Mailbox Monday (09-09-13 edition)

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Copyright stands

Mailbox Monday is hosted by a different blog each month. See the official list here. I've received a few new books recently:

The Round House by Louise Erdrich

One Sunday in the spring of 1988, a woman living on a reservation in North Dakota is attacked. The details of the crime are slow to surface as Geraldine Coutts is traumatized and reluctant to relive or reveal what happened, either to the police or to her husband, Bazil, and thirteen-year-old son, Joe. In one day, Joe's life is irrevocably transformed. He tries to heal his mother, but she will not leave her bed and slips into an abyss of solitude. Increasingly alone, Joe finds himself thrust prematurely into an adult world for which he is ill prepared.

While his father, who is a tribal judge, endeavors to wrest justice from a situation that defies his efforts, Joe becomes frustrated with the official investigation and sets out with his trusted friends, Cappy, Zack, and Angus, to get some answers of his own. Their quest takes them first to the Round House, a sacred space and place of worship for the Ojibwe. And this is only the beginning.

Leaving Haven by Kathleen McCleary

Getting what you want is just the beginning. Now you have to discover what you truly need. . . .

Georgia Bing and Alice Kinnaird have always been there for each other. Eager to help her best friend have another baby after several miscarriages, Alice donates one of her eggs. When Georgia learns she's going to have the baby boy she's always wanted, she's thrilled—until a devastating discovery destroys her dreams.

While Alice is happy to help her friend get pregnant, she also feels a twinge of disappointment that her own life is missing something . . . something she desperately craves. On the surface, Alice has everything—a busy social life, a great job, a faithful husband, an amazing teenage daughter. But her well-ordered world is knocked off its axis when she's tempted by a forbidden passion that threatens the bonds of friendship, marriage, and motherhood that sustain her.

As the safety of their past is shattered, Georgia and Alice must embark on journeys of self-discovery—odysseys filled with surprising challenges that will test them and force them to confront the truth about their lives . . . and the choices they've made.

The Preservationist by Justin Kramon

To Sam Blount, meeting Julia is the best thing that has ever happened to him.

Working at the local college and unsuccessful in his previous relationships, he'd been feeling troubled about his approaching fortieth birthday, "a great beast of a birthday," as he sees it, but being with Julia makes him feel young and hopeful. Julia Stilwell, a freshman trying to come to terms with a recent tragedy that has stripped her of her greatest talent, is flattered by Sam's attention. But their relationship is tested by a shy young man with a secret, Marcus Broley, who is also infatuated with Julia.

Told in alternating points of view, The Preservationist is the riveting tale of Julia and Sam's relationship, which begins to unravel as the threat of violence approaches and Julia becomes less and less sure whom she can trust.

The Last Neanderthal Clan by Lisa Lareau and Charles Boring

As Humanity Evolves, Two Competing Species Struggle for Survival! Lisa M. Lareau and her father Charlie Boring share a lifelong interest in prehistoric civilizations. Lisa grew up listening to Charlie's tales about cave-dwelling clans, and the characters in those stories have been developed and expanded in The Last Neanderthal Clan.  






Purchased from Barnes and Noble:

Lost in Shangri-la by Mitchell Zuckoff

"A lost world, man-eating tribesmen, lush impenetrable jungles, stranded American fliers (one of them a dame with great gams, for heaven's sake), a startling rescue mission. This is a true story made in heaven for a writer as talented as Mitchell Zuckoff. Whew--what an utterly compelling & deeply satisfying read!"--Simon Winchester

Former Boston Globe reporter Mitchell Zuckoff unleashes the exhilarating, untold story of an extraordinary World War II rescue mission, where a plane crash in the South Pacific plunged a trio of U.S. military personnel into a land that time forgot. Fans of Hampton Sides' Ghost Soldiers, Marcus Luttrell's Lone Survivor & David Grann's The Lost City of Z will be captivated by Zuckoff's masterfully recounted, all-true story of danger, daring, determination & discovery in jungle-clad New Guinea during the final days of WWII.