Monday Mailbox

Like it has been the past couple of weeks, my mailbox has worked less hard than usual but I am making my way slowly through the backlog of review books here so my plan to ease up on acquisitions (at least through the mail--see my Sunday Salon post for my latest bookstore-fail) seems to be working. I did still get a few books in the mail though. Wouldn't want to try and go completely cold turkey!

A Disobedient Girl by Ru Freeman was a contest win from Jenn at Jenn's Bookshelves.
I love books about other cultures and especially women in other cultures. Sri Lanka is a place that I don't really know much about but which seems exotic and is fascinating to me.

The Man Who Loved Books Too Much by Allison Hoover Bartlett came to me from Lydia at Riverhead Books.
Since I have my own bookish addiction, I can never pass up a good book about books or someone who loves books. And furthermore, I want to own the shelves on the cover myself!

Between Me and the River by Carrie Host came from publicist Lisa at Online Publicist.
This looks like a hard but ultimately rewarding read. Cancer has touched many people I know and their stories are compelling and important not only to make sure we all keep striving for a cure but also so that we can better understand the human, emotional toll this terrible disease takes. I suspect I should have Kleenex handy when I read this one.

As always, if you'd like to see the marvelous goodies in other people's mailboxes, make sure to visit Marcia at The Printed Page and enjoy seeing how we are all doing our part to keep the USPS and delivery services viable.

Sunday Salon: I could have a worse addiction

Whenever I feel the need to defend myself and my book buying habit, I chirp "I could always have a worse addiction." Now obviously this is very true but if I really examine the problem, it is indeed a problem. I use books and the buying of them to combat depression. I buy books all the time, a few (or more than a few) every month but when I am feeling really down, I do a retail therapy blowout at whatever bookstore happens to be the closest. And I haven't been Suzy Sunshine lately so my library has grown by leaps and bounds. 30 minutes in the bookstore equalled about $150 less in the checking account. This is not a good thing. And my husband will be horrified although he knows me well enough by now that he probably knows a whopper of a book bill is about to land in his lap given my attitude lately.

Worse, when I am depressed, I read far less than usual so the library grows by leaps and bounds with no hope of me actually making a dent in the obscenely large tbr pile. I think I keep buying in hopes that I will find something that catches my attention and diverts it from whatever other stuff is making me feel like Eyeore. But I am a slow learner so no matter how much I intellectually know that buying the books won't fix things, I do it anyway. Pure-D definition of an addiction, right? I guess I'll have to cling to the belief that it's a good thing that I'm only addicted to books and not something that could potentially kill me (well, unless an overloaded bookshelf falls on me). And I will eventually work my way out of my depression and low-grade discontent and then I'll be glad I have the much expanded tbr stacks from which to pull the next read.

Saturday Shout-Out

On my travels through the blogging world, I find many books that pique my interest. I always add them to my wish list immediately but I tend to forget who deserves the blame credit for inspiring me to add them to my list (and to whom my husband would like to send the bill when I get around to actually buying them). So each Saturday I'm going to try and keep better track, link to my fellow book ferreter-outers (I know, not a word but useful nonetheless), and hopefully add to some of your wish lists too. So here are the latest additions to my wish list as of this Saturday:

What the Dog Saw by Malcolm Gladwell was mentioned at He Followed Me Home.

Starting Over by Tony Parsons was mentioned at The Book Chick. I'll have to remember it on my own since it doesn't appear to be available in the US.

Shelf Monkey by Corey Redekop was mentioned at Necromancy Never Pays.

Hens Reunited by Lucy Diamond was mentioned at Book Chick City. This is another one I'll have to remember on my own or take a short trip to the UK to pick up.

Love in a Time of Homeschooling by Laura Brodie was mentioned at Book Club Girl.

The Virgin's Daughters by Jeane Westin was mentioned at Fashionista Piranha.

Family Album by Penelope Lively was mentioned at Bibliophile By the Sea.

Waiting for Mr. Darcy by Chamein Cantor was mentioned at Lost in Books.

Eat, Memory edited by Amanda Hesser was mentioned at Letters On Pages.

What goodies have you added to your wish lists recently? Make your own list and leave a comment here so we can all see who has been a terrible influence inspiring you lately.

ABC Meme

I am very inconsistent about filling out memes that have been passed on to me. There's really never any rhyme or reason for when or why I choose the ones I do. But since Amy of Amy Reads Good Books tagged me with this A-Z meme when I am in the midst of writer's block regarding all the books I have stacked up to review currently, I thought I'd play along and see if it didn't jiggle the ole brain enough to get back to the books.

Here are the rules:

1. Link to the person who tagged you
2. Share your ABC’s
3. Tag three people at the end by linking to their blogs
4. Let the three tagged people know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their website
5. Do not tag the same person repeatedly but try to tag different people, so there is a big network of bloggers doing this tag


Available or single? Married, although my husband says I'm available to anyone who can afford me. I think he's joking...

Best Friend? Do I have to choose? I seem to have different best friends for the different seasons of my life.

Cake or Pie? Flan or creme brulee instead, well, unless cheesecake is a cake and then I think cake.

Drink of choice? Water

Essential item for every day use? My brain (not that it gets as much daily use as it should)

Favorite color? Blue

Google? Frequently

Hometown? Don't have one--have moved too many times

Indulgences? Books, purses, stationary, food (although I'm trying to cut down on the latter)

January or February? January

Kids and their names? W., R., and T. (I try not to put their names on here so that later in life when they are in therapy and blaming me for oversharing I can always disavow that the initial was really them--either that or I have an 18th century sensibility)

Life is incomplete without…? People who love you

Marriage date? May 27

Number of siblings? 1

Oranges or apples? Oranges

Phobias and fears? Needles and snakes

Quote for the day? "When someone really loves you, that's when you become real."--The Velveteen Rabbit

Reason to smile? Friends

Season? Spring

Tag 3 people?

