Mailbox Monday (May edition)

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 Martha at Martha’s Bookshelf.

I just realized that I’ve only been posting one MM post per month for this whole year. Consider this May’s edition!

Four books have come my way in the last few weeks, all from different sources.

I received two books in the mail: Califia’s Daughters by Leigh Richards (aka Laurie R. King), which I ordered online, and Made Priceless: A Few Things Money Can’t Buy edited by H. L. Hix, which I ordered from Serena at Savvy Verse & Wit (who signed my copy as she is one of the contributors!).

My mum also visited me recently and gave me Tree Yoga: A Workbook – Strengthen Your Personal Yoga Practice Through the Living Wisdom of Trees by Satya Singh and Fred Hageneder. And finally, Mum and I visited Donna’s book shop, Beazley Books, where I picked up a copy of The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley.

What did you find in your mailbox this past week? For other Mailbox Monday posts, head over to Reviews by Martha’s Bookshelf.

Mailbox Monday (April 9)

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 Cindy at Cindy’s Love of Books.

I received one book in the mail this week: This Life Is in Your Hands: One Dream, Sixty Acres, and a Family’s Heartbreak by Melissa Coleman, which I’m reading for a TLC blog tour later this month.

From the back cover:

In the fall of 1968, Melissa Coleman’s parents pack their VW truck and set out to forge a new existence on a rugged coastal homestead. Inspired by Helen and Scott Nearing, authors of the homesteading bible Living the Good Life, Eliot and Sue build their own home by hand, live off the crops they grow, and establish a happy family with Melissa and her two sisters. They also attraction national media and become icons of the back-to-the-land movement, but the pursuit of a purer, simpler life comes at a price. In the wake of a tragic accident, idealism gives way to human frailty, and by the fall of 1978, Greenwood Farm is abandoned. The search to understand what happened is at the heart of this luminous, heartbreaking, and ultimately redemptive memoir.

I also forgot to mention in my previous MM post that my sister Brogan gave me Ancestor Stones by Aminatta Forna for my birthday. (Brogan reviewed Forna’s memoir, The Devil That Danced on the Water on this blog.)

From the back cover:

Aminatta Forna, whose moving and gorgeously written memoir garnered international acclaim, now delivers her first novel, Ancestor Stones, a powerful, sensuous book that beautifully captures Africa’s past century and her present, and the legacy that her daughters take with them wherever they live. Abie returns home from England to West Africa to visit her family after years of civil war, and to reclaim their plantation, Kholifa Estates. There to meet her are her aunts: Asana, lost twin and head wife’s daughter; Hawa, motherless child and manipulator of her own misfortune; Mariama, who sees what lies beyond; and Serah, follower of a Western made dream. Through their tales, Abie begins gathering the family and the country’s history. Reminiscent of The God of Small Things or The House of the Spirits, Ancestor Stones is the unforgettable tale of a family and four women’s attempts to alter the course of their own destiny.

What did you find in your mailbox this past week? For other Mailbox Monday posts, head over to Cindy’s Love of Books.

Mailbox Monday (March 19)

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 Anna at Diary of an Eccentric.

It’s been a while since I’ve done a Mailbox Monday post, which I guess is a good thing, since it means I haven’t been adding to my out-of-control book piles... However, I did win a book recently, which has made its way to my home: A Cluttered Life: Searching for God, Serenity, and My Missing Keys by Pesi Dinnerstein. (With a title like that, how could I resist?!)

From the back cover:

Insightful, unsettling, and wildly funny, A Cluttered Life is the story of Pesi Dinnerstein’s quest to create a simple and orderly life—only to discover that simplicity is not so simple and what constitutes clutter is not always perfectly clear. in the end—with the help of devoted friends, a twelve-step recovery program, and a bit of Kabbalistic wisdom—her battle with chaos is transformed into an unexpected journey of self-discovery and spiritual awakening.

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

Mailbox Monday (February 6): The Birthday Edition

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 Kim at Metroreader.

