Mailbox Monday

Happy Valentine’s Day!  A day of love, a day to celebrate friendships, a day to eat more chocolate, a  money maker…

In the last week or so I’ve received a bunch of books in my mail box.  I ordered a used copy of The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters from Alibris and was anxiously awaiting it last week.  My son texted me one afternoon and said I had a box in the mail and he thought it was probably that book.  When I got home he handed it to me but I knew right away it was not the pkg. It was a medium size box with four books inside from Zoe Luderitz at Little, Brown and Company!  I was delighted. (picture me jumping with glee)

Inside I found:

1. Bird in a Box by Andrea Davis Pinkney-It is 1936.  America is in the middle of the Great Depression, and three children-Otis, Willie and Hibernia-are about to become friends.  (a snippet from the back cover)

2. I’ll Be There by Holly Goldbert Sloan-This is an innovative portrait of two brothers who cross paths with a family that will change their lives forever.  (from publicity letter)

3. The Time-Traveling Fashionista by Bianca Turetsky– When Louise Lambert receives a mysterious invitation to a traveling vintage sale in the mail, her normal life in suburban Connecticut is magically transformed into a time-travel adventure.  (back cover)

4. Bitter End by Jennifer Brown-The second novel in the Hate List series tackles abusive relationships in one teen’s life.  (publicity letter)

Each one of these titles has something that intrigues me so I’m looking forward to slipping these ARC’s  into my reading schedule.
I also received a nonfiction title, Astro, The Steller Sea Lion by Jeanne Walker Harvey, from the author-love to get those big manilla envelopes.
And Saraswati’s Way came from Monika Schroder. 
From Paperback Book Swap I received two books:
Elin Hilderbrand’s A Summer Affair and Barefoot.  We are heading to the NC beach in June and these will be my beach reads. 
This has been a busy week and a half for my mailbox…

Hope you’ve had a lovely Valentine holiday with lots of chocolate and books!

Quote of the day

Someone in my school shared this great quote with me today and I thought it was worthy and I loved that she thought to bring it to me.

It is from a desk top calendar-

“These are not books, lumps of lifeless paper, but minds alive on the shelves.”
Gilbert Highet

I did research Mr Highet a bit before posting and found he was an early educator of Scottish heritage, attended Oxford and taught for years at Columbia University.  In reading his bio information I found another intriguing quote of his:

“The chief aim of education is to show you, after you make a livelihood, how to enjoy living; and you can live longest and best and most rewardingly by attaining and preserving the happiness of learning.”
-G.H.
I’m now a huge fan of Gilbert Highet and am always amazed at how much there is still out there to learn.  I don’t remember ever learning anything about Mr. Highet before-not in college, or grad school (where i studied Education…) and there he is just another interesting person waiting to be discovered!  He has published several books on the topic of education as well. 
I’m so glad to have been introduced…
Hope you are having a marvelous Monday!