In My Mailbox (March 28, 2010)

The weekly In My Mailbox post is hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren. It is fun to see what everyone else gets in their mailboxes, shopping bags, and library visits. Click on the link to The Story Siren's site to see the rules and join in the fun.

I guarantee that your TBR pile will grow when you see all the cool books everyone gets. You will discover lots of wonderful blogs and lots of books that you won't be able to live without.

For the first time that I remember, I added an equal amount of books to my Kindle as I purchased paper copies. I did add three books for the 2010 YA Debut Author Challenge because I intend to donate them to my HS Media Center after I finish reading them. Here thay are:

Brightly Woven by Alexandra Bracken

Inside Out by Maria V. Snyder

Mistwood by Leah Cypess

I also added a couple more YA books that are the latest installments in series that I already read and love. These will most likely remain in my home library rather than be donated after reading. I'll be adding them to my next HS Media Center book orders for sure. Here thay are:

A Conspiracy of Kings by Megan Whalen Turner

A Wizard of Mars by Diane Duane

More detailed information about these books including links to Amazon and the authors' websites can by found by visiting my other blog - Ms. Martin Teaches Media.

These adult books were added to my Kindle primarily from recommendations I received as I was checking out everyone else's IMM posts last week.

Cat's Cradle: String of Fate, Book 1 by Bianca D'Arc -- Here's the "warning" from Samhain: Warning: This book contains bad language, great sex, sometimes hostile, but always sexy, big cat shifters on the prowl, and lots of tuna for Chuck-wait a minute-tuna?

Sweeter Than Wine by Bianca D'Arc -- Again, here is Samhain's "warning": Warning, this title contains explicit sex, graphic language, menage a trois, hot neck biting and werecougar stroking.

I see that Bianca D'Arc has other books available too. I thought I would give these a try first.

When He Was Bad by Shelly Laurenston and Cynthia Eden -- "Two of paranormal romance's bestselling authors combine their extraordinary talents and set the pages on fire with an after-dark anthology featuring Alpha males so hot, so wild, and so bad, they may just be the best you've ever had..."

Mind Games by Carolyn Crane -- I stumbled onto her blog, thought she was funny, learned she was from Minnesota, liked the concept of hypochondria as a super power, and had to give the book a try. She is a debut author.

Wolf Games: Granite Lake Wolves, Book 3 by Vivian Arend -- I have read and enjoyed the first two books and wanted to read this one. It was a short, fun read about werewolves and the women who love them.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder by Joanne Fluke -- I like a good, cozy mystery once in a while. I read a review for a book later in the series and learned that it takes place in Minnesota. I had to backtrack and look for the first book. I see that there are currently 13 in the series.

And here is the only adult book that I actually received a paper copy of because I bought a used copy through Amazon Marketplace.

May Day by Jess Lourey is a cozy mystery that takes place in Minnesota.  She begins her series in the month of May and has just published September. So I have a few more months to catch up on if I like the series.

As I look over this week's additions, I seem to have been fixated on my home state. Have you ever done that?

This is what I bought this week. What did you get?

Book Beginning: Mind Games by Carolyn Crane

Book Beginnings on Friday is a meme hosted by Becky at Page Turners. Anyone can participate; just share the opening sentence of your current read, making sure that you include the title and author so others know what you're reading. If you like, share with everyone why you do, or do not, like the sentence.

Thank you to Rose City Reader for giving me the idea for this meme. On Rose City Reader you will find 'Opening Sentences of the Day' so please have a look at this wonderful blog for further opportunities to share opening sentences.

Here is the opening sentence of my current book:

From where we sit I have the perfect view of Shady Ben Foley, dining on the other side of the lavishly decorated Mongolian restaurant.

This is a newly released debut paranormal novel by a new Minnesota author - Carolyn Crane. The title is Mind Games. The heroine is most unusual. She has found a way to turn her raging hypochondria into a weapon. I like the way the sentence sets us up in a place and introduces a character - Shady Ben Foley. Why "shady"?

Friday 56: Wolf Games by Vivian Arend

Happy Friday everybody!!

Rules:

• Grab the book nearest you. Right now.
• Turn to page 56.
• Find the fifth sentence.
• Post that sentence (plus one or two others if you like) along with these instructions on your blog or (if you do not have your own blog) in the comments section of Storytime with Tonya and Friends.
• Post a link along with your post back to Storytime with Tonya and Friends.
• Don’t dig for your favorite book, the coolest, the most intellectual. Use the CLOSEST.

