In My Mailbox 29/08/10
In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by The Story Siren. You can find more information about it here.
What happens when you come back from a month away when your mail had been held? You collapse under the piles that show up early in the week, that is what. I had been considering doing a vlog this week, but there are just too many books to talk about for that to be possible!
First of all, a small housekeeping item. The BOOKRAGEOUS calendar is now available for purchase! It is an 18 month calendar running from January 2011 to June 2012 featuring booksellers and book bloggers showing our enthusiasm for books. I am January 2011! It can be purchased on Zazzle for a cost of $25 and all proceeds go to First Book. I will post about it again at a later date.
Alright, on to the books!
I got home from my trip to find this lovely book on my bed. My roommate had picked it up at a big sale at our local Indigo store. (You know, that sale Colleen talked about not being able to resist 
heh.) I had to use the picture of it where the cat walked through because, hey, the book is Cat Shots by National Geographic! It’s a coffee table book with a collection of pictures featuring cats from all over the world.
Then on Monday evening Colleen and I met up for coffee and book chat (though we ended up just chatting and skipping the coffee – which neither of us drink anyway!) before heading to the release party for Mockinjay. Colleen fed my addiction by lending me a whole stack of books.
- Girl Parts by John M Cusick (already completed)
- Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare (already completed)
- thinandbeautiful.com by Liane Shaw
- We Are Not in Pakistan by Shauna Singh Baldwin
- The Breakwater House by Pascale Quiviger
- Good to a Fault by Marina Endicott
- The Weight of a Mustard Seed by Wendell Steavenson
- Fall on Your Knees by Anne-Marie MacDonald
Then of course we went to the release party (which I talked about in this post). While there we both picked up a couple of books (if you count Mockingjay!).
- Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins (already completed)
- Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson (already completed)
- The Tiger by John Vaillant (half way through – excellent book!)
This is already seeming like a lot of books… but then on Tuesday all of my held mail came! I received a number of books from BookMooch.
- Paradise by Abdulrazak Gurnah
- The Poison Tree by Alan Prendergast
- A Grain of Wheat by Ngugi Wa Thiong’o
- Freedom Forest by Sigvard Berggren
- Chasing Shadows by Hugo Gryn
- The Mortal Storm by Phyllis Bottome
I also received a large stack of books for review.
- It Just Hasn’t Happened Yet by Karin Anderson from the author, and see that lovely card peeking in on the right of the picture? That is from Ms. Anderson as well! (already completed)
- Portrait of the Mother as a Young Woman by Friedrich Christian Delius from Peirene Press (already completed)
- three Simon Van Booy books from Harper Perennial, Why Our Decisions Matter, Why We Fight, and Why We Need Love
- Between Sisters by Adwoa Badoe from the publisher
- The Jumbee by Pamela Keyes from the marketing group responsible for it
- Naked in Eden by Robin Easton for a TLC Tour, for some reason I was sent an ARC and a hardcover version of the book – watch for a giveaway of this!
- Muhammad by Deepak Chopra for another TLC Tour (already completed)
And one more pile! The last group of books is a combination of prizes and purchases.
- The Ask and the Answer by Patrick Ness – book two of the Chaos Walking trilogy. I pre-ordered the paperback copy of this back when I ordered book 1. It just arrived in the mail this week.
- The Elephant Keeper by Christopher Nicholson – I won this from Fresh Ink Books.
- What They Always Tell You by Martin Wilson – I won this from the GLBT challenge.
- Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer
- Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett - I won this and the Pfeffer book listed above from Reading With Tequila and am beyond excited for both. They are all great authors that I had heard a lot about but hadn’t read yet.
- Queers in History by Keith Stern – I won this from In the Forest during Rae‘s LGBT event.
- In The Land of Believers by Gina Welch (signed) – I ‘won’ this on the Book Blogger Convention auction.
I also received (oh, you thought that was it?) some lovely Dark Divine stickers and bookmarks from Chelsea M. Campbell. I actually won nail polish, but it turns out you can’t ship that across the border. Crazy right? So instead I got these lovelies. If you win a giveaway from me in the near future do let me know if you would like one of these included!
This also reminds me that I have The Dark Divine audiobook – I really much listen to that soon!
That is a whole lot of new books Amy. enjoy
Thanks Diane!
Great to see the Simon Van Booy trio in your pics Amy. I’ve a feeling you’re going to enjoy those.
Warmest
Rob
Thanks Rob! I can’t wait
Wow. Wow. What a lot of books! Some I have heard of (and think might be pretty good) and others are totally new to me. Hope you have a good time reading all this, Amy!
Thanks leeswammes
I’m really looking forward to all of them.
