Mailbox Monday

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 September MM is on tour and hosted by Kathy at Bermudaonion Weblog.  

Hello all....sorry I haven't been around much this week but the job hunt it still in full-swing and taking up a lot of my time.  But you know I had to post my favorite meme of the week!   No books for review by publishers, but I did pick up 3 books from a local used bookstore for cheap.

First, I picked up Crown of Aloes by Norah Lofts, which I chose for two reasons - one, I want to read more about Queen Isabella of Spain and two, I really enjoyed The Concubine (READ MY REVIEW) and want to read more by Lofts.

SYNOPSIS:  Crown of Aloes is presented as a personal chronicle. Within the framework of known fact and detail drawn from hitherto unexploited contemporary Spanish sources, a novelist's imagination and understanding have provided motives, thoughts, and private conversations, helping to build up the fascinating character Isabella must have been. Her fortunes were varied indeed: she knew acute poverty, faced anxiety and danger with high courage, gave much, suffered much, lived to the full. At the end she was mainly aware of her failures. It was left to others to realize how spectacular her successes had been. 



Next up is The Oracle Glass by Judith Merkle Riley.  The reason I picked this up is because of the many tribute posts that have been written over the author's recent passing.  I had heard of her previously but haven't gotten a chance to read her yet, so I thought now would be a good time.  I'm looking forward to checking it out!

SYNOPSIS:  Seventeenth-century Paris. Geneviève is a skinny, precocious girl with a mind full of philosophy and the remarkable power to read the swirling waters of an oracle glass. Left for dead by her family, she is taken in by the ingenious occultist La Voisin, who rules a secret society of witches that manipulates the rich and the scandalous all the way up to the throne. Tutored by La Voisin, Geneviève creates a new identity for herself--as the mysterious Madame de Morville, rumored to be one hundred fifty years old.

Soon, even the reigning mistress of the Sun King himself consults Madame de Morville on what the future holds for her. And as Madame de Morville, Geneviève can revel in what women are usually denied--power, an independent income, and the opportunity to speak her mind. But beneath her intelligence and wit, and in the face of unexpected love, Geneviève is driven by the obsessed spirit of revenge....

And my last choice was one that took me 2 seconds to make once I set my sights on it.  My blogger bud Allie from Hist-Fic Chick has been talking about Vicki Leon's Uppity Women Series and I finally got my first one:  Uppity Women of Medieval Times and I can't wait to dive in!  I already leafed through it a bit and it looks quite entertaining!

DESCRIPTION:  The author of Uppity Women of Ancient Times makes history sizzle once again with insightful and witty portraits and accounts of women, notorious, courageous, and unusual who both defined and defied their times. Exceptionally researched and irresistibly entertaining, Uppity Women of Medieval Times gives readers a feminist--and humorous--perspective on little-known great women of history.

 Well, that's my mailbox....what about yours?