New Winner Chosen for Map of the Sky

Well, it has been one week since I announced the winners for the book - and unfortunately Kya has not contacted me...SO, that means I get to pick a new winner. I used Random.org and I am happy to congratulate:

Beastmomma

Check your contact email on your blog - I've sent you a note. Please respond to that with your snail mail address so the publisher can mail your book out to you!!

Follow The Chunkster Blog on Facebook, RSS or Email

Because many people are going to be impacted by Google Reader's demise in a few months, I thought it might be helpful to some of you on Facebook to be able to follow this blog through Networked Blogs. If you wish to do so, simply visit the widget in our side bar and click on "Follow this Blog." New posts will show up on your newsfeed through the Networked Blogs feature on Face Book.

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask.

I should mention that for those of you who wish to follow The Chunkster Challenge blog by RSS feed or email, those options are still available. Just sign up by using the widgets at the top of the sidebar.

First Quarter Reflection

Well, we are a quarter of the way through 2013 and the 2013 Chunkster Reading Challenge. How is everyone doing? Don't forget to link up any reviews for the challenge here.

We just finished our first Chunky Book Club read...and I was happy that we actually had some discussion on the discussion post! Just a reminder that I will keep comments open on that post throughout the year and you can jump in and comment there at any time. I've also included a linky in the post for readers to post their reviews of The Map of Time - so I hope you'll continue add your review links there too.

June marks the discussion for our next Chunky Book Club read. Remember - you do NOT need to join the challenge in order to join the book club ... and any format of book is acceptable for the books we read in the club. We'll be discussing Sea of Poppies by Amitav Ghosh which is a fabulous book (check out my review from 2009). This is the first book in a projected trilogy (the second book, River of Smoke, has already been released - read my review here).

As we head into the second quarter of 2013, I hope you have some wonderful chunksters in your stacks! Please contact us with any questions about the challenge or book club, or to offer suggestions for this site. Happy reading!

Winners for Map of the Sky Give Away!

First of all - my apologies for this late post. I was out of town and my laptop was acting up so I did not have Internet access. Then I got home and my desk top computer crashed (I still can't get it to turn on so I guess it is going in for repair). I have managed to get my laptop to work for the moment...so I am quickly going to announce the three winners for the signed books. They are:

Cathie (Quilt 455)

Kya @ The Last Word

Michelle @ The Book Addict
Beastmomma

Kya - I don't have your email, so please contact me within the next five days with your snail mail at caribousmom (at) gmail (dot) com. If I don't hear from you, I'll have to draw another name.

Cathie and Michelle - I'm sending you an email! Please respond to that! Thanks!

The Map Of Time: Chunky Book Club Discussion

The Map of Time by Felix J. Palma

Atria Books

I'm opening the discussion early for the Chunky Book Club so today opens the discussion of The Map of Time by Felix J. Palma. I hope you all have enjoyed the journey through Palma's time machine! If you haven't visited the Official Website for the book, I hope you'll do so - it is really a fun and interactive site.

Palma's follow up novel to The Map of Time - The Map of the Sky -is being given away here on the Chunkster Challenge blog. It is a signed edition and we have three copies up for grabs. Participation in this discussion will offer you additional chances to win a copy. Visit this post to enter.

A little about the author:

Felix J. Palma has been loudly acclaimed by critics as one of the most brilliant and original storytellers of our time. The Map of Time, his US debut, was a New York Times and international bestseller. Read more about Palma here.

If you have read The Map of Time and reviewed it, please feel free to add a link to your review using Mr. Linky below:

How Does the Discussion Work?

• ANYONE may participate who has read the book.
• Questions (below) are to stimulate discussion. You may choose to answer any, all or none of them...or you may pose your own questions for discussion.
• Respond in comments on this post. I have activated the "reply" function in comments so that you may reply directly to someone else's comment if you wish to do so.
• Consider subscribing to the comments so that you will be notified when someone posts a comment.
• BE FOREWARNED: There may be spoilers contained in the questions and in the discussion below!!!

That's it! Have fun!!!

