Monday, August 03, 2009

Mailbox Monday-- A Spot of Tarnish on the Halo

I swear I just posted my mailbox goodies yesterday, and it's already time for another one. This summer is flying by entirely too fast!

I sent 3 books to new foster homes via Paperback Swap, and gained 7 new ones: five from my Paperback Swap wish list, and my first two books after receiving my invitation to become a member of the Amazon Vine program.

Here's the rundown on what I received:

--Them Bones by Howard Waldrop (PBS). From the back of the book: "Them Bones combines time travel, ethnography, archaeological research, and vivid alternative history in a complex but plainly told narrative that is simultaneously funny and poignant."

--Written in Blood by Sheila Lowe (PBS). The second in the Claudia Rose Forensic Handwriting mystery series.

--Firmin, Adventures of a Metropolitan Lowlife by Sam Savage (PBS). "Savage's debut concerns the coming-of-age of a well-read rat in 1960s Boston."

--Dance With Me by Louise Doughty (PBS). "A man dies a week after re-writing his will. In it, he has left everything he owns to a woman he has known for only three weeks. As Bet investigates Peter's past, she discovers that her ex-lover was not all that he seemed...In a crumbling office block, another woman has a different sort of ghost to confront. Iris runs her own business but strange things keep happening. Her phone rings and there's no one there. Somebody taps at her door. In the basement, something unpleasant is lurking ..."

--Twenty Fragments of a Ravenous Youth by Xiaolu Guo (PBS). "Guo's début novel, first published eleven years ago in China and now reworked in English, distills the rush to modernization through the experience of Fenfang, a young peasant who leaves her village for Beijing. Part of the post-Cultural Revolution generation, Fenfang is untethered from history and profoundly alone, and Guo imbues her flailing efforts to establish herself with a raw, adolescent pain. Pirated books and DVDs provide an education, as Fenfang takes cues from "Betty Blue," "Chungking Express," Marguerite Duras, and Tennessee Williams, progressing from work as an extra in state film productions to a screenwriting career."

--A Duty to the Dead, A Bess Crawford Mystery by Charles Todd (Vine ARC). "The winning first in a new WWI series introduces Bess Crawford, a resourceful British army nurse who's injured when her ship is sunk in 1916. While convalescing in England, Bess is tormented because she's put off delivering a message from Arthur Graham, a dying soldier under her care for whom she'd developed strong feelings, to his family. Her own brush with death prompts her to travel to Kent and transmit Arthur's cryptic last words to one of his three brothers. Bess becomes further enmeshed in the family's affairs after she learns the obscure message may relate to Graham's half-brother, Peregrine, who was committed to a local asylum for a girl's murder years before. The more Bess seeks to sate her curiosity, the more she suspects that the truth about the murder was suppressed. Fans of independent women sleuths like Maisie Dobbs will welcome this new addition to their ranks."

--Blood Safari by Deon Meyer (Vine ARC). I've already read one of South African author Meyer's books and enjoyed it, so I couldn't pass this opportunity by.

And there you have what arrived in my mailbox last week. A big thank you to Marcia of The Printed Page for hosting this meme. If you'd like to see what others discovered in their mailboxes, just click on the picture of the redhead with the flyaway skirt at the top of this post.

See you next week!

(If you see a stack of books and other stuff behind my Mailbox stack...don't look too closely. Those are goodies that I'm rounding up as giveaways for Book Blogger Appreciation Week!)

13 comments:

  1. Good mailbox as always *tries to sneak a peak at those behind*
    What me? I was not doing anything

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  2. Dance with Me sounds great. I love stories about people who die after having changed their will :O

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  3. I was trying to peek but couldn't see anything. Can't wait for BBAW

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  4. I agree the summer is going by too fast! How did it get to be August already? I'm a new Vine member too. Happy reading!

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  5. Great group of books. Very enticing.
    Enjoy.

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  6. I don't seem to read as much in summer, and I hate the heat, so I can't wait to bid Adios to the summertime!

    Great stack o'books you've got this week! Happy reading.

    You can see my Mailbox here!

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  7. looks like you got some great books on deck to read. happy reading.

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  8. oooh, Louise Doughty! I'll be looking forward to your thoughts on that one. Have a great week and enjoy your new books.

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  9. Great selection - enjoy! Congratulations on becoming an Amazon Vine member.

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  10. I really liked Firmin - can't wait to see what you think of it!

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  11. Them Bones sounds so interesting - you always have such great finds. The BBAW goodies sound very enticing!

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  12. Blodeuedd--Somehow I don't think you're the only one who's going to be trying to peek! :)

    Dorte--I think we both like those kinds of stories. :)

    Beth--Just trying to do my bit!

    Cindy--Good! I must have chosen the best angle to take the photo. I was too lazy to move the stacks around on my desk! LOL

    Kathy--I remembered that we both became members within days of each other.

    Wisteria--Thanks!

    Kelly--I tend to read the same amount regardless of the season, and I love the heat. I know...I'm weird!

    Serena--Thanks!

    Kaye--I'm looking forward to the Doughty, too.

    Cathy--Thanks!

    Wendy--I'm looking forward to reading Firmin.

    Belle--Them Bones has been on one wish list or another for years. I can't even remember where I heard of it first!

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