Sunday, February 28, 2010

Mailbox Monday-- A Little of This, A Little of That


Marcia hosts my favorite meme, Mailbox Monday, on her blog The Printed Page. Thank you, Marcia! If you are insatiably curious about the books other bloggers find in their mailboxes each week, think about joining with us. If you only want to take a look at those books, glorious books... click on that redhead to the left. She'll take you right to the scene of this week's action!

Last week, I sent 5 books to new Paperback Swap (PBS) foster homes and received 3. I could've made it a more interesting week for myself by catching up on all the book reviews I have to write and then posting those books, but I am making progress, so I won't complain. By the way, if one of the books in the photo looks battered and bruised, it was. It's an example of what can happen to a sloppily packaged book when it meets the United States Postal Service. In this case, the post office was able to put the pieces back together and I did finally receive the book. I won't be able to pass it on, but that's the least of my worries.

Here's the scoop on the books I found in my mailbox last week:

  1. Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis (PBS). "Scrappy 10-year-old Bud--"not Buddy"--Caldwell is an orphan on the run from abusive foster homes and Hoovervilles in 1930s Michigan. The idea that's planted itself in his head is that Herman E. Calloway, standup-bass player for the Dusky Devastators of the Depression, is his father. Guided only by a flier for one of Calloway's shows--a small, blue poster that had mysteriously upset his mother shortly before she died--Bud sets off to track down his supposed dad, a man he's never laid eyes on. And, being 10, Bud-not-Buddy gets into all sorts of trouble along the way."
  2. The Meaning of Night, A Confession by Michael Cox (PBS). "Cox's richly imagined thriller features an unreliable narrator, Edward Glyver, who opens his chilling "confession" with a cold-blooded account of an anonymous murder that he commits one night on the streets of 1854 London. That killing is mere training for his planned assassination of Phoebus Daunt, an acquaintance Glyver blames for virtually every downturn in his life. Glyver feels Daunt's insidious influence in everything from his humiliating expulsion from school to his dismal career as a law firm factotum. The narrative ultimately centers on the monomaniacal Glyver's discovery of a usurped inheritance that should have been his birthright, the byzantine particulars of which are drawing him into a final, fatal confrontation with Daunt."


  3. 9 Dragons by Michael Connelly (PBS). "An investigation into a cold-blooded murder introduces Detective Harry Bosch to a Chinese underworld lurking in the dark recesses of the City of Angels. Its tentacles are far reaching, yet it remains shrouded in secrecy due to time-honored cultural traditions that keep the exploited from speaking out. To the victim's family, Bosch promises revenge, but when his own daughter suddenly becomes a target, he promises blood. However, working a case with leads on both sides of the Pacific provides little room (or time) for error."
Have you read any of these books? What did you think of them?

Now I'm off to see what goodies the rest of you found in your mailboxes!

10 comments:

  1. I've had The Meaning of Night on my TBR list for several months. I look forward to your review.

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  2. I read Bud, Not Buddy a year or two ago, and I thought it was excellent. Enjoy!

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  3. Ooh I've been seeing 9 Dragons around, looks good. Happy reading! My mailbox is at The Crowded Leaf.

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  4. I haven't read any of these books. Your copy of the Buddy book looks like it was well loved by the previous owner. :)

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  5. Sounds like you got some good books. Enjoy them.

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  6. I got 9 Dragons this week too! I love the Harry Bosch novels.

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  7. I've had The Meaning of Night for a while -- I'll get to it one of these days.

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  8. Molly-- It might be a while. I've got 4 ARCs I need to pay attention to first!

    Wordlily-- I'm really looking forward to reading it.

    Alayne-- I've got to read The Brass Verdict before I can get to 9 Dragons. (Got to read these series in order, ya know!)

    Ryan-- I will. Thanks!

    Holly-- Harry is one of my all-time favorite characters.

    Beth-- I know... not enough days in the year!

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  9. I really enjoyed Nine Dragons and I hope you do too!

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  10. Kathy-- I love Harry Bosch so much that I'm pretty sure that I will. :)

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