Giveaway: The Hourglass Door by Lisa Mangum

This last week I had the chance to attend my book club "Teaching Through Literature Discussions" where we read a local author and then get to hear from them.  Last week we met with Lisa Mangum to discuss her novel The Hourglass Door.  Our discussions were really great, since we started off the meeting with a conversation about reading strategies and purpose.  I couldn't help but think about the way my reading has changed since I started blogging!  Although I read books that I'm going to teach with a very different purpose, books that I either know I need to review, need to interview the author, or at least need to read and discuss online are also read with those purposes in mind.  It's interesting to consider how that changes the way we read!

The Q&A with Mangum after our discussion was pretty fascinating, as she discussed the direct relation between her love for the Humanities, Dante's Inferno specifically, and her Young Adult, time-travel love story.  (My review is to come.)  I enjoyed hearing her ideas behind how she developed the time-travel element, comparing it to stepping into a moving river and those who are on the bank are left standing there while the water rushes by.  It was an interesting concept!  She also discussed her own writing habits, which include writing each night from 8 to 10 at night, and how she used index cards to lay out characters, conversations, and stories.  In that way, she could balance out her story more efficiently.  I thought that idea was so comparable to the way I teach expository writing, that I definitely intend on sharing that point with my own students!  (See, sometimes it really is a process or formula!)  It all was just really great and I wish we could have heard a bit more from her.

The Hourglass Door is the first in a trilogy, followed by The Golden Spiral that came out back in May.  The final book in her trilogy will be out in May 2011 and is titled, The Forgotten Locket.  (See Lisa Mangum's website for additional information.)

Because I have two copies of Mangum's first novel, The Hourglass Door, I'm going to give away one copy!  Please enter by filling out the form below.  This is open to the U.S. & Canada only (sorry), and will run until Sunday, Nov. 28 at 11:59 pm.  Good luck, and enter for a great opportunity to read the first in Mangum's trilogy!