Mailbox Monday — April 11

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’s host is Passages to the Past.

Here’s what I received:

Far to Go by Alison Pick, from HarperCollins for an upcoming blog tour (IndieBound, Amazon)

Set in Czechoslovakia at the onset of World War II and interwoven with a present-day narrative piecing together the protagonists’ fates during and after the war, Alison Pick’s moving and suspenseful Far to Go follows the harrowing journey of an affluent Jewish family attempting to escape the Nazis, and the loyal governess who alters their lives forever when she seeks shelter in their midst.  Part family epic, part love story, part psychological drama, Far to Go is not only a compelling portrait of one family’s trials but a riveting exploration of trust and betrayal in a time of boundless turmoil as well.  (publisher’s summary)

A Jane Austen Education: How Six Novels Taught Me About Love, Friendship, and the Things That Really Matter by William Deresiewicz, from Penguin for an upcoming blog tour (IndieBound, Amazon)

An eloquent memoir of a young man’s life transformed by literature, A Jane Austen Education explores Austen’s novels to reveal the remarkable life lessons hidden within.  By blending the misadventures of Austen’s characters with his own youthful follies, Austen scholar William Deresiewicz demonstrates the power of the novelist’s teachings — and how, for Austen, growing up and making mistakes are one and the same.  Honest, erudite, and deeply moving, A Jane Austen Education is the story of one man’s discovery of the world outside himself.

Before Jane Austen, Deresiewicz was a very different young man.  A sullen and arrogant graduate student, he never thought that Austen would have anything to offer him.  But when he had to read Emma for a class, something extraordinary happened.  Austen’s devotion to the everyday, and her faith in the value of ordinary lives, changed him in ways he could never have imagined.  As he viewed the world through Austen’s generous eyes, he was amazed to discover that the people in his life began to develop the depth and richness of literary characters — and that his own life had suddenly acquired all the fascination of a novel.  His real education had finally begun.

Weaving his own story around those of Austen’s novels, Deresiewicz shows how her books are both about education and themselves an education.  Her heroines learn about friendship and feeling, staying young and being good, and, of course, about love.  As they grow up, the lessons they learn are imparted to Austen’s reader, who learns and grows by their side.

A Jane Austen Education is a testament to the transformative power of literature and a celebration of Austen’s artistry.  Her novels, seemingly so distant from today’s busy world, are brought to real and sparkling life in Deresiewicz’s able hands.  Ultimately, Austen’s world becomes indelibly entwined with our own, showing the relevance of her message and the triumph of her vision.  (publisher’s summary)

Island Beneath the Sea by Isabel Allende, from HarperCollins for an upcoming blog tour (IndieBound, Amazon)

Born a slave on the island of Saint-Domingue — the daughter of an African mother she never knew and a white sailor who brought her into bondage — Zarité, known as Tété, survives a childhood of brutality and fear, finding solace in the traditional rhythms of African drums and in her exhilarating initiation into the mysteries of voodoo.

When twenty-year-old Toulouse Valmorain arrives on the island in 1770, he discovers that running his father’s plantation is neither glamorous nor easy.  Marriage also proves problematic when, eight years later, he brings home a bride.  But it is his teenaged slave, Tété, upon whom Valmorain becomes most dependent, as their lives intertwine across four tumultuous decades.

In Island Beneath the Sea, internationally acclaimed author Isabel Allende spins the unforgettable saga of an extraordinary woman determined to find love amid loss and forger her own identity under the cruelest of circumstances.  (publisher’s summary)

The Unbelievable Adventures of a WWII German War Bride by Ingeborg M. Johnston, from the author (IndieBound, Amazon)

“Unbelievable Adventures of a WWII German War Bride” by Ingeborg M. Johnston is a gripping, heroic, and at times humorous memoir of one girl’s survival in war-torn Berlin and the extraordinary life she created for herself and her family in post-war America.  From nursing wounded German officers to making fools of Russian soldiers, to talking her way through situations that would have resulted in prison for many, Johnston’s courage and chutzpah will leave you wide-eyed with amazement.  How could one young woman break all the rules, take on Germany’s top industrial leaders…and win?  How does one young woman marry an American and make a life in a country that was recently the enemy…and immediately become an important part of her new community?  This is the story of hope and dreams, of courage and risk-taking, of falling in love and following her heart, a bigger-than-life story that cannot be missed.  (publisher’s summary)

What books did you add to your shelves recently?

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© 2011 Anna Horner of Diary of an Eccentric. All Rights Reserved. Please do not reproduce or republish content without permission.