Bookburger

Giveaway results to be announced Thursday

hey all...we are tabulating the results for what is quite possibly the biggest giveaway in burger history....we'll be announcing them on Thursday, Feb 21. If we don't have an email address for you, it will be up to you to get in touch to collect your prize....don't miss out!

don't forget our honking great big giveaway

you can win five brand-spanking-new books...check out all the details here. It's our biggest giveaway ever and it's running through February 12...

quite possibly the biggest giveaway in burger history

Burgerfolk, this is epic. We're giving away FIVE SETS of the following juicy reads....

Gossip Girl Prequel: It Had to Be You by Cecily von Ziegesar

Poseur by Rachel Maude

Sealed With a Diss: A Clique Novel by Lisi Harrison

Beautiful Stranger: An A-List Novel by Zoey Dean

Lucky: An It Girl Novel by Cecily von Ziegesar

So how does one win this five-book set? We're trying a new giveaway strategy:

1. If you email us, you're automatically entered to win--only one entry per email address allowed. Send emails to mail at bookburger.com.

2. HERE'S HOW TO INCREASE YOUR CHANCES BIG-TIME: Mention bookburger on your MySpace, Facebook, blog, or any other page, link to us, then copy the link in a comment below. Do that, and you're entered FIVE times. So you've got FIVE times more chances to win....

Get it, burgerfolk? The contest is open until midnight, February 12. Good luck, hungry readers!

giveaway: The Official Punk Rock Book of Lists

We make to-do lists, shopping lists, wish lists...but somehow our lists just don't ROCK. The ones in this new book do....The Official Punk Rock Book of Lists is the handiwork of Handsome Dick Manitoba of the  Dictators and Amy Wallace of the original Book of Lists. They're billing this book as "Essential bathroom reading!!!! " but we like it at the breakfast table, actually. We loved learning how about The Pogues got their name and what Mario Batali's favorite pizzas in the world are. (What does that have to do with punk rock? According to this tome, pizza is the MOST punk rock food of all.)

Anyhow, we have a brand-new copy of The Official Punk Rock Book of Lists to give away....so lace up your Doc Martens and add a comment to this post to be automatically entered to win! [contest ended 1.2.2008] (Just kidding about the Doc Martens--you can be wearing fluffy bunny slippers and we'll still give you your prize if you win!)

Also, we figured we'd give our bookburger pop quiz to the punk authorities who penned this book. Both Amy Wallace and Handsome Dick answered....


Who is your favorite writer that most people have never heard of?

Robert Aickman, Algernon Blackwood -- Edith Wharton --- you may know her -- Yasunari Kawabata who remains the only Japanese Nobel Prize for literature winner, T.E.D. Klein -- 4 stars. - Amy

What kid or teen books rocked your world growing up?

First horror -- Roald Dahl's grown-up then kid books; Peanuts; Dr. Seuss; a British fruitcake workaholic named Enid Blyton, who never hit over here. A Wrinkle in Time.  Ray Bradbury. "The Phantom Tollbooth" by Norton Juster; and (HOW COULD I FORGET!): COMICS!  ALL KINDS, especially Marvel, early Dr. Strange, Fantastic Four, Spiderman, etc.  I was never without a comic in my hand and was allowed to read them at the dinner table.  That's how I acquired a very large vocabulary really young. Any dirty books I could steal from my parents' shelves. - Amy

Describe your ideal place to write.

In bed by hand. - Amy

Your life is a TV series. Name the theme song, one event that would be on the "best of" episode, and one that would be on the blooper reel.

-The Handsome Dick Manitoba Program
"The Party Starts Now"
EPISODE..."HAPPY BIRTHDAY JAKE"
500 Rock and roll fans in Gijon, Spain,DEC. 1, 2006 singing , "Happy Birthday",in English, to my son Jake Koufax Manitoba on his birthday, while I was about to start singing "The American Ruse", with DKT/MC5.

BLOOPER EPISODE:  "One Too Many Quaaludes"...The band was at rehearsal already on Manhattan's west side,and didn't know where I was, and neither did I, 'cause I took one too many Quaaludes, and fell asleep on someone's floor...somewhere in Westchester with my pal Claire, from The Bronx. - HDM

Burger-flippers want to know: have you ever had a job that required you to wear a geeky uniform? Details, please!

From the age of 19 to 29, I worked as a professional psychic reader.  Even got written up in Cosmopolitan Magazine.   I sometimes resorted to geeky crystal rings and a crystal ball, hippie clothes and mu-mu's, and Birkenstocks (even Earth Shoes!! Shame on me.)  I had a homemade smocked dress that was really the pits. - Amy

We'd like to name a burger in your honor.  What kind of fixins should
it have?

-THE PERFECT MANIBURGER...No fixins...Whether char-broiled or pan grilled...The right kind of meat(a decent amount of fat)...The right bun..Slightly toasted on the pan,w/seeds...A soft "classic" hamburger bun ONLY...Burger btwn. 4-7 OZ., NEVER BIGGER!...More is NOT BETTER in BURGERWORLD......rare to med-rare ONLY....A little ketchup and salt...If done right...That is the PERFECT BURGER and needs no fixins other than these two burger staples. - HDM

Mal Peet...between the buns

Mal Peet. We just love his name. Mal Peet. It sounds like some delicious dutch treat, something sprinkled with powdered sugar and chocolate sauce. Anyhow, he is most definitely not a baked goodie. Nope, he's the author of Tamar: A Novel of Espionage, Passion and Betrayal--winner of the Carnegie medal no less--and of a brand-new novel, The Penalty, which is described as "a time-shifting thriller about a vanishing soccer star, occult secrets, and the dark history of slavery." Whoa....any guy who can make those elements work together has got to be some kind of genius, right?  So we put his genius to the test and gave him our much-feared and yet beloved Bookburger pop quiz....

