Tag Archives: books

Welcome to Mailbox Monday!

Mailbox Monday is a place to share all the wonderful books that have come to live in your home– including paper books, e-books and audio books.

Mailbox Monday was started by Marcia, who is now blogging at A girl and her books. When Marcia was ready to move on from being the weekly host, she was kind enough to set up the Mailbox Monday Blog Tour, October’s host is Serena at Savvy Verse & Wit.

I haven’t been accepting books for review for the last couple of months, but unsolicited (but still appreciated) books have still made their way to my mailbox.  Some of these will be read and reviewed, others will not, but I’m thankful for each one.

I’ve gotten further behind than I’d like, so this is the print book edition for the last couple of months.  Next week, I’ll post the audiobook edition.

As for my mailbox:

The Impossible Dead by Ian Rankin

The Complaints: that’s the name given to the Internal Affairs department who seek out dirty and compromised cops, the ones who’ve made deals with the devil. And sometimes The Complaints must travel.

A major inquiry into a neighboring police force sees Malcolm Fox and his colleagues cast adrift, unsure of territory, protocol, or who they can trust. An entire station-house looks to have been compromised, but as Fox digs deeper he finds the trail leads him back in time to the suicide of a prominent politician and activist. There are secrets buried in the past, and reputations on the line.

The Drop by Michael Connelly

(I’ve been meaning to, but I haven’t read a Michael Connelly book before.  I know I’ll miss out on character development, but can I jump into this series this far in?)

Harry Bosch has been given three years before he must retire from the LAPD, and he wants cases more fiercely than ever. In one morning, he gets two.

DNA from a 1989 rape and murder matches a 29-year-old convicted rapist. Was he an eight-year-old killer or has something gone terribly wrong in the new Regional Crime Lab? The latter possibility could compromise all of the lab’s DNA cases currently in court.

Then Bosch and his partner are called to a death scene fraught with internal politics. Councilman Irvin Irving’s son jumped or was pushed from a window at the Chateau Marmont. Irving, Bosch’s longtime nemesis, has demanded that Harry handle the investigation.

Relentlessly pursuing both cases, Bosch makes two chilling discoveries: a killer operating unknown in the city for as many as three decades, and a political conspiracy that goes back into the dark history of the police department.

Assassin of Secrets by Q.R. Markham

An elite spy risks his biggest asset to defeat an insidious international organization hell-bent on selling the most sensitive state secrets to the highest bidder.

Jonathan Chase, the CIA’s top field agent, is sworn to protect and serve the United States at all costs. But after a brutal period of captivity during the Korean War, Chase developed an agenda of his own: to use his mastery of war to create peace.

His new target: the Zero Directorate, a cabal of rogue assassins who have embarked on a campaign to systematically interrogate and kill seasoned secret agents from across the globe.

But the Directorate has set an elaborate trap, and for Chase the whole mission involves an inescapable paradox. As the world’s preeminent operative, the closer he gets to the cabal, the closer the cabal gets to their primary target.

First Day on Earth by Cecil Castellucci

A startling, wonderful novel about the true meaning of being an alien in an equally alien world.

“We are specks. Pieces of dust in this universe. Big nothings.

“I know what I am.”

Mal lives on the fringes of high school. Angry. Misunderstood. Yet loving the world — or, at least, an idea of the world.

Then he meets Hooper. Who says he’s from another planet. And may be going home very soon.

Survivors by James Wesley, Rawles

Your turn

What came in your mailbox this week? Let me know, then go to Savvy Verse & Wit and check out others!

Welcome to Mailbox Monday!

Mailbox Monday is a place to share all the wonderful books that have come to live in your home– including paper books, e-books and audio books.

Mailbox Monday was started by Marcia, who is now blogging at A girl and her books. When Marcia was ready to move on from being the weekly host, she was kind enough to set up the Mailbox Monday Blog Tour, August’s host is Staci at Life in the Thumb.

As for my mailbox:

Books for review:

UnderDogs by Markus Zusak

(I looked for a better description, but couldn’t find one anywhere.  This one is on the cover flap, the Scholastic web site, Goodreads, and so on)

Before THE BOOK THIEF, Markus Zusak wrote a trilogy of gritty, funny, and at times heart-breaking novels about the Wolfe brothers: THE UNDERDOG, FIGHTING RUBEN WOLFE, and GETTING THE GIRL. We’re proud to present these novels together in one volume for the first time, and to be introducing American readers to THE UNDERDOG, never before published in the United States. Fans of THE BOOK THIEF won’t want to miss reading the novels that launched Markus Zusak’s stellar career.

The Exquisite Corpse Adventure by National Children’s Book & Literacy Alliance

With Jon Scieszka, Katherine Paterson, Shannon Hale (Goodreads Author), Gregory Maguire, Lemony Snicket, Kate DiCamillo, Natalie Babbitt, Susan Cooper , M.T. Anderson, Megan McDonald, Linda Sue Park, Patricia McKissack, Fredrick McKissack, Steven Kellogg, Nikki Grimes, Jack Gantos

(Audiobook from Brilliance Audio)

It all starts with a train rushing through the night. . . . Well, actually, it starts when Jon Scieszka, former National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature, writes a cliff-hanger episode and passes it on to the next member of a cast of celebrated writers and illustrators, who continues the story and passes it on. And what happens between episodes one and twenty-seven? Think werewolves and mad scientists, a talking pig, plenty of explosions, a blue Star Wars lunchbox, two meatballs, a whole army of villains and varmints, and one just plain bad egg. Not to mention our heroes, eleven-year-old twins Nancy and Joe, raised in a circus, who must find the pieces of a Top-Secret Robot in order to rescue their parents before . . . tick, tick, tick!

This Dark Endeavor: The Apprenticeship of Victor Frankenstein by Kenneth Oppel

(Audiobook from Brilliance Audio)

Victor and Konrad are the twin brothers Frankenstein. They are nearly inseparable. Growing up, their lives are filled with imaginary adventures…until the day their adventures turn all too real.

They stumble upon The Dark Library, and secret books of alchemy and ancient remedies are discovered. Father forbids that they ever enter the room again, but this only peaks Victor’s curiosity more. When Konrad falls gravely ill, Victor is not be satisfied with the various doctors his parents have called in to help. He is drawn back to The Dark Library where he uncovers an ancient formula for the Elixir of Life. Elizabeth, Henry, and Victor immediately set out to find assistance in a man who was once known for his alchemical works to help create the formula.

Determination and the unthinkable outcome of losing his brother spur Victor on in the quest for the three ingredients that will save Konrads life. After scaling the highest trees in the Strumwald, diving into the deepest lake caves, and sacrificing one’s own body part, the three fearless friends risk their lives to save another.

Your turn

What came in your mailbox this week? Let me know, then go to Life in the Thumb to check out others!