Monday, June 22, 2009

Mailbox Monday-- Goofy But Good


Requests from Paperback Swap have slowed down to a crawl again. I sent just 2 out to new foster homes. Right now I don't have enough energy to do anything about it, but that ennui will probably change once my days off roll around. I received 5 books last week, 4 from PBS and 1 from Amazon...which is where I goofed by ordering the wrong book in a series that I'd like to get back to reading!

Here's what I received last week:

--The Cross Bearer by Roy Lewis (PBS). #9 in the Arnold Landon series, featuring a planning inspector in Northumberland (UK) whose searches through wonderful old buildings usually turn up a body or two.

--August Heat by Andrea Camilleri (A). "
When a colleague extends his summer vacation, Inspector Salvo Montalbano is forced to stay in Vigàta and endure the August heat. Montalbano’s long-suffering girlfriend, Livia, joins him with a friend—husband and young son in tow—to keep her company during these dog days of summer. But when the boy suddenly disappears into a narrow shaft hidden under the family’s beach rental, Montalbano, in pursuit of the child, uncovers something terribly sinister. As the inspector spends the summer trying to solve this perplexing case, Livia refuses to answer his calls—and Montalbano is left to take a plunge that will affect the rest of his life."


--In a Far Country: The True Story of a Mission, a Marriage, a Murder, and the Remarkable Reindeer Rescue of 1898 by John Taliaferro (PBS).
"When eight whaling ships became icebound at Point Barrow, the northernmost tip of Alaska, in January 1898, a rescue mission blessed by President McKinley was launched to bring the 275 stranded men reindeer meat to fend off starvation and scurvy. The Overland Relief Expedition drafted Tom Lopp, a missionary and advocate of turning native hunters into self-sufficient reindeer herders, who left his wife, Ellen, and children in Cape Prince of Wales, 55 miles across the Bering Strait from Siberia, and drove his 300-head herd 700 miles across ice and frozen tundra.
"

--A Rule Against Murder by Louise Penny (PBS).
"Murder interrupts Chief Inspector Armand Gamache and his wife's annual summer holiday at Quebec's isolated, lake-front Manoir Bellechasse in Agatha-winner Penny's intriguing, well-crafted fourth mystery. Irene Finney, the matriarch of a large eccentric family having a reunion at the Manoir, marks the event by having installed in the lodge's garden a statue of the long-dead father of her middle-aged children. When the massive statue falls and crushes one of the daughters, Gamache investigates and discovers no love lost among the surviving offspring.
"

--Borderline by Nevada Barr (PBS).
"Unable to shake the despondency and self-doubt that settled on her after her horrific experiences at Isle Royale (Winter Study, 2008), Anna is put on administrative leave. In a move designed to help her recover, her husband arranges to take her on a guided rafting trip in Big Bend National Park, which straddles the border between Texas and Mexico. Their companions are four college students. Within hours of their departure, the raft careens into rocks and is lost. The occupants have barely recovered from the shock when one of them makes a gruesome discovery: the body of a very pregnant woman caught among tangled branches. Though unable to save the woman, Anna saves the child, whose welfare becomes her mission. Unfortunately, some people have other plans for the tiny new life and the struggling rafters."

A big Thank You to Marcia of The Printed Page for hosting this meme. If you'd like to join in, or if you'd just like to read more answers, click on that hungry-looking mailbox at the top of this post to be taken to The Printed Page. See you next Monday!




12 comments:

  1. I haven't read any of those but the IN A FAR OUNTRY one sounds absolutely intriguing.

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  2. I think every one of your books would give me nightmares. LOL! I'm such a wimp.

    My mailbox is here: http://booknaround.blogspot.com/2009/06/monday-mailbox_22.html

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  3. What a variety in topics. happy reading.

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  4. I read my first Camilleri recently (rather cosy), and have my first Louise Penny on my shelf.

    It will be interesting to hear your thoughts about them.

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  5. I love Nevada Barr -- and you have some other great books on your list.

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  6. Ordering the wrong book sounds like something I'd do. Then, I'd probably keep it and order the right book.

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  7. I have to give Nevada's books a whirl. I always hear such good things.

    Here's mine:
    http://thebookresort.blogspot.com/2009/06/fedex-mail-ups.html

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  8. Good and interesting week for you
    Happy redaing

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  9. Bernadette--That one stands out for me, too.

    Mary--I usually have a very difficult time trying to decide which book to pull from my TBR shelves!

    Kristen--That's why there are so many different types of books to read!

    Serena--Variety is the spice of life!

    Dorte--I've read 3 or 4 of Camilleri's books, and they just keep getting better. I didn't particularly like the first one, so I'm glad I stuck with them. Louise Penny's books I enjoy a great deal.

    Beth--I love Barr, too. She's one of the few series authors I keep up with!

    Kathy--I'm keeping it all right...and ordering the right one. Stop reading my mind!

    "Resort"--I love Barr's series. Anna Pigeon is one of the few series that I keep up with.

    Blodeuedd--Thanks!

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  10. All look new to me. Great mailbox week for you. Happy reading.

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