In My Mailbox #8

In My Mailbox is hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren.

Hi everyone! I'm on my winter break, otherwise known as reading break, since that's how I will be spending most of my time off. I only got one book in my mailbox this week, but it's a good one.




For Review: The Goddess Test by Aimee Carter (Thanks, Harlequin Teen!)

That's it for me! What did you get in your mailbox?

In My Mailbox #7

In My Mailbox is hosted by Kristi, the fantastic blogger at The Story Siren.

Hi guys! I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I finally was able to come home from college and spend the holiday with my family. It also gave me a chance to open my mail, which included quite a few books!

Won:
Blood Magic by Tessa Gratton (signed! Thanks Maggie!)

Bought (from Book Depository):
Beautiful Darkness by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl
Fateful by Claudia Gray (The picture does not do the beautiful shiny cover justice!)

I also found out earlier this month that I was chosen by RandomBuzzers to be an ambuzzador! I'm really excited! If you don't know what RandomBuzzers is, than I highly suggest you check it out. They have awesome book giveaways and interviews with some of YA's top authors. I love it, and I hope you will too. As an ambuzzador, I received some awesome books.

Sphinx's Queen by Esther Friesner
The Death Cure by James Dashner

That's it for me this week! What did you get in your mailbox?

Tolstoy and the Purple Chair by Nina Sankovitch

Summary(from Goodreads): Nina Sankovitch has always been a reader. As a child, she discovered that a trip to the local bookmobile with her sisters was more exhilarating than a ride at the carnival. Books were the glue that held her immigrant family together. When Nina's eldest sister died at the age of forty-six, Nina turned to books for comfort, escape, and introspection. In her beloved purple chair, she rediscovered the magic of such writers as Toni Morrison, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Ian McEwan, Edith Wharton, and, of course, Leo Tolstoy. Through the connections Nina made with books and authors (and even other readers), her life changed profoundly, and in unexpected ways. Reading, it turns out, can be the ultimate therapy.
Tolstoy and the Purple Chair also tells the story of the Sankovitch family: Nina's father, who barely escaped death in Belarus during World War II; her four rambunctious children, who offer up their own book recommendations while helping out with the cooking and cleaning; and Anne-Marie, her oldest sister and idol, with whom Nina shared the pleasure of books, even in her last moments of life. In our lightning-paced culture that encourages us to seek more, bigger, and better things, Nina's daring journey shows how we can deepen the quality of our everyday lives—if we only find the time.

For some reason, one of my favorite things to read about are other readers. I like to learn about their favorite authors, their reading habits, how they organize their books, etc. It may seem boring to some people, but I am addicted to it. I think that's why I enjoyed Tolstoy and the Purple Chair so much.

While the book is about reading a book a day for a year(which I would totally attempt if I had the time and energy), it also incorporates the author's life. Her family, friends, and feelings help move the book forward.

One of the things that the author talks about most is the death of her sister. She finds comfort in books, and I can definitely relate to that. Books at their core are a comfort. You can open a book and get lost in a world completely different from your own. I really appreciate the emphasis on that point in Tolstoy and the Purple Chair.

That being said, I wish the author would have focused on the reading more. I know that she picked certain books from her year of reading to help her explain her own personal stories rather than trying to talk about every book she read. My problem is that the book lacked structure. It didn't follow any sort of chronological order. Books that she read at the beginning of the year would be discussed while she was explaining the end of the year, and vice versa.

Bottom Line: Emotionally poignant and inspirational, Tolstoy and the Purple Chair is a fantastic read and a must for book lovers.

Naomi and Ely's No Kiss List by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan

Summary (from Goodreads) - NAOMI AND ELY ARE BEST FRIENDS. Naomi loves and is in love with Ely, and Ely loves Naomi, but prefers to be in love with boys. So they create their "No Kiss List" of people neither of them is allowed to kiss. And this works fine - until Bruce. Bruce is Naomi's boyfriend, so there's no reason to put him on the List. But Ely kissed Bruce even though he is boring. The result: a rift of universal proportions and the potential end of "Naomi and Ely: the institution." Can these best friends come back together again?

Happy Halloween everyone! I didn't really have a lot of time to read much this month, but I don't have any homework tonight (YAY!!!!!!!!!!!), so I decided that this would be an excellent time for a review!

Naomi and Ely's No Kiss List was a great read. I really enjoyed the dynamic between Naomi and Ely. Ely's gay, but he's very comfortable with it. Naomi is deeply in love with Ely, and it's very hard for her to come to terms with Ely's sexuality.

There are also a lot of side characters: Robin (girl), Robin (boy), Bruce the First, Bruce the Second, and Gabriel (Just to name a few). The book is told from the point of view of not only Naomi and Ely, but these different characters as well. This adds a lot of depth to a relatively short book that deals with many complex relationships.

