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Mailbox Monday #327

Mailbox Monday, created by Marcia at To Be Continued, formerly The Printed Page, has a permanent home at its own blog.

To check out what everyone has received over the last week, visit the blog and check out the links.  Leave yours too.

Also, each week, Leslie, Vicki, and I will share the Books that Caught Our Eye from everyone’s weekly links.

Here’s what I received:

1. The Gods of Tango by Carolina de Robertis for review.

February 1913: seventeen-year-old Leda, carrying only a small trunk and her father’s cherished violin, leaves her Italian village for a new home, and a new husband, in Argentina. Arriving in Buenos Aires, she discovers that he has been killed, but she remains: living in a tenement, without friends or family, on the brink of destitution. Still, she is seduced by the music that underscores life in the city: tango, born from lower-class immigrant voices, now the illicit, scandalous dance of brothels and cabarets. Leda eventually acts on a long-held desire to master the violin, knowing that she can never play in public as a woman. She cuts off her hair, binds her breasts, and becomes “Dante,” a young man who joins a troupe of tango musicians bent on conquering the salons of high society. Now, gradually, the lines between Leda and Dante begin to blur, and feelings that she has long kept suppressed reveal themselves, jeopardizing not only her musical career, but her life.

2.  Summer Secrets by Jane Green, a surprise from Tandem Literary.

June, 1998: At twenty seven, Catherine Coombs, also known as Cat, is struggling. She lives in London, works as a journalist, and parties hard. Her lunchtimes consist of several glasses of wine at the bar downstairs in the office, her evenings much the same, swigging the free booze and eating the free food at a different launch or party every night. When she discovers the identity of the father she never knew she had, it sends her into a spiral. She makes mistakes that cost her the budding friendship of the only women who have ever welcomed her. And nothing is ever the same after that.

June, 2014: Cat has finally come to the end of herself. She no longer drinks. She wants to make amends to those she has hurt. Her quest takes her to Nantucket, to the gorgeous summer community where the women she once called family still live. Despite her sins, will they welcome her again? What Cat doesn’t realize is that these women, her real father’s daughters, have secrets of their own. As the past collides with the present, Cat must confront the darkest things in her own life and uncover the depths of someone’s need for revenge.

3.  Uglies by Scott Westerfeld from the library sale.

Tally is about to turn sixteen, and she can’t wait. Not for her license – for turning pretty. In Tally’s world, your sixteenth birthday brings an operation that turns you from a repellent ugly into a stunningly attractive pretty and catapults you into a high-tech paradise where your only job is to have a really great time. In just a few weeks Tally will be there.

But Tally’s new friend Shay isn’t sure she wants to be pretty. She’d rather risk life on the outside. When Shay runs away, Tally learns about a whole new side of the pretty world and it isn’t very pretty. The authorities offer Tally the worst choice she can imagine: find her friend and turn her in, or never turn pretty at all.

4.  Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn from the library sale, which is great since its the August Book Club pick.

Fresh from a brief stay at a psych hospital, reporter Camille Preaker faces a troubling assignment: she must return to her tiny hometown to cover the murders of two preteen girls. For years, Camille has hardly spoken to her neurotic, hypochondriac mother or to the half-sister she barely knows: a beautiful thirteen-year-old with an eerie grip on the town. Now, installed in her old bedroom in her family’s Victorian mansion, Camille finds herself identifying with the young victims—a bit too strongly. Dogged by her own demons, she must unravel the psychological puzzle of her own past if she wants to get the story—and survive this homecoming.

5.  Dragon Bones by Lisa See from the library sale, which is one I don’t have by this author.

In a magnificent land where myth mixes treacherously with truth, one woman is in charge of telling them apart. Liu Hulan is the Inspector in China’s Ministry of Public Security whose tough style rousts wrongdoers and rubs her superiors the wrong way. Now her latest case finds her trapped between her country’s distant past and her own recent history.

