Monday Mailbox #12

Hey hey hey, sorry for the delay. I didn't mean to be remiss in my posting last week, but I've been waiting for a book to arrive (Minor Snobs, by Daniel Amory) and it hasn't. It was member giveaway on librarything.com and, as it sometimes happens, it seems to be temporarily lost in the wind. But never you fear! For I have two additions to my library this week:

The Hottest Dishes of

the Tartar Cuisine

by Alina Bronsky

which I won in an anagram contest over at Confessions of a Book Lush. I also won a Europa Editions tote bag, on which I've received many a compliment. It makes me happy because I adore Europa. I *plan* on reading this one in the fall. If I get through more books sooner rather than later, I'll read it sooner. 

Say Her Name, 

by Francisco Goldman

This one was half-impulse buy, half-well-meditated buy. It is uncommon for me to gravitate so strongly to a book in the Sunday Times Book Review. But the story speaks to me so vehemently that I've been almost afraid to ask for it. I walked into Posman Books at Grand Central Station Friday night... I love this store. They may be more expensive than, say, ordering from Amazon (and only some of the time, really) but their staff is very well-read and friendly and so helpful - not like the confused minimum wage employee I saw at B&N a few weeks ago who had to have the customer repeat the spelling of J-h-u-m-p-a-L-a-h-i-r-i no less than three times. I had managed to put this book out of my head for a few weeks, but as I was riding the crosstown bus last night, the story came into my head again. And of course as soon as I walked into Posman, I'd forgotten the title. I wandered a little bit, but they were closing shortly, so I sidled up to the info desk and gave as much information as I could, hoping they'd know what the hell I was talking about. It took some creative googling while also searching through a pile of Sunday Times Book Reviews, but once we found the title an employee knew exactly where it was. By then I was so excited, I nearly ripped it out of the poor girl's hand and tossed it onto the checkout counter. I can't even tell you how much I want to read this book RIGHT NOW. But. I'm on a mission. I have other books on my list that need reading. Now, assuming that Minor Snobs comes awful late or never comes, and figuring that Maxine Swan's The Foreigners might not get to me for a while (it's due out mid-August) I *might* be able to squeeze this one in. But I'd much rather enjoy it at the very end of summer. I'll have to lock it up or something, to keep me from gnawing on it.