Mailbox Monday, December 19

Seen both at Mailbox Monday -- hosted in December at Let Them Read Books -- and The Story Siren, my Mailbox Monday/In My Mailbox on a Sunday. A very random assortment of reads this week -- but don't they look good? Have you read any of these?  What did you get?


For Review




Running the Rift by Naomi Benaron
The Girl with the Crooked Nose by Ted Botha
Our Man in the Dark by Rashad Harrison
A Discovery of Witches: A Novel by Deborah Harkness
Journey to the Heart of Luna (Space: 1889 & Beyond, #1) by Andy Frankham-Allen
All the Flowers in Shanghai by Duncan Jepson
Cinder (Lunar Chronicles #1) by Marissa Meyer

Comments

  1. They do look good! I have had A Discovery of Witches to read for ages now, I really shouldn't have bought the huge hardback. Cinder is on my wishlist.

    ReplyDelete

  2. I can't wait to hear what you think of A Discovery of Witches! It was one of my favorite books of the year. I am also hoping to read Cinder soon as well. Great stack here today!

    ReplyDelete

  3. I loved A Discovery of Witches and can't wait to hear your thoughts on it. All the Flowers in Shanghai sounds very interesting.
    Enjoy!

    ReplyDelete

  4. You got a lot of goodies :D Do enjoy them all

    ReplyDelete

  5. A nice mix of books. Enjoy them all.

    ReplyDelete

  6. we have a couple books in common. Happy reading; I look forward to comparing notes.

    Happy holidays.

    ReplyDelete

  7. A nice variety in your mailbox, enjoy!

    http://tributebooksmama.blogspot.com/2011/12/mailbox-monday_19.html

    ReplyDelete

  8. What an interesting assortment of books! I hope they're all as good as they look.

    ReplyDelete

  9. Really looking forward to your thoughts on All the Flowers in Shanghai. It looks fantastic! Happy reading!

    ReplyDelete

  10. Cinder just showed up on my doorstep this afternoon and I can't wait to read it! One of my most anticipated YA novels. Discovery of Witches was just OK for me. Enjoy your new books!

    ReplyDelete

  11. Discovery of Witches was a great book! I hope you like it.

    Looking forward to your thoughts on Cinder -- it is appearing in many Mailbox Monday posts this week.

    Enjoy all your new books.

    ReplyDelete

  12. I loved RUnning the Rift! It was the book I was most excited about at the BEA Editors' Buzz panel.

    *new follower*

    ReplyDelete

  13. Nice set of books! Happy Reading and Merry Christmas! I'm doing my first book giveaway hop on over and enter!

    ReplyDelete

  14. Running the Rift sounds really interesting! Enjoy your books!

    ReplyDelete

  15. I loved Discovery of Witches and have All the Flowers in Shanghai making it's way to me soon too!

    Enjoy your books!

    ReplyDelete

  16. I've seen several of these on multiple lists this week. Looking forward to seeing reviews about them, since a couple of them definitely look interesting to me.
    JNCL
    The Beauty of Eclecticism

    ReplyDelete

  17. What a great selection! The cover for The Girl with the Crooked Nose is particularly striking. Hope you enjoy them all!

    ReplyDelete

  18. I'm eagerly awaiting Running the Rift (I preordered it for my Kindle and am beyond excited for it to come out!) I bought Our Man in the Dark when it came out too, but I haven't read it yet. It's near the top of my January pile. Enjoy!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Winter 2017 Bloggiesta To Do Post

Image
I love Bloggiesta for reminding me to brush up and take of my blog, and doing it "in community", so to speak, makes this housework a little more fun.

Given my earlier whining about feeling out-of-it with my blog, I'm really excited there's a mini-event this coming weekend in which I can do some backend work here.

My to do list is pretty simple:
make a top 10 of 2016 post (even if it is just a list!)review the book I just finished!I'd like to start 2017 without a backlog of reviews, so it feels important I keep up. We'll see if I'll tackle my 2016 backlog. (Perhaps for another Bloggiesta!)
Read more

Interview with Mary Sharratt on her newest novel, Ecstasy

Image
I'm an enormous Mary Sharratt fan; her novels are rich, detailed, evocative, complicated, lush, and compelling. (See my reviews for Illuminations and The Dark Lady's Mask.) I'm sharing my review of her newest novel, Ecstasy, tomorrow, but needless to say, it'll be all gushing praise. Sharratt's portrait of Alma Mahler, Gustave Mahler's beautiful, talented wife, is so good. I couldn't say I liked Alma's choices, but Sharratt allowed me to imagine why she would have made them.

I'm delighted to share my interview with Ms. Sharratt about Ecstasy. There's also a giveaway at the end, too!

How did Alma's story cross your path?

I’ve always been a huge Gustav Mahler fan. I adore his music and he appears like the perfect tragic hero, rising up from rural obscurity and facing insurmountable struggles in his life, and meeting his untimely death with great courage and dignity. But then I became intrigued by the figure of his wife, Alma, especially after …
Read more

Weekend reads and wow, it's been a while...

Image
Yikes, it's been a while.

Winter did a number on me, as it always does; although I can say that while I wasn't reading much (and clearly not blogging about it), I've been filling my time. This year I've finished six knitting projects, which is a record for me given that I normally only manage one piece a year!

A few weeks ago, we adopted two cats since Unabridged Kid and I had reached our limit of cat-less living. After bickering over names for two weeks, we finally reached agreement: Gus, from Gus's Garage, and Stanley, from Stanley's Garage. (Notice a theme?)

I've fallen terribly behind on my novel; I pretty much stalled out after the winter holidays, and I've just gotten back into a morning writing habit (one hundred-ish agonizing words a day, le sigh).

This weekend I'm starting Mary Sharratt's Ecstasy, a historical novel about Alma Mahler. Gifted in her own right, she put all that away for her marriage, and I'm kind of shoulder tense i…
Read more

Book Review: Ecstasy by Mary Sharratt

Image
First line: Nineteen years old, Alma Maria Schindler longed body and soul for an awakening.

I knew, from the previous novels of Sharratt's that I've read (the astounding Illuminations and fascinating The Dark Lady's Mask) that I would love Ecstasy -- even though I feared the story of Alma Mahler's life would frustrate me. However, I should have trusted that Sharratt would somehow manage to make me not just enraptured of/with Alma but also the people in her life, including the frustrating Gustave Mahler.

Alma Schindler is beautiful and clever, growing up in Vienna's glittering world of art and intellect. She composes and wishes to devote herself to music, but aspires to a passionate love as well. She eventually marries Gustave Mahler, a genius who demands she give up her composing and devote her entire self to his art. The cost, unsurprisingly, is enormous.

This probably sounds miserable, but Sharratt somehow manages to make it deeply compelling and kind of understan…
Read more