In My Mailbox: Oops, I Did It Again

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by The Story Siren, in which bloggers share what books they've picked up in the past week.

Twice this week, I received books in the mail that I completely forgot I'd ordered - not a good sign. The first was Cakes and Ale by W. Somerset Maugham, which I know nothing about but appealed to me because; a) It has a pretty cover, and b) It has the word cake in the title. Sold.

The second was Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf, which I bought coz again, I liked the cover, and I also feel that it's about time I read some Woolf. I'm a bit nervous because (embarrassingly) the only knowledge I really have of her/her work is from the movie The Hours, which I thought was awful. But I'll let the book speak for itself - when I get around to it!

I also received two books that I ordered for Aussie Author Month - Jasper Jones by Craig Silvey and My Brilliant Career by Miles Franklin. Sadly, I've been a bit slack with my reading lately and I'm going on holiday in exactly one week, so realistically I think I'll only have time to read and review one more book after my current one this month. But I'm still participating in the Aussie Author Challenge, so I'll definitely be reading the books I don't get to ASAP.

In My Mailbox: Ooh, Pretty!

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by The Story Siren, highlighting cool books that bloggers have gotten each week by buying, borrowing or, er, being sent (I had to keep the alliteration going, sorry). I haven't participated before, but this morning I received such a pretty book that I just had to share. Seriously, I just keep looking at it. It's so pretty. And SHINY.

But I'll take my eyes off it for a minute to tell you more about it: It's The Beautiful and The Damned by F. Scott Fitzgerald, as you can see by the dodgy picture above (that REALLY doesn't do justice to the prettiness). After loving The Great Gatsby, I wanted to read more of Fitzgerald's work, and when I saw this book from the Penguin Classics hardcover collection on AbeBooks, I knew I had to have it. Now I can look at it lovingly and stroke it as much as I want... oh, and read it too.

I also picked up The Woman in Black by Susan Hill from AbeBooks, because I've been interested in reading it since seeing the still of Daniel Radcliffe looking very periody and un-Pottery