Twas my birthday last week and I received a few books as gifts, got a few books in the mail and bought a few myself (all nonfiction as it turns out).

My sis-in law gave me two books for my birthday: Finding Meaning in the Second Half of Life: How to Finally Really Grow Up by James Hollis and Marriage Rules: A Manual for the Married and the Coupled Up by Harriet Lerner. (I’m a big fan of Lerner’s books and this is her latest, so I’m really looking forward to this one!)

I received an unsolicited copy of Speak to the Earth: Pages from a Farm Wife’s Journal by Rachel Peden (from Indiana University Press) and won a copy of Writing Yoga: A Guide to Keeping a Practice Journal by Bruce Black (from Rodmell Press).

And finally I bought myself two more books: Pay Attention, for Goodness’ Sake: Practicing the Perfections of the Heart—The Buddhist Path of Kindness by Sylvia Boorstein and Writing Down Your Soul: How to Activate and Listen to the Extraordinary Voice Within by Janet Conner.

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

Mailbox Monday (January 9)

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 Alyce at At Home with Books.

Happy New Year, folks! Here’s what came my way over the holidays...

My dad gave me three books I’d requested: Open Arms by Marina Endicott (I loved her second book, Good to a Fault, which I reviewed here), Orange Is the New Black: My Year in a Women’s Prison by Piper Kerman and Girl in a Blue Dress by Gaynor Arnold.

I also picked up second-hand copies of the following books (while shopping for my dad and Mr. B): Black Water Rising by Attica Locke, I Was Told There’d Be Cake by Sloane Crosley, The Sons of Heaven by Kage Baker and Grave Sight by Charlaine Harris.

Finally, Mr. B gave me a red Sony Reader for Christmas (yay!), so I downloaded the following ebooks for free: Emma by Jane Austen, The Secret Adversary by Agatha Christie and Tortured by Caragh M. O’Brien.

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

Mailbox Monday (December 19)

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 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.

Mailbox Monday (December 12): The 3rd 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 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):

• Birthmarked by Caragh M. O’Brien

From Cindy (Cindy’s Love of Books):

• Mnemonic: A Book of Trees by Theresa Kishkan

From Lucy (Moonlight Gleam’s Bookshelf):

• Black Mirror by Nancy Werlin

From Ilana (From Smiler, with love):

• Curtain: Poirot’s Last Case by Agatha Christie

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.

Mailbox Monday (November 28)

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 Marcia at the Mailbox Monday site.

I didn’t receive any books in the mail this week, but found two yesterday in a new-to-me secondhand store.

The first is ribsauce: a cd/anthology of words by women edited by Taien Ng-Chan (anthology) and Alex Boutros & Kaarla Sundström (CD). Alex and Kaarla used to be my neighbours about 15 years ago, so I was surprised and pleased to find this collection.

From the inside flap:

ribsauce is a unique compilation of literature and sound recordings, featuring some of Canada’s best women writers and performance artists. Presented in collaboration with Wired on Words, one of Canada’s premier spoken word recording labels, this combination of book and CD reveals the ways in which language and sound are manipulated and muscled into place by women who push the boundaries of genre and form.

The book delves into a diverse array of genre and cross-genre, from poetry and prose to plays and dramatic monologues, and everything in between. The works in this collection experiment with narrative and voice, text and image.

The second is Girl from Mars by Tamara Bach, translated by Shelley Tanaka.

From the inside flap:

Miriam is fifteen. She has lived in the same little town her whole life, going to school with the same kids who know everything about her—like how in the third grade she once laughed so hard that her strawberry milk came out her nose.

But now she’s in high school—having stupid arguments with her mother, bored to death in class, trying to get excited by the same old parties with the same old friends, and wishing she lived in a big city where she could meet new people, see new things. In other words, Miriam is desperately waiting for her life to start happening. Something, anything...

A first love, perhaps.

And then love comes, in a completely unexpected way, when Miriam meets a new classmate, Laura. And suddenly, life is very complicated...

