Mailbox Monday (06-22-09 edition)

Mailbox Monday is brought to us by The Printed Page. In my mailbox last week I got:

From Giveaways:

The following books were won through blog giveaways...


I received A Lucky Child by Thomas Buergenthal from Bookin' with Bingo.

Thomas Buergenthal, now a Judge in the International Court of Justice in The Hague, tells his astonishing experiences as a young boy in his memoir A LUCKY CHILD. He arrived at Auschwitz at age 10 after surviving two ghettos and a labor camp. Separated first from his mother and then his father, Buergenthal managed by his wits and some remarkable strokes of luck to survive on his own. Almost two years after his liberation, Buergenthal was miraculously reunited with his mother and in 1951 arrived in the U.S. to start a new life.

Now dedicated to helping those subjected to tyranny throughout the world, Buergenthal writes his story with a simple clarity that highlights the stark details of unimaginable hardship. A LUCKY CHILD is a book that demands to be read by all.

Do-Over: In Which a Forty-Eight-Year-Old Father of Three Returns to Kindergarten, Summer Camp, the Prom, and Other Embarrassments was won from Booknaround.

Robin Hemley's childhood made a wedgie of his memory, leaving him sore and embarrassed for over forty years. He was the most pitiful kindergartner, the least spirited summer camper, and dateless for prom. In fact, there's nary an event from his youth that couldn't use improvement. If only he could do them all over a few decades later, with an adult's wisdom, perspective, and giant-like height...

In the spirit of cult film classics like Billy Madison and Wet Hot American Summer, in DO-OVER! Hemley reencounters paper mache, revisits his childhood home, and finally attends the prom--bringing readers the thrill of recapturing a misspent youth and discovering what's most important: simple pleasures, second chances, and the forgotten joys of recess.

I won All of Me by Lori Wilde from Bookin' with Bingo.

Attorney Jillian Samuels doesn't believe in true love and never, ever wished for happily ever after. But when a searing betrayal leaves her jobless and heartbroken, a newly inherited cottage in Salvation, Colorado, seems to offer a fresh start. What she finds when she arrives shocks her: the most gorgeous and infuriating man she's ever met is living in her home!

Tuck Manning was a gifted architect who left a skyrocketing career to care for his dying wife. But the life he's made for himself in this quiet town is turned upside down when Jillian appears on his doorstep. Tuck won't go without a fight, and the two resolve to live as roommates until they can untangle who owns the cottage. Yet as Tuck and Jillian's days--and nights--heat up, they realize more than propery rights are at stake...and that sometimes, salvation comes when you least expect it.

I got Mating Rituals of a North American WASP by Lauren Lipton from Diary of an Eccentric. (Funny thing is that I won this book six times through six different giveaways. Considering I only entered about eight contests for this book, those are pretty amazing odds-- 6 out of 8!)

After arguing with her live-in boyfriend about his inability to commit, Peggy Adams flies to a friend's bachelorette party in Las Vegas, and wakes up next to a man she can't remember. Hung-over and miserable, she sneaks out of the sleeping man's hotel room and returns home to New York, where her boyfriend apologizes for the fight and gives her a Tiffany box containing a pre-engagement ring. Not what she expected, but close enough! The next day she receives a phone call from the Las Vegas one-night stand, Luke, claiming she's already married to him¬-and he faxes her the license for proof! Both are ready for an annulment, until Peggy arrives in quaint New Nineveh, CT, where Luke cares for his Great Aunt, and the old woman makes Peggy an offer she can't refuse.

The Scarecrow by Michael Connelly audio book was won from Peeking Between the Pages.

Forced out of the Los Angeles Times amid the latest budget cuts, newspaperman Jack McEvoy decides to go out with a bang, using his final days at the paperto write the definitive murder story of his career.

He focuses on Alonzo Winslow, a 16-year-old drug dealer in jail after confessing to a brutal murder. But as he delves into the story, Jack realizes that Winslow's so-called confession is bogus. The kid might actually be innocent.

Jack is soon running with his biggest story since The Poetmade his career years ago. He is tracking a killer who operates completely below police radar--and with perfect knowledge of any move against him. Including Jack's.
The New York Times Book Review - Marilyn Stasio

Connelly, who has the nerve and timing of a whole SWAT team, gives Jack two weeks to find the creep who's been raping and killing attractive long-legged women and dumping their remains in car trunks—if his young replacement doesn't beat him to the story.

I also won two of the prize packs that recently went around the blogs. I won five asian-themed books from Bookin' with Bingo.

1. Free Food for Millionaires By Min Jin Lee
   
   
2. Trail of Crumbs By Kim Sunée
   
   
3. The Fortune Cookie Chronicles By Jennifer Lee
   
   
4. Transparency By Frances Hwang
   
   
5. Strangers from a Different Shore By Ronald Takaki
   

I also won the Latin-themed pack from 5 Minutes for Books.

1. B as in Beauty By Alberto Ferreras
   
   
2. Into the Beautiful North By Luis Urrea
   
   
3. Hungry Woman in Paris By Josefina Lopez
   
   
4. The Disappearance of Irene Dos Santos By Margaret Mascarenhas
   
   
5. Houston, We Have a Problema By Gwendolyn Zepeda
   

Author Review:

I received the following book for review from author Campbell Jefferys of Germany.

Did the Australian government really bring known Nazi party members to Australia and protected them until their deaths? Having survived the horrors of the Eastern Front, Peter Fischer leaves post-war Germany behind and moves to Australia. 40 years later, Eric Messer is struggling to find his place at a new high school south of Perth. The two meet just before the Gulf War, sparking a strange friendship tainted by mistrust and half-truths, and complicated by a mysterious and overly friendly Austrian named Baum. Of Germany descent himself, Eric becomes fascinated by the men and the stories they tell. Are they possibly wanted Nazi war criminals?

Thanks to all of those who hosted giveaways, and to Campbell Jefferys for the books!