Wednesday, September 13, 2017

*Mail Call* July 2017

I'm a wee bit late getting this post put together. I'm not sure what happened at the beginning of August, but I know at the end of August I was madly preparing to go on vacation, trying to get ahead on certain blog post features I participate in so I wouldn't have to worry about them while we were gone. But anyway, here are all the books I got in the mail in July.


Goodbye, Vitamin by Rachel Khong

Photo Credit: Goodreads
Synopsis

A young woman returns home to care for her failing father in this fine, funny, and inescapably touching debut, from an affecting and wonderfully original new literary voice.

A few days after Christmas in a small suburb outside of L.A., pairs of a man's pants hang from the trees. The pants belong to Howard Young, a prominent history professor, recently diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. Howard's wife, Annie, summons their daughter, Ruth. Freshly disengaged from her fiance and still broken up about it, feeling that life has not turned out quite the way she planned, thirty-year-old Ruth quits her job and arrives home to find her parents' situation worse than she'd realized. Her father is erratically lucid and her mother, a devoted and creative cook, sees the sources of memory loss in every pot and pan. But as Howard's condition intensifies, the comedy in Ruth's situation takes hold, gently transforming her grief. She throws herself into caretaking: cooking dementia-fighting meals (a feast of jellyfish!), researching supplements, anything to reignite her father's once-notable memory. And when the university finally lets Howard go, Ruth and one of her father's handsome former students take their efforts to help Howard one step too far.

Told in captivating glimpses and drawn from a deep well of insight, humor, and unexpected tenderness, Goodbye, Vitaminpilots through the loss, love, and absurdity of finding one's footing in this life.


Sour Heart by Jenny Zhang

Photo Credit: Goodreads



Synopsis

Centered on a community of immigrants who have traded their endangered lives as artists in China and Taiwan for the constant struggle of life at the poverty line in 1990s New York City, Zhang’s collection examines the many ways that family and history can weigh us down and also lift us up. From the young woman coming to terms with her grandmother’s role in the Cultural Revolution to the daughter struggling to understand where her family ends and she begins, to the girl discovering the power of her body to inspire and destroy, these seven stories illuminate the complex and messy inner lives of girls struggling to define themselves.






Praise Her, Praise Diana by Anne Rothman-Hicks and Ken Hicks

Photo Credit: Goodreads



Synopsis

Call it life imitating art—author Maggie Edwards publishes a chapter of a book detailing seduction, murder and castration by a protagonist named Diana, and suddenly a woman code-named Diana begins to mimic her actions in real time. Women who have been abused find Diana to be an inspirational figure, and begin to fight back in her name. Soon violence erupting throughout New York City threatens to spiral out of control. As the police try desperately to identify Diana, Maggie's high-powered lawyer, Jane Larson, finds herself at the center of an investigation that threatens to upend the entire world around her.






The Pants Project by Cat Clarke

Photo Credit: Goodreads
Synopsis

Whoever wrote the uniform policy decided (whyyy?) that girls had to wear skirts, while boys were allowed to wear pants.

Sexist. Dumb. Unfair.

“Girls must wear a black, pleated, knee-length skirt.”

I bet I read those words a hundred times during summer vacation. The problem wasn’t the last word in that sentence. Skirt wasn’t really the issue, not for me. 
The issue was the first word. Girls.

Here’s the thing:
I may seem like a girl, but on the inside, I’m a boy.




Time and Distance: A Collection of Memories by Gina Fuller

Photo Credit: Goodreads
Synopsis

The visitor and the princess. A lesbian fairytale of two lovers separated by time and distance. But will love prevail under these trying circumstances? There is only one way to find out. ‘Time and Distance’ is ultimately a love letter written by an artist to her muse. And an ode to all the romantic dreamers of the world, separated by time and distance. You are not alone in your longing.

Till Next Time 

I only wish I had the strength to tell you.

But now, 
that chance is gone.

If only I was a little bit stronger.

Maybe things, 
would have rolled along.

Now, as I stand before the gates of time, 
I will endure the perpetual solitude
the Lord Cronos will soon inflict upon me.

With nothing but a smile grazed across my face.

I am so glad to have met you in this life.

I hope that the next time we meet, 
we can be something more.

Till next time.


