In My Mailbox #2, US vs UK #6, Best of the Bunch #1

Hi guys! I'm really sorry that there have been no posts the past couple of days; we were visiting cousins and I just didn't have time to get on my blog ;) But now I'm feeling as if I need to fit a few more posts in 2012 since this is the last day of it. So today I'm doing an In My Mailbox AND US vs UK.  Sorry for the scrambled post! I'm starting off with In My Mailbox.

In My Maibox is a weekly meme hosted by The Story Siren, where we spotlight the books that we've received for review, swapped, or purchased that week.

*Since I don't get books sent to me by authors, I will feature only books that I have purchased ore received as a gift.

The Scorpio Races
by Maggie Stiefvater

It happens at the start of every November: the Scorpio Races. Riders attempt to keep hold of their water horses long enough to make it to the finish line.  Some riders live.  Others die.

At age nineteen, Sean Kendrick is the returning champion.  He is a young man of few words, and if he as any fears, he keeps them buried deep, where no one else can see them.

Puck Connolly is different. She never meant to ride in the Scorpio Races.  But fate hasn't given her much of a chance. So she enters the competition--the first girl to ever do so.  She is no on way prepared for what is going to happen. 

The Love of A Good Woman
by Alice Munro

In the world of Alice Munro, the best route is not necessarily the shortest distance between two points.  In her ninth superlative collection of short fiction, The Love of a Good Woman, the setting is once again western Canada, and the subject matter is classic Munro: secrets, love, betrayal, and the stuff of ordinary lives.  But as usual for this master of the short form, the path she takes is anything but ordinary.  The stunning title story is a case in point.  A narrative in four parts, it begins with the drowning of a small town optometrist and ripples outward, touching first the boys who find the body, then a spiteful dying woman and her young practical nurse.  Whose tale is this, anyway? Not the optometrist's, surely, thought his death holds it together.  The effect is not exactly Rashomon-like either, though each of the sections views him through a different eye. Instead, The Love of a Good woman is as thorough and inclusive a portrait of small town life as can be imagined...

A Tale of Two Cities
by Charles Dickens

After 18 years as a political prisoner in the Bastille, the a the aging Doctor Manette is finally released and reunited with his daughter in England.  There the lives of two very different men, Charles Darnay, and exiled French aristocrat, and Sydney Carton, a disreputable but brilliant English lawyer, become enmeshed through their love for Lucie Manette.  From the tranquil roads of London, they are drawn against their will to the vengeful, bloodstained streets of Paris at the height of the Reign of Terror, and they soon fall under the lethal shadow of La guillotine.









What did you guys get this week? Link me up!! :)


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US vs UK #6

US vs UK is a meme hosted by Book Passion for Life. In this meme, I will post a US cover and a UK cover of the same book, and you guys will vote on which one you like best. I'll keep track of the score, and it will be a running competition!

*This week I'm doing something a little different. I'm comparing a US series to a UK series, instead of just an individual book.

My Pick: I'm picking the US version, actually! Even though the UK covers are prettier, I just feel like the US covers speak more to what the book is about.  I definitely wouldn't use the color purple on the cover of Catching Fire. :p Even though I like the UK covers, the US ones fit the book better. 

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Best of the Bunch is a monthly meme hosted by Always Lost in Stories on the last day of every month. The aim of this meme is to share the best book that we have read or reviewed that month and give it the Best of the Bunch award.

This month I read:
The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater (5/5 stars)
Crescendo by Becca Fitzpatrick (3/5 stars)
Where She Went by Gayle Forman (5/5 stars)
The Luxe by Anna Godbersen (5/5 stars)
The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater (5/5 stars)

I have read so many incredible books this month! But I think if I had to choose, my favorite would be:

The Scorpio Races
by Maggie Stiefvater

It happens at the start of every November: the Scorpio Races. Riders attempt to keep hold of their water horses long enough to make it to the finish line.  Some riders live.  Others die.

At age nineteen, Sean Kendrick is the returning champion.  He is a young man of few words, and if he as any fears, he keeps them buried deep, where no one else can see them.

Puck Connolly is different. She never meant to ride in the Scorpio Races.  But fate hasn't given her much of a chance. So she enters the competition--the first girl to ever do so.  She is no on way prepared for what is going to happen. 






Whew! All right, that's it for today. That post took forever to complete, but it was worth it. Happy New Year everyone, and the next time I see you, it'll be 2013!! ;)