Mailbox Monday — January 30

Welcome to Mailbox Monday, the weekly meme created by Marcia from A girl and her books (formerly The Printed Page) where book lovers share the titles they received for review, purchased, or otherwise obtained over the past week. Mailbox Monday currently is on tour, and this month, it is being hosted by At Home With Books.

Here is what I received:

Jane Austen in Boca by Paula Marantz Cohen, which I purchased used (Amazon/IndieBound)

Jane Austen centered her classic novels around “three or four families in a country village.”  So does Paula Marantz Cohen in this witty twist on Pride and Prejudice — except this time the “village” is Boca Raton, Florida.

Eligible men are scarce in Boca, and so good-hearted meddler Carol Newman has her work cut out for her to engineer a match between her lonely mother-in-law, May, and the wealthy and personable widower, Norman Grafstein.  Even May’s sharp-tongued friend Flo approves of Norman — although Norman’s best friend Stan, a cynical professor, keeps getting under Flo’s skin.

Will love ultimately conquer both pride and prejudice?  Misunderstandings abound in this perceptive, engaging comedy of manners.  (publisher’s summary)

Dracula in Love by Karen Essex, given to me by Serena (Amazon/IndieBound)

From the shadowy banks of the river Thames to the wild and windswept Yorkshire coast, Dracula’s eternal muse, Mina Murray, vividly recounts the intimate details of what really transpired between her and the Count — the joys and terrors of a passionate affair that has linked them through the centuries, and her rebellion against her own frightening and preternatural powers.

Mina’s version of this Gothic vampire tale is a visceral journey into Victorian England’s dimly lit bedrooms, mist-filled cemeteries, and asylum chambers, revealing the dark secrets and mysteries locked within.  Time falls away as she is swept into a mythical journey far beyond mortal comprehension, where she must finally make the decision she has been avoiding for almost a millennium.

Bram Stoker’s classic novel offered one side of the story, in which Mina had no past and bore no responsibility for the unfolding events.  Now, for the first time, the truth of Mina’s personal voyage, and of vampirism itself, is revealed.  What this flesh-and-blood woman has to say is more sensual, more devious, and more enthralling than the Victorians could have expressed or perhaps even have imagined.  (publisher’s summary)

Help! For Writers by Roy Peter Clark, a contest win from Metroreader (Amazon/IndieBound)

On the highways and byways of writing, even the most seasoned writers can take the wrong turns:  The story is too long; the story is too short; there’s too much material; revising presents a huge hurdle; writer’s block is rearing its ugly head.  In Help! For Writers, Roy Peter Clark, one of America’s most influential writing teachers, provides an engaging and useful road map to the craft of writing.

Help! For Writers outlines seven steps of the writing process, from getting organized to building a draft to make it better.  For each step, Clark identifies the three biggest problems writers face and offers workable solutions — 210 solutions in all, presented in Clark’s distinctive style.  Out of ideas?  Read posters, billboards, and graffiti, or interview the youngest and oldest people you know.  Can’t bear to edit yourself?  Watch the deleted-scenes feature of a DVD and ask yourself why those scenes were left on the cutting-room floor.  Finding it difficult to make yourself clear?  Remember to translate jargon.  Writers will find original and creative advice at every turn.

Whether you are a texter or a tweeter, a sonneteer or a pampleteer, a novelist or a novice reporter, Clark’s practical strategies will guide you to success.  (publisher’s summary)

Pride, Prejudice, and Curling Rocks by Andrea Brokaw, from the author for review (Amazon/IndieBound)

Reasons to Kill Lucas Fitzwilliam

1. He has an opinion about everything, usually a negative one. Unless you actually ask for his opinion, in which case he has none.
2. His opinion on curling is one of the negative ones.
3. He’s absolutely certain he’s smarter than everyone else, which is proof that he isn’t.
4. He’s in most of my classes, which completely ruins any chance I have of enjoying any of them.
5. He referred to Lisa as a spoiled and vapid twit. (She may be a brat, but she’s not stupid!)
6. He uses words like “vapid” and “twit.”

Reasons to Let Lucas Live

1. There’s no curling ice in prison.
2. ???
(publisher’s summary)

Restoration by Olaf Olafsson, from HarperCollins for review (Amazon/IndieBound)

Having grown up in an exclusive circle of wealthy British ex-pats in Florence in the 1920s, Alice shocks everyone when she marries Claudio, the son of a minor landowner, and moves to San Martino, a crumbling villa in Tuscany.  Settling into their new paradise, husband and wife begin to build their future, restoring San Martino and giving birth to a son.

But as time passes, Alice grows lonely, a restlessness that leads her into the heady social swirl of wartime Rome and a reckless affair that will have devastating consequences.  While she spends time with her lover in Rome, Alice’s young son falls ill and dies, widening the emotional chasm between her and her husband — and leaving her vulnerable to the machinations of a nefarious art dealer who ensnares her in a dangerous and deadly scheme.

Returning to San Martino, Alice yearns for forgiveness.  But before she can begin to make amends, Claudio disappears, and the encroaching fighting threatens to destroy everything they have built.  Caught between loyalists and resisters, cruel German forces and Allied troops, Alice valiantly struggles to survive, hoping the life and love she lost can one day be restored.  (publisher’s summary)

Jane Austen Journal by The British Library, a gorgeous Advent With Austen giveaway win from Reading With Tea (Amazon/IndieBound)

The British Library Jane Austen Journal is a classic lined journal with quotes by Jane Austen and illustrated with silhouettes by Jane’s nephew, James Edward Austen-Leigh.

A storage pocket is included for keeping your notes and letters safe.  (publisher’s summary)

The Last Storyteller by Frank Delaney, from MEIER for review (Amazon/IndieBound)

“Every legend and all mythologies exist to teach us how to run our days.  In kind fashion.  A loving way.  But there’s no story, no matter how ancient, as important as one’s own.  So if we’re to live good lives, we have to tell ourselves our own story.  In a good way.”  So says James Clare, Ben MacCarthy’s beloved mentor, and it is this fateful advice that will guide Ben through the tumultuous events of Ireland in 1956.

The national mood is downtrodden; poverty, corruption, and a fledgling armed rebellion rattle the countryside, and although Ben wants no part of the upstart insurrection along the northern border, he unknowingly falls in with an IRA sympathizer and is compromised into running guns.  Yet despite his perilous circumstances, all he can think about is finding his former wife and true love, the actress Venetia Kelly.

Parted forcibly from Ben years ago, Venetia has returned to Ireland with her new husband, a brutal man and coarse but popular stage performer by the name of Gentleman Jack.  Determined not to lose Venetia again, Ben calls upon every bit of his love, courage, and newfound gun-running connections to get her back.  And as Ben fights to recapture his halcyon days with Venetia, he must finally reconcile his violent and flawed past with his hopes for a bright and loving future.

Brimming with fascinating Irish history, daring intrigue, and the drama of a legendary love, The Last Storyteller is an unforgettable novel as richly textured and inspiring as Ireland itself.  (publisher’s summary)

What books did you add to your shelves recently?

Disclosure: I am an IndieBound affiliate and an Amazon associate.

© 2012 Anna Horner of Diary of an Eccentric. All Rights Reserved. Please do not reproduce or republish content without permission.

Advertisement