Happy Monday! I hope everyone had a good weekend. Mine was productive and refreshing, even though I had a headache for a large portion of it. I did some reading, knitting, and cleaning. Today’s post is a follow-up to last week’s TBR post. I got a bit carried away with putting things on reserve at the library last week, so now I’m working through the aftermath.
Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came in their mailbox during the last week. Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles and humongous wish lists.
This post is my first time formally participating in Mailbox Monday. While it seems I am constantly getting new books, most of them are ebooks, and usually there are just one or two at a time, which wouldn’t make for a terribly interesting post. This week, however, I have several. Here’s the breakdown:
Library Checkouts: 4 books, 2 audiobooks (plus a few DVDs)
New Physical Books For Review: 2
New Ebooks For Review: 3
Grand Total: 11 new books
Eleven may not be a huge number, but it is more new books than I usually see in one week! So, just what are the books behind the numbers? The variety is pretty impressive, in my (completed biased) opinion.
Library Checkouts
Library Wars vol. 2 by Kiiro Yumi
Genre: Dystopian Manga
Original publication date: September 7, 2010
What can I say, I work in a library, so any story about librarians literally fighting to protect books and libraries is going to catch my eye! Several of my coworkers have read the series and I have heard nothing but good reviews, so I decided to give it a try. Also, one of my goals for this year is to read a few graphic novels/manga, and this fulfills that goal. I’m probably going to have to read the entire series though, now that I’ve read the first two books!
Confessions by Augustine of Hippo, translated by Sarah Ruden
Genre: Nonfiction, Christianity
Original publication date: June 6, 2017 (this translation)
A lot of Christian philosophy finds its voice in Augustine’s Confessions. I cannot count how many times I heard this work referenced while taking philosophy classes at the private Christian university where I got my bachelor’s degree. Somehow, although I frequently heard about Augustine’s Confessions, it was never assigned reading for any of my classes. I look forward to tackling all 500+ pages!
The Last Battle (Chronicles of Narnia #7) by C.S. Lewis
Genre: Middle Grade Fantasy, Historical, Classic?
Original Publication Date: September 4, 1956
Another of my reading goals this year is to finish a series I previously abandoned partway through. I selected The Chronicles of Narnia series with three books to go, and, as the title implies, this is the final book in the series. I am excited to mark off another of my goals for the year, but I’m also a bit sad at the thought of finishing the story. As long as there are still Narnia books that I have not read, it’s as if the world still exists somehow. Once I finish this, I will know how things end for Narnia, and there can be no more questions or theories.
Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman
Genre: Fantasy
Original Publication Date: September 16, 1996
Neil Gaiman’s name is everywhere these days. From TV shows to new books to social media shenanigans, he is certainly riding a wave of fame at the moment. However, I have only read one of his books – a children’s book which I read in the fourth grade – and I hated it. If you’ve been around my blog long, you know that as a general rule I do not enjoy fantasy books, and I do my best to avoid anything related to horror or even suspense. However, I have heard so many good things about Gaiman that I decided to do some research and possibly try one of his books as an adult. I chose one of his shorter works which has no horror tags on Goodreads, and we’ll see how it goes. The synopsis doesn’t sound too creepy; odd, but not creepy.
Dear Fahrenheit 451: Love and Heartbreak in the Stacks by Annie Spence
Genre: Nonfiction, Memoir(ish)?
Original Publication Date: September 26, 2017
I couldn’t resist this book, described as “A Gen-X librarian’s snarky, laugh-out-loud funny, deeply moving collection of love letters and break-up notes to the books in her life.” It’s my current listen on my way to and from work, and sets a fun tone for the day.
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
Genre: YA Science Fiction
Original Publication Date: August 16, 2011
Ready Player One has been on my to-read list since before the movie came out. It’s another that I have heard a lot about and just hadn’t prioritized. On Saturday I perused the audiobooks available on Overdrive looking for something to listen to while I knitted and/or cleaned, and saw this one. Now I’ve got two weeks to knit or clean enough things to listen to an entire story!
New Physical Books
Castle of Concrete by Katia Raina
Genre: YA Recent Historical Fiction (1990s Russia)
Original Publication Date: June 11, 2019
I won Castle of Concrete from a Goodreads giveaway!
The Night is Far Gone by Tim Jorgenson
Genre: Historical Fiction (1910s)
Original Publication Date: September 28, 2017
Has anyone else noticed an increase in the number of books published about Russian history recently, or is it just my sphere? The Night Is Far Gone follows the Romanov’s English tutor through the end of their reign and looks at how life (and politics?) continues after tragedy.
New Ebooks
Three Days Till Dawn (Antiquity’s Gate #1) by R.F. Hurteau
Genre: NA/YA science fiction
Original Publication Date: August 27, 2019
I’ve been saying that I think I’m leaving my sci-fi phase behind, but then something like this comes along and entices me into reading another. We’ll see how I feel after reading Three Days Till Dawn.
American Gypsy Romance Short Story Collection by Alessa Martel
Genre: YA Romance (clean)
Original Publication Date: September 2, 2019
I’ve been hearing from the author about the stories in this collection all summer, as they were released one by one. I adored Cecily Wolfe’s Cliff Walk Courtships series earlier this year, and she is promoting this collection, so I jumped at the opportunity to read and review it!
Whew, that’s all this time around! I noticed while typing this out that there are a couple of themes throughout: three of the library books have covers the same shade of blue (Confessions, The Last Battle, and Neverwhere). The two physical review copies, Castle of Concrete and The Night is Far Gone are both set in Russia, though at different times. Although multiple genres are represented, there are multiple science fiction, historical fiction, and YA titles. The two nonfiction books, Augustine’s Confessions and Dear Fahrenheit 451, don’t seem to have anything in common with anything else except for their existence on this list.
Have you read any of these books? What are you looking forward to reading soon, and/or what new books have you gotten recently?
Remember to check out the Mailbox Monday landing page to see what others are reading!
Until the next chapter,
Jana
Reviews From the Stacks 
Busy mailbox for you!!
ENJOY all of your books.
WELCOME to Mailbox Monday!!
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Great mailbox! I liked The Graveyard by Gaiman and I have Neverwhere on my Audible bookshelf.
I loved Ready Player One and hope you enjoy it!
Dear Fahrenheit 451 is on my wish list.
I am still in a Sci Fi phase but this past week or so I have read a variety of others genres.
I’m so glad that you linked at MM. It’s okay to only have one book, many or sometimes an empty mailbox. It is always fun to see what fellow bloggers are getting and reading.
Happy Reading!
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