Mailbox Monday (July 25): The Montreal Book Bloggers’ Meet-Up!

You may remember that a couple of weeks ago, I posted about the Montreal Book Bloggers Facebook group and how we were organizing a meet-up this month. After much anticipation, we finally met this weekend for lunch and it was so much fun! (Book bloggers are some of the friendliest and most generous people I’ve ever met.) Of the 15 bloggers in the group, 13 were able to make it. Here we are at the restaurant (our friendly waiter took this photo with Lucy’s camera—click to enlarge):

Front row (L-R): PK from aisle b (in the pink dress), Cindy from Cindy’s Love of Books, Cat from Beyond Books, Lisa from starmetal oak book blog.

Back row (L-R): Me, Amanda from Tales and Treats, Melissa from YA Book Shelf, Jennifer from Mrs. Q Book Addict, Cindy from Tynga’s Reviews, Lucy from Moonlight Gleam’s Bookshelf, Donna from BookBound, Laura from Library of Clean Reads, Tina from Bookshipper

Lucy (Moonlight Gleam’s Bookshelf) made each of us a name tag. Here’s mine (isn’t it awesome? I was so impressed!):

Of course, a book blogger meet-up wouldn’t be complete without a book exchange and, as you can see from the pile below, I brought home a lot of books!

From Cindy (Tynga’s Reviews):

• Monster by Walter Dean Myers

From Melissa (YA Book Shelf):

• XVI by Julia Karr
• Haunting Violet by Alyxandra Harvey

From Amanda (Tales and Treats):

• The Opposite of Fate: Memories of a Writing Life by Amy Tan

From Laura (Library of Clean Reads):

• Far to Go by Alison Pick
• The Sandalwood Tree by Elle Newmark
• Sanctuary Line by Jane Urquhart

From Tina (Bookshipper):

• Writing Yoga: A Guide to Keeping a Practice Journal by Bruce Black (a loan)
• Walter: The Story of a Rat by Barbara Wersba with drawings by Donna Diamond

From PK (aisle b):

• Imperfect Endings: A Daughter’s Tale of Life and Death by Zoe FitzGerald Carter
• That’s Funny, You Don’t Look Buddhist: On Being a Faithful Jew and a Passionate Buddhist by Sylvia Boorstein
• Lighting the Way by the Dalai Lama

As if that wasn’t enough, four publishers (Harper Collins Canada, Random House Canada, Scholastic Canada and Simon & Schuster Canada) very generously sent us boxes of books and swag. These are the three books I scored:

From Harper Collins Canada:

• The Book of Lies by Mary Horlock

From Random House Canada:

• Season of Darkness by Maureen Jennings
• The Summer of Permanent Wants by Jamieson Findlay

Have you read any of these books? (The only one I’d already read is The Opposite of Fate by Amy Tan, one of my favourite writers.) Which one do you think I should read first? I’m leaning towards Season of Darkness, which is a mystery set in England during World War II—a perfect complement to the Connie Willis book I just finished reading!

Mailbox Monday is a gathering place for readers to share the books they received during the previous week. Warning: MM can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles and huge wish lists! Mailbox Monday, which was started by Marcia (who now blogs at A girl and her books) is on blog tour—this month, it’s hosted by Gwendolyn B. at A Sea of Books.