Diving Under by Ginna Moran

Photo Credit: Goodreads
Synopsis

Eight years after her older sister was swept out to sea, eighteen-year-old Ava Adair still swears off the ocean. It takes a promise of the best vacation of her life aboard the Ocean Jewel with her friends to get her even within reach of the waves. When she steps aboard the luxury yacht to sail the California coastline, the last thing she expects is to gain the attention of gorgeous Carter Stevens, the yacht’s deckhand, who becomes the perfect distraction against her fear of the open water.

On the yacht, a freak accident involving Carter reveals a secret he’s been hiding from Ava. She discovers that he’s a merman and by saving her, he changed her life. One misstep could reveal the new secret they share and ruin the life on land she’s desperate to maintain. Torn between a future on land with her family and a new life at sea, Ava must decide—is her former life worth fighting for, or can she accept that she belongs to the ocean?





Beasts of Extraordinary Circumstance by Ruth Emma Lang

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Synopsis

Orphaned, raised by wolves, and the proud owner of a horned pig named Merlin, Weylyn Grey knew he wasn’t like other people. But when he single-handedly stopped that tornado on a stormy Christmas day in Oklahoma, he realized just how different he actually was.

That tornado was the first of many strange events that seem to follow Weylyn from town to town, although he doesn’t like to take credit. As amazing as these powers may appear, they tend to manifest themselves at inopportune times and places. From freak storms to trees that appear to grow over night, Weylyn’s unique abilities are a curiosity at best and at worst, a danger to himself and the woman he loves. But Mary doesn’t care. Since Weylyn saved her from an angry wolf on her eleventh birthday, she’s known that a relationship with him isn’t without its risks, but as anyone who’s met Weylyn will tell you, once he wanders into your life, you’ll wish he’d never leave.

Beasts of Extraordinary Circumstance tells the story of Weylyn Grey’s life from the perspectives of the people who knew him, loved him, and even a few who thought he was just plain weird. Although he doesn’t stay in any of their lives for long, he leaves each of them with a story to tell. Stories about a boy who lives with wolves, great storms that evaporate into thin air, fireflies that make phosphorescent honey, and a house filled with spider webs and the strange man who inhabits it.

There is one story, however, that Weylyn wishes he could change: his own. But first he has to muster enough courage to knock on Mary’s front door.

In this warm debut novel, Ruth Emmie Lang teaches us about adventure and love in a beautifully written story full of nature and wonder.


Divine Accordance by Holly Burger

Photo Credit: Goodreads
Synopsis

Your spiritual potential is waiting for you. Divine Accordance explains how to raise your frequency. Using prayer and meditation, you can release, heal and clear negativity while integrating Light. By studying Divine Accordance, you can establish a practice of Vertical Alignment, for continued connection to Creator and grounding to the core of Earth. Learn how to work with angels, ascended masters and ethereal teachers by enhancing your personal psychic abilities. Part instruction manual, part biography, you will learn how to elevate your frequency, clear negativity and live a responsible life of your own creation. Follow Holly Burger's journey of spiritual growth as she aligned with pure Christ Consciousness Light to receive more than fifty prayers and exercises. You will be supported in a collective synergy of the many people using these prayers. Step into oneness, know yourself as the Source, I Am, Omniscient Being of Light that you are. Pocket Prayer Book: Excerpts from Divine Accordance is a companion book of the prayers offered in Divine Accordance. You may also visit Holly's website to further your spiritual work via classes, free audio meditations and more.



The Art of Us by Teri Wilson

Photo Credit: Goodreads


Synopsis

Harper Higgins, art history professor and Vincent van Gogh scholar, doesn’t need a man. She needs an artist. Fast. The art show she’s counting on to secure her tenure is in trouble.
So when she collides with a ruggedly handsome man carrying a basket of violets on a rainy night in Boston, she thinks she’s found her miracle. Cynical, brooding ex-soldier Tom Stone can paint. And he’s quite good. He just needs Harper’s artistic touch.

