MONDAY FROM THE INTERIOR: MAILBOX MONDAY & WHAT ARE YOU READING? — SEPT. 17

Good morning, and welcome to another Monday, in which we celebrate our reading, blogging, and life.  Mailbox Monday is hosted in September by BooknAround; and Book Journey brings us another edition of What Are You Reading?

MAILBOX MONDAY:

This week’s “haul” consisted of one free downloaded e-book, one review book, and a book I purchased for Banned Books week.

1.  The Catcher in the Rye, by J. D. Salinger (for Banned Books Week)

Anyone who has read J.D. Salinger’s New Yorker stories–particularly A Perfect Day for Bananafish, Uncle Wiggily in Connecticut, The Laughing Man, and For Esme With Love and Squalor–will not be surprised by the fact that his first novel is full of children. The hero-narrator of The Catcher in the Rye is an ancient child of sixteen, a native New Yorker named Holden Caulfield.

Through circumstances that tend to preclude adult, secondhand description, he leaves his prep school in Pennsylvania and goes underground in New York City for three days. The boy himself is at once too simple and too complex for us to make any final comment about him or his story. Perhaps the safest thing we can say about Holden is that he was born in the world not just strongly attracted to beauty but, almost, hopelessly impaled on it.

There are many voices in this novel: children’s voices, adult voices, underground voices-but Holden’s voice is the most eloquent of all. Transcending his own vernacular, yet remaining marvelously faithful to it, he issues a perfectly articulated cry of mixed pain and pleasure. However, like most lovers and clowns and poets of the higher orders, he keeps most of the pain to, and for, himself. The pleasure he gives away, or sets aside, with all his heart. It is there for the reader who can handle it to keep.

2.  Shepherd’s Prayer (e-book), by Katja Willemsen (review book from author)

When Raisin Radcliffe and her brother, Geoffrey, stumble on a labyrinth of caves underneath an ancient dolmen in the French Pyrenees, she forms a mysterious kinship with a sun-seared tribeswoman. Vision or reality? She isn’t sure.

Then a village boy, Nicolas, is kidnapped by a violent cult. Their demand? Shut the nearby prehistoric cave, Grotte des Loups, or the child dies.

Frustrated with police inefficiency, Geoffrey becomes obsessed with finding Nicolas, and pulls Raisin into his desperate hunt. Soon they too become the cult’s prisoners, and are transported deep into the bowels of the Grotte des Loups cave where they are coerced into a macabre ritual involving the stolen boy, wolves and a sacrifice.

Will Raisin and Geoffrey accept the help of the ancient tribeswoman to save the boy?

3.  For Keeps (e-book), by Aaron Paul Lazar (free download)

When retired family doctor Sam Moore gets a call from the coroner to come to The Twin Sisters Inn to consult on a murder victim, he’s puzzled. Why would Lou call him? He’s retired now, and just wants to spend time with his beloved Rachel, his grandsons, and to work in his gardens.

Within days, the body count increases and Sam is a prime suspect, so he calls on a peculiar talisman—his brother Billy’s glowing green marble—to whisk him back in time in search of clues before the killer strikes again.

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WHAT ARE YOU READING?

Welcome to another new week in September.  A time to share our reading, blogging, and life adventures, and a time to enjoy our community of book bloggers.

In two weeks, we’ll be doing Bloggiesta again!  Ole!  And I’ll be working on spiffing up one of my blogs.  Anybody else participating?

This past week wasn’t that phenomenal, with fewer books and blog posts completed.

But I do think that a couple of the books are worth noting.

As for  blogging, on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, I participated in the regular memes; then on Thursday, I posted What Sparks Your Enthusiasm on a Thursday?

Saturday found me posting my Sweet Saturday Sample:  Moving Forward; and Still Salivating Over an Old Guilty Pleasure.

And today, in addition to my Sunday Salon, I did  Sunday Potpourri:  Anticipation.

Books Read-Click titles for reviews:

1.  Midnight Exposure, by Melinda Leigh

2.  The Redgraves, by Donald Spoto

3.  Left Neglected (e-book), by Lisa Genova

4.  Looking for Mary, by Beverly Donofrio

What’s Up Next? (click titles/covers for more info)

1.   Click:  An Online Love Story (e-book), by Lisa Becker

2.  Sister, by Rosamund Lupton

3.  This Time Together, by Carol Burnett

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And that’s it, folks!  I may read an additional book, but I’m feeling the need to kick back a bit this week.  What about the rest of you?  What was your week like and what lies ahead?  Come on by and share.