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

*Many questions below were borrowed from Lit Lovers

1. Did you enjoy the book? Why or why not?
2. Author Felix J. Palma has written about how he prepared himself to write The Map of Time: To do it, I'd have to immerse myself in the Victorian era and think like an Englishman from the nineteenth century.... I started to educate myself on the period so I could realistically portray what a fascinating time it was to be alive in London, the largest city on earth. Does Palma succeed in bringing Victorian London to life? As you read his work, did you feel as if you were present in that world?
3. Consider time travel: What would happen if you met your future self? What would you do, or say? If you could alter the past, what would you change—in your own life...or, on a grander scale, in the world?
4. Which of the three interrelated stories did you most enjoy...and why?
5. On page 7 (hardcover edition), the narrator writes: "Assuming you stay until the end of this tale, some of you will no doubt think that I chose the wrong thread with which to begin spinning my yarn, and that for accuracy's sake I should have respected chronological order and begun with Miss Haggerty's story." Do you think that starting with Andrew's story made the most sense for the story, or should have the narrator started with Claire's story?
6. Were you caught off guard—surprised—by the twists and turns of the plots? Did you experience any "you got me there" moments? What about those "Ah-ha!" moments when things started to make sense, or come together for you...any of those?
7. What about Andrew Harrington? Is he too immersed in self-pity to admire? Or is he presistent and courageous in his attempt to save Marie Kelly from Jack the Ripper? Speaking of Jack the Ripper, are the descriptions of his murders overly graphic? Or are they integral to the plot, atmosphere, and sense of place?
8. Why is Claire Haggerty unhappy with her life? What does she wish for? Did you find her story believable?
9. H.G. Wells takes a prominent role in the novel. Have you read his classic The Time Machine? If so, do you think reading that book first enhances Palma's novel? Is it important to understand the "real" H.G. Wells to fully appreciate Palma's characterization of him?
10. Talk about the way in which Palma portrays the year 2000. Does the year have anything in common with the actual 2000? Is it possibly symbolic of trends in technology? Is Palma's 2000 a totally alien world to ours, or is it a vaguely (and scarily) familiar one?
11. In the end, the book offers a compendium of cosmic speculation—parallel universes, loopholes in the time continuum, alternative histories, and the Map of Time. If you are not a science-fiction devotee, do you find these discussions intriguing or engaging? Or is it necessary to be a hard-core sci-fi fan to appreciate them?
12. How does this novel suggest, metaphorically, that time travel is actually possible? How does it suggest that right now, today, any of us may slip the bonds of this world and transport ourselves through space and time?
13. What do you think of the narrator? Do you find the comments engaging, perhaps humorous ... or tiresome and irritating? Why might the author have created an intrusive narrative voice?
14. Is the ending satisfying? If so, why? If not, why not...and how would you change it? 
15. If you could ask the author a question, what would you ask?  
16. Do you plan on reading the follow up book The Map of the Sky? If not, why not.

New Give Away: THE MAP OF THE SKY

March 11, 2013 - March 31, 2013

We have THREE more SIGNED editions of Felix J. Palma's book THE MAP OF THE SKY.

ABOUT MAP OF THE SKY:

A love story serves as backdrop for The Map of the Sky when New York socialite Emma Harlow agrees to marry millionaire Montgomery Gilmore, but only if he accepts her audacious challenge: to reproduce the extraterrestrial invasion featured in Wells’s War of the Worlds. What follows are three brilliantly interconnected plots to create a breathtaking tale of time travel and mystery, replete with cameos by a young Edgar Allan Poe, and Captain Shackleton and Charles Winslow from The Map of Time.

Browse inside the book.

Although the publisher will only ship to US or Canada mailing addresses, I want to keep this particular give away open internationally for those readers who are participating in this month's Chunky Book Club for The Map of Time. I will ask the publisher to ship me the winner's book and I'll send it on to them if they participate in the discussion here, and if they are outside the US or Canada. For everyone else - this is a give away open only to the US and Canada. 

So, here is how this giveaway will work...

• Three, signed books are up for grabs to US or Canada mailing addresses with ONE exception - if you participate in the Chunky Book Club discussion for The Map of Time here, then you may enter even if you live outside of the US or Canada.
• There are ways to get extra entries (see below).
• Contest will close at 5:00 pm (PST) on March 31st and three winners will be randomly chosen and announced here on the Chunkster Blog.
• A legitimate email address must be provided for each entry to be valid OR if you have not provided an email address and I announce your name on the blog, you must respond to me within 5 days with a legitimate snail mail address in order to claim your prize (otherwise, I will select another name).

HOW TO ENTER:

• Leave a separate comment for each entry and include a legitimate email address (if your email is connected to your blogger account and I can access it, that is fine).
• For ONE entry: Leave a comment, any comment.
• For a SECOND entry: Join the Chunkster Challenge and then leave me a comment telling me you did so (if you are already in the Chunkster Challenge, just tell me you are).
• For a THIRD entry: Tweet or blog about the contest, come back and leave me a link to your tweet or blog post.
• For a FOURTH entry: Read The Map of Time and join in the Chunky Book Club discussion on the discussion post. You must post at least ONE comment on the discussion post to take this extra chance. Please don't post a comment there unless you have read the book and are truly taking part in the discussion. Make sure you come back here and leave a separate comment telling me you participated in the discussion.
• For a FIFTH entry: Go to the Chunky Book Club discussion post and give me a link to your review of The Map of Time using the Mr. Linky embedded in that post. Then come back here and leave me a comment telling me you did that.

GOOD LUCK!!!!

New Winner Chosen for The Map of the Sky

It has been more than one week since I chose the winners for the first round of give aways for The Map of the Sky...and since Erin has not responded to the email I sent, I decided it was time to choose another winner. So I used Random.org which chose the #5. Congratulations to the 5th commenter:

MARIE

I'm sending you an email, Marie - please respond to that in the next 5 days with your snail mail address!