Self-Published Book Awards!

I've submitted my book Building Character with Sam, Izzy, and Many Other Dogs for the 19th Annual Writer's Digest International Self-Published Book Awards.

Please wish me and my book good luck!

I hope to win the Children's/Picture books award.

Feng Shui

Here is the review:

All over the world, people are realizing that you can use Feng Shui to bring in more money, find your perfect spouse and attract fantastic work opportunities.

The ancient art of Feng Shui is flourishing once again as people want to gain advantage in a tough economy.

In “One Minute Feng Shui For Prosperity” -- the new easy-to-read guide from #1 bestselling author on Amazon, Grace Ho -- you will discover how much fun it is to use Feng Shui for relationships, prosperity and health.

Prosperity should be fun not hard work!

When you discover how to align your space, your office, and your mind to attract abundance, ABUNDANCE becomes EFFORTLESS.

Danny Pettry's Read Along C.D.

Hello friends --

My children's book, "Building Character with Sam, Izzy, & Many Other Dogs" now has a Read-Along Audio C.D. for children!

Check it out here:



And if you don't have the book already -- get it here:

Have you read 6 of these 100 books?

The BBC believes most people will have read only 6 of the 100 books listed here.

Okay -- I'm from the United States. I'm not sure if the BBC was talking about the U.K. or the world. However, I thought it would be fun to play this game.

Do this at your blog:
Bold those books you’ve read in their entirety,
Italicize the ones you started but didn’t finish or read an excerpt.

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6 The Bible
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulk
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveler’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell -- This is one of my favorite movies!
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
34 Emma -Jane Austen
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe - CS Lewis (isn’t this part of the Chronicles of Narnia?)
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh - A.A. Milne
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding -- I like the movie.
69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Inferno - Dante
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte’s Web - E.B. White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

I'm from the United States and I've read 12 of them. I think that is sad that I've only read that many. However, I didn't read my first full book until I was 18-years-old in (1998).

Book Review # 6: Capre Diem (a novel) by Autumn Cornwell

Book Review # 6 in 2011.
Goal to read 100 books in 2011.
Book: Carpe Diem (a novel) by Autumn Cornwell

Summary of book:

Vassar (16-year-old) has super overachiever parents who want her to graduate as valedictorian of her class and go to the elite Vassar University. Her father writes self-improvement books and her mother is a life coach.

Vassar has three best-friends in school who are all really smart.

Then, Vassar’s quirky grandmother wants her to spend the summer with her in Asia. Vassar has plans for taking advanced-advanced placement (AAP) courses during the summer to help her out-achieve girl in school (Wendy) who Vassar and her three best friends despise.

Vassar’s parents have her to go off to Asia to go on an adventure. It requires Vassar to forget planning and to start living in the moment (LIM) or Limming as her grandmother calls it.

Vassar believes her grandmother is blackmailing her parents into l her go. So, there is this BIG secret that Vassar wants to find out about.

Vassar goes to explore the depths of Asia with her grandmother and that is where the real adventure in this book starts! So, I won’t say anything else to prevent any spoilers.
This is Autumn Cornwell’s first novel.

What NEW Wisdom did I gain from this book?

• I had heard “Chance favors the prepared mind.” I learned in this book that Louis Pasteur was the person who had said this.


• I follow a blog and someone recently had posted “Red herring.” I discovered in this book that is means tactic of diverting attention away from an item of significance.


• Try to live in the moment. Sometimes we can’t plan for everything.

Get the book here:

Book Review # 5: Annabel by Kathleen Winters

Book Review # 5 in 2011.

Goal to read 100 books in 2011.

Book: Annabel by Kathleen Winters

Brief summary of the book:

Jacinta gives birth to a hermaphrodite in 1968 in Labrador, Canada.

His father Treadway makes the decision to name him “Wayne” and raise him as a boy. Treadway struggles to get Wayne to “act like a boy” during his youth.

The only other person who knows is Thomasina who was there at the birth. Thomasina had lost her husband and daughter Annabel who had both drowned while out hunting.
Thomasina secretly calls Wayne, “Annabel” when he is young.

The novel covers Wayne’s life from a boy (with a hidden girl inside of him) until he goes to college. Growing up in a rural place like Labrador in the 70s-80s is tough for a person like Wayne. He has a childhood friend, Wally (female) who he loves.

Tomasina is the one person who always accepted Wayne for who he/ she is. She traveled the world to cope with the loss of her husband and daughter. She kept in touch with Wayne by sending him postcards and letters from around the world. She also earns a degree in teaching. She returns to Labrador and teaches Wayne (7th or 8th grade).