Um, you do know most of those books are for you to keep, right? LOL
I LOVED The Ask and The Answer. Even more than The Knife of Never Letting Go. I’m hoping to read Monsters of Men in a couple of weeks.
Shh… I haven’t told the shelves yet Colleen
Heh. And I am really looking forward to the series, I hope I love it.
Oooh, Good Omens is a big favourite of mine. And as you know, so is The Ask and the Answer. Enjoy your new books
Hooray! I’m excited to try them out Ana!
Oh, yay, The Ask and the Answer. All my friends right now are reading the Chaos Walking series so I have been fielding many questions about whether The Ask and the Answer is going to Keep On being That Depressing. (Yes.) But it’s so wonderful!
Excellent haul of books–I’m envious.
Good to know it’s awful depressing Jenny! I’m interested to give it a try.
OH my gosh that’s a huge stack of books! I’m hyperventilating just looking at it!
Heh, I know right Amanda. This is why I’m not allowed to acquire books in Sept!
There are so many wonderful books in there, but I just had to urge you to read Good Omens as soon as possible. Honestly, it’s one of my favorite reads ever. And the Patrick Ness series is excellent!
They are both getting a lot of recommendations Trisha! I have to focus on review books first, but then I will have to try those.
You have some great reading to look forward to! Here’s my IMMB
Thanks brandileigh2003.
Phew, it’s like Christmas! So awesome. I’m especially interested to read what you think of The Elephant Keeper. It’s such a gorgeous book that I keep picking it up but am unsure of the writing, though not the story; I like the idea of the story. Has anyone else read it?
Also really want to read The Breakwater House and I’m still unsure about Good to a Fault.
Thanks Steph – definitely like Christmas. I’ll let you know what I think – it looks and sounds wonderful.
I’m curious abut the Simon van Booy trio, I was thinking of requesting it myself but thought better of it with my move. And I actually read one of the books you loaned: Fall on your knees. I wasn’t blown away by it, but I remember enjoying it.
Oops, feel free to delete that one and I’ll return later this week with my book account.
I’m glad to hear you enjoyed Fall on Your Knees Iris – I’m looking forward to it. Also, I’ll let you know about the van Booy trilogy!
Yowza, that’s a lot of new books! I highly recommend Fall On Your Knees – I loved it so much!
Thanks Carina, good to know!
Woah, that’s a lot of books! I’m liking the look of Clockwork Angel US hardback very much. Enjoy!
Thanks Dwayne – it was really good!
Look at the books! Totally drool worthy! I have to check out that calendar and how cool Miss January 2011!
Thanks Sheila, very drool worthy. And yeah, very fun!
Wow Amy- that is a lot of books! (which means a lot of fun & great reading) Enjoy your time with them, they all sound amazing and I can’t wait for the upcoming reviews
Thanks Lua, I’ve got to get reading already, so much to get through!
Oh wow, I’d say these will keep you busy for a while, but you’ve already read so many!
Have you thought of making a library out of your home? I’m sure the library is nothing compared to your place 
Thanks Bina, it’s certainly a thought
Actually it kind of already is. I lend books out to friends, family, co-workers, you name it!
Oh my! That is a lot of books!! I didn’t really like The Weight of a Mustard Seed because it was very shoddily edited, but I am curious as to your opinion on it. If you want to discuss it with me when you are finished, drop me an e-mail! I also think that Fall on Your Knees is an excellent book, and one of my favorites, so I will be looking forward to your review. And also, Mockingjay, well, woohoo!!
Too bad you weren’t a fan of it zibilee, I hope I like it more than you did
I thought about requesting the Simon Van Booy books, but thought my TBR pile was a bit to big at the moment. I hope you like them! Also, I’ve been excited about Into the Land of Believers — lots of good reviews of that.
Yeah… I threw caution out the wind for them Kim! I’m really excited for them, and the Land of Believers. Ohh so many great reviews!
Wonderful collection in your mailbox, Amy!
Your cat looks lovely
What is his / her name?
Thanks Vishy
That guy is Wembley – he’s a huge sulk, always crying and wanting to be pet and played with.
I saw the Bookrageous calendar just now. The January 2011 picture looks really wonderful – I love all those books around you
Is that how your room is normally? Envy you 
Thanks again Vishy
That is all of my tbr books piled up around me actually 
Ha, ha, ha! That looks really good
Thanks
Wow, I wouldn’t even know where to start with those piles! Happy reading.
It’s definitely an issue Anna
WOW! Awesome books this week!
Love the blog by the way
Have fun reading! xoxo.
Thank you so much Dominique! Happy reading to you as well.