Rebecca from Lost in Books
Deb from Readerbuzz
Lisa from Books, Lists, Life

Unknown fact about me? I wrote a collection of short stories in college that no one save my family and my advisor have ever been allowed to read. I haven't read them in years either but I do have one of the three total copies ever created tucked away on my bookshelf.

Vegetable you hate? Asparagus

Worst habit? Yelling

X-rays you’ve had? Sternum, foot (same one four different times), spine

Your fave food? Cheese

Zodiac sign? Aries

Review: The Rogue and the Rival by Maya Rodale

Angela Sullivan is living in a convent, where she chose to flee after being embroiled in a scandal that caused her family to suffer a tragedy. She is still wrestling with herself about whether or not she is ready to take her vows when an injured man is brought to the convent. Phillip, the Marquis of Huntley, is a class A rake and wastrel. He was beaten and left for dead over his debts but through the sheer cussed luck of the charmed, he survives and wakes up to find himself being nursed back to health in a convent. Angela has been assigned to be the one to nurse him, despite her feelings toward men in general after being ruined six years earlier. The two reach an uneasy detente and eventually slowly fall for each other throughout Phillip's convalescence. But just when things seem to be falling into place, Phillips disappears and Angela comes to the conclusion that she can never be a nun, hightailing it to her aunt's home in London where she sets out to erase Phillip from her heart, perhaps with the conveniently widowed Lord Frost, who was the one to ruin her so many years before.

Rodale does a nice job building the relationship between Angela and Phillip. The reader can really see the evolution of their feelings for each other and how they become better, more compassionate people through their interactions with each other. Wrenching Phillip from Angela happens rather abruptly in the plot but without the wrench there would be no room for conflict, making for a fairly milque-toast story so it is forgiven. What was less understandable was Phillip's bloody-minded insistence in staying away from the woman he loved and Angela's obsessive need to have him pay for his betrayal. The secondary plot with Lucas, Lord Frost, returning after so many years was almost incidental to the main thrust of thigns. But overall Rodale has doen a nice job and historical romance readers will mostly approve of this. Strong characters and a decent plot make this a nice way to while away a few hours.

A-Z Wednesday

Reading at the Beach is hosting A-Z Wednesday where bloggers take the time to highlight one book that starts with the letter of the day. This week is the letter D. I highlighted fiction last week so I thought it only fair to highlight a non-fiction book this week.

Delivering Doctor Amelia by Dan Shapiro is subtitled The Story of a Gifted Young Obstetrician's Error and the Psychologist Who Helped Her. Amazon describes it thusly:

An assistant professor of clinical psychiatry at the University of Arizona who has written about his life-threatening bout with cancer (Mom's Marijuana), Shapiro specializes in treating physicians. He recounts his experience with a patient and colleague who became convinced that she was incompetent. Dr. Amelia Sorvino (the name and other details have been changed), a young obstetrician in her 30s and very popular with both patients and faculty members, suddenly stopped working and announced that she was no longer a doctor. After several visits, she told Shapiro about the incident that had driven her out of medicine. Because her patient desperately wanted a vaginal delivery, Amelia took too long to finally perform a C-section, a decision that may or may not have caused cerebral palsy in the newborn. She is now being sued for malpractice. In honest and perceptive writing, the author details the ups and downs of this therapeutic relationship and includes descriptions of events in Amelia's own words. Sympathetic to the psychological problems that were undermining his patient's career and marriage, Shapiro was, however, sometimes plagued by hostile feelings toward her. In this very sensitive and engrossing medical memoir, Shapiro explains how, after Amelia attempted suicide, he had her hospitalized for a brief period, and he then was able to help her back to emotional health.

I was never, ever, ever likely to be a doctor (woozy at the sight of blood) but I find myself fascinated by accounts by and about doctors and nurses. This one shows an oft neglected side of the medical profession: the what happens when something goes tragically wrong. It sits patiently on my tbr pile but perhaps highlighting it will send me to crack it open sooner rather than later.

Back to School Challenge

I was skipping through my appallingly overloaded Google Reader when I had to stop short at a post by Tam at Bailey's and Books. She discovered a Back to School Challenge. I used to love reading lists, the promise of them, the undiscovered gems contained therein, and just plain the joy of being required to buy more books for my library. Yes, I have been a nerd my whole life. What can I say? Worse yet, I even read everything on the list. Yup. Geeks R Us. I still vividly remember the thrill of Dickens' Bleak House, a book that so captured my imagination I spent a weekend speeding through the entire thing my senior year of high school. Did anyone else in class read it? I don't know. But remembering the dizzy pleasure of that reading (and others in the school years pre and post this experience), how could I pass up this challenge?

Hosted by Five Borough Book Review, the rules are to choose any four reading-list books to read from September 1-December 31 and to post your reviews in the comments section of the sign-up post. I wonder if I could get by reading the books on my 7th grader's required reading list but since I am now and have always been, and will always be, until time immemorial, a goody-two shoes teacher's pet, I will go ahead and choose books more likely to be on high school reading lists. So here are my choices:

1. Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens (in honor of my Bleak House experience)
2. The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy
3. Wives and Daughters by Mrs. Gaskell
4. Eugene Onegin by Alexander Pushkin