Mailbox Monday (October 3): The 2nd Montreal Book Bloggers’ Meet-Up!

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 Serena at Savvy Verse & Wit.

A pile of books made its way into my house this past week. First off, I used a 25% off coupon at Chapters Indigo to buy Afflictions & Departures: Essays by Madeline Sonik. I’m not familiar with this author, but the book was blurbed by Susan Olding and Lorna Crozier, two of my favourite authors, so I was sold!

Next, the Montreal Book Bloggers gathered again this past weekend: of the 19 members of the group, 13 met for lunch to chat and trade books and compare e-readers (I’m leaning towards getting a Sony Touch at the moment). Here’s the pic our waitress took with Ilana’s phone:

Front row (L-R): Lucy from Moonlight Gleam’s Bookshelf, Cindy from Cindy’s Love of Books, Amanda from Tales and Treats and Ilana from From Smiler, with love

Middle row (L-R): PK from aisle b, Lisa from starmetal oak book blog, me and Laura from Library of Clean Reads

Back row (L-R): Jennifer from Mrs. Q Book Addict, Linda from Better with Books, Donna from Books Bound, Natalia from Dazzling Reads and Melissa from YA Bookshelf

And here’s the loot I came home with:

From Amanda (Tales and Treats):

• Illyria by Elizabeth Hand
• Remarkable Creatures by Tracy Chevalier
• The Memory of Water by Karen White
• We Need to Talk about Kevin by Lionel Shriver
  

From Cindy (Cindy’s Love of Books):

• Beg, Borrow, Steal: A Writer’s Life by Michael Greenberg

From Donna (BookBound):

• The Lake of Dead Languages by Carol Goodman

From Laura (Library of Clean Reads:

• Next to Love by Ellen Feldman
  

From PK (aisle b):

• The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton
  

Donna also gave us all plastic book covers, which you can adjust to the size of your book (see Cindy’s meet-up post for a pic) and Cindy gave us all bookmarks. For some reason, I can’t seem to upload my photos onto my computer, but once I figure it out, I’ll post another group shot!

What did you find in your mailbox this past week? For other Mailbox Monday posts, head over to Savvy Verse & Wit.

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.

Mailbox Monday (May 30) + Blogger Meet-Up

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 Mari at MariReads.

I didn’t receive any books in the mail this week, but I did meet up with Tina (Bookshipper) and Linda (Better with Books) at the tea shop for our usual monthly gathering. (Donna, Cindy and Amanda unfortunately couldn’t make it.) It’s been a while since I’ve been to a meet-up, so it was great to get together and chat and exchange books. One of the hot topics was Book Expo America, which just ended last week—both Tina and I hope to be there in 2012!

On the book front, Tina gave me her ARC of She Loves You, She Loves You Not by Julie Anne Peters (which is due out in June), while Linda gave me both The Girl Who Stopped Swimming and Backseat Saints by Joshilyn Jackson, as well as The Writer’s Retreat Kit: A Guide for Creative Exploration and Personal Expression by Judy Reeves.

After the meet-up, Linda and I stopped in at a local thrift store to drop off the extra books that none of us wanted and I picked up another book, The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals by Michael Pollan. I also bought a lovely pair of dark brown mugs that say “tea” on one side and “thé” on the other.

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

Mailbox Monday (February 14) + Blogger Meet-Up

Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books they received during the previous week. Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles and humongous wish lists! Mailbox Monday, which was started by Marcia at The Printed Page, is on blog tour—this month, it’s hosted by Laura at Library of Clean Reads.

I didn’t receive any books in the mail this week (which is just as well since I’m on a book-acquiring ban until June), but I did meet up with the usual Montreal gang (Cindy, Donna, Linda and Tina; Amanda unfortunately couldn’t make it). Over tea and hot chocolate, we chatted about the latest installment of Authors Behaving Badly and about whether or not we’d be going to BEA in May (three of us are not, including me; Donna and Tina might be), among other things.

Tina gave me one book, which was one I’d “requested” before my ban went into effect: Keeping You a Secret by Julie Anne Peters. (One of her other books, Luna, has been highly recommended to me, so I’m eager to read this one.)

