Sunday, February 21, 2010

Mailbox Monday-- Intriguing Titles


Mailbox Monday is my favorite meme, and it's hosted by Marcia on her blog, The Printed Page. I really want to thank her for providing me with an easy way to keep an eye on the books other bloggers are receiving each week. Mailbox Monday is the next best thing to being able to take a look at everyone's bookshelves! If you'd like to participate or to take a look at what others have received, just click on that redhead to the left. She'll take you right to this week's action!

This past week, I sent 5 books to new Paperback Swap (PBS) foster homes and received 4. Here's a bit about the four that I pulled out of my mailbox:

  1. Feed by M.T. Anderson (PBS). "In this chilling novel, Anderson imagines a society dominated by the feed a next-generation Internet/television hybrid that is directly hardwired into the brain. Teen narrator Titus never questions his world, in which parents select their babies' attributes in the conceptionarium, corporations dominate the information stream, and kids learn to employ the feed more efficiently in School. But everything changes when he and his pals travel to the moon for spring break. There Titus meets home-schooled Violet, who thinks for herself, searches out news and asserts that 'Everything we've grown up with the stories on the feed, the games, all of that it's all streamlining our personalities so we're easier to sell to.'"
  2. Books, Baguettes & Bedbugs, The Left Bank World of Shakespeare & Co. by Jeremy Mercer (PBS). "Shakespeare and Company in Paris is one of the world's most famous bookshops. The original store opened in 1921 and became known as the haunt of literary greats, such as Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, George Bernard Shaw, Ezra Pound, Gertrude Stein and James Joyce. Sadly the shop was forced to close in 1941, but that was not the end of 'Shakespeare and Company'...In 1951 another bookshop, with a similar free-thinking ethos, opened on the Left Bank. Called 'Le Mistral', it had beds for those of a literary mindset who found themselves down on their luck and, in 1964, it resurrected the name 'Shakespeare and Company' and became the principal meeting place for Beatnik poets, such as Allen Ginsberg and William S. Burroughs, through to Henry Miller and Lawrence Durrell. Today the tradition continues and writers still find their way to this bizarre establishment, one of them being Jeremy Mercer. With no friends, no job, no money and no prospects, the thrill of escape from his life in Canada soon palls but, by chance, he happens upon the fairytale world of 'Shakespeare and Co' and is taken in. What follows is his tale of his time there, the curious people who came and went, the realities of being down and out in the 'city of light' and, in particular, his relationship with the beguiling octogenarian owner, George."
  3. Liars Anonymous by Louise Ure (PBS). "Jessie Dancing, an operator for a roadside emergency service in Phoenix, Ariz., receives a call from a driver in Tucson, Darren Markson, who sounds as if he's being murdered. Not content to merely contact the local police, Jessie tracks down Markson's family and is surprised when his wife tells her he's still alive. Back in her hometown of Tucson, Jessie's past returns to haunt her, including her acquittal three years earlier for a cold-blooded murder she may or may not have committed. When a young woman she meets near the site of Markson's phone call gets blown up in her car, Jessie is once again thrown into a world where the lines between guilty and not guilty blur."
  4. Night Kill by Ann Littlewood (PBS). "Iris Oakley, a zookeeper at the Finley Memorial Zoo in Vancouver, Washington, is having a rough time. Her husband’s drinking has affected their marriage, but there may be a chance at reconciliation. Unfortunately, the next time she sees him, he is dead in the zoo’s lion exhibit. Her friends urge her to investigate and prove that he was murdered, but they also put obstacles in the path of her search for clues. The zoo administration is not happy, either. They move her from felines to birds and urge her to seek employment elsewhere. After surviving some near-fatal “accidents,” Iris figures out what happened to her husband, but she needs to stay alive to prove it."
What about you? Have you received any books in your mailbox lately that made you do the Happy Dance? Do tell!

10 comments:

  1. Feed and Night Kill sound good, enjoy them all.

    ReplyDelete
  2. The second book on your list sounds fascinating. I only got one book this week. You can see it here.

    ReplyDelete
  3. love you MM image!

    Your books are all new to me but sound interesting! Enjoy!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Books, Baguettes and Bedbugs sounds so good to me. I'm impressed that you had more go out than come in last week.

    ReplyDelete
  5. These all look very good. You had a great week swapping! enjoy them all!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Great pile you have got.

    And today I got one of those books that really made my day. It was an extra, belated birthday present in the shape of Martin Edwards´ latest, The Serpent Pool. I thought I would have to wait for the paperback, but no, now I have a wonderful hardback winking at me from my TBR

    ReplyDelete
  7. Puss-- I'm off to take a look now. Thanks for stopping by!

    Mary-- It does, doesn't it? :)

    Booksnyc-- Thanks!

    Kathy-- I thought you might like Books, Baguettes and Bedbugs. :) I'm still really enjoying your series about living in France.

    Beth-- I will. Thanks!

    Sheri-- Thanks for such a swift response!

    Dorte-- Wonderful! :)

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for taking the time to make a comment. I really appreciate it!