Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Giveaway - Cleopatra by Stacy Schiff Audiobook

I am excited to be able to give away two audiobook copies of the new biography, Cleopatra by Stacy Schiff courtesy of Hachette Book Group. Entertainment Weekly recently had this book in its top ten non-fiction books of 2010. I can't wait to listen to this audiobook myself!

Audiobook Description (from Hachette Book Group):
The Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer brings to life the most intriguing woman in the history of the world: Cleopatra, the last queen of Egypt.

Her palace shimmered with onyx, garnets, and gold, but was richer still in political and sexual intrigue. Above all else, Cleopatra was a shrewd strategist and an ingenious negotiator.

Though her life spanned fewer than forty years, it reshaped the contours of the ancient world. She was married twice, each time to a brother. She waged a brutal civil war against the first when both were teenagers. She poisoned the second. Ultimately she dispensed with an ambitious sister as well; incest and assassination were family specialties. Cleopatra appears to have had sex with only two men. They happen, however, to have been Julius Caesar and Mark Antony, among the most prominent Romans of the day. Both were married to other women. Cleopatra had a child with Caesar and--after his murder--three more with his protégé. Already she was the wealthiest ruler in the Mediterranean; the relationship with Antony confirmed her status as the most influential woman of the age. The two would together attempt to forge a new empire, in an alliance that spelled their ends. Cleopatra has lodged herself in our imaginations ever since.

Famous long before she was notorious, Cleopatra has gone down in history for all the wrong reasons. Shakespeare and Shaw put words in her mouth. Michelangelo, Tiepolo, and Elizabeth Taylor put a face to her name. Along the way, Cleopatra's supple personality and the drama of her circumstances have been lost. In a masterly return to the classical sources, Stacy Schiff here boldly separates fact from fiction to rescue the magnetic queen whose death ushered in a new world order. Rich in detail, epic in scope, Schiff 's is a luminous, deeply original reconstruction of a dazzling life.

About the Author (from Hachette Book Group):
Stacy Schiff is the author of Véra (Mrs. Vladimir Nabokov), winner of the Pulitzer Prize; Saint-Exupéry, a Pulitzer Prize finalist; and A Great Improvisation: Franklin, France, and the Birth of America, winner of the George Washington Book Prize, the Ambassador Award in American Studies, and the Gilbert Chinard Prize of the Institut Français d'Amérique. All three were New York Times Notable Books; the Los Angeles Times Book Review, the Chicago Tribune, and The Economist also named A Great Improvisation a Best Book of the Year. The biographies have been published in a host of foreign editions.

Schiff has received fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the National Endowment for the Humanities and was a Director’s Fellow at the Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers at the New York Public Library. She was awarded a 2006 Academy Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Schiff has written for The New Yorker, the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, and the Boston Globe, among other publications. She lives in New York City.

Giveaway Details:
Anna of Hachette Book Group has been kind enough to offer two copies of the audiobook version of Cleopatra by Stacy Schiff for a giveaway.

If you would like to win a copy of Cleopatra, please leave a comment about what intrigues you about the novel. As part of your comment, you must include an email address. If I can't find a way to contact you I will draw another winner.

For an additional entry, blog about this giveaway or post it on your sidebar. Provide a link to this post in your comment.

I will be using random.org to pick the winners from the comments.

This contest is only open to US and Canadian residents (Sorry!).

No P.O. Boxes.

Winners will be subject to the one copy per household rule, which means that if you win the same title in two or more contests, you will receive only one copy of the title in the mail.

The deadline for entry is midnight, Friday January 21st.

Good luck!

32 comments:

  1. Love history...heard great things about this audiobook.

    littleone AT shaw DOT ca

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  2. I saw an interview with the author of this book on TV! It was interesting, she noted how little there is to work from when trying to piece together the life of Cleopatra. There's a lot of detective work involved in something like this.

    flash8421 AT hotmail dot com

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  3. I have always been fascinated by ancient Rome ancient Egypt and Cleopatra's role in those civilizations.

    undermyappletree at gmail dot com

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  4. Contest posted in my sidebar.

    http://undermyappletree.wordpress.com/

    undermyappletree at gmail dot com

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  5. This fascinating book interests me. thanks for this giveaway. saubleb(at)gmail(dot)com

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  6. I love reading about Cleopatra thank you

    chocolate and croissants at yahoo. com

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  7. Laura, please enter me in this great giveaway. I would love to learn more about the last queen of Egypt. Thank you.