From the author’s website:

Expectations. A girl meets a guy, falls in love, gets married, has sex, not necessarily in that order. Holland Jaeger is living up to the expectations. But when she meets Cece, the course of her life is changed forever. She falls in love with this girl—this out-and-proud lesbian. Holland’s awakening to her own sexuality is the key to setting her free. Can Holland trust that the people she counts on most in her life will accept and embrace her newfound identity? Keeping their relationship a secret may prove to be the worst mistake Holland and Cece could ever make.

What did you find in your mailbox this past week? For other Mailbox Monday posts, head over to Library of Clean Reads.

Mailbox Monday + Blogger Meet-Up (December 6)

Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books they received during the previous week. Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles and humongous wish lists! Mailbox Monday, which was started by Marcia at The Printed Page, is on blog tour—this month, it’s hosted by Lady Q at Let Them Read Books.

I finally spent the gift card I received last Christmas (!) from Mr. B’s sister (my sister-out-law) and her husband—and the books I ordered arrived last week. They were:

• Her Smoke Rose Up Forever by James Tiptree, Jr. (for the 2011 “The Women of Science Fiction” Book Club at Dreams and Speculation)
• I Thought It Was Just Me (But It Isn’t): Telling the Truth about Perfectionism, Inadequacy and Power by Brené Brown
• Radical Acceptance: Embracing Your Life with the Heart of the Buddha by Tara Brach
• The Seven Whispers: A Spiritual Practice for Times Like These by Christina Baldwin
  
• The Spiral Dance: A Rebirth of the Ancient Religion of the Great Goddess by Starhawk
• Stuck: Why We Can’t (or Won’t) Move On by Anneli Rufus

I also received one book for review: Home to Woefield by Susan Juby, which will be published by Harper Collins in March 2011. Here’s the blurb on the back:

When twenty-four-year-old Prudence Burns inherits a farm from her uncle, she thinks all her back-to-the-land dreams will come true. Unfortunately, Woefield Farm turns out to be thirty acres of scrub grass, dotted with dilapidated buildings and inhabited by a lonely, half-sheared sheep named Bertie. Prudence discovers that her total lack of experience and skills might be a problem, especially since the bank is about to foreclose on the property. Needing to turn things around fast, she enlists the help of earl, a spry seventy-something, banjo-playing foreman with a substantial family secret; Seth, the alcoholic, celebrity-school drama teacher; and Sara Spratt, a hyper-organized eleven-year-old looking for a home for her prize-winning chickens. Together the four unlikely farmers tackle a series of impossible projects and create a most unusual family.

Finally, I also got together with the usual gang minus two (Cindy, Linda, Tina and I met up; unfortunately, neither Donna nor Amanda could join us) and somehow managed to be heading home without a single new book (although Linda gave us each a $5 gift card to spend at Chapters Indigo and Cindy made us lovely beaded bookmarks). But then Linda and I popped into a thrift store on the way home and I bought Sleeping Murder by Agatha Christie!

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

Mailbox Monday + Blogger Meet-up (September 27)

Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books they received during the previous week. Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles and humongous wish lists! Mailbox Monday, which was started by Marcia at The Printed Page, is on blog tour—this month, it’s hosted by Kathy at Bermudaonion’s Weblog. (Note that I will be hosting this meme next month.)

I didn’t receive a single book in the mail this week (which is totally fine by me), but I did meet up with the usual gang (Cindy, Donna, Linda and Tina) at the tea room yesterday, as well as a new local blogger, Amanda from Tales and Treats.

I came home with three new books (all from Cindy):

• Fables: Legends of Exile* by Bill Willingham
  
• The Queen of Cool by Cecil Castellucci (a giveaway win)
  
• Perfecting by Kathryn Kuitenbrouwer
  

Here are the back cover blurbs for these books (in order):

Who killed Rose Red? In Fabletown, where fairy tale legends live alongside regular New Yorkers, the question is all anyone can talk about. but only the Big Bad Wolf can actually solve the case—and, along with Rose’s sister Snow White, keep the Fabletown community from coming apart at the seams.

Libby Brin has the hippest friends, the hottest boyfriend, the trendiest clothes and the most easygoing parents. She’s the most popular girl in school and she’s never been more bored. Then she signs up for an internship at the Los Angeles Zoo, where she teams up with Tina, a Little Person and aspiring actress, and Sheldon, an introverted boy with a brilliant mind. Libby’s friends think the zoo is for losers, but Libby begins to realize that she may actually enjoy working there and even like Tina and Sheldon. Will the Queen of Cool have to give up her crown?

