Dead Reckoning with True 'Grits' Giveaway (Charlaine Harris)

I've been reading books by American writers for a looooog time now, and as I'm British, I often find some things get 'lost in translation'. (Which no doubt happens on occasion when someone who isn't British reads one of my books *g*).

One thing that always made me curious was 'grits'; everyone seemed to eat it, and I hadn't a clue what it was (this was before the internet was around to give me a million and one explanations ;p). But even when I did discover grits was a sort of corn porridge, it still seemed weird that it was eaten with savoury food. (The porridge I'm used to is eaten with salt or sugar, and sometimes cream! Oh, and a splash of whisky for those special brekkies!Yummy! :-)) So it wasn't till Mr Mc and I holidayed in Florida, 4 or so years ago, that I got the chance to try grits. (I liked it :-))

For those who don't know what grits are, this is from the font of all webby knowledge: Wikipedia. ;p

Grits is a food of Native American origin that is common in the Southern United States, mainly used in breakfast. It consists of coarsely ground corn . . . [and] is similar to other thick maize-based porridges from around the world, such as polenta (which I also hadn't tried till a few years ago :-D). 

So, keeping grits in mind . . . We're now on week # 13 of my 16 weeks of giveaways to celebrate the the upcoming US release of book 2  The Cold Kiss of Death (out 26th April), and the UK release of book 3 The Bitter Seed of Magic (Out Now! And available from The Book Depository with Free WorldWide Del) (I know, you all know that, and thanks to everyone who's bought, read, and hopefully loved it, but hey, I thought I'd just point it out . . . One. More. Time!) *g*

So, on with this week's giveaway. It's for the 11th book in the fantastic Sookie Stackhouse series: Dead Reckoning* by one of my all time writerly heroes, the wonderful and gracious Charlaine Harris. Out in the USand the UKon 3rd May.



Cover blurb from Amazon:

'With her knack for being in trouble's way, Sookie witnesses the firebombing of Merlotte's, the bar where she works. Since Sam Merlotte is now known to be two-natured, suspicion falls immediately on the anti-shifters in the area. Sookie suspects otherwise, but her attention is divided when she realizes that her lover Eric Northman and his "child" Pam are plotting to kill the vampire who is now their master. Gradually, Sookie is drawn into the plot-which is much more complicated than she knows...'

Oooooh! I'm sooooo glad we only have to wait a couple more weeks for this! Sooooo looking forward to reading it! I LOVE the Sookie books with a passion (Okay, I'll admit it, a good chunk of that passion does belong to Eric! But then he's always been my favourite vamp *fans herself* *g*)

And just to give you whiplash from drooling over Eric, to hopefully not drooling over grits, here's what you need to do to be in with a chance of winning Dead Reckoning. Leave me a comment telling me what food/thing/whatever you've read about in a book that's made you curious.
How to enter:

Leave a comment about what food/thing/whatever you've read in a book that's made you curious.

Please leave a way to contact you (email in comment: Please remember to replace @ with [at] to forestall spam - or your twitter name - no way to contact you - no entry).

Giveaway is international and closes end of day (GMT time) 14th April 2011.

Full General Terms and Rules at the bottom of this post here.

You can get an extra entry by tweeting about the giveaway. Leave the link to the tweet as an extra comment.

And don't forget to check out the Giveaway Schedule here. And so you don't miss out on a chance of winning any of the wonderful books in the coming weeks, why not follow me? (following is not a condition of entry).

Please note: My usual blog policy is that I try to reply to all comments on the blog, but for ease of admin I won't be replying to any comments made on any of the giveaway posts during the 16 weeks. Sorry, but it makes it much harder to sort out the winner. However I do read and enjoy all the comments, and will, of course, continue to reply to comments on any other post, so if you have a question for me, leave it on one of those, thank you :-)

All book links lead to Amazon (UK/US) or the Book Depository, and contain affiliate links. I've decided to go affiliate as I love giving books away (and not just as a way of shameless self-promo), but boy, does it get expensive.

*or winner's choice of an earlier book in the Sookie Stackhouse series.

x/posted to LJ. Comment here or there. One entry per person.

26 comments:

notsurewho said...

Oh! <3 Charlaine Harris.
But, I got rather miffed that they stopped stocking/never stocked the original covers in most Irish bookstores.
8 books of the old (uk) cover, and suddenly I had to 'special order'and wait an extra two weeks if I wanted the latest edition with a matching cover.*sigh*


Does corn bread count? I keep reading about corn bread and last year I just went ahead and made my own to see what the big deal was.

Except I can't have dairy, or egg, so they tasted rather... odd.

(You can find me on twitter - @notsurewho.)

Irene Jackson said...

Po boy , I think that is how it's spelt. found a lot in books set in New Orleans. Weird for an english country bumpkin like me :)

irgl7(at)bonzo15(dot)plus(dot)com

Unknown said...

So, I'm from the US and think po' boys are good but grits, not so much. I read some mysteries set in the UK that talk about "blood pudding" and that ain't ever going to happen;) Love, from the colonies

Cindy said...

Cindy = seeawest (at) gmail.com

Barbara E. said...

I've always wondered how haggis would taste. I've heard about it for a long time, but have never had a chance to try it.
I'm from California, now living in Florida, and they do have some weird food I'm not used to. In Cali we don't eat collard greens, grits, boiled peanuts or po' boys, and I haven't had the guts to try them yet.

