In My Mailbox :: 2

 In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by The Story Siren where you can post the books that you've received, purchased, won in a giveaway, borrowed from the library, swapped on PaperBackSwap, etc. For more information, click here. 

Received from publisher via TLC Book Tours Book Club of the Month Contest:

What we Have: A Family's Story of Love, Loss and Survival by Amy Boesky

Publisher: Gotham (August 5, 2010)

Paperback, 336 pages

Summary from Goodreads:

At thirty-two, Amy Boesky thought she had it all figured out: a wonderful new man in her life, a great job, and the (nearly) perfect home. For once, she was almost able to shake the terrible fear that had gripped her for as long as she could remember. Women in her family had always died young-from cancer-and she and her sisters had grown up in time's shadow. It colored every choice they made and was beginning to come to a head now that each of them approached thirty-five-the deadline their doctors prescribed for having preventive surgery with the hope they could thwart their family's medical curse. But Amy didn't want to dwell on that now. She wanted to plan for a new baby, live her life. And with the appreciation for life's smallest pleasures, she did just that. In What We Have, Amy shares a deeply transformative year in her family's life and invites readers to join in their joy, laughter, and grief.

In a true story as compelling as the best in women's fiction, written with the sagacity of Joan Didion and the elegance of Amy Bloom, Amy Boesky's journey celebrates the promise of a full life, even in the face of uncertainty.

I was so stoked to finally win a contest on TLC Book Tours and even more excited about sharing this with our book club!

Free Kindle Editions:

I saw a few of these on The Cozy Reader's In My Mailbox post this week so I downloaded it for my Kindle on iPhone app.

Bright Young Things by: Anna Godbersen

Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers (October 12, 2010)

Kindle edition (still free as of 9/18 at 9:30pm)

Summary from Goodreads:

The year is 1929. New York is ruled by the Bright Young Things: flappers and socialites seeking thrills and chasing dreams in the anything-goes era of the Roaring Twenties. Letty Larkspur and Cordelia Grey escaped their small Midwestern town for New York's glittering metropolis. All Letty wants is to see her name in lights, but she quickly discovers Manhattan is filled with pretty girls who will do anything to be a star… Cordelia is searching for the father she's never known, a man as infamous for his wild parties as he is for his shadowy schemes. Overnight, she enters a world more thrilling and glamorous than she ever could have imagined—and more dangerous. It's a life anyone would kill for . . . and someone will. The only person Cordelia can trust is Astrid Donal, a flapper who seems to have it all: money, looks, and the love of Cordelia's brother, Charlie. But Astrid's perfect veneer hides a score of family secrets. Across the vast lawns of Long Island, in the illicit speakeasies of Manhattan, and on the blindingly lit stages of Broadway, the three girls' fortunes will rise and fall—together and apart. From the New York Times bestselling author of The Luxe comes an epic new series set in the dizzying last summer of the Jazz Age.

Wanderlust by Alice Hoffman, Kate Morton

Publisher: Simon & Schuster (September 12, 2011) 

Kindle edition (still free as of 9/18 9:30pm)

Summary from Amazon:

Wanderlust: A Book Club Sampler from Simon & Schuster is your boarding pass to the beautiful, the mysterious, and the unknown. This book club sampler was created to pay homage to a book’s unique ability to transport your imagination around the world, taking you on journeys across distance and time. Whether you’re in the mood for a historical love story set on a sheep station in rural Australia or an illuminating memoir of life in the war-torn Middle East, these are books you and your reading group won’t want to miss: Day of Honey: A Memoir of Food, Love, and War by Annia Ciezadlo, Wildflower Hill by Kimberley Freeman, The Dovekeepers by Alice Hoffman, Amaryllis in Blueberry by Christina Meldrum, The Hundred-Foot Journey by Richard C. Morais, The Distant Hours by Kate Morton, This Burns My Heart by Samuel Park, An Atlas of Impossible Longing by Anuradha Roy.

Each excerpt in Wanderlust is accompanied by a collection of bonus materials intended to enrich your reading experience, including discussion questions, suggestions for enhancing your book club meeting, and author interviews. In the spirit of looking to the horizon, we also asked each author featured in this sampler one question: “What is your favorite travel memory?” Their answers are fittingly diverse—from Christina Meldrum’s summers spent at a family cottage in Lake Margrethe, Michigan, to Alice Hoffman’s inspirational first trip to Masada, the setting of her epic new novel The Dovekeepers. Anuradha Roy, the author of An Atlas of Impossible Longing, describes the lure of armchair travel best: “All readers…carry within themselves sediments of the places they have traveled to in books, the people they’ve met on the way. Therefore the strange dÉjÀ vu is when you land in a foreign country and wonder if you’ve been there before.”

So, sit back, relax, and get ready for the trip of a lifetime.

Bon Voyage! 

 

Received via PaperBackSwap:

Theodosia and the Serpents of Chaos by R.L. LaFevers

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin (May 5, 2008)

Paperback, 352 pages

Summary from Goodreads:

Theodosia Throckmorton has her hands full at the Museum of Legends and Antiquities in London. Her father may be head curator, but it is Theo—and only Theo—who is able to see all the black magic and ancient curses that still cling to the artifacts in the museum. Sneaking behind her father's back, Theo uses old, nearly forgotten Egyptian magic to remove the curses and protect her father and the rest of the museum employees from the ancient, sinister forces that lurk in the museum's dark hallways.

My grade-level team teacher has raved about how much her students love this book and series, so I decided to pick one up from PaperBackSwap to add to my classroom library. Looks interesting!

Lon Po Po by Ed Young

Publisher: Philomel Books (November 1, 1989)

Paperback, 32 pages

Summary from Goodreads:

This "gripping variation of Red Riding Hood . . . is an outstanding achievement that will be pored over again and again" (School Library Journal, starred review). "The illustrations seem to throb with the mystery and terror of the wolf."--The Horn Book, starred review. Winner of the 1990 Randolph Caldecott Medal. Full color. 

My grade level team and I used this book to teach literary elements to our students this year, drawing close attention to the main problem of the story. It was my first time reading this story and I loved the illustrations. It definitely deserved the Caldecott Medal! My students enjoyed hearing the story and I especially love that it was a story from China (where my parents are from). 

 

Sent out via PaperBackSwap: 

I sent these books out via PaperBackSwap this past week.

What's in your mailbox this week?