    I am a follower.

    I posted this in my blog's sidebar.

    suko95(at)gmail(dot)com

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  8. Cleopatra is a woman in history who has always interested me. I really don't know much about her, but this book should educate me on her life.

    susanbillietaylor [at] gmail [dot] com

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  9. I've heard of Cleopatra all my life, but never read a book about her. I did, however, read a book about her daughter Selene, and that has made me curious about Cleopatra. Thanks for the giveaway.
    lcbrower40(at)gmail(dot)com

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  10. I've never read a biography of Cleopatra although she's appeared many times in fiction I've read. I like the thougth of seperating fact from fiction with this audiobook.

    webbJM AT verizon DOT net

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  11. Cleopatra is so well known and so much has been written about her. I would like to read the take on her by Stacy Schiff.

    Thanks for giveaway!!

    magnolias_1[at]msn[dot]com

    Judy

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  12. I would love to win an audiobook of Cleopatra. I've heard amazing things about this particular book about Cleopatra's life and have just discovered the joys of audiobooks. I can pack and read at the same time!
    My email address is hrose(at)gmail(dot)com

    thanks for this amazing giveaway!
    Heather Rosdol

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  13. I've heard so many wonderful things about this book and would love to win an audiobook. Who can resist the mysterious Cleopatra?

    akaleistar (at) gmail (dot) com

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  14. I'm intrigued as to whether it's more the Liz Taylor Cleopatra or the Angelina Jolie version.
    Josephsreviews@gmail.com

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  15. This sounds like a really interesting story because Cleopatra was a really interesting figure. Also, this is an upcoming book on one of my book club's lists so it would be great to have the audiobook.

    juliecookies(at)gmail.com

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  16. since I was little, I've been intrigued by the culture of ancient Egypt. Cleopatra is such an interesting person, so I'd love to learn more
    june_spirit2628 at hotmail dot com

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  17. I have tried to win the book, Cleopatra so many times because I have always been fascinating by her.
    Thank you for having a giveaway for the audio version.


    CarolNWong(at)aol(dot)com

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  18. I am interested in learning more about Cleopatra.
    LeAnn
    sunshine9ATimonmailDOTcom

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  19. I've heard such great things about this book. Thanks for the giveaway.

    darrowenator (at) gmail (dot) com

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  20. Egypt intrigues me...I luv reading about it, thanks. katklaw777 at yahoo dot com

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  21. I've heard good things about the book, and I would like to hear a different take on the queen. Should be an interesting read/listen.
    Thanks Laura!
    erin.dahle@sbcglobal.net

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  22. I love information about Cleopatra. She is such an intriguing woman.
    This book sounds like I can learn more about her.
    Thanks for the giveaway.

    clenna at aol dot com

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  23. Cleopatra is one of world history's most intriguing characters. She used her power and beauty to get what she wanted! Sounds like a book that will pull you in and not let go!

    Nichole Patrick
    mnikpat@gmail.com
    I follow via Google Connect

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  24. this book would be fascinating since Cleopatra is one of the most intriguing women in history. thanks. saubleb(at)gmail(dot)com

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  25. I heard an interview with Stacy Schiff (I think it was on NPR) and was fascinated. I've read several fiction accounts of Cleopatra's life. I would love to listen to this audiobook. Please enter me in your drawing. julie.saville@gmail.com

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  26. Cleopatra has always interested me although I have never read much about her except in history books. I'd love a chance to listen to an audiobook about her. Thanks.
    pbclark(at)netins(dot)net

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  27. Thanks for giving me the opportunity reading a famous novel.

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  28. I would love to win this audiobook!
    meah56 at gmail dot com

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  29. This is very intersting;especially since I've never listened to an audiobook before!

    justforswag(AT)yahoo(DOT)com

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  30. I guess my comment before got deleted! I'd like to win this book very much. Everything I've ever read about Cleopatra has been pure fiction, so I'd finally like to get the facts.

    I posted this on my blog in the sidebar under Contests We've Entered:

    http://carbsnconjugations.blogspot.com

    jennifer(dot)henkes(at)gmail(dot)com

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  31. This giveaway ended January 21, 2011 and winners have already been chosen!

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  32. I read mostly biographies, and this book is the most beautifully written biography I have read in so far. I will probably re-read it at some point to enjoy the language and tone. I am in awe of the skill it must have taken to weave this story together in absence of much extant historical fact!

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