Another Monday, Another Mailbox!! This is a feature where we all share with each other the yummy books that showed up at our doors! WARNING: Mailbox Mondays can lead to extreme envy and GINORMOUS wishlists!!
Mailbox Monday is hosted by Marcia at The Printed Page, but for the month of August MM is on tour will be hosted by Chick Loves Lit. Next April, MM will be hosted by MOI...so excited!
Welcome to another Manic (Mailbox) Monday here at Passages to the Past! I hope your mailbox treated you all well last week. For me, I received one book for review Russian Winter
by Daphne Kalotay. Though unsolicited it still sounds really good, so I'll be checking it out when I get a chance. Also, my library had their monthly book sale and I was able to snatch up a few good ones there.
Russian Winter
by Daphne Kalotay
Release Date: September 7, 2010
SYNOPSIS: In a time of fear and danger, they were determined to live a life of beauty and grace . . .
When she decides to auction her remarkable jewelry collection, Nina Revskaya, once a great star of the Bolshoi ballet, believes she has drawn a curtain on her past. Instead, the aged dancer finds herself overwhelmed by memories of her homeland and of the events—both glorious and heartbreaking—that changed the course of her life half a century before.
It was in Russia that she discovered the magic of the theatre; that she fell in love with the poet Viktor Elsin; that she and her dearest companions—Gersh, a dangerously irreverent composer, and the exquisite Vera, Nina’s closest friend—became victims of Stalinist aggression; that a terrible discovery led to a deadly act of betrayal—and to an ingenious escape that eventually brought her to the city of Boston.
Nina has hidden her dark secrets for half a lifetime. But two people will not let the past rest—Drew Brooks, an inquisitive young associate director at the Boston auction house, and a Russian professor named Grigori Solodin who believes that a unique set of amber jewels may hold the key to his own ambiguous past. Together, these unlikely partners find themselves unraveling a literary mystery whose answers will hold life-changing consequences for them all.
Artfully interweaving past and present, Moscow and New England, the behind-the-scenes tumult of theatre life and the transformative power of art, Daphne Kalotay’s luminous debut novel, an ingeniously plotted page turner of the highest literary order, captures the joy, uncertainty, and terror of lives powerless to withstand the forces of history, while affirming that even in the presence of evil, suspicion, and fear the human spirit reaches for transcendence and love.
And here are the books I picked up at the library sale:
The Lady and the Unicorn by Tracy Chevalier
The Black Moth by Georgette Heyer
The Illuminator by Brenda Rickman Vantrease
The Anatomy of Deception by Lawrence Goldstone
Elizabeth, Captive Princess by Margaret Irwin
Dragonwyck by Anya Seton
the rest are all by Victoria Holt:
Bride of Pendorric
Menfreya in the Morning
Seven for a Secret
The Miracle at St. Bruno's
The Captive
Lord of the Far Island
That wraps it up for me...what came in your mailbox dear readers?
Mailbox Monday is hosted by Marcia at The Printed Page, but for the month of August MM is on tour will be hosted by Chick Loves Lit. Next April, MM will be hosted by MOI...so excited!
Welcome to another Manic (Mailbox) Monday here at Passages to the Past! I hope your mailbox treated you all well last week. For me, I received one book for review Russian Winter
by Daphne Kalotay. Though unsolicited it still sounds really good, so I'll be checking it out when I get a chance. Also, my library had their monthly book sale and I was able to snatch up a few good ones there.
by Daphne Kalotay
Release Date: September 7, 2010
SYNOPSIS: In a time of fear and danger, they were determined to live a life of beauty and grace . . .
When she decides to auction her remarkable jewelry collection, Nina Revskaya, once a great star of the Bolshoi ballet, believes she has drawn a curtain on her past. Instead, the aged dancer finds herself overwhelmed by memories of her homeland and of the events—both glorious and heartbreaking—that changed the course of her life half a century before.
It was in Russia that she discovered the magic of the theatre; that she fell in love with the poet Viktor Elsin; that she and her dearest companions—Gersh, a dangerously irreverent composer, and the exquisite Vera, Nina’s closest friend—became victims of Stalinist aggression; that a terrible discovery led to a deadly act of betrayal—and to an ingenious escape that eventually brought her to the city of Boston.
Nina has hidden her dark secrets for half a lifetime. But two people will not let the past rest—Drew Brooks, an inquisitive young associate director at the Boston auction house, and a Russian professor named Grigori Solodin who believes that a unique set of amber jewels may hold the key to his own ambiguous past. Together, these unlikely partners find themselves unraveling a literary mystery whose answers will hold life-changing consequences for them all.
Artfully interweaving past and present, Moscow and New England, the behind-the-scenes tumult of theatre life and the transformative power of art, Daphne Kalotay’s luminous debut novel, an ingeniously plotted page turner of the highest literary order, captures the joy, uncertainty, and terror of lives powerless to withstand the forces of history, while affirming that even in the presence of evil, suspicion, and fear the human spirit reaches for transcendence and love.
And here are the books I picked up at the library sale:
The Lady and the Unicorn by Tracy Chevalier
The Black Moth by Georgette HeyerThe Illuminator by Brenda Rickman Vantrease
The Anatomy of Deception by Lawrence Goldstone
Elizabeth, Captive Princess by Margaret Irwin
Dragonwyck by Anya Seton
the rest are all by Victoria Holt:
Bride of Pendorric
Menfreya in the Morning
Seven for a Secret
The Miracle at St. Bruno's
The Captive
Lord of the Far Island
That wraps it up for me...what came in your mailbox dear readers?
I have not received it yet (does that count?) but I am waiting patiently, okay may be NOT patiently for a book I won on eBay.
ReplyDeleteI have been interested in the impact the Black Plague had on European culture and society so, my cousin who is a prof at Emory U, said I should read, THE GREAT MORTALITY, by John Kelly.
I will let you know how it is; it looks intriguing!
Lisa
Ooh, Russian Winter sounds good -- and I love the cover!
ReplyDeleteI just got a copy of Roma by Steven Saylor which I'll be starting tomorrow -- I'm not an ancient history reader as a rule so this is a fun departure for me!
The Russian Winter is one that I have been seeing all over the place, and that I WANT to read. I am number 1 on the library request list so hopefully it won't take too long to come in.
ReplyDeleteGood books from your library sale.
ReplyDeleteIn the mail this week, I received:
LAST CALL: THE RISE AND FALL OF PROHIBITION by Daniel Okrent
I went to the used books store and a couple of thrift stores and brought home 12 to 15 books. They are a mix of paranormals, historicals and mysteries plus a couple of children's books. They are already on the shelves.
Wow, you really scored at the library sale!! Enjoy!
ReplyDeleteThis looks like a good one to me Amy...enjoy!
ReplyDeleteI have a few of those Holt books. nice score at the library sale. Enjoy :)
ReplyDeleteAmy, I don't know about you, but I am anxious to read Russian Winter.
ReplyDeleteI had never heard of Russian Winter, but it sounds really, really good! I'm looking forward to hearing your thoughts on it :)
ReplyDeleteYou got a lot of fun looking books! The cover of Russian Winter is stunning, and the description sounds good too.
ReplyDeleteI've got The Illuminator on my shelf and I picked up a Victoria Holt at my library's sale a few months ago. Can't wait to read Russian Winter!
ReplyDelete