Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came in their mailbox during the last week.Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles and humongous wish lists.

I went to the best local bookstore yesterday, loganberry Books in Cleveland Heights and they were on the middle of a 100,000 book inventory.  I loved the store so much I wanted to make sure I spent some money there.  That was the only reason I came home with six new books. Really 😉

This is Your Life, Harriet Chance by Jonathan Evison (arrived in the mail from the generous Diane)

With her husband Bernard two years in the grave, seventy-nine-year-old Harriet Chance sets sail on an ill-conceived Alaskan cruise only to discover through a series of revelations that she’s been living the past sixty years of her life under entirely false pretenses. There, amid the buffets and lounge singers, between the imagined appearance of her late husband and the very real arrival of her estranged daughter midway through the cruise, Harriet is forced to take a long look back, confronting the truth about pivotal events that changed the course of her life. 

How to Relax by Thich Nhat Hanh (bought from Loganberry Books, a local bookstore)

Thich Nhat Hanh says that when we relax, we “become calm water, and we will reflect reality as it is. If we’re not calm, the image we reflect will be distorted. When the image is distorted by our minds, it’s not the reality, and it causes lots of suffering.” With sections on healing, relief from nonstop thinking, transforming unpleasant sounds, solitude, being peace, and more, How to Relax includes meditations you can do to help you achieve the benefits of relaxation no matter where you are.

Rosa Parks:Mother of the Civil Rights Movement by Wil Mara (bought from Loganberry Books, a local bookstore)

Rosa Parks was born in the South at a time when African Americans were treated like second-class citizens. By refusing to accept the status quo, Parks sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott and went on to become known as the Mother of the Civil Rights Movement. The well-organized chapters help students identify key details while the photographs, timelines and other text features encourage students to make connections between historical events and enable students to better understand the text.

Last Night’s Reading:Illustrated Encounters With Extraordinary Authors by Kate Gavino  (bought from Loganberry Books, a local bookstore)

Why do we go to book readings? For a chance to see the authors we love come to life off the page, answering our questions and proving to be the brilliant, witty people we catch glimpses of through their work. Illustrator Kate Gavino captures the wonder of this experience firsthand. At every reading she attends, Kate hand-letters the event’s most memorable quote alongside a charming portrait of the author. In Last Night’s Reading, Kate takes us on her journey through the literary world, sharing illustrated insight from more than one hundred of today’s greatest writers—including Zadie Smith, Junot Diaz, Lev Grossman, Elizabeth Gilbert, and many more—on topics ranging from friendship and humor to creativity and identity. A celebration of authors, reading, and bookstores, this delightful collection is an advice book like no other and a love letter to the joy of seeing your favorite author up close and personal.

The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion  (bought from Loganberry Books, a local bookstore)

Don Tillman, professor of genetics, has never been on a second date. He is a man who can count all his friends on the fingers of one hand, whose lifelong difficulty with social rituals has convinced him that he is simply not wired for romance. So when an acquaintance informs him that he would make a “wonderful” husband, his first reaction is shock. Yet he must concede to the statistical probability that there is someone for everyone, and he embarks upon The Wife Project. In the orderly, evidence-based manner with which he approaches all things, Don sets out to find the perfect partner. She will be punctual and logical—most definitely not a barmaid, a smoker, a drinker, or a late-arriver.

Pigs in Heaven by Barbara Kingsolver  (bought from Loganberry Books, a local bookstore)

Continuing the story begun in The Bean Trees, this novel features the characters Taylor and Turtle as they witness an event whose repercussions will change their lives forever.

One Plus One by Jojo Moyes  (bought from Loganberry Books, a local bookstore)

Suppose your life sucks. A lot. Your husband has done a vanishing act, your teenage stepson is being bullied and your math whiz daughter has a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that you can’t afford to pay for. That’s Jess’s life in a nutshell—until an unexpected knight-in-shining-armor offers to rescue them. Only Jess’s knight turns out to be Geeky Ed, the obnoxious tech millionaire whose vacation home she happens to clean. But Ed has big problems of his own, and driving the dysfunctional family to the Math Olympiad feels like his first unselfish act in ages… maybe ever.