But once she talks him into pretending he’s a long-lost descendant of van Gogh, the trouble really begins. As the art opening draws near, their identities—both real and imagined—hang in the balance. The student becomes the master as Tom teaches Harper that passion is its own work of art…




Mist and Mirrors by John T. Stolarczyk

Photo Credit: Goodreads


Synopsis

In Kalishandra, the city of lost travellers, the city in the abyss, darkness has form. In the mist that rises periodically from cracks between the cobblestones, it has life. Melt-mist, the shaper, drifts along empty streets, welling into deep, choking pools in forgotten courtyards. It breaks in ephemeral smoke waves upon the stark stone walls of towers, which protrude above its curling tendrils like strangely envisioned nightmares. These bleak, inhospitable eyries are the lairs of dark and terrible wizards, beneath whose hard and stony glare Kalishandra shifts. Streets change. Walls stand where before there was but empty space. Courtyards once remembered fade into obscurity. Old things disappear, are misplaced; here a statue, there an ornamental fish pond. Even older things return. The smell of a river long thought lost - blood upon the cobbles. It continues. . .





Freedom's Fire by Bobby Adair

Photo Credit: Goodreads
Synopsis

War in the Heavens for Freedom on Earth 

The first interstellar war, a generation ago, left humanity enslaved. Now humans fight in the armies of their masters to save themselves from annihilation. 

At least, that's what the propaganda insists is true. What the layers of lies keep hidden, is how badly the new war is going for the people of earth. 

Now it's Dylan Kane's turn to blast into the heavens and join the battle, but what his masters don't know, is that by putting a weapon in his hands, they're giving him the key to unlocking his hopes of freedom. 

When the railgun slugs are tearing through his ship, and the vacuum is sucking the life out of his wounded friends, will Dylan's years of repressed rage turn into enough bravery to make his dream come true? 


Journey's Collide by L.M. Blair

Photo Credit: Goodreads


Synopsis

In Aaberdeen: The Beginning of the End: Part 1, follow the mystery and adventures of Shawn, Clio, Bruno, Prince Frederic and Sir Emmett as they set out to find what awaits them in the mystical land of Aaberdeen. Aaberdeen is no longer a land teeming with mystical and magical creatures. Hope, honor and magic are rare commodities. A melancholy has settled upon the land where the people have forgotten their past and fight their own potential. Rulers make laws to preserve their positions. The common man, more common than ever, has little hope in the future, especially as the dark forces gather. There is one ray of hope and a chance to spread goodness in the land or the evil will increase. But first, those who have forgotten or fight their destiny must be reminded of their potential and ability as they must first choose to go on this journey of self-discovery.




Hard Journeys Ahead by L.M. Blair

Photo Credit: Goodreads
Synopsis

In Aaberdeen, The Beginning of the End part 2, our heroes learn that their journey will not be as easy as they had thought. They have to learn to trust each other with their greatest secrets as they may be on the same path of peril, where they will discover that only with the aid of each other they may succeed. 

Prince Emmett brought together this motley band on his quest to get to Phanos, to meet his intended bride, the missing Princess of that kingdom, who is expected to return any day. With an old knight, a squire, a centaur in disguise and a young servant girl turned apprentice healer, Prince Emmett’s group seemed to be prepared for their trip. As they are joined by Prince Frederic as this story begins, their simple quest becomes a hunt for answers, as they will find their adversaries are not only around them, but hidden within their company as well. 

Will they make it to Axa, the city between them and what they desire? Only time will tell.



A Surprised Queenhood in the New Black Sun by Angela Jackson

Photo Credit: Goodreads
Synopsis

A look back at the cultural and political force of Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Gwendolyn Brooks, in celebration of her hundredth birthday 

Artist-Rebel-Pioneer 

Pulitzer-Prize winning poet Gwendolyn Brooks is one of the great American literary icons of the twentieth century, a protege of Langston Hughes and mentor to a generation of poets, including Sonia Sanchez, Nikki Giovanni, and Elizabeth Alexander. 

Her poetry took inspiration from the complex portraits of black American life she observed growing up on Chicago's Southside--a world of kitchenette apartments and vibrant streets. From the desk in her bedroom, as a child she filled countless notebooks with poetry, encouraged by the likes of Hughes and affirmed by Richard Wright, who called her work "raw and real." 

Over the next sixty years, Brooks's poetry served as witness to the stark realities of urban life: the evils of lynching, the murders of Emmett Till and Malcolm X, the revolutionary effects of the civil rights movement, and the burgeoning power of the Black Arts Movement. Critical acclaim and the distinction in 1950 as the first black person ever awarded a Pulitzer Prize helped solidify Brooks as a unique and powerful voice. 