Naomi and Ely's friendship is really at the core of the story. This novel is about how loving your best friend is just as important as loving your boyfriend or girlfriend. 

Bottom Line: This is an excellent book about friendship. I really enjoyed Cohn and Levithan's unique writing style. They really compliment each other nicely. A fun, refreshing read! 

A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway

 

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Summary (from Goodreads) -

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In the preface to A Moveable Feast, Hemingway remarks casually that "if the reader prefers, this book may be regarded as fiction"--and, indeed, fact or fiction, it doesn't matter, for his slim memoir of Paris in the 1920s is as enchanting as anything made up and has become the stuff of legend. Paris in the '20s! Hemingway and his first wife, Hadley, lived happily.In the preface to A Moveable Feast, Hemingway remarks casually that "if the reader prefers, this book may be regarded as fiction"--and, indeed, fact or fiction, it doesn't matter, for his slim memoir of Paris in the 1920s is as enchanting as anything made up and has become the stuff of legend. Paris in the '20s! Hemingway and his first wife, Hadley, lived happily on $5 a day and still had money for drinks at the Closerie des Lilas, skiing in the Alps, and fishing trips to Spain. On every corner and at every café table, there were the most extraordinary people living wonderful lives and telling fantastic stories. Gertrude Stein invited Hemingway to come every afternoon and sip "fragrant, colorless alcohols" and chat admid her great pictures. He taught Ezra Pound how to box, gossiped with James Joyce, caroused with the fatally insecure Scott Fitzgerald (the acid portraits of him and his wife, Zelda, are notorious). Meanwhile, Hemingway invented a new way of writing based on this simple premise: "All you have to do is write one true sentence. Write the truest sentence you know." Hemingway beautifully captures the fragile magic of a special time and place, and he manages to be nostalgic without hitting any false notes of sentimentality. "This is how Paris was in the early days when we were very poor and very happy," he concludes. Originally published in 1964, three years after his suicide, A Moveable Feast was the first of his posthumous books and remains the best. --David Laskin

Review: This book was great. I really enjoyed Hemingway's simple prose. He wasn't trying to be flashy or arrogant with his writing and I really appreciated that. This book uses several short stories to tie together the narrative. I found it refreshing to have a book told through short stories.

I also enjoyed how Hemingway talked about Paris. You can tell that he thoroughly enjoyed the time he spent there. The city became a very important part of the book. Another important element were the people Hemingway met in Paris. From James Joyce to Ezra Pound, Gertrude Stein to F. Scott Fitzgerald, you can see how the amazing people Hemingway met in Paris had a profound impact on his life and career.

Bottom Line: This was my first Hemingway, and I certainly wouldn't suggest reading this Hemingway first to anyone else. He discusses some of the novels and short stories he wrote in this book, and I think I would have appreciated those discussions more if I knew what the novels and stories were about. Definitely a great read otherwise.

That's it for now. I will let you guys know what classics I'm reading for this month once I figure it out myself (I know, it's terrible that I haven't made a decision yet). I won't let this happen again, I swear. In fact from now on I think I'll let you guys know in advance what two classics I'm reading each month. That way you can participate if you want.

Happy Reading!

In My Mailbox #6

In My Mailbox is hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren. Here's what I got this week.



From giveaways / For Review

Witches of East End by Melissa De La Cruz (thanks, Mandy!)
Jane Austen Made Me Do It edited by Laurel Ann Nattress (from LibraryThing Early Reviewers)
Ashes, Ashes by Jo Treggiari (from teenreads)

Bought:
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Bad Girls Don't Die by Katie Alender
Naomi and Ely's No Kiss List by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan
Ophelia by Lisa Klein
A Tale of Two Cities and Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
The Bedside, Bathtub, and Armchair Companion to Agatha Christie by Dick Riley and Pam McAllister

 College is keeping me really busy right now, and I'm finding it hard to set aside time for reading. I'll try to make more of an effort to fit some reading time into my schedule.

That's what I got in my mailbox this week. What did you get in your mailbox?

And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie

Summary (from Goodreads): First, there were ten - a curious assortment of strangers summoned as weekend guests to a private island off the coast of Devon. Their host, an eccentric millionaire unknown to all of them, is nowhere to be found. All that the guests have in common is a wicked past they're unwilling to reveal - and a secret that will seal their fate. For each has been marked for murder. One by one they fall prey. Before the weekend is out, there will be none. And only the dead are above suspicion.

My Review: This book was amazing! It was brilliantly constructed, and kept me guessing at every turn. I really don't want to give anything away, so I'll just say read it. You definitley won't regret it. There, that was really short, but at least it was spoiler free!

I also wanted to let you guys know what's going on. I'll be reading two classics a month for this following year, There are so many great authors and novels that I have wanted to experience, and this will give me that chance. I also will start to review the non YA, non classics books that I read. I will still be reading YA, I'll just be adding different books that you guys might find interesting.