Category: In My Mailbox

It’s time for In My Mailbox! I’m finding this a fun excuse to talk about the books I just checked out. Though I may eventually subside with embarrassment as people find out how many books I actually check out but don’t get read and how far behind I am on writing reviews! This having a full-time job cuts down on blogging time, I’m afraid!

In My Mailbox is hosted by The Story Siren.

This week, the first batch of books I checked out is here:

Picture books: Zero, and The Pout-Pout Fish in the Big-Big Dark
Nonfiction: The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind
Children’s Fiction: The Kneebone Boy, by Ellen Potter
Teen Fiction: The Amaranth Enchantment, by Julie Berry
Adult Fiction: Miss Hargreaves, by Frank Baker

Since I only review picture books I’m super excited about, I ended up turning those two back in unreviewed.

The next batch of books checked out:

Here we have:
Picture Books: Zen Ghosts, by Jon Muth, and Is Your Buffalo Ready for Kindergarten? by Audrey Vernick
Teen Fiction: A Wizard of Mars, by Diane Duane
Children’s Fiction: A Whole Nother Story, by Dr. Cuthbert Soup

Then on Saturday I went to the Zen of YA Literature Conference, where Catherine Gilbert Murdock was speaking. I purchased copies of Front and Center and Princess Ben, and got them signed.

Oh, I also checked out three audiobooks, and am listening to the first one: Carpe Diem.

I don’t know if I’ve mentioned, but ever since I came home from ALA with an overabundance of review copies, I have started trying to discipline myself to alternate my fiction reading between a library book and a book I own. So this week I finished the library book Behemoth, by Scott Westerfeld, and then read the book I own, Enchanted Ivy, by Sarah Beth Durst. Both were excellent, and Enchanted Ivy especially so! Reviews will be coming — some day! I also finished the audiobook Flipped, by Wendelin Van Draanen. It was very good, but I didn’t want it to end where it did.

This week I got one review posted and one review written.

It doesn’t take a math major to figure out that I am just getting further behind! My current score is I now have 31 books I have read and would like to review, and 16 books that I have written a review for, which need to be posted.

But at least I’m having fun!

Here’s another week’s look at what’s In My Mailbox. This meme is hosted by The Story Siren.

This week, I did not actually receive any books in my mailbox. I did, however, check out plenty of books from the Fairfax County Public Library.

The books are:
The Library Doors, by Toni Buzzeo. I’d been wanting this book, to see if it would be a good one to use for library tours. Of course, I’m currently not in a position where I’m offering library tours, but maybe again some day….

Orangutans Are Ticklish, by Steve Grubman. Need I say more?

Front and Center, by Catherine Gilbert Murdock. I finished her earlier books Dairy Queen and The Off Season in audiobook form, and I can’t wait for the audiobook to find out what happens next! Besides, next week I get to hear the author speak at the MAYALIG conference!

The Tower, the Zoo, and the Tortoise, by Julia Stuart. This is a book for adults for which I read a good review. Last time I checked it out, I had to return it unread.

The Magical Ms. Plum, by Bonny Becker. I love Bonny Becker’s books about Bear and Mouse. Surely this will be good, too.

Not pictured, I also checked out Touch Blue, by Cynthia Lord, based on a good review.

I didn’t read this many books this week. Of the books pictured last week, I had to return Reckless unread. I did, however, stay up all night last Sunday night reading Coronets and Steel, by Sherwood Smith, and thoroughly enjoyed it. (Monday was a holiday, so I went to sleep after I finished the book. It wasn’t a smart way to do it, but it was fun.)

I made a policy after getting back from ALA with 124 new books. From now on, I will read one library book, then one book I own. Coronets and Steel was a book I own, so next I read a library book: I have almost finished Behemoth, by Scott Westerfeld. Next I would like to tackle some of the review copies I’ve received, but I may finally tackle Wuthering Heights, as I was prompted to by reading Clare Dunkle’s The House of Dead Maids.

This week I also finally finished Women Who Run With the Wolves, by Clarissa Pinkola Estes, from my nonfiction pile. I go through nonfiction chapter by chapter in a rotating pile, so it tends to take me a long time. I’ve been reading that excellent book for a very long time and finding it inspirational.

I’m actually trying to slow down my reading a little bit, because I currently have 28 books I have read and want to write reviews for, and 15 books I have written reviews for and want to post. I did get more written this week than the number of books I finished, so that means I made progress, right?

Hmm. This may get discouraging reporting on how many books I check out and how slowly I’m getting them reviewed! I’ll try it a little longer and see if I make progress….

I’m going to post my first In My Mailbox blog entry. This blog meme is hosted by The Story Siren.

Now, I don’t get a lot of review copies in the mail, but I do check out an awful lot of books from the library. Now, mind you, I don’t always get them read as fast as I want to — So many books, so little time — You know the story. I thought this would be a fun way to mention the books I’m excited about reading — and hope that some day I’ll be able to follow up and give you a review.

First, last weekend at the Horn Book at Simmons Colloquium, I got three books signed by their authors!

A Conspiracy of Kings, by Megan Whalen Turner, When You Reach Me, by Rebecca Stead, and First Light, by Rebecca Stead. I’ve already read and loved the first two of those, but now want to read Rebecca Stead’s first book, First Light.

Next, I really did get some books in my mailbox the past week or so. Enchanted Ivy came from author Sarah Beth Durst, because I loved her earlier book, and the same with Penny Dreadful, by Laurel Snyder. It’s so exciting to get books in the mail that I’m quite sure I will like!

The other book came in an Amazon order because it’s a new Sherwood Smith book I don’t have, Coronets and Steel. I want to try to read it before October 15th, because I have a feeling I will want to nominate it for a Cybils Award, and I’m not sure it has already been nominated.

Finally, there are Library books I’ve checked out in the last week or so — or some of them.

Now, I ALWAYS overdo it on checking out library books. Plenty of these I will not get to before they are due, and if they have holds, now that I’m not working for the library with that mighty “override” power (that I try not to use, honest!), I will have to turn them back in, unread. However, I pictured the books that I checked out recently that I really really want to read.

The books are:
Zombies vs. Unicorns, edited by Holly Black and Justine Larbalestier. This book contains stories written by many outstanding authors, including Diana Peterfreund, who wrote Rampant and Ascendant. She told me about this collection a year ago at the Kidlitosphere conference, and I’ve been eager to read it ever since. Go Team Unicorn!

Behemoth, by Scott Westerfeld. This is the sequel to Leviathan, so I’m very eager to read it. A little disappointed the library doesn’t have the audiobook form yet, though.

What Happened on Fox Street,, The Boneshaker, Reckless, Keeper, and The Search for WondLa are all books I’ve heard good things about on kidlit blogs.

Two adult books in the pile are Baking Cakes in Kigali, which has a really cool title, and The Franchise Affair. I am on a Josephine Tey kick lately, after having listened to her classic The Daughter of Time and two of her other books. She wrote mystery novels during the Golden Age of detective fiction, a contemporary of Agatha Christie. I haven’t yet posted my reviews of her books, but I am definitely hooked.

Obviously, I will NOT get even close to reading all these books in a week. Will posting what books I check out each week help me to control myself and limit myself to the number of books I can actually read? I doubt it very much, but there is something satisfying about telling people about all these great books I can read if I can just find the time!