Mailbox Monday - December 20th

Mailbox Monday's December host is: Lady Q @ Let Them Read Books.

Mailbox Monday is an opportunity to share the books that arrive by mail at your house during the previous week. Here is what I received:

This awesome Charles Dicken's, Chuck Fischer pop-up book, A Christmas Carol is just so lovely. It arrived from Hachette, and was a win from Kim@ MetroReader.

Thanks Hachette and Kim; I LOVE it!

I also received a few new books for review.

I is an Other: The Secret Life of Metaphor and How it Shapes the Way We See the World; Jame Geary (Harper Collins) - "Metaphorical thinking is the way we make sense of the world" and neurological research shows that humans experience pleasure when performing the "cognitive gymnastics" of deciphering metaphors to connect two dissimilar things, asserts Geary (The World in a Phrase) in a delightful examination that borrows for its title from a poem by Rimbaud, whose writing aimed to "upset conventional orders of perception." Tests on people who do not understand metaphors, such as those with Asperger's syndrome, uncover the roles that "mirror" and "Gnostic" neurons play in conceptual comprehension and long-term memory. Geary also analyzes how metaphors are used in advertising, scientific discoveries, economics, and politics. "Metaphors, once forgotten or ignored, are easily mistaken for objective facts," he warns, showing how metaphor "surreptitiously infiltrates our purchasing decisions." Voters, consumers, and investors interested in knowing how their decisions may be influenced by well-planned metaphors will be fascinated by Geary's adept explication of the metaphor's role in defining perceptions.
The Dog Who Couldn't Stop Loving; Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson (Harper Collins - Masson, the author of 24 books, including the best-sellers When Elephants Weep (1995) and Dogs Never Lie about Love (1997), examines the unique bond between dogs and humans in his latest book. Masson has long been interested in the relationships between humans and animals, and this look at the unusual connection between humans and dogs draws on recent scientific research and the author’s own observations of his intense bond with his dog Benjy to find out why, of all animals, we have developed such a special relationship with dogs. He explores various theories for why dogs love us (and vice versa) and why no other animals love us in quite the same way, and wonders if perhaps humans developed the capacity for love, sympathy, empathy, and compassion because we coevolved with dogs. A fascinating exploration of the unique relationship.
Take Me Home; Brian Leung (Harper Collins) -
Take Me Home is a powerful story about friendship and love set against the stunning backdrop of 1880's Wyoming and based in the pages of history.
Like many classic stories, Brian Leung’s new novel begins with a journey home. Adele “Addie” Maine is returning to Dire, a Wyoming coal-mining town, forty years after the deadly events that nearly took her life and drove her away without a word to her husband.
Years earlier: Headed West to stay with her brother Tommy, a young and feisty Addie arrives in Wyoming having been convinced along the way that the Chinese who work alongside the white men in the small Wyoming town are half-man, half-beast—devious creatures to be wary of. When Tommy falters at homesteading, the siblings look to the coal mines and Addie comes into close contact with one Chinese man in particular, Wing Lee. The bond between the two is a mere spark at first, hampered by the reality for both that a friendship would be impossible, forbidden, even in a territory where almost everyone is an immigrant.
Together, Addie and Wing harbor a secret. Ultimately Addie must protect Wing’s life and fight for what she knows is right, but she still can’t find the answers to life’s most important questions. It’s only as a much older woman, returning to Dire to bid farewell to a friend from decades ago, that Addie comes face-to-face with the man she’s certain tried to kill her, and at last confronts the surprises and losses that await at the end of a difficult journey.
Take Me Home is a searing, redemptive novel that explores justice in a time of violence, and the sweeping landscape between friendship and love.
The Oracle of Stamboul; Michael David Lukas - Set in the heart of the exotic Ottoman Empire during the first years of its chaotic decline, Michael David Lukas’ elegantly crafted, utterly enchanting debut novel follows a gifted young girl who dares to charm a sultan—and change the course of history, for Byzantium and the world. An enthralling literary adventure, perfect for readers entranced by the mixture of historical fiction and magical realism in Philip Pullman’s The Golden Compass, Orhan Pamuk’s My Name is Red, or Gabriel García Márquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude, Lukas’ evocative tale of prophesy, intrigue, and courage unfolds with the subtlety of a Turkish mosaic and the powerful majesty of an epic for the ages.