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

Mailbox Monday (November 21)

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 Marcia at the Mailbox Monday site.

I received one book to review in the mail this week, from Quest Books: Sojourns of the Soul: One Woman’s Journey around the World and into Her Truth by Dana Micucci. It seemed like a suitable follow-up to my trip to Kripalu!

From the publisher’s site:

Sojourns of the Soul is the quintessential armchair travel book for the spiritual seeker. Dana Micucci’s touching memoir chronicles seven sacred journeys that span 14 years of Micucci’s life, during which she explores the connection of inner growth to world travel that eventually leads to her own enlightenment. Unlike other inspirational travel books, Sojourns of the Soul provides a rare mix of in-depth wisdom and literary insights from the holistic view of an experienced female traveler.

Fellow Montreal book blogger Lucy gave me The Knife of Letting Go by Patrick Ness...

From the back cover:

Prentisstown isn’t like other towns. Everyone can hear everyone else’s thoughts in an overwhelming, never-ending stream of Noise. Just a month away from the birthday that will make him a man, Todd and his dog, Manchee—whose thoughts Todd can hear too, whether he wants to or not—stumble upon an area of complete silence. They find that in a town where privacy is impossible, something terrible has been hidden—a secret so awful that Todd and Manchee must run for their lives. But how do you escape when your pursuers can hear your every thought?

While fellow Montreal book blogger Lisa lent me The Highest Frontier by Joan Slonczewski...

From the inside flap:

Jennifer Ramos Kennedy, a girl from a rich and politically influential family (descended from the famous Kennedy clan) whose twin brother has died in an accident and left her bereft, is about to enter her freshman year at Frontera College. Frontera is an exciting school built in Earth’s orbit with media money—and a bit from tribal casinos, too—and is dedicated to educating the best and brightest of this future world. We accompany Jenny as she proceeds through her early days at school, encountering surprises and wonders and some unpleasant problems. Deadly microbes that caused AIDS and anthrax are now being modified to cure disease and grow cables for space elevators. Earth is altered by global warming, and an invasive alien species called ultraphytes threatens the surviving ecosystem. Jenny is being raised for great things, but while she’s in school, she just wants to do her homework, go on a few dates, and get by.

I also received a bunch of books from Scholastic Canada during the brunch on Sunday with Cecil Castellucci and her publicists, but more on that tomorrow!

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

Mailbox Monday (November 14)

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 Marcia at the Mailbox Monday site.

This week I received one book in the mail, First Day on Earth by Cecil Castellucci, which was sent to me by Scholastic Canada. Cecil is going to be in town this weekend, so keep an eye out for my post about her visit!

I think the book blurb gives too much away, so all I’m going to say about the plot is that it’s about a boy who thinks he’s been abducted by aliens. I’ve already zipped through the book and I loved it!

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

Mailbox Monday (November 7): The Kripalu Edition

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 Marcia at the Mailbox Monday site.

Before telling you about my Kripalu haul (which, for those of you not in the know, is North America’s largest yoga retreat centre—I was there for a 5-day retreat the week before last and of course bought books from their gift shop), I will mention the two books I received for review in the last few weeks: The Informationist by Taylor Stevens and In Other Worlds: SF and the Human Imagination by Margaret Atwood (both of which were sent to me by Random House).

At Kripalu, I bought four more books:

• The Florist’s Daughter: A Memoir by Patricia Hampl (which just happened to be available for 75% off)
• Into the Heart of Yoga: One Woman’s Journey – A Memoir by Danna Faulds
• Real Happiness: The Power of Meditation – A 28-Day Program by Sharon Salzberg
• Yoga and the Quest for the True Self by Stephen Cope

I was studying with Stephen Cope and Sharon Salzberg during my retreat, so I had the opportunity to get both of them to sign my books. (I bought a second copy of Yoga and the Quest for the True Self because the copy I owned was an ARC I found at a library sale. Stephen very kindly signed both!)

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