Really Random Tuesday #73: Book Winners, Blogger Layout Issues, and a Few Fall Quotes

Uno, dos, tres!  I have three lucky winners to announce today.  Stacie, Carol M, and Gina D have each won a copy of The Last Camellia by Sarah Jio.  Congratulations!  I'll send those books out to you as soon as I get your mailing addresses.  It sounds like quite a captivating book and I hope to read my own copy of the book, (relatively) soon. If you didn't win this time, please take a look at the other book giveaways in my blog's sidebar.  I know, the book covers in my giveaway list are larger than usual; more about that next.

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Suko's Notebook  ·  Layout

 

Is anyone else having layout problems in Blogger?  I've mentioned this already to a few of you, so please excuse any repetitiveness on my part if you've heard it before.  Specifically, I'm having a hard time with the Configure Image Gadget in Layout, which used to work easily and perfectly.  Now, suddenly, I'm getting a message that I need to include a title ("required field must not be left blank") when I try to save images, and the size of images is larger than it used to be, so the book covers are not of uniform size.  I've figured out how to bypass adding a title and will continue to do this if I absolutely need to, but it used to work without this hassle.  As a courtesy to my readers, I list book giveaways in my right sidebar, and that's what's being affected by this.  I'm not sure if Blogger made some permanent changes (I hope not!), or if this is just a temporary glitch of some sort.  Sometimes, these issues resolve themselves within a few days, and I'm hoping that will be the case with this, because it's been a pain to contend with.  Thank you for letting me vent about this!  Is anyone else having similar problems?  I hope someone at Blogger reads this and that it will work the way it used to soon.

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Autumn officially started on September 22.  In my neck of the woods, Southern California, we had one day of cool fall weather, autumn's "opening day", but yesterday was hot.  It should be a bit cooler today, though, thankfully.  Regardless of the actual weather, it is fall, so I'm posting a few quotes from authors about this time of the year to help put us all in the mood for the days ahead.

"Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower."
~ Albert Camus

"Delicious autumn!  My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns."
~ George Eliot 

“Her pleasure in the walk must arise from the exercise and the day, from the view of the last smiles of the year upon the tawny leaves and withered hedges, and from repeating to herself some few of the thousand poetical descriptions extant of autumn--that season of peculiar and inexhaustible influence on the mind of taste and tenderness--that season which has drawn from every poet worthy of being read some attempt at description, or some lines of feeling.”
~ Jane Austen, Persuasion

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Appearing on random Tuesdays, Really Random Tuesday is a way to post odds and ends--announcements, musings, quotes, photos--any blogging and book-related matters you can think of.  I often announce book winners in these posts.  If you have miscellaneous book news to gather up and are inspired by this idea, "grab" the button for use on your own blog, then add your link to the "master" Mister Linky on the Really Random Tuesday page. 

As always, thanks for reading! 

Mailbox Monday: First Fall Books

Let's see, what new books did I receive in the mail recently?

Fiesta of Smoke by Suzan Still arrived by mail for an upcoming TLC book tour, while Unravelled by M.K. Tod arrived from France Book Tours.  I also received a couple of books that I won on other book blogs.  I won Mystery Girl by David Gordon on Harvee's blog, Book Dilettante, and The Shadow Tracer by Meg Gardiner on Kristin's blog, Always With a Book.  It's fun to win books!  Today is the last day to enter my giveaway for The Last Camellia by Sarah Jio.  I'm giving away three copies, so your chances of winning a book are increased.  Fall is the perfect season to curl up with books and a hot beverage as the days become cooler and shorter.

Created by Marcia from To Be Continued, Mailbox Monday is the consummate meme for book bloggers, bookworms, and bibliophiles.  Mailbox Monday is hosted this week by Bob from Beauty in Ruins.

What new books adorn your shelves?

Really Random Tuesday #72: A Thank You, a Book Winner, and a New Giveaway

Much has changed and evolved in the world of books since I created Suko's Notebook in May of 2008. When I first began blogging about books, I never imagined I'd be hosting so many book giveaways. I know I'm fortunate to be able to do this. The authors, publishers, and other bloggers I've worked with have been gracious and generous beyond belief. Thanks to you all!

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The lucky winner of Last Train to Omaha by Ann Whitely-Gillen is Patricia.  Congratulations, Patricia! Thanks to everyone who participated.  If you didn't win this time, don't be dejected; I have a wonderful new book giveaway below, as well as other giveaways listed to the right in my blog's sidebar.

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I won The Last Camellia by bestselling author Sarah Jio on Harvee's blog, Book Dilettante.  Thanks to the great generosity of Penguin, I have a few extra copies to give away to my readers.  I haven't read it yet, but it sounds like a fabulous book!

If you'd like to win one of three copies of this novel, which centers around the last surviving camellia plant, please enter the giveaway (U.S./Canada only).  Today, I noticed that you can post book giveaways on Goodreads, so I've added that to my "instructions" below.

• To enter this giveaway, simply leave a comment. 
• For another chance at winning, become a follower of this blog, or let me know that you're already a follower.
• For an additional chance, post about this giveaway on your blog, Facebook, Goodreads, Pinterest, or Twitter. 

Enter by 5 PM PDT on Monday, September 23.  Three winners will be selected randomly and announced on Tuesday, September 24.  Good luck!

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Appearing on random Tuesdays, Really Random Tuesday is a way to post odds and ends--announcements, musings, quotes, photos--any blogging and book-related matters you can think of.  I often announce book winners in these posts.  If you have miscellaneous book news to gather up and are inspired by this idea, "grab" the button for use on your own blog, then add your link to the "master" Mister Linky on the Really Random Tuesday page. 

As always, thanks for visiting!