Now, in A Surprised Queenhood in the New Black Sun, fellow Chicagoan and award-winning writer Angela Jackson delves deep into the rich fabric of Brooks's work and world. Granted unprecedented access to Brooks's family, personal papers, and writing community, Jackson traces the literary arc of this artist's long career and gives context for the world in which Brooks wrote and published her work. It is a powerfully intimate look at a once-in-a-lifetime talent up close, using forty-three of Brooks's most soul-stirring poems as a guide. 

From trying to fit in at school ("Forgive and Forget"), to loving her physical self ("To Those of My Sisters Who Kept Their Naturals"), to marriage and motherhood ("Maud Martha"), to young men on her block ("We Real Cool"), to breaking history ("Medgar Evers"), to newfound acceptance from her community and her elevation to a "surprising queenhood" ("The Wall"), Brooks lived life through her work. 
Jackson deftly unpacks it all for both longtime admirers of Brooks and newcomers curious about her interior life. A Surprised Queenhood in the New Black Sun is a commemoration of a writer who negotiated black womanhood and incomparable brilliance with a changing, restless world--an artistic maverick way ahead of her time.


Dark Edge Rising by Dean Ferrell

Photo Credit: Goodreads
Synopsis

An Average person blinks every five seconds. That is roughly 17,000 blinks in a day or 6.25 million blinks in a year. Little usually happens in the blink of an eye, but Willoughby discovers in this, the third installment of the award-winning Cryptic Spaces series, that an entire world can change in one blink.

Blink! Willoughby, Sydney, Antonio, and Dr. J race to find and save their friend T.K., but other things are racing too, some light, some dark. Navigating a fabric of monsters and deities, modern technology and ancient magic, the team faces challenge after challenge. Do they trust the artificial intelligence determined to lead them? What secrets, hidden in the cry of a banshee, could separate and destroy not only the team, but everything they know, everything they love?

The Dark Edge finally comes into full view. From under-sea temples in India, to abandoned control rooms in London; from haunted halls in Tasmania, to the high monastery walls of an island city, the action rises to fever pitch, and then, Blink! Everything Willoughby thought he knew, everything he thought he had, everything changes…


The Urban Goddess Lesson by Laney Zukerman

Photo Credit: Goodreads



Synopsis

Think you can spot a Bad Boy? Think again ... "The Urban Goddess Lesson-How to Spot the Bad Boys from the Heroes"-will take you on a journey to the inner workings, the psychological background and motives of the "Bad Boy." Its mission is to help you know the traits of a Good Guy/Hero so you can weed out the Bad Boys who are often Good Guy imposters. EDITORIAL REVIEW: Laney's work and writing will be valued. Her writing flows from real-world counseling, her work in higher education, as well as personal life experience. What makes her writing distinctive is that she advances the unapologetic empowerment of women ... and yet advocates for a beautiful femininity and mystic.






That Crazy Perfect Someday by Michael Mazza

Photo Credit: Goodreads
Synopsis

The year is 2024. Climate change has altered the world’s wave patterns. Drones crisscross the sky, cars drive themselves, and surfing is a new Olympic sport. Mafuri Long, UCSD marine biology grad, champion surfer, and only female to dominate a record eighty-foot wave, still has something to prove. Having achieved Internet fame, along with sponsorship from Google and Nike, she’s intent on winning Olympic gold. But when her father, a clinically depressed former Navy captain and widower, learns that his beloved supercarrier, the USS Hillary Rodham Clinton, is to be sunk, he draws Mafuri into a powerful undertow. Conflicts compound as Mafuri’s personal life comes undone via social media, and a vicious Aussie competitor levels bogus doping charges against her. Mafuri forms an unlikely friendship with an awkward teen, a Ferrari-driving professional gamer who will prove to be her support and ballast. Authentic, brutal, and at times funny, Mafuri lays it all out in a sprightly, hot-wired voice. From San Diego to Sydney, Key West, and Manila, That Crazy Perfect Someday goes beyond the sports/surf cliché to explore the depths of sorrow and hope, yearning and family bonds, and the bootstrap power of a bold young woman climbing back into the light.



Not Exactly Love by Betty Hafner

Photo Credit: Goodreads


Synopsis

It was 1969, and all the rules were changing, when Betty, a woefully single French teacher on Long Island, met the handsome but edgy new teacher at her school, a hippie just back from Woodstock. His vitality opened up a new world to her—but when they married, his rages turned against her, and often ended with physical violence. Like millions of women who discover they've married an abusive man, Betty was forced to make daily decisions—to suppress her feelings or risk confrontation, to keep it secret or report, and ultimately, to live with it or leave.

