Mailbox Monday – 1/25

Mailbox Monday can be found at: The Printed Page
Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came into their house last week (checked out library books don’t count, eBooks & audio books do). Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles and humongous wish lists.

I got 4 books this week.  Both “Palace Beautiful” and “Goblin War” were obtained through Paperbackswap.com.  “Palace Beautiful” I got to read for the Debut Author Reading Challenge I am participating in.  “Goblin War” is the third and final book in the Jig the Goblin series and I am excited to start reading it.

The third book is “The Peculiar Superpowers of Eleanor Armstrong” by K. A. Schloegel which I got directly from the author.  He leaves in MN and is a research scientist just like me!  Anyway, this book will also go to the Debut Author Reading Challenge and I am excited to read it 🙂

The fourth book, “The Hungry Scientist Handbook” is on loan for me from my dad.  We share a love of quirky science books, and this one should be a good read.  More info on the books mentioned is given below!  Hope you all have a great week and Happy Reading 🙂

“Palace Beautiful” by Sarah deFord Williams

First Sentence: “My sister Zozo says no one can remember the day they were born, but I do.”
From Amazon.com: “When sisters Sadie and Zuzu Brooks move to Salt Lake City, they discover a secret room in the attic of their new house, with a sign that reads “Palace Beautiful” and containing an old journal. Along with their neighbor, dramatic Belladonna Desolation (real name: Kristin Smith), they take turns reading the story of a girl named Helen living during the flu epidemic of 1918. The journal ends with a tragedy that has a scary parallel to Sadie and Zuzu’s lives, and the girls become obsessed with finding out what happened to Helen after the journal ends. Did she survive the flu? Is she still alive somewhere? Or could her ghost be lurking in the nearby graveyard?
Sarah DeFord Williams has created a gripping read that covers two time periods, many fantastic characters, and a can’t-put-it-down ending, all with delightful, extraordinary prose.”

“Goblin War” by Jim C. Hines
 
First Sentence: “Satlight sparkled in the silver mortaras Tymalous Autumnstar ran his fingers over the wall of his temple.”
From Amazon.com: “If you think it-s hard being a hobgoblin or a human, try living a goblin-s life for a while. In fact, try imagining what it-s like to be the runtiest goblin in the caves, the lone worshiper of a god who’s been forgotten for a good reason, and the target everyone points to at the first hint of trouble. Try picturing yourself as Jig Dragonslayer, and see how you like it-Despite impossible odds, Jig was still alive. He’d survived an adventurer’s quest against a dragon and a necromancer, a pixie invasion that had ogres and trolls dropping like flies, and, most frightening of all, the threat of being made chief of the goblins. He wasn’t sure how much more he could stand. Naturally, he was about to find out. War was brewing in the world outside the Mountain, and when the goblin’s lair was invaded by human warriors in search of the Rod of Creation, Jig knew it was just the start of another really bad day.”

“The Peculiar Superpowers of Eleanor Armstrong” by K. A. Schloegel
 
First Sentence: “I didn’t wear anything over my ears that Monday morning.”
From Amazon.com: “Teenage writer Eleanor Armstrong tells the story of her life as a collection of Facebook–esque entries interspersed with the chapters of the novel she is writing. She starts out writing a nice, quiet high school romance, depicting the love triangle between ultra-hip and smart Sarah – who is really just Eleanor with great hair, her geeky pal Marky – who is Eleanor’s pal in real life too, and popular jock Brandon – a character based on a boy who once spoke to Eleanor. But to her dismay, the novel turns to horror after zombies attack the school and kill Brandon. You know, just the usual “Boy meets girl. Boy turns into zombie. Zombie-boy loses girl. Zombie-boy gets girl.” Huh? Write what you know, Eleanor’s teacher tells her. And what she knows is a high school teeming with bored kids who will prey upon each other, can be kind, cruel, fall in love, or anything in between just to relieve the tedium of their existence. In other words, a school full of zombies. So Eleanor goes with it. Zombie attacks abound, both in her novel and her real life as an overlooked teenager with peculiar superpowers.”

“The Hungry Scientist Handbook” by Patrick Buckley and Lily Binns
 
First Sentence: “This is a handbook for extreme comestible creativity.”
From Amazon.com: “The Hungry Scientist Handbook brings DIY technology into the kitchen and onto the plate. It compiles the most mouthwatering projects created by mechanical engineer Patrick Buckley and his band of intrepid techie friends, whose collaboration on contraptions started at a memorable 2005 Bay Area dinner party and resulted in the formation of the Hungry Scientist Society—a loose confederation of creative minds dedicated to the pursuit of projects possessing varying degrees of whimsy and utility.
Featuring twenty projects ranging from edible origami to glowing lollipops, cryogenic martinis to Tupperware boom boxes, the book draws from the expertise of programmers, professors, and garden-variety geeks and offers something to delight DIYers of all skill levels.”