Barbed1951 at aol dot com

Unknown said...

Oh, Eric... so yummy! ;)
I've read about "Cole Slaw" once... not sure what it is, though... LOL
Karla Vollkopf
kah_cherub at hotmail dot com
@vollkopf

Unknown said...

Oh, I tweeted about it: http://twitter.com/#!/vollkopf/status/56512429714190336

M Cris said...

Hum... I keep finding the word 'tiramisu' in my books, but no idea what it's made of... I know it's sweet. :-)

cris_mv at hotmail dot com

M Cris said...

Extra entry: http://twitter.com/#!/mcrism1/status/56513930696208386

SusanKMann said...

I'm a sweet gal rather than savoury so sweet things always stuck out in American books. I have to saw twinkies were one which I was curious about. I tried them first chance I got when I was in America a few years ago. They are delicious. @susankmann

Llehn said...

Haggis!

lesly7ch(at)yahoo(dot)com

Me. said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
notsurewho said...

@Cindy Irish black pudding, which is technically a blood pudding, is lovely. Much nicer than British blood pudding, and most blood puddings from the continent.


Oh, my tweet of the comp, Totally forgot. http://twitter.com/#!/notsurewho/status/56771692969721856

Deirdre said...

Hominy IIRC is something I wonder about; I wondered what Haggis was like and I did like it but can't eat it any more (I can't do gluten any more and gluten-containing barley is a necessary component.) I also wondered for a while what blood pudding was until I realised that it was black pudding! Sometimes the world really is divided by language!

Jojob said...

Hmmm for me id say some of the South American dishes always intrigue me like Jambalaya....

Jo

Burridgejo78 at googlemail dot com

tetewa said...

I've heard of cous cous but don't have any idea what it is! I've been waiting for Charlaine's newest release, love this series! tWarner419@aol.com

Anonymous said...

I have thought the same thing!!! What the heck is Haggis? Hahah...I am sure it is great but not a very pretty name ;)

Thanks for the giveaway!

Katie
Katiewalthall AT ymail DOT com

Anonymous said...

Oh God I can't wait for this book!! I need more Eric in my life! :)

Mine has to be Tootsie rolls and a bit of a weird one....salt water taffy ?! what the hell is that about?!

Thanks for the giveaway Suzanne! :)

Emma

emma_naomi_smith at hotmail dot co dot uk

maetel21 said...

Biscuits in the Brittish novels. I never understood until recently that it meant more like a cookie in England, rather what we have in the U.S.

Nope said...

I've always wanted to have a meal in an Irish pub, with a Guinness that has been properly poured (or stacked? built? not sure on the correct lingo)

I'd also like to try real Italian coffee in all its marvelous forms direct from the source, in an Italian coffee bar.

miarizzo at gmail dot com

Dinda said...

I've read about granola bar and Haggis but I have no idea what it is because I've never heard about it in my country.

dl(dot)love(dot)freedom(at)yahoo(dot)com

Steph from fangswandsandfairydust.com said...

Would love to win!
Po Boys YUM!!!!!!! I think I have eaten every type of food I can eat that I have ever wanted to. I have been fortunate to travel a lot and I am unfortunate to be allergic to many foods including wheat. I would say maybe a proper raclette event. And I have NO curiosity about Haggis although I once had a vegetarian haggis with lots of clove in Glasgow.
In re grits being savoury think polenta in Italy, but there is a steamed corn meal pudding called indian pudding - with a treacle taste. And you can eat grits with syrup and milk. In a sense they are like a plain starch that you flavor as you wish.


Fangs, Wands and Fairy Dust
email: steph@fangswandsandfairydust.com
twitter: @fangswandsfairy

Unknown said...

The one food I've read about but haven't been able to try yet: stroopwafels. From what I gather, they are tasty waffel-like creations, but flatter than US waffles, with a sugary syrup spread between the two layers...sounds good!

(and for the people wondering about tiramisu and cole slaw...tiramisu is a delicious dessert made from ladyfinger cookies, a sweet pudding-like filling (which gets soaked up by the cookies) and coffee flavored...cole slaw is excellent too...shredded cabbage, a small amt of shredded carrot for color, dash of vinegar, dash of milk, dash of sugar, served cold)

Very much looking forward to Dead Reckoning which I believe is due out May 3 :D

@rebeccatlittle

iokijo said...

I'm pretty picky on food.. so the only thing I can think of is scones. Things like Haggis.. no thank you. Grits are fantastic with cheese.. are made from Hominy a type of corn..love it.
Thank you for the chance to win C. Harris' book, one of my favorite series.
twitter @iokijo
[have been RTing, but can't get a link to those.. : ) ]

LSUReader said...

I'm getting hungry just reading this posts. Jambalaya, PoBoys, Cornbread, Grits and Cole Slaw. I grew up in South Louisiana, so y'all are talking my kind of food!

It's always interesting when I read a book where one of the main characters works in the food industry. The things they dream up! Diane Mott Davidson's Goldy Bear Catering books always feature recipes. A good thing, too, her Crunch Time Cookies look wonderful!
(Email in profile.)

mariska said...

all right, what is po'boy(s) means? need to know this food while i'm reading it.

uniquas at ymail dot com

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