this tradition?

*P.S. This Book is Kindle Ready!

102 comments:

Renee said...

I'd like to be entered in this giveaway.


reneesuz82(at)msn(d0t)com

Renee said...

I follow on google.

reneesuz82(at)msn(d0t)com

Jennifer said...

Thanks for the giveaway!

jennifer(dot)arnold11(at)gmail(dot)com

Jennifer said...

I'm a follower!

Jennifer said...

I Tweeted!

http://twitter.com/jenniferarnold

The Book Chick said...

Please enter me in this giveaway!

jonitathebookchick(at)gmail(dot)com

The Book Chick said...

I am a current follower!

jonitathebookchick(at)gmail(dot)com

The Book Chick said...

I've added this contest to my sidebar at http://book-chic.blogspot.com. Thanks!

jonitathebookchick(at)gmail(dot)com

A Bookshelf Monstrosity said...

I'd love to be entered for this one.

fitz12383(at)hotmail(dot)com

A Bookshelf Monstrosity said...

I'm also a follower.

fitz12383(at)hotmail(dot)com

rubynreba said...

Please enter me for this interesting book!
pbclark(at)netins(dot)net

rubynreba said...

I am a follower
pbclark(at)netins(dot)net

Lorri S said...

I've been wanting to read this for a while :)

jeannesgifts{at}gmaildotcom

Lorri S said...

I'm a Follower also.

fredamans said...

Happy New year!

freda.mans[at]sympatico.ca

fredamans said...

Tweet; http://twitter.com/fredalicious/status/7240698846

freda.mans[at]sympatico.ca

Shana said...

I'd love to be entered, it sounds like an interesting read :)

piscesvirgo(at)gmail(dot)com

Shana said...

Current follower

piscesvirgo(at)gmail(dot)com

Unknown said...

I would love to win this book.
amandarwest at gmail dot com

Unknown said...

I follow via google reader.
amandarwest at gmail dot com

Unknown said...

I tweeted. http://twitter.com/amandawk/status/7244040371

Tea said...

I would love to win and read "The Little Giant of Aberdeen County."

teakettle58atyahoodotcom

Tea said...

I follow you in Google Reader.

Tea said...

I have linked to you from my blog. Thanks for entering me.

nan said...

I'd love to be entered. Happy New Year!
vtgoat[at]gmail[dot]com

Simply Stacie said...

Please count me in.

simplystacieblog at gmail dot com

Simply Stacie said...

follower

simplystacieblog at gmail dot com

Linda Kish said...

Please include me.

lkish77123 at gmail dot com

Linda Kish said...

google reader follower

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debijackson said...

Please enter me in the giveaway. jacksond@nhr3.net

debijackson said...

I follow ur blog publicly.

stpand said...

Please enter me, thanks!

Cheryl said...

Oh wow, this book sounds fantastic. Please enter me. Thank you for the opportunity to enter my name.

Cheryl said...

I follow via Google Friends Connect

Cheryl said...

Tweet

http://twitter.com/HeartnSoulmom/status/7261852001

Winning Readings said...

I'd love to read this!

janemaritz at yahoo dot com

Winning Readings said...

And I'm a follower.

janemaritz at yahoo dot com

Anonymous said...

please count me in...thanks.

karenk
kmkuka(at)yahoo(dot)com

bashtree said...

enter me please!

makeway4ducklings at gmail

bashtree said...

i'm a blog follower!

Susan O'Bryant said...

I've seen so many great reviews of this book, would love to have a copy!

susanaudrey316 at gmail dot com

Susan O'Bryant said...

And I'm a follower!

susanaudrey316 at gmail dot com

Susan O'Bryant said...

And I tweeted about this giveaway here:

http://twitter.com/susanaudrey/status/7277853193

susanaudrey316 at gmail dot com

Marilu said...

I would love to win this. Please enter me.

lovemykidsandbooks AT gmail DOT com

Marilu said...

I am a follower!

lovemykidsandbooks AT gmail DOT com

justpeachy36 said...

justpeachy36@yahoo.com

Please enter me in the giveaway.

I am a follower.

Michele said...

sounds like a good read. Please enter me.

mmmtnbike09@yahoo.com

Michele said...

I'm a follower

mmmtnbike09@yahoo.com

nfmgirl said...

I've been wanting this book. Please count me in. Thank you!

nfmgirl AT gmail DOT com

nfmgirl said...

I follow

nfmgirl AT gmail DOT com

nfmgirl said...

Blogged:
http://cerebralgirl.blogspot.com/2010/01/book-giveaways-in-blogworld-1-02-10.html

nfmgirl AT gmail DOT com

Bani said...

Book looks unique and interesting, if I win it'll be fun to come back and check out the Reading Group Guide after finishing the book. :)

wakeupangel at gmail dot com

Bani said...