Wolf Games (Granite Lake Wolves, Book 3)
Author: Vivian Arend

Publication: Samhain Publishing, Ltd. (March 23, 2010) on my Kindle

I don't know if this is page 56 or sentence 5 but I thought I'd share anyway.

Maggie scrambled off his lap so fast she slipped, her feet skidding on the soft rocks at the bottom of the outdoor pool. The towering mass of man in front of her caught her easily before her head went under.

These have been fun werewolf romances. I'm looking forward to reading more of this one.

 

Review: Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane

Shutter Island

Author: Dennis Lehane

Publication: Harper; Reprint edition (August 25, 2009)

 

Product Description: The year is 1954. U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels and his new ­partner, Chuck Aule, have come to Shutter Island, home of Ashecliffe Hospital for the Criminally Insane, to investigate the disappearance of a patient. Multiple-murderess Rachel Solando is loose somewhere on this barren island, despite having been kept in a locked cell under constant surveillance. As a killer hurricane bears relentlessly down on them, a strange case takes on even darker, more sinister shades—with hints of radical experimentation, horrifying surgeries, and lethal countermoves made in the cause of a covert shadow war. No one is going to escape Shutter Island unscathed, because nothing at Ashecliffe Hospital is remotely what it seems.

 

My Thoughts: This was really a weird book. Of course, I was expecting a weird book. I was told that the movie was similar to A Beautiful Mind and The Sixth Sense. I was expecting things to not be as they seemed. Even so, I found the book to be baffling. I'm still not sure what was real and what was happening in the characters mind. I thought that the description of the treatment of mental illness in the 1950s was almost as interesting as the plot itself. What a horrible time to be mentally ill! If you are looking for a book to entertain you while messing with your mind, this is the book for you.

 

Now, I have to decide if I want to see the movie. Right now, not so much. It sounds like it could be incredibly scary. Personally, I'm looking for a "fluffy bunny" type movie now. Does Disney have anything new out?

 

Challenges: RYOB Reading Challenge, 2010 E-Book Reading Challenge

Book Blogger Hop (March 26, 2010)

Jennifer from Crazy for Books has come up with a great new meme that I will be taking part in. It follows in the spirit of Friday Follow but it is specifically for book bloggers! I am very excited about this blog hop as it will give me a chance to find out about lots of other book blogs that I might not have known about otherwise.  If you want to join in the fun, all you have to do is visit Crazy for Books and sign up with McLinky. Then just have a look through the other blogs that are signed up and hopefully make lots of new bloggy friends! If you find my site through the Book Blogger Hop leave a comment here and I will come and visit your blog. Happy blog hopping! 

Short Take Reviews Take 2

Just some quick thoughts about what I have been reading.

Lunch Lady and the League of Librarians by Jarrett J. Krosoczka -- This middle grade graphic novel is about lunch ladies who are also crime solving super heroes. This case has them up against evil librarians who want to steal the latest and greatest video game system so that kids will be forced to read. I borrowed this one from my Elementary Media Center.


Wolf Flight by Vivian Arend -- This is the second in the Granite Lake Wolves series. Missy is an Omega wolf on the run from the Alpha of her pack. Tad is an untriggered wolf who was her high school sweetheart. He doesn't know she is a wolf. There are lots of misunderstandings on the way to "happy every after" for these two characters. This book resides on my Kindle.

Mouse and Dragon by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller -- This is a re-read for me. I read this a week or so ago and reviewed it here. Then, because it comes third in a story arc, I read books 1 (Local Custom) and 2 (Scout's Progress) in the arc again. Then, naturally, I had to read this one again. I enjoyed this book even more this time than I did the first. The story tells how Aelliana Caylon and Daav yos'Phelium manage to overcome a greedy Delm, a spiteful sister, a kidnapping, and assassins to form a a lifemating and a marriage of true hearts and souls. This is an ARC that resides on my Kindle. The hardcover will be coming my way in mid-June.

Challenges: In the Middle Reading Challenge, 2010 E-Book Challenge, Flashback Challenge, RYOB Reading Challenge

Tuesday Teaser: Mouse and Dragon by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title and author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

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Mouse and Dragon
by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller
Publication: Baen Books (June 15, 2010

What I have learned is -- mark me now! -- life is not safe. Random action threatens us all. The choices we have are between fear and boldness, between joy and terror. If at all possible, I believe it is necessary to choose joy. One may survive no longer, nor ever be safe, but one's life will be worth living.

This is a re-read for me. I keep finding more in it to think about and to love. I am reading the eARC available from Baen Books.