Monday, December 19, 2011

Mailbox Monday (December 19)

Mailbox Monday buttonMailbox 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 Jenny Q at Let Them Read Books.

I received two books in the mail this week, one for review and one I bought myself.

The first is Pink and Blue: Telling the Boys from the Girls in America by Jo B. Paoletti, which was sent to me by Indiana University Press. It’s coming out in February 2012, so look for my review then!

From the publisher’s website:

Jo B. Paoletti’s journey through the history of children’s clothing began when she posed the question, “When did we start dressing girls in pink and boys in blue?” To uncover the answer, she looks at advertising, catalogs, dolls, baby books, mommy blogs and discussion forums, and other popular media to examine the surprising shifts in attitudes toward color as a mark of gender in American children’s clothing. She chronicles the decline of the white dress for both boys and girls, the introduction of rompers in the early 20th century, the gendering of pink and blue, the resurgence of unisex fashions, and the origins of today’s highly gender-specific baby and toddler clothing.



The second is Writing for Your Life: A Guide and Companion to the Inner Worlds by Deena Metzger.

What did you find in your mailbox this past week? For other Mailbox Monday posts, head over to Let Them Read Books.

Monday, December 12, 2011

Mailbox Monday (December 12): The 3rd Montreal Book Bloggers’ Meet-Up!

Mailbox Monday buttonMailbox 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 Jenny Q at Let Them Read Books.

I didn’t receive any books in the mail this past week, but I meet up with the Montreal Book Bloggers for our third official gathering and of course books were exchanged! Out of the 20 people in our group, 10 got together for lunch last Saturday—poor Laura, who was supposed to join us for dessert, got stuck in traffic and only made it to the restaurant as we were leaving. We chatted about books and food and BEA—it looks like Cindy and Tina and I will all be going and staying in the same hotel!

Here’s the group pic our waitress took with my camera:


Left side (L-R): Amanda from Tales and Treats, Natalia from Dazzling Reads, Ilana from From Smiler, with love, me and Tina from Bookshipper

Left side (L-R): Cat from Beyond Books, Cindy from Cindy’s Love of Books, Lucy from Moonlight Gleam’s Bookshelf, Cindy from Tynga’s Reviews and Emilie from A Beautiful Madness

I restrained myself a bit this time and only brought home four books for me (plus two for Mr. B):



From Amanda (
Tales and Treats):

From Cindy (Cindy’s Love of Books):

From Lucy (Moonlight Gleam’s Bookshelf):

From Ilana (From Smiler, with love):

Ilana also gave me American Gods by Neil Gaiman and A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin for Mr. B. (Thank you!)

What did you find in your mailbox this past week? For other Mailbox Monday posts, head over to Let Them Read Books.

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Similar Covers: Corsets (Again)

I know I’ve been neglecting my blog in the last few months (let’s not even talk about how long it’s been since I’ve posted a book review I actually wrote), but I can’t let a week go by without posting another set of lookalike covers (or three).

Here’s the latest batch then, all of which feature a woman in a corset from the back...

The first set: Taboo by Jess Michaels aka Jenna Petersen (HarperCollins, Apr 2009) and Trades of the Flesh by Faye L. Booth (Macmillan, Sep 2009).


The second set (which is my favourite): The Subjection of Women by John Stuart Mill, Wild Girls: Paris, Sappho, and Art – The Lives and Loves of Natalie Barney and Romaine Brooks by Diane Souhami (Orion Books, 2004), Wildthorn by Jane Eagland (Macmillan, 2009) and Bokbindersken (the Norwegian translation of The Journal of Dora Damage) by Belinda Starling (Cappelen Damm, 2010).



Finally, for those of you who have been following my “similar covers” posts for a while, a familiar set (with two new covers): Fever-Hot Dreams by Jaci Burton, Sherri L. King and Samantha Winston (Ellora’s Cave, 2007), Mistress by Leda Swann (HarperCollins, Feb 2008), Private Places by Robin Schone, Claudia Dain, Allyson James and Shiloh Walker (Penguin, Aug 2008), and The Scandal of the Season by Sophie Gee (Simon & Schuster, Aug 2008). Two of these covers appeared in my Seeing Double! post in 2009.



It’s funny because, although all these covers are very similar, only the middle three four appeal to me, which I attribute to the fact that those books sound more like something I’d actually read (the others don’t). I think the cover for Bokbindersken is particularly beautiful (the small image I’ve uploaded in this post doesn’t do it justice). What do you think?

Edited to add:

I added Wildthorn to the second set. I wasn’t sure it was the same image, but when you put it next to the others, it’s pretty obvious that it is!

BEA 2012, HERE I COME!