Wayne leaves Labrador as a young adult and explores life as a woman. He stops taking hormones and other medications that he had been taking since his youth.

I find it difficult to explain the book. I enjoyed the characters: Wayne/ Annabel, Thomasina, and his friend Wally.

These characters had dealt with difficulties. Wayne had a secret identity. Thomasina had lost her family. Wally always wanted to be a singer and a girl in middle school had thrown/ shattered glass, which caused Wally to lose her voice. Yet, all three of these characters moved on in life.
Wayne’s father even grew and changed to accept Wayne for who he/ she was as a person. Treadway does something near the end of the book that you’d like to discover for yourself.
I won’t tell anything else about the story as I don’t want to give away any spoilers.

Free Course for Women

My good friend Jeanine Austin is a life coach for women. She has has training in hypnosis.

You can can get a FREE First consultation withh her.

Download information and application here:

http://simplydivinesolutions.com/SDSFreeFirstConsultation.doc

warmly,
jeanine marie austin, ph.d., c.ht.
doctor of life coaching certified hypnosis
http://www.SimplyDivineSolutions.com

Romance Novels #1 on e-readers

CNN says that e-readers can't get enough romance novels.

Romance books are the number one type downloaded on the e-reader.

Who would have thought?

Here is the CNN report:

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/living/2011/01/20/endo.ereader.romance.novels.cnn?iref=allsearch

Here is a video on a new kind of romance novels:




Here are some Marianne Mancusi's books:



Download a few good books on your kindle for the weekend:

Book Review: 13 Reasons Why by Jay Asher

Book Review # 4 in 2011.
Goal to read 100 books in 2011.
Book: Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher

I recently read a Thirteen Reasons Why.

It is a young adult (YA) novel by Jay Asher, which I really enjoyed.

I’ve discovered that many YA books have a dark edge to them. This one does, too. It is about a girl Hannah who committed suicide. She had recorded 13 reasons why she committed suicide on cassette tape. This book takes place during the current time – so finding a cassette tape player is a little tricky for young kids these days.

Clay Jensen receives the cassette tapes and is told to listen to them, pass them to the next person, and that he is one of the 13 reasons she committed suicide. So, Clay seeks down a cassette player and listens to them. She also gives the threat that these tapes will be released to the public if he does not pass them along to the next person. Clay wonders -- how can she make certain of that since she has already passed away.

Discover the 13 reasons why Hannah did it. Read the book.

The hardcover book includes a map of the town on the inside of the book cover, which is really neat. The reader can follow along with the story.

Jay Asher also suggests people who are thinking about suicide can dial: 1-800-SUICIDE / 1-800-784-2433

Here is my video book review:



Click Here to Get This Book From Amazon.Com


Here is the book trailer for Thirteen Reasons Why:


Here is an interview with the author Jay Asher:



Here is the Amazon link for the book:

Future Foresight? Interesting.

I'd like to get Daniel Burrus’ new book, “Flash Foresight"

Check out this video:


Get the book here:

Warning: Facebook - Gift Card Virus/ Fraud.

Please Share This Information With Others On Facebook:

Share

Dear friend,

I think you should be warned about a site that is misleading.

I had a banner flash up on my facebook page that said congratulations you’re the (insert number) visitor today and you’ve won a $1,000 gift card to Wal-Mart.

I felt excited because earlier today I had talked to some people about raising $1,000 for pet food for a local no-kill animal shelter.

I thought I had immediately attracted the money to help this wonderful cause.

It told me to complete a 5-minute survey. I’m a little slower at these things, so it took me about 15-minutes to get through part of it.

Then, it said, in order to claim the gift card that I had won I had to purchase at least 2 of offers on one page. They wanted me to use my credit card online to purchase products.

I feel that this could be dangerous, so, I didn’t put my credit card information in.

It reminds me of something I saw on Clark Howard. Someone had been informed by an email that they had won some European lottery by chance. The person had to submit their banking information so they could supposedly make the winning deposit. Unfortunately, it was fraud.

The people on the other end used the bank information to clean-out their bank account.

Don’t be fooled. There isn’t money for free.

I don’t think you should trust the American Prize Panel either.

It could hack your facebook account, too.

The American Prize Panel link is:

http://www. american prize panel. Com

I broke up the link so you wouldn’t accidently click on it.

Here is a youtube video by a person (Not Me) who explains this situation:

Download a FREE e-Book

Go to this link to download it:

http://www.hiddensecretwisdom.com/magic.pdf

1-11-11 -- The Best Kept Secret About Love is Out!

What if you could feel like you’re in love EVERY DAY of your life?

And what if you could dissolve any heartache, pain, or emptiness and experience the ecstasy of an open heart?

You can. . . by learning how to Love for No Reason.

In her extraordinary new book Love For No Reason: 7 Steps to Creating a Life of Unconditional Love, my friend and colleague Marci Shimoff, #1 New York Times bestselling author, shows you how to experience a deep and lasting state of love that doesn’t depend on another person, situation, or romantic partner. You’ll be able to:

o Open your heart and become a magnet for love

o Enjoy more fulfilling relationships with others AND yourself

o Turn off your body’s stress response and turn on your body’s love response for better health and well-being

o Experience more success and satisfaction

o Help your family, community, and the world

Marci’s onto something BIG.

I enjoyed her last book Happy for No Reason and loved her in the Secret and I think her new book is going to be great!

Are you the winner?

L.E. from Centerville, Ohio was the winner of my 2011 kick-start contest.

BookLover's Contest

My new friend Lexie is having a contest at her blog.



She reads a lot (mostly young adult books).



She has a nice blog about these books and creates youtube videos.



I noticed that she is having a contest -- that you might be interested in knowing about.



Go to her page:



http://booklover-bookchicks.blogspot.com/2011/01/contest.html

The Dangerous Days of Daniel X (Book RevieW).

Book Review # 3 in 2011.

Goal: Read 100 books in 2011.

Book: The Dangerous Days of Daniel X by James Patterson

I love Patterson's Max Ride series -- so I thought I'd read Daniel X. I got this book last summer, but just not read it. I also have part 2, "Daniel X -- watch the skies," which I'll read soon.

I liked this book, but I think I'd like the graphic novel version more. I plan to read it soon.

Here is my video book review:

Here are the Amazon links for Daniel X: part I, II, & III:

And of course -- the graphic novel:

Iran bans Paulo Coelho's books

The Ministry of Culture and ‘Islamic Guidance’ in Iran has banned all books written by Paulo Coelho.

Coelho is one of my favorite authors. This news hurts my heart.

You can read the full message from Arash at Paulo Coelho's blog: click here.

I'm so glad we have freedom of speech and religion in the good ol' U.S.

I recently read the graphic novel version of Coelho's "The Alchemist."

Here are some my favorite books by Paulo Coelho:

One of my all-time favorite books.
It is a story about following your dreams.


Here is the preview for the graphic novel versino of the Alchemist:



You can get the graphic novel here:



This guide goes along with the Alchemist.
It is for realizing your own dreams:


Good novel about depression and living:

The Letters by Luanne Rice and Joseph Monninger

Book Review # 2 in 2011. Goal: Read 100 books in 2011.
Book: The Letters by Luanne Rice and Joseph Monninger

I finally finished reading Anne Godbersen’s (2010) novel Bright Young Things. I got so attached to the characters, Letty, Astrid, and of course Cord. I felt so worried for all three of them at different parts of the story.

I haven’t been reading as much this week because I’ve had a bad virus. I didn’t go to my day job for three days this week. I lived on cheerios and 7-up. I’m not 100% yet, but I’m getting there.

What to read next?

I found a copy of “The Letters” a novel by Luanne Rice and Joseph Monninger in my stack of books to read. My mother had read this book in 2008 and she told me that I’d like it.

It is 2011, so, I decided to pick this little book up and I do enjoy it so far.

I have a fascination with writing letters, sending mail, and receiving mail. I love doing that. I have a full drawer full of stationary. So, naturally, the idea of a novel about “writing letters” got my attention. I’m also the type of person who reads very sad stories both fiction and non-fiction.

I’m at the half-way point, which I feel is a good point to write a book review, so I don’t give away any spoilers.

Here are the basics of this story:

Sam and Hadley West have suffered the loss of the son Paul.

Paul was on a mission trip to Alaska to help people in need. His plane crashed from ice.

Sam and Hadley separate.

Sam decides to take a Call of the Wild adventure to the spot where his son’s plane crashed.

His wife Hadley decides to go to the New England coast. She starts to paint again.

The full book is made up of letters that Sam and Hadley write to each other.

They are both coping with the loss of their son in different ways.

What will happen? Will Sam and Hadley get back together? I’m not certain what will happen.

I get feel this book is so realistic. It feels that it could be non-fiction.


Here is an amazon link for this book:

Joe Vitale tells the secret to inspiration.

I read Joe Vitale's success and self-improvement books.

Today, he posted a blog entry on the secret to inspiration.