Part memoir, part warm-hearted look at the '70s, and part therapeutic journeyNot Exactly Love: A Memoir is an intense and inspirational story of a woman who grew from her experience.





The Fable of the Snake Named Slim by Doug Snelson

Photo Credit: Goodreads

Synopsis


In this poignant tale told in fable style--a story featuring animals and conveying a moral--young readers will meet Slim, a snake that wobbles instead of wiggles and they will discover that being different can make the difference that matters most. It is a tale of courage and individuality, of self-discovery and self-worth. Young readers can relate to and will be captivated by Slim as they learn that it's what makes you different that makes you special. The book supports social awareness, social emotional learning, interpersonal skills, and character education programs, including anti-bullying, to establish and maintain positive relationships.





Weight Watchers Family Meals

Photo Credit: Goodreads
Synopsis

Weight Watchers provides a simple plan to enjoy meals with friends and family; from weekday meals to special occasions, the recipes make eating together fun and healthy

Want to create healthy, mouthwatering meals for your family, but starved for time? Weight Watchers Family Meals makes cooking together a snap—and ensures that what you eat is nutritious, delicious, and enticing for everyone (even picky eaters). This isn’t diet food: Enjoy Baked Beef Ziti, Meat Loaf with Chive Mashed Potatoes, or Spaghetti Squash with Cherry Tomatoes, Parsley, and Parmesan. And for dessert—Gooey Rocky Road Bars!

Food should be a celebration, so we include menus for entertaining and theme nights, along with easy-to-cook recipes that let kids take part in the fun. You’ll also get tips on how to pack healthy lunches for school and the office, creating a game plan for eating around the holidays, and stocking the pantry for quick dinners. No matter how busy you are, Weight Watchers Family Meals is your new go-to source for cooking inspiration.


The Sand Dollar Club by Chet Stevens

Photo Credit: Goodreads
Synopsis

A mythological mystery rich in Florida history and culture. 

For over a hundred years, three people have disappeared every nine years in June around a small island in Tampa Bay. To date, no one has noticed. When a local fisherman disappears from that same small island in June, the only clue is a small medieval statue at the bottom of an old, broken treasure chest. The beautiful, bejeweled statue wears the face of a woman, but has the body of a man. 

The next morning, marine scientist Mary Ryan is skating the old Gandy Bridge on her roller blades when she is attacked by a shadowy figure, both half woman and half man. Detective James Allen’s hands are tied when Mary Ryan seeks his help, so he enlists the aid of Professor of Anthropology Dennis RAP Rapski. 

Rap is brought in to identify the statue and to help with the investigation. Someone or something is playing deadly games with the people of St. Petersburg. Detective Allen decides to play matchmaker, in this case sending the good professor to help Ryan. Professor Rap and Ryan embark upon a high stakes game of life and death, where only they can save themselves.


So that's all the books that I got in the mail in July. I actually bought the Weight Watchers Cookbook because it had caught my eye at my PX and then I saw it as a #PrimeDay deal on Amazon for cheaper. Maybe I'll eventually cook from it too. Out of these books, I'm most excited to read Beasts of Extraordinary Circumstance. There's just something about that cover that calls to me. 

Which of these books are you most interested in reading my review of? It might just move that book higher up my TBR. - Katie 

10 comments:

  1. I LOVE mail call posts! I really should start doing this, but it would be so hard to track down/remember which ones I got in a month once they started all mixing together.

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    1. I keep the stacks of books for each month separate from my other books (typically right next to my desk) until I get my mail call posts built. It's a lot easier when I only have one month to do (I had two and a half months worth of books stacked up before today when I finally had some time to build the posts.) - Katie

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  2. It was kinda cool to see my name, even if it wasn't me. HA! Good haul.

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    1. Haha. I thought of you when I added that book to the list...then I had to check to see if it was a different person. - Katie

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  3. I love your haul but I am really eyeing The Pants project... I kind of sort of want it. Have you read it yet? When you do can you please let me know how it is?

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    1. I haven't read it yet, my TBR is a wee bit out of control all the time. I'll definitely move it up my list though, because it does have me intrigued. - Katie

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  4. Replies
    1. Thanks. I always get a wee bit excited when I get new book mail. - Katie

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