Getting To Know You Blog Hop (And Giveaway US/UK)

So I suppose the first thing to know about me, is that I am extremely forgetful.  Seriously.  Even the four year old I babysit constantly laughs and says..."You forgot again didn't you?"  (It's seriously taken me 3 months to remember their pet fish's name. Sometimes I am shocked at my own extreme lack of ability on this front)

Point in case:  My reaction when I saw a ton of hits on my blog (considering I've been crazy busy and therefore haven't posted anything in practically a week)

These are from...Cuddlebuggery...blog..hop? *squints trying to think back*

Wait...hold on...something's coming back to me...

 Bloody hell was that today??

1.  Most followers of my blog already know I'm a musician. (Mostly because I spent the month of April and May freaking out about my graduate recital)  I'm an oboist, which is both one of the most rewarding and most painful things I do on a regular basis haha.  Most people also don't know what it is, which is totally fine, because really most people don't have a reason to.  But, if you're wondering what it sounds like,  I posted my recital performance up a while back.  BUT you should really listen to Eugene Izotov play.  I was lucky enough to study with him for a bit, and he's hands down my favourite oboist (Other than Albrecht Mayer). Really they're both amazing artists!

2. I also used to dance a long, long time ago, but I still consider it one of my biggest passions (although as an audience member, not a performer!)  Last year I was lucky enough to see the Joffrey Ballet and it was one of the most memorable performances I've ever seen.

3. I pretty much credit Tamora Pierce, Madeline L'Engle, and Robin McKinley for shaping me as a reader, and Tamora Pierce in particular for shaping who I have become as a person.  Not that I didn't devour plenty of other authors, but these three were particularly influential.  

4. That being said, Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy was probably the first time that I pretty much questioned everything about life after reading it.  I can still remember exactly how I felt upon completing the trilogy the first time, and I can't really say that about any other book.

5. I LOVE Douglas Adam's Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.  For those of you who haven't listened/read/watched any it, that's where my blog title comes from.  It's the title of one of the books (admittedly, not one of my favourites - I tend to think of it as a quote from the first book, which is how I originally chose it for my blog).  As of this moment, I've done everything except listen to the radio series (which was its original format I believe)

6. I originally started this blog because I didn't really have anyone in my life I could probably geek out on about the books I read.  I tend to get...really...really excited when I talk about things I love, so I often get kind of disbelieving/terrified looks haha!  I've been so lucky that I've truly met some awesome people in the past year, so I'm incredibly glad that I ended blogging. I don't really go by a day without talking to someone about books now!

7. I do try to read a ton of different genres, (and until pretty recently I thought I did) but I have definite rather extreme leanings towards fantasy.  Even though I've found books I really enjoyed in almost every genre, I just get really reluctant (particularly with contemporary).

8. I've also been lucky enough to find a few blogging friends that read manga (and watch K-dramas!) which was really exciting for me!  Even though I date a Korean, he mostly just laughs really hard any time he sees me watching a K-Drama haha.  I read pretty diversely in manga, although I mostly stick to shoujo, and I don't actually know that K-dramas have exact genres really?  In any case, I am ALWAYS happy to flail over these!

Eight's my lucky number (mostly I ran out of things to say), and I want to give myself plenty of room to talk about the book I'm going to be giving away.

Goodreads Summary: Candy lives in Chickentown USA: the most boring place in the world, her heart bursting for some clue as to what her future may hold. She is soon to find out: swept out of our world by a giant wave, she finds herself in another place entirely...

The Abarat: a vast archipelago where every island is a different hour of the day, from the sunlit wonders of Three in the Afternoon, where dragons roam, to the dark terrors of the island of Midnight, ruled by Christopher Carrion.

Candy has a place in this extraordinary world: she has been brought here to help save the Abarat from the dark forces that are stirring at its heart. Forces older than time itself, and more evil than anything Candy has ever encountered.

As is often the case, this summary really doesn't do justice to the magnitute and awesomeness that is Abarat.  Not a lot of people know about this series.  My guess is that a lot of it has to do with the slow release.  Clive Barker, the author of this books, does A MILLION projects in all medias.  He seriously does film, video games, books (and lots of different ongoing series at that), and art.  So considering the book came out in 2003, I guess I shouldn't be as surprised as I am that not a lot of people know about that.

BUT I'M HERE TO CHANGE THAT.  Muahahahahaha!

I've talked on the blog at length (aka every TTT post ever) about why I think this series is amazing.  Not only does it have fantastic characters and world building - they're so unique I honestly can't relate them to anything to give you an idea.  I know everyone says that every story has already been told, but I can honestly say that if I though that there was an exception to that rule, this book would be it.  It is like nothing else I have ever read.  If that isn't enough for you, Clive Barker paints around 200 paintings for each of the books in this series. TWO. HUNDRED. PAINTINGS.  In real life, they're full size. I mean the artwork is just...mind blowing.  In the book they can be as large as two full pages, or so small they fit in the margins of the page.   In one of my posts on Abarat, I show a few of the amazing paintings you can find in the book.  But because I love you guys and know some of you might be too lazy to click on the link, here's two of my all time favourites of his paintings:

The paperback version doesn't have this artwork, so I am giving away a HARD COPY of this book so that whoever wins this can revel in the full amazeballsness of this book.  On my link in Cuddlebuggery it says US only, but since I've ended up choosing a book I'd be getting from a store, if you're in the UK go ahead and enter if you live in the UK!  Sadly it's actually rather difficult to get your hands on a hard copy, and the only other store I could find it in was in the UK, or I'd open it up completely internationally.  (Hopefully I won't break the bank on accident by doing this) And because I can't help myself...

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 Guys. There's a dude playing a very oboe-like instrument in this book. NO ONE PLAYS THE OBOE! Ok, I'm done now. Really.