Mailbox Monday

Apart from sharing my latest book haul with fellow readers, what I love about the Mailbox Monday meme is coming up with a suitable image. I love the one I used today--winter is still with us and reading connects us.

Mailbox Monday is is being hosted in January by Alyce at At Home With Books. Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came into their house last week. Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles and humongous wish lists!

On to my own mailbox...

The Year 1000: What Life Was Like at the Turn of the First Millennium, An Englishman's World, by Robert Lacey and Danny Danziger - I got this for one of my brothers for Xmas. I knew he would love it and I knew he would share it with me when he finished. He did both, and now it's on top of my TBR pile. Thanks, Mark.

From the Amazon book description:
"As the Shadow of the Millennium Descended Across England and Christendom, it seemed as if the world was about to end. Actually, it was Only the Beginning... Welcome to the Year 1000. This is what life was like. How clothes were fastened in a world without buttons; the rudiments of medieval brain surgery; the first millennium's Bill Gates; how dolphins forecasted weather; the recipe for a medieval form of Viagra; body parts a married woman had to forfeit if she committed adultery; the fundamental rules of warfare; how fried and crushed black snails could improve your health, and much more..."

I absolutely love books like this, and it seemed like a good follow on to Bill Bryson's At Home, which I read last year.

Lottery, by Patricia Wood - this is another Xmas gift that has come home to roost on my TBR pile. I got it for my sister-in-law, and she enjoyed it. It's a Forrest Gumpy kind of story about a low IQ person who wins the lottery and deals with the hordes of family/friends who descend upon him.

Wordsworth: A Life, by Juliet Barker - I love bios and bios of authors/poets are my "one weakness." I haven't yet read anything by Barker, but I've heard her bio of the Brontes is superb. I can't wait to sink my teeth into this after I am done with Louisa May Alcott and her crazy father (Eden's Outcasts).

Deluxe How Luxury Lost Its Luster, by Dana Thomas - the same brother to whom I gave The Year 1000 gave me this book for Xmas, probably with the same expectation that I would read it and then lend it to him.

Here's what the Amazon book description said:
"Once luxury was available only to the rarefied and aristocratic world of old money and royalty. It offered a history of tradition, superior quality, and a pampered buying experience. Today, however, luxury is simply a product packaged and sold by multibillion-dollar global corporations focused on growth, visibility, brand awareness, advertising, and, above all, profits. Award-winning journalist Dana Thomas digs deep into the dark side of the luxury industry to uncover all the secrets that Prada, Gucci, and Burberry don’t want us to know. Deluxe is an uncompromising look behind the glossy façade that will enthrall anyone interested in fashion, finance, or culture."

I'm intrigued and am sure I will like it.

Speaking of deluxe...

Molly Brown: Unraveling the Myth, by Kristen Iversen - as a born-and-bred Colorado girl, it's my duty to know more about Molly Brown, Denver's own larger-than-life resident and "the Titanic's most famous survivor." I finally visited her house in Denver last November, and became inspired to read her bio.

Some Tame Gazelle, by Barbara Pym - Maxene, a dear JASNA friend, keeps on telling me to read Barbara Pym. So I got Pym's first novel, Some Tame Gazelle (isn't that a wonderful title!) and aim to get launched on Pym this year.

Jane and the Prisoner of Wool House, by Stephanie Barron - I started reading Barron's Jane Austen mystery series back when they first came out (when there actually weren't many Austenesque novels out there!), and liked the first few but then got bogged down and never returned to them. I won this one on Austenprose and am eager to resume reading the series. Thanks, Laurel Ann, for the giveaway!