Monday, August 17, 2009

Mailbox Monday-- The Streak Continues?

Well...butter my butt and call me a biscuit! This past week I sent 5 books to new foster homes courtesy of Paperback Swap, and I only received 3. (I refuse to count the new IKEA catalog!)

Here's what I opened my mailbox to:

--Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones (PBS). "When the conflict between the natives and the invading redskin soldiers erupts on an unnamed tropical island in the early 1990s, 13-year-old Matilda Laimo and her mother, Dolores, are unified with the rest of their village in their efforts for survival. Amid the chaos, Mr. Watts, the only white local (he is married to a native), offers to fill in as the children's schoolteacher and teaches from Dickens's Great Expectations. The precocious Matilda, who forms a strong attachment to the novel's hero, Pip, uses the teachings as escapism, which rankles Dolores, who considers her daughter's fixation blasphemous. With a mixture of thrill and unease, Matilda discovers independent thought, and Jones captures the intricate, emotionally loaded evolution of the mother-daughter relationship."

--Bound by Sally Gunning (PBS). "Seven-year-old Alice Cole travels with her family from 1756 London to the New World, dreaming of a big house in Philadelphia and a new life. Her mother and brothers die on board and are buried at sea; the ship docks in Boston rather than Philadelphia; there, her father indentures her for 11 years without a backward glance. Alice does housework for the family of Simeon Morton of Dedham, in whose house she is treated almost like a second daughter, becoming constant companion to 10-year-old Abigail, or Nabby. When Nabby marries Emery Verley of Medfield, Alice's indenture is signed over to him, but the Verley household turns out to be an abusive one. Alice flees and winds up on Satucket, Cape Cod, where Lyddie Berry, heroine of Gunning's The Widow's War, and her companion, the lawyer Eben Freeman, give her shelter and a job. Alice works hard for them, and they grow fond of her, but when Alice discovers she's pregnant, she embarks on a journey of deceit and lies." I really enjoyed The Widow's War, so I'm looking forward to this one!

--The Sea Garden by Sam Llewellyn (PBS). "Victoria, a young American, and Guy, a young Englishman, meet, fall in love and get married. Soon thereafter, Guy inherits his family's estates and properties on the condition that he and his bride change their surname from Farrer to Blakeney-Jones. They move to a mansion on Trelise, his family's island off Cornwall. After purchasing Trelise in the 1840s, Joshua Jones, the famous medicinal herbalist, immediately began to turn the island into one large garden. When Victoria discovers some buried bones, Guy thinks they must be those of some long-ago monk. Victoria disagrees, so she begins to research the history of Trelise, consulting letters, invoices, diaries and other documents stored in the mansion."

There you have it! A big Thank You to Marcia of The Printed Page for hosting this meme. If you'd like to see what others found in their mailboxes, just click on the redhead with the flirty skirt at the top of this post. See you next Monday!

20 comments:

  1. Sea garden sounds like a good book.

    happy reading: http://www.savvyverseandwit.com/2009/08/mailbox-monday-43.html

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  2. PBS is great isn't it?

    BTW I love you're putting it as "sending the books to new foster homes"-- great way to put it!

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  3. Bound sounds fabulous! of course, I am partial to books set in New England. Thanks for sharing. Have a great week and happy reading.

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  4. Mr. Pip is awesome! I hope you love it!

    Lezlie

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  5. I love your first line, about the biscuit. I don't think I've heard that particular expression before!!!

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  6. You're a biscuit! It looks like you got some great books.

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  7. I hope you enjoy Mr. Pip as much as I did. Bound sounds phenomenal.

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  8. Gorgeous covers. Hope you enjoy them!

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  9. Nice mailbox.
    I have not heard about any of those :)

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  10. Hope you're not sliding around too much with that buttery butt of yours. I like the sound of the two Sally Gunning books. I've made a note to try to find those.

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  11. It's nice to recycle and share books!

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  12. Hi! Could you tell me about PBS please? I don't know anything about it but I really like the idea of sending books I have to foster homes and the like. And you received some great sounding books in return, particularly "Bound" and "Sea Garden".

    Thanks!

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  13. The covers look lovely and the Sea Garden sounds interesting. Enjoy!

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  14. Your Mr Pip cover is lovely. Mine isn't. He he.

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  15. Serena--One of my Paperback Swap buddies had Sea Garden and emailed me, saying that she thought I'd love it, did I want her to send it to me?

    DC-- I love PBS! I'm glad you like my "foster homes" phrase. Thanks for stopping by!

    Kaye-- I really enjoyed Gunning's The Widow's War, so I have great hopes for Bound.

    Lezlie-- Thanks for the thumbs up on Mr. Pip!

    Rhapsody-- Glad you like it. It's common where I grew up. Through the years, people have told me that I "talk funny". I would imagine that it's only gotten worse now that I've had a few years to pick up my husband's British slang as well! LOL

    Kathy-- Now if I only knew who buttered my butt! LOL

    Kristen-- Another yhumbs up for Pip. Yes! I'm also looking forward to Bound with anticipation.

    Mary-- Thanks!

    Blodeuedd-- Thanks!

    Margot-- Nah. I took a shower. :) I hope you like the Gunnings once you've found them and had a chance to read them.

    Kaye--You know I can't resist peeking in other people's mailboxes! ;)

    Harvee-- Yes, it is. I finally came to the conclusion that books are meant to be read and shared, not read once and hoarded on shelves.

    Amy-- I'd be more than happy to tell you about PBS. I'll send you an email!

    Jenny-- I'm really looking forward to Sea Garden. My PBS buddy is very enthusiastic about it.

    Claire-- But I bet the same good book is behind both!

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  16. All of these were new to me, I look forward to reading your reviews. Happy reading! You can see my mailbox here.

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  17. All of these sound interesting, though I'm surprised I was able to get through the post, as your first sentence had me laughing my rear off. :)

    --Anna
    Diary of an Eccentric

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  18. Kelly-- Thanks for stopping by!

    Anna-- Never forget that I have a tendency to talk funny. (1) I come from farm country where folks tend to talk funny anyway. (2) I married a man from Lancashire, and it didn't take me long to find out they talk funny, too! I now speak Midwestern Southern Lancashire Hick. ;)

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