I'm a follower via Google Connect, name is Bani.

Bani said...

Tweeted here- http://twitter.com/baniclips/status/7329417705

(Diane) Bibliophile By the Sea said...

Please enter me in giveaway, i am a follower.

bostonredsoxfever AT gmail DOT com

thanks

Unknown said...

Me! Me! but seriously, ME! ;-) aitmama {ta} gmail {tod} com

Unknown said...

follower

Unknown said...

http://twitter.com/aitmama/status/7450728366

kalynnick said...

Enter me in please. Thanks!

kalynnick AT yahoo DOT com

Anonymous said...

Sounds like a fascinating book... Please accept this as my entry. Thank you!

Aliya D.
aliyadaya(at)shaw(dot)ca

sharon54220 said...

This book has been on my radar for quite a while. Thanks for the chance.

sharon54220@gmail.com

sharon54220 said...

I am also a follower.

sharon54220@gmail.com

Jo-Jo said...

I would love to win this book!
joannelong74 AT gmail DOT com

Tina said...

would love to win

tbranco(at)hughes (dot)net

Jan said...

Would love to read this book. Please count me in.

alongtheway(at)telus(dot)net

Jan said...

I am a follower

alongtheway(at)telus(dot)net

Anonymous said...

Would love to read this book.

rhoneygtn at yahoo dot com

Anonymous said...

Tweeted: http://twitter.com/rhoneygee/status/7577142327

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janetfaye said...

I would love to read this!

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janetfaye said...

I follow - janetfaye

janetfaye (at) gmail (dot) com

Lori said...

Enter me in pls
dlsmith44@msn.com

Anonymous said...

Sounds like a good read—please enter me to win! Thanks!

Sheila
skkorman@bellsouth.net

Misusedinnocence said...

I would love to read this!

misusedinnocence@aol.com

Sarah E said...

Please enter me in this giveaway!

saemmerson at yahoo dot com

Sarah E

Sarah E said...

I follow your blog.

saemmerson at yahoo dot com

Sarah E

Sarah E said...

I tweeted:

https://twitter.com/saemmerson/status/7784406545

saemmerson at yahoo dot com

Sarah E

ANovelMenagerie said...

I'd love to win and review this book!

Anonymous said...

Please throw my name in the hat.
stacybuckeye

kristinemarie7 said...

I added this to my blog.
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Unknown said...

This book is on my tbr list and I would love to win a copy. Please enter me in your giveaway!

Thank you!

Amy
Aimala127@gmail.com

Unknown said...

I am a faithful google friend connect follower and blogger dashboard follower!


Amy
Aimala127@gmail.com

Unknown said...

I tweeted this giveaway here:
Book Giveaway

Thank you!

Amy
Aimala127@gmail.com

(Diane) Bibliophile By the Sea said...

I would love to win this book. I am a follower.

bibliophilebythesea AT gmail DOT com

FlyFreeMyBooks said...

I keep hearing good things about this book. Please enter me.
ludeluh(at)yahoo(dot)com

FlyFreeMyBooks said...

I am also a follower.
ludeluh(at)yahoo(dot)com

Unknown said...

Please count me in

shopgurl101@gmail.com

Unknown said...

follower

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Unknown said...

twitter: http://twitter.com/shopgurl/status/7858414600

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Anita Yancey said...

I would love to win a copy of this book. I've been wanting to read this book for a while now. Please enter me. Thanks!

ayancey(at)dishmail(dot)net

Jo-Jo said...

I blogged about your contest here.
joannelong74 AT gmail DOT com

Donna said...

I would love to win a copy of this book.
dogdmc48@hotmail.com

Michelle said...

This sounds like such an interesting book.

michellemsherman(at)gmail(dot)com

Michelle said...

Also, I'm a new follower!

michellemsherman(at)gmail(dot)com

Margie said...

I'd like to read this book. Thanks
mtakala1 AT yahoo DOT com

Margie said...

follower of your blog
mtakala1 AT yahoo DOT com

Jennifer said...

I have been wanting to read this book after o many wonderful reviews. Thank you for the chance.

knittingmomof3 (AT) gmail (DOT) com

Jennifer said...

I am indeed a follower.

knittingmomof3 (AT) gmail (DOT) com

Jennifer said...

Tweeted: https://twitter.com/knittingmomof3/status/8088686289
knittingmomof3 (AT) gmail (DOT) com

Renee G said...

Would love to read this.
rsgrandinetti@yahoo(DOT)com

CherylS22 said...

I've read nothing but good things about this book & would love to read it! Thanks for the opportunity ~

megalon22 at yahoo dot com

CherylS22 said...

I already follow in GFC
megalon22 at yahoo dot com

FrankSandy said...

I follow you. walkerd@primus.ca

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