Mailbox Monday – July 20, 2009

Happy Monday! It is that time again where readers share the books that arrived at their house each week. To see more Mailbox Monday posts (and leave a link to YOUR mailbox), visit Marcia at The Printed Page today.

Here is what I found in my mailbox this week:

South of Broad by Pat Conway arrived from publisher Nan A. Talese through a Shelf Awareness offer. I was really excited to get this book because I keep hearing great things about Pat Conroy and I have not read anything by this author. This chunkster (more than 500 pages) is due for release in August and is getting some good early reviews. The back of my Advance Reader’s Edition reads: “The publishing event of the season: The one and only Pat Conroy returns, with a big, sprawling novel that is at once a love letter Charleston and an ode to lifelong friendship.” Pat Conroy has written and published several best-selling novels. To learn more about him and his work, visit the author’s website or visit wikipedia. By the way, you can win a copy of this book by visiting the Nan A. Talese website and clicking on the link to get their e-newsletter (contest is open through the end of this month).

Reasons and Advantages of Breathing: Stories by Lydia Peelle came to me from Jeremy at Harper Collins as part of the Summer is Short, Read a Short Story program. Harper Collins describes the book this way: ‘With this first book of fiction, a gifted young writer brings together eight superbly crafted stories that peer deeply into the human heart, exploring lives derailed by the loss of a vital connection to the land and to the natural world of which they are a part.‘ Peelle is the recipient of an O’Henry Prize, two Pushcart Prizes, and her stories have twice appeared in Best New American Voices. Read more about her on her author page at Harper.

The Elephant Keeper by Christopher Nicholson is due for release through William Morrow in August. This Advance Reader’s Edition arrived thanks to Library Thing’s Early Review Program. Animal lovers will want to read this one based on the blurb from the back of the book: ‘Set in eighteenth century England, The Elephant Keeper is a magical adventure and a love story between two baby elephants – Jenny and Timothy – and the young man who accidentally finds himself their keeper.‘ Nicholson is a prize-winning radio documentary producer who has worked for the BBC World Service. The Elephant Keeper is his first novel. Read more about the author here.

These books arrived direct from Gabrielle at Penguin:

Stealing Buddha’s Dinner by Bich Minh Nguyen is a memoir which begins with the author’s migration with her family out of Saigon in 1975 and follows her life in the Midwest as she comes of age and seeks an American identity. Pegged as a writer to watch, Nguyen’s prose was classified as “perfectly pitched and prodigiously detailed” by The Boston Globe. To learn more about the author and her work, visit Nguyen’s website.

Short Girls by Bich Minh Nguyen is the author’s first novel and second published work. This book centers around two sisters who grow up in a Vietnamese American community and who find their lives in turmoil. Described as a book about family loyalties and immigrant communities, Short Girls has been getting great reviews.

Lucky Everyday by Bapsy Jain is a novel about a woman forced to flee Bombay to New York City. This is the author’s first novel which was published last year. Read more about Jain and her work on the author’s website.

The House of Bilqis by Azhar Abidi is “a haunting novel about a mother and son and the emotional consequences of leaving home.” The book is set primarily in Pakistan in the modern era. To learn more about the author and his work, visit Abidi’s blog and his dedicated blog about The House of Bilqis which also includes an excerpt from the novel.

I also used my Amazon points to buy some books I’ve been lusting after:

Bread Alone AND The Baker’s Apprentice by Judith Ryan Hendricks have been on my wishlist since I read her latest book The Laws of Harmony (read my review). I love Hendricks’ writing, and both of the these books have gotten some really wonderful reviews from fellow bloggers. The Baker’s Apprentice is the sequel to Bread Alone. Both books are set in Seattle and feature Wynter Morrison, the thirty something trophy wife turned baker. I love novels about food and cannot wait to read these!

A HomeMade Life by Molly Wizenberg showed up recently on one of my Friday Finds posts. This book looks terrific and is part memoir, part cookbook. I regularly read Wizenbergs wonderful food blog Orangette, so picking up her book was a no-brainer.