With blood on his hands, Curtis Woolf flees his home in New Mexico for Canada, where he starts a religious commune, the Family. There he heals others and preaches pacifism while enduring the torment of his own damaged soul. Then his lover, Martha, finds his gun and goes south to discover the truth, whatever that might be. Curtis sets out to bring her back, lest the Family fall apart. In the half-light of a nursing home sits Hollis, dragon lord of a lost Mormon line, who has anointed Curtis, damned him and now awaits his return...

What did you find in your mailbox this past week? For other Mailbox Monday posts, head over to Bermudaonion’s Weblog.

*Cindy actually gave me this book during our last meet-up, which I completely forgot to blog about!

Mailbox Monday (July 19) + Blogger Meet-Up

I didn’t actually receive any books in the mail this week; however, I did get together with the usual Montreal gang (Cindy, Donna, Linda and Tina) at the tea shop yesterday and scored two books: Cindy gave me The School of Possibilities by Seita Parkkola (translated by Annira Silver and Marja Grass) and Tina passed on The Worst Thing She Ever Did by Alice Kuipers (published as Lost for Words in the US). I was introduced to Kuipers’s writing in the anthology Piece by Piece: Stories about Fitting into Canada edited by Teresa Toten (read my review), so I’m particularly looking forward to reading that one.

What did you find in your mailbox this past week? For other Mailbox Monday posts, head over to Marcia’s blog, The Printed Page.

Note that, starting next month, Mailbox Monday is going on a blog tour. I will be hosting this meme in October 2010.

BEA Planning, Author Sighting, Knitting & Book Sale Loot: Not Really a Mailbox Monday Post (April 26)

This past weekend, I went a little crazy at a local library sale: I picked up a total of 21 books for $28 (including a few not mentioned below as they were for other people). Here are their covers:

The books are:

1. Address Unknown by Kathrine Kressmann Taylor
2. Between Interruptions: 30 Women Tell the Truth about Motherhood edited by Cori Howard
3. Folly by Laurie R. King
4. No One You Know by Michelle Richmond (read my review)
   
5. One Good Turn by Kate Atkinson
6. Opting In: Having a Child Without Losing Yourself by Amy Richards
7. Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld
8. Smashed: Story of a Drunken Girlhood by Koren Zailckas
9. Summer of the Big Bachi by Naomi Hirahara
10. The Candy Factory by Sylvia Fraser (not pictured)
    
11. The Kiss Murder by Mehmet Murat Somer
12. The Saturday Morning Murder by Batya Gur
13. The Underpainter by Jane Urquhart
14. The Wise Wound: Myths, Realities, and Meanings of Menstruation by Penelope Shuttle and Peter Redgrove
15. Tipping the Velvet by Sarah Waters
16. Watching the Roses by Adèle Geras
17. What the Psychic Told the Pilgrim: A Midlife Misadventure on Spain’s Camino de Santiago de Compostela by Jane Christmas
18. Wild and Woolly: A Journal Keeper’s Handbook by Alfred DePew
19. Yoga and the Quest for the True Self by Stephen Cope

I’m also pretty sure I spotted Jo Walton at the sale. (I read and reviewed her novel Farthing in 2008.) She was with a bunch of folk, so I was too shy to approach her (plus I wasn’t 100% sure it was her!).

I also went to Value Village last week and picked up Becoming Myself: Reflections on Growing Up Female edited by Willa Shalit as well as a friend for Cairo...

Cairo with her new friend (click to enlarge)

Finally, the weekend before last, Cindy (Cindy’s Love of Books), Linda (Better with Books), Tina (Bookshipper) and I met for the last time before we go to BEA together next month. (Donna [BookBound] unfortunately couldn’t make it.) I’ve finally gotten my passport and bought my train tickets, so this is really happening!

Tina passed on one book to me: Sweater Quest: My Year of Knitting Dangerously by Adrienne Martini.

All of us (except Tina) brought in our knitting projects. I just finished mine the night before last (it’s a cotton washcloth knit mostly in seed stitch), and I’m trying not to mind too much that one side is obviously a lot looser than the other!

Click to enlarge

What did you find in your mailbox this past week? For other Mailbox Monday posts, head over to Marcia’s blog, The Printed Page.