Mailbox Monday - Jun 17

Mailbox Monday is a meme started by Marcia of To Be Continued. Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came in their mailbox during the last week. It now has a permanent home at the Mailbox Monday blog.

Happy Monday! I hope you all had a nice weekend. We took my father-in-law and his two boys out to dinner for Father's Day. It was nice to get together after a few weeks apart. Usually there are eleven of us, but my son and his wife couldn't make it.

This was an exciting week. The Lil' Diva received a scholarship and I received an award from the Realtor board. 

Work has been busy. I should have a listing coming up soon, and then two or three more once we return from the Outer Banks in July.

On the book front, there was nothing in my physical mailbox, but I picked up the first book in the Tempe Crabtree Mystery Series by Marilyn Meredith while it was free for Kindle. 

When I started this series, I was probably about six books in. That's around when I had started blogging in 2007. I've been meaning to go back and read the earlier versions. Though I have this in paperback, having it on the Kindle Fire will make it easier to read. 

What was in your mailbox? Are you looking forward to any summer reads? 

Mailbox Monday - July 14

Mailbox Monday is a meme started by Marcia of To Be Continued. Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came in their mailbox during the last week. It now has a permanent home at the Mailbox Monday blog.

Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles, and humongous wish lists.

It was a slow week around here. We got back from the Outer Banks on Saturday morning. Not as much mail this time as when we usually go away, which means I didn't have a ton of paper to plow through.

The newly released Four shipped to our place on July 8th and was waiting for our daughter when we got home.

Brace yourself for some numbers: Four is a collection of a quarter of short stories from the Divergent trilogy, each told from the point of Tobias Eaton, Divergent's “Four.” Collectively these stories, all of which were issued before as eBooks, serve as a revealing prequel to Veronica Roth's stirring series. By rendering the back-story of one of Divergent's prime movers, Four opens a portal to the mysterious time before Tris chose Dauntless. (P.S. This hardcover edition contains scenes that did not appear in the eBook versions.)

Also in the pile was A Wedding in Provence by Ellen Sussman.

What could be more idyllic than a wedding in Provence? That's what Olivia and Brody think when they invite their closest friends and family to spend their wedding weekend with them. But when Olivia's older daughter from her first marriage invites a man she met on the plane to join her, the delicate balance of the entire weekend is upset. Soon Olivia's best friend, the owner of the inn who is hosting the wedding, discovers that her husband has cheated on her. Then Brody's mother shows up without his father, who has gone into hiding. How can one choose love in the midst of chaos? Told from the point of view of Olivia and her two daughters, A Wedding in Provence is a moving novel about love, trust, secrets and family.

What did you receive?

Summer is the Perfect Time to Visit Your Local Library

My girls are excited to participate once again in our local library's summer reading program. Sign ups are this Saturday. The girls usually turn this into a competition of sorts, but it's a great way to keep them reading over the summer.

Need a reason to visit a library this summer? This article gives you ten: http://www.gonannies.com/blog/2013/10-reasons-to-visit-your-local-library-this-summer/

Vacation Time Reading

One of the best things about vacation time--in addition to getting away from the daily grind--is catching up on my reading. This year I took half a dozen printed books and my Kindle.

Here's what I've read so far:

Class Struggle: Journal of a Teacher In Up to His Ears by Steven Verrier

Voices from the Land by Jan Marquart

Born Under a Lucky Moon by Dana Precious

Do you take books with you on vacation? What have you read so far this summer?