The case starts at a rally for a controversial cult that ends suddenly in bloodshed, and leads to the apparent murder of an American archaeologist, which officials want to keep quiet. And haunting Hulan’s investigation is the possible theft of ancient dragon bones that might alter the history of civilization itself.

Getting to the bottom of ever-spiraling events, Hulan unearths more scandals, confronts more murderers, and revives tragic memories that shake her tormented marriage to its core. In the end, she solves a mystery as big, unruly, and complex as China itself.

6.  The Yellow House by Martin Gayford from the library sale, which is about painters I love.

This chronicle of the two months in 1888 when Paul Gauguin shared a house in France with Vincent Van Gogh describes not only how these two hallowed artists painted and exchanged ideas, but also the texture of their everyday lives. Includes 60 B&W reproductions of the artists’ paintings and drawings from the period.

My daughter got a ton of awesome DVDs at the library sale, including a set of Strawberry Shortcake videos, which she’s been running around the house smelling because they smell just like strawberry shortcake!

She also got a box set of Dora the Explorer books, and some other fun reads.

Sipping Spiders Through a Straw: Campfire Songs for Monsters by Kelly Dipucchio and illustrated by Gris Grimly

A delightfully chilling musical romp through the gross and gory world of campfire songs!

In this howlishly fun collection of campfire songs, little monsters everywhere will love singing along to their favorite campfire tunes which have been altered for optimal gross-out effect by the ghoulish Kelly DiPucchio and illustrated by the Master of Creep, Gris Grimly.

Disgusting highlights include “If You’re Scary and You Know It,” “99 Bottles of Blood on the Wall,” and the classic in the making, “Do Your Guts Hang Low?” Gather your creepy, crawly friends and get ready to slither and slink and howl and stink!

Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type by Doreen Cronin and illustrated by Betsy Lewin

Farmer Brown has a problem.

His cows like to type.

All day long he hears

Click, clack, MOO.

Click, clack, MOO.

Clickety, clack, MOO.

But Farmer Brown’s problems REALLY begin when his cows start leaving him notes….

Doreen Cronin’s understated text and Betsy Lewin’s expressive illustrations make the most of this hilarious situation. Come join the fun as a bunch of literate cows turn Farmer Brown’s farm upside down.

Peter Pan Fairy Tale Favorites A Pop-Up Book by John Patience

What did you receive?

Comments

  1. Nice variety. Dragon Bones gets my attention. Happy Reading!

  2. I found that one first minute I walked in the library sale.

  3. I’m looking forward to Summer Secrets!

  4. Oh, super fun arrivals! I loved Carolina de Robertis’ debut novel — hope this one is equally good!

  5. I got something in the mail from Tandem last night. I wonder if I got the same book. I was too tired to open it! Lame.

  6. I’ve seen that Jane Green book in a lot of mailboxes this week, it looks really good! Sharp Objects is my favorite Gillian Flynn book, hope you enjoy it!

  7. Wow, you found a lot of great books. I really enjoyed the Uglies series. Sharp Objects has been on my list of books I want to read forever – well actually listen to. One of these days… Happy reading!

  8. Fiction-Books says

    Hi Serena,

    You have a great mix of books to share this week, although the one which caught my eye, was ‘Sharp Objects’.

    Your library sale certainly yielded some excellent bargains. I find it so difficult to walk past this type of sale, but I am on a book buying ban until I have read at least half of all the books I have on the shelves about the house – and that might take some considerable time!

    Have a good week and thanks for hosting MM

    Yvonne

  9. I haven’t read Summer Secrets yet, but it’s in the TBR pile

  10. Anna (Diary of an Eccentric) says

    Great library sale finds! The Gods of Tango looks good, too. Happy reading!

  11. I love finding books at library sales! Love the title Sipping Spiders Through A Straw.

  12. Interesting mix of reads.,

  13. bermudaonion(Kathy) says

    It looks like you got some great deals! Carl loved the whole Uglies series. I got Summer Secrets last week and can’t wait to dig into it.

  14. Wow, great finds at the library sale! Hope everyone enjoys the reads.

  15. Looks like a great collection for you and your daughter. Enjoy!