Who is your favorite writer that most people have never heard of?  Gabriel Garcia Marquez, William Trevor, Russell Hoban, Donald Barthelme, Geraldine Mcaughrean (check out her Not the End of the World and The White Darkness)

What kid or teen books rocked your world growing up? Back in the Stone Age when I was growing up, there wasn't really any teen writing. Between 10 and 13 I had a serious Biggles habit. Biggles (Captain James Bigglesworth) was a fighter pilot in World War I. The kind of plane he flew was a Sopwith Camel, which, incidentally, is what Snoopy flies in the Peanuts cartoon strips. After that, I guess I went straight on to adult stuff. I was into US crime fiction pretty quickly, and haven't grown out of it yet. I still love Elmore Leonard.

Describe your ideal place to write. The attic I write in now, but transported to some tropical paradise where lovely women with dark eyes bring me exotic cocktails every couple of hours and soothe my fevered brow.

Your life is a TV series. Name the theme song, one event that would be on the "best of" episode, and one that would be on the blooper reel. Good Grief! Ummm... the theme tune would have to be 'So What?' by Miles Davis. That would be a good title for the series, come to think of it. I'm struggling to think of an event that wouldn't be on the blooper reel... Nope, can't do it.

Burger-flippers want to know: have you ever had a job that required you to wear a geeky uniform? Details, please! The Lord has been merciful to me when it comes to geekwear. Worst I've had, I think, was a dinky little waiter's jacket and a bow tie (in which I looked dead cool, as I remember). Mind you, you have to remember I haven't had a proper job for thirty years.

We'd like to name a burger in your honor.  What kind of fixins should
it have? Wow. I'm not worthy, but thanks. OK, I guess it would have to be the El Gato: free-range catburger (preferably from the one that yowls in my yard at night) with jalapeno chutney and lemon mayo, with dried chili flakes on the fries. Hot!!

Win a copy of TAMAR: A NOVEL OF ESPIONAGE, PASSION, AND BETRAYAL——signed by author Mal Peet! How? Easy! Just add a comment below...we'll pick a winner at random on Tuesday, November 20.  

free iphone anyone?

we at bookburger are not early adopters. we like to wait until the kink-worker-outers have done their jobs before we jump on any new-technology bandwagon. so we feel good that (unlike our older brother) we didn't rush out on that fateful day earlier this year when the iphones first appeared in stores. we feel smug that we waited until apple dropped the price two hundred bucks. only problem: $399 is still not cheap enough for us, and we still don't have one!

Enter the great minds who publish the Gossip Girls books. They're giving away an iphone on the GG website! Go here to enter through November 14. Just don't win. We've got dibs!

you may have already won Naomi and Ely's No Kiss List...

especially if your name is Alexandra! Congrats Alex! Email us at dj at bookburger .com to claim your free copy of this beautiful yellow new novel.

fall reading list part two

Burger interviewee Rachel Cohn has a new one coming out, and once again she's teamed up with David Levithan, her co-author on the fabulously musical Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist. This one's called Naomi and Ely's No Kiss List. It's about two childhood friends--a gal and h er gay dude pal--and what happens when they both fall for the same guy. Oh yeah, and there's a chihuahua named Cutie Pie...we love what happens when these two authors get together on the page, and we can't wait to read this one. We've got a brand new copy to give away, too...want it? Comment below and we'll pick a winner on September 15.

What's so great about Stephenie Meyer's Eclipse?

  uh...like, everything? We're just bummed that we were too late to enter to win one of these bitchin' Team Edward/Team Jacob tees, which they were giving away at the spiffy new Eclipse website. We're glad we caught up with megaseller Steph way back when she was a mere bestseller. 

Now, to get you in that back-to-school frame of mind, today's essay question....
Zac Efron as Edward: cool idea or horrible crime against literature?

Seriously, we'll pick a random winner from everyone who comments below on Eclipse...the lucky duck will nab an audio version of Eclipse...

birthday blowout extravaganza giveaway!

well, burgerfolk,they said it couldn't be done--they said we'd never last...(ok nobody ever actually said that) but still it's our one-year anniversary this week...OUR FIRST BIRTHDAY!

To celebrate, we're going to be giving away books galore....here are a few of the titles up for grabs:

The Blonde Theory by Kristin Harmel
Because She Can by Bridie Clark
Anatomy of a Boyfriend by Daria Snadowsky
Cures for Heartbreak by Margo Rabb
The New and Improved Vivian Leigh Reid: Diva In Control by Yvonne Collins and Sandy Rideout
Being a Girl by Kim Catrall
Skate by Michael Harmon
The Other Sister by S.T. Underdahl
Kabul Beauty School by Deborah Rodriguez
Life As It Comes by Anne-Laure Bondoux
Grief Girl by Erin Vincent
The Whole Sky Full of Stars by Rene Saldana, Jr.
The Year of My Miraculous Reappearance by Catherine Ryan Hide
Your Own, Sylvia by Stephanie Hemphill

Here's how this explosion of free goodies is gonna work. Sign up for the bookburger b-list in the box on the right side of the page--(where it says "We deliver"). We'll choose a winner off of our b-list every day for two whole weeks....so lovelies, you've got nothing to lose and brand-new, hot-off-the-presses free books to gain!

happy birthday to all burgerpeople everywhere!