Mailbox Monday – 3/22

 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 only bought one book this week and that was “Persuasion” by Jane Austen.  A friend of mine told me that if I was going to visit Bath in the UK (which I did a couple weeks ago) I needed to read Persuasion.  I should mention “Persuasion” has the longest first sentence I think I have ever read.

The rest of the books were from my wonderful library.  The Anoka County Library system deserves huge kudos.  With their super easy to use online holds request and their equally easy to use purchase suggestions I have gotten tons of great books from there.  Not only do they purchase everything I ask for; I usually get it the day after the book comes out in the stores.  So, huge thanks to my library system.  And, while library books aren’t supposed to be included in Mailbox Monday, I got a lot of great books from the library so I thought I would list them anyway.

See below for the full list!  Happy reading to you all 🙂

Persuasion by Jane Austen
 
First Sentence: “Sir Walter Elliot, of Kellynch-hall, in Somersetshire, was a man who, for his own amusement, never took up any book but the Baronetage; there he found occupation for an idle hour, and consolation in a distressed one; there his faculties were roused into admiration and respect, by contemplating the limited remnant of the earliest patents; there any unwelcome sensations, arising from domestic affairs, changed naturally into pity and contempt, as he turned over the almost endless creations of the last century–and there, if every other leaf were powerless, he could read his own history with an interest which never failed–this was the page at which the favorite volume always opened: ELLIOT OF KELLYNCH-HALL.
From Amazon.com: “In her final novel, as in her earlier ones, Jane Austen uses a love story to explore and gently satirize social pretensions and emotional confusion. Persuasion follows the romance of Anne Elliot and naval officer Frederick Wentworth. They were happily engaged until Anne’s friend, Lady Russell, persuaded her that Frederick was “unworthy.” Now, eight years later, Frederick returns, a wealthy captain in the navy, while Anne’s family teeters on the edge of bankruptcy. They still love each other, but their past mistakes threaten to keep them apart.”

From Library:

Lord Sunday (Keys to the Kingdom, Book 7) by Garth Nix
 
First Sentence: “Athur fell.”
From Amazon.com: “Seven days. Seven keys. Seven virtues. Seven sins.
In this thrilling conclusion to Garth Nix’s Keys to the Kingdom series, Arthur Penhaligon must complete his quest to save the Kingdom he is heir to…and Arthur’s world”

Where Angels Fear to Tread (Remy Chandler, Book 3) by Thomas E. Sniegoski 
 
First Sentence: “Delilah sat in the passenger seat of the old Jeep in a central Vietnam valley – The Cat’s Tooth Mountain barely visible through the thick canopy of lush vegetation – and waiting for a sign.”
From Amazon.com: “Six year-old Zoe York has been taken and her mother has come to Remy for help. She shows him crude, childlike drawings that she claims are Zoe’s visions of the future, everything leading up to her abduction, and some beyond. Like the picture of a man with wings who would come and save her-a man who is an angel.

Zoe’s preternatural gifts have made her a target for those who wish to exploit her power to their own destructive ends. The search will take Remy to dark places he would rather avoid. But to save an innocent, Remy will ally himself with a variety of lesser evils-and his soul may pay the price…”

Fairy Tale by Cyn Balog
 
First Sentence: “People call me spooky.”
From Amazon.com: “Morgan Sparks has always known that she and her boyfriend, Cam, are made for each other. But when Cam’s cousin Pip comes to stay with the family, Cam seems depressed. Finally Cam confesses to Morgan what’s going on: Cam is a fairy. The night he was born, fairies came down and switched him with a healthy human boy. Nobody expected Cam to live, and nobody expected his biological brother, heir to the fairy throne, to die. But both things happened, and now the fairies want Cam back to take his rightful place as Fairy King.

Even as Cam physically changes, becoming more miserable each day, he and Morgan pledge to fool the fairies and stay together forever. But by the time Cam has to decide once and for all what to do, Morgan’s no longer sure what’s best for everyone, or whether her and Cam’s love can weather an uncertain future.”

Violet Wings by Victoria Hanley
 
First Sentence: “Back when I was nine, my parents went missing.”
From Amazon.com: “For Zaria Tourmaline, the three years without her mother and brother have been lonely ones, living with a cold and distant guardian while she completes her education. Just as she is ready to join the world of adult fairies and genies, she finds a spellbook written entirely in her mother’s hand. But this treasured object is not safe from a new enemy, a fairy with more power than Zaria ever dreamed existed. Only among the humans–who must never know fairies and genies exist–can Zaria hide the spellbook; but hidden magic, it turns out, can expose a fairy in ways she never thought possible.”

The Poison Eaters and Other Stories by Holly Black
 
First Sentence: “Matilda was drunk, but then she was always drunk anymore.”
From Amazon.com: “In her debut collection, New York Times best-selling author Holly Black returns to the world of Tithe in two darkly exquisite new tales. Then Black takes readers on a tour of a faerie market and introduces a girl poisonous to the touch and another who challenges the devil to a competitive eating match. These stories have been published in anthologies such as 21 Proms, The Faery Reel, and The Restless Dead, and have been reprinted in many “Best of” anthologies. The Poison Eaters is Holly Black’s much-anticipated first collection of stories, and her ability to stare into the void—and to find humanity and humor there—will speak to young adult and adult readers alike.”