MONDAY MEMES: MAILBOX & WHAT ARE YOU READING? — DEC. 6

MONDAY MEMES

 

 

 

 

 

 

Good morning, and welcome to the fabulous Monday Memes: Mailbox Monday, hosted this month by Let Them Read Books; and It’s Monday!  What Are You Reading? hosted by Book Journey.

 

MAILBOX MONDAY:

 

This week, I received THREE books, which is exciting for me; especially since I often go weeks with nothing and have to resort to the bargain table books so I won’t feel sad…LOL.

Two books came from Amazon Vine and the third was an author review book.

1) The Other Family, by Joanna Trollope (Amazon Vine)

From Amazon: An unexpected line in a will leads to complications and new beginnings in Trollope’s eminently readable latest (after Friday Nights).

2)  Mary Ann in Autumn, by Armistead Maupin (Amazon Vine)

A blurb: Twenty years after leaving her husband and child in San Francisco to pursue a television career in New York City, calamities drive fifty-seven-year-old Mary Ann Singleton to return to the city and her oldest friend as she tries to put her life back together.

3)  Miss Hildreth Wore Brown, by Olivia deBelle Byrd (From Author)

A Tidbit:  “With Miss Hildreth Wore Brown, Olivia deBelle Byrd proves that she is the real thing—an authentic Southern Belle with stories galore. I can’t wait to give this hilarious and heartwarming book to all my sweet friends.”
—CASSANDRA KING, author of The Same Sweet Girls

 

****

 

IT’S MONDAY!  WHAT ARE YOU READING?

 

 

This past week has been filled with all kinds of events, some of which I describe in my Sunday Salon post.

One of those events was the creation of a writing blog, dedicated to the process and the journey.  That blog is called Snow Chronicles:  A Writer’s Journey. I also created a corresponding Facebook “like” page.

As for my reading week, here’s what I accomplished.

Books Read & Reviewed (Click Title for Review):

1)  Solomon’s Oak, by Jo-Ann Mapson

2)  Garnethill, by Denise Mina

 

Still Reading:

1)  South of Broad, by Pat Conroy

 

 

What’s Up Next:

Elizabeth, by J. Randy Taraborrelli

This book has been on my stacks for awhile, just waiting for one of those weeks when I could properly savor it.  Well, I’ve decided that this is the week!

Here’s an Amazon Booklist Review:

The breathtaking photograph on this book’s cover makes it clear why no one will ever forget Elizabeth Taylor. And if her sheer beauty isn’t enough, there are the details of her wild, flamboyant, and excruciatingly painful life. Taraborrelli, known for his unauthorized biographies of such celebrities as Diana Ross and Princess Grace, has done his research (or from his acknowledgments, his researchers have done their research). Certainly, there are what seem like fresh tibits of information here from a wide variety of surprising sources–family friends, guests at the Taylor-Nicky Hilton wedding (her first), and even Debbie Reynolds, from whom Elizabeth stole Eddie Fisher. But the saga of Elizabeth Taylor is practically myth at this point, so it’s hard to add anything new except around the edges. Moreover, Taylor has written two autobiographies of her own, and without the cooperation of so many key figures–Taylor herself, her children, Sybil Burton–Taraborrelli isn’t able to generate any insider feel to his account. (He does thank Taylor for not actively deterring people from speaking to him.) Still, despite all those built-in shortcomings, it’s hard not to keep turning pages when the story you’re reading is so filled with larger-than-life loves, scandals, tragedies, and, of course, stars, stars, stars. As with Lee Server’s recent Ava Gardner (2006), Taraborrelli’s take on Liz reminds us what movie stardom is all about. Ilene Cooper
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

 

So that’s my week.  I hope to visit a lot of blogs and find out what everyone else is reading.  Hope you’ll do the same and visit mine here.