He learned that Rob T. (matchbox 20) uses this approach.

Do you work 40 hours a week? If so, that might make you a living, but

it isn't going to make you a success.

Read Dr. Vitale's blog to discover what to do in order to become a success.

Dr. Vitale knows the secret. Rob Thomas (Matchbox 20) knows it. Jack London (Call of the Wild) knows it. And now you can know it too.

go here:
http://blog.mrfire.com/how-rob-thomas-gets-inspired/

And if you haven't read my book on the hidden wisdom on success and greatness --- then go here:

Paperlilies makes more art

Bryony Lilies (I can't think of her real last name) is an artist who I love.
I get the impression that she is real free. She does what she wants without pressure to conform to others wishes and desires.

I do love her art. She makes cute characters.



You can view some of her characters at this link:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/paperlilylondon/sets/72157601529839820

They inspire me to be more creative and to get out and make something.

Sam and Izzy Radio Interview! Listen Now.

Listen to the radio interview about my book.

Go here:

http://www.wvpubcast.org/newsarticle.aspx?id=18260&terms=danny+pettry

2011 Contest!

Dear friend,

I’m giving away a set of the following items to help kick-start the new 2011 year!

The total value of this give-away is $130!

Please tell your family and friends to enter the contest too!

One lucky person will win all of this:

• 1 autographed copy of my book “Building Character with Sam, Izzy, & Many Other Dogs.” ($16.00 value)


• 1 set of the limited edition trading cards that go along with the book ($10.00 value)


• 1 Bookmark ($1.00 value)


• 1 - 2011 Puppies Calendar ($5.00 value) 1 Too Many Dogs children’s book (for pre-school aged children) ($3.00 value)


• 1 Premier Legacy Educational Planner ($15.00 value)


• 1 Self-study course from Danny Pettry.com ($80.00 value)

How to Enter:
Send an email to Contest@dannypettry.com by midnight 1-8-2011. Include your full name and mailing address so we can send the prizes to you if you've been selected to win.

Odds of winning depend on number of entries received. Incomplete entries that don’t include name or mailing address will be disqualified. Your privacy is respected and you won’t be added to any mailing list.

You’ll receive a one-time reply email to confirm that you’re email has been received. You’ll only be notified if you’re selected to win.

Bright Young Things (Book Review)

Book Review # 1 in 2011. Goal to read 100 books in 2011.
Book: Bright Young Things by Anne Godbersen

I love the roaring 20’s. I’m always fascinated with flappers, speakeasies, and Jazz. I find these elements hypnotic and interesting.

I discovered Anne Godbersen’s (2010) novel, “Bright Young Things” on the shelf at my local Waldenbooks bookstore (Beckley, West Virginia) sometime during the fall of 2010.
I read the back cover and knew I wanted to read it, but didn’t buy it right away (being pre-Christmas).

My lovely, darling sister Carrie gave me a $25 Amazon Gift Card for Christmas, which I used to download the e-version of this book on my kindle.

I’ve read 25% of Anne Godbersen’s (2010) novel, “Bright Young Things” at this time.
I felt it would be best to post about it at this point so I don’t give away any secrets or spoilers to the book.

Cordelia and her best friend Letty runaway from their hometown of Union, Ohio. The catch a train for New York City! Letty wants to become a star. Cordelia wants to find her father. Cordelia’s aunt had taken her in after her mother had passed away and had said that her father was a sinner.

Cordelia and Letty make it to New York. They find a place to stay for women. It has a housemother who has many rules. They go out for a night on the town and have a few drinks. They get kicked-out of their new place for drinking.

Cordelia and Letty get in a fight. Letty says Cordelia is pretty much crazy for believing she’ll find her father. And Cordelia tells Letty that she is crazy to think she could make it as a star because New York is filled with people trying to “make-it.”

They split up and go separate directions – but I feel they’ll meet up again in the story.
Cordelia makes it to a big party by Darian Grey. Cordelia thinks he may be her father. Grey is rich from being a bootlegger. He throws massive parties.

There is also a side story about a girl named Astrid who lives in a wealthy part of NYC. She has a steady boyfriend Charlie. She meets up with an old friend Luke and has dinner. Astrid is wealthy.

Astrid stands up for Cordelia at the party when Charlie asked “who let her in here?”
Cordelia and Letty had met Charlie when they went out on the town. Charlie
made fun of Letty.

I best not say much more. The story is just not getting really interesting.
Here is an Amazon link for the book:


Here is the video book trailer:



Here is the shooting for the cover:



Here is an Amazon link for the book: