September 27, 2010

We’re giving away a $100.00 Amazon gift certificate!

“Books”, said American author William Feather, “open your mind, broaden your mind, and strengthen you as nothing else can.” These sentiments are ones that have always rung true in my own life, and upon meeting my husband, I discovered echoed in his as well.

Both of us have held a deeply rooted love of books and reading from the earliest of days, so it hardly came as a surprise to me a few months ago when my husband (Tony) came up with a splendid idea for an online book notification service that would, each week, alert members about new titles that had been released in the past week in their favourite categories.

Called anynewbooks.com, the straightforward website that my husband and I proceeded to produce works like this: you visit the site, select one or more categories from a list of (currently) 42 different genres of books (there truly is something for everyone!), enter your email address, and presto, once a week we’ll send you an email newsletter with a selection of newly released books in the categories of your choice (one email per category).

I know that many of us are massive fans of old (antique and/or vintage) books, but by the same token, I think it’s safe to say a substantial percentage of us love reading modern day books that cover vintage related topics. From fiction set during WW2 to biographies on our favourite vintage stars, books covering the endlessly interesting world of vintage fashion to tomes of photography ripe with vintage images, there are newly released books about some of our most beloved subjects all the time, and through Any New Books?, you can select categories that are likely to include such topics (I have a hand in the weekly book selections, so if I spy a new title about something vintage related, you bet your bookmark that it will be included in its respective category’s list of fresh releases that week!).


{Clearly this wildly chic 1950s woman shares our love of finding great reads via anynewbooks.com :D Vintage photo of an immensely elegant booklover via My Vintage Vogue on Flickr.}


Any New Books? Is an entirely free email notification service that’s here to ensure that you never miss a great new book (on the subjects that are nearest to your heart) again. To celebrate its recent launch and to share this great site with my lovely blogging visitors and friends, Any New Books? And Chronically Vintage are joining forces to giveaway a $100.00 (US) Amazon.com gift certificate to one lucky reader!

This contest (which is open to visitors worldwide) will run between today and Monday October 4, 2010 (the giveaway will officially close at 11:59pm EST that night), with the lucky winner being selected (via a random number generator) – and announced here on Chronically Vintage – the next following day.


How to enter

In order to enter this giveaway, swing by anynewbooks.com and sign up. Once you’ve done so come back here and let me know you’ve joined.

If you’d like to increase your odds of winning the $100.00 Amazon.com gift certificate, there are three additional ways for you to do:

-Leave a comment here telling me about your favourite category of books (are you a sci-fi diva, history hound, teen lit fan, cookbook queen?) or about your favourite book of all time. I’d love to hear about the fiction and non-fiction genres and titles alike that interest my wonderful readers the most!

- Post about this giveaway, including a link back to this announcement post on Chronically Vintage and one to anynewbooks.com, on your own blog in which you inform your readers about this fun giveaway (please feel free to use the photo above in your own post, crediting its original Flickr poster). Once you’ve written about the contest, come back here and let me know you’ve done so by leaving a comment with a link to your post.

-Spread the good word about anynewbooks.com via Twitter or Facebook. Again, be sure to jot down a comment letting me know you’ve done so.


Please feel free to enter the contest however many of the four ways you’d like, just be sure that you let me know about each entry in a separate comment, to better enhance your chances of winning (four comments for example, would give you four entries into the contest, thus four potential chances to win!). Please remember to post a separate comment for each entry!


Fellow booklovers, my husband and I both want to wish thank you all in advance for your support of Any New Books?, it truly means a lot to us and will go a long way in helping us to spread the word about this super useful service. Happy reading and best of luck to everyone who participates in this great giveaway!

September 23, 2010

I’ve missed you all something fierce!

Blissful start of autumn greetings, my wonderful dears! I can scarcely believe (long as it was at times!) that a month has passed since my last post. I won’t lie to you, it hasn’t been the most enjoyable month I’ve ever had. I’m grateful that it’s now behind me and am hopeful that the surgery I had will ultimately prove to have been successful.

Having recouped from my operation somewhat, I couldn’t put off hopping back into the world of blogging again even so much as one moment longer! Any time I’m not able to post for a while, I begin to pine for the companionship of my fellow vintage loving friends – and after a month of not hanging around Chronically Vintage, I was champing at the bit to get back here!

I want to extend my deepest and most heartfelt thanks to everyone who left comments on my last post (as well as those lovely souls who sent emails and cards), your kindness and understanding is truly appreciated.

Other (as in, not pertaining to the surgery I recently had) serious health problems continue to be a rather substantial issue in my day-to-day life, so while I’m delighted to say that I’m back to blogging after my month of medical leave, I’m afraid that I may not be posting up a storm again quite yet (aiming for a post or two a week, when possible).


{Hip, hip, hooray! Fall, gorgeous fall is back in town and has me smiling every bit as chipperly as this chic vintage gal! Image via Sunset Flame on Flickr.}


On a cheerier note though, autumn, my most beloved of seasons has returned and I simply couldn’t be more jubilant about that! I hope that you’re all excited about the splendours of fall as well, and that this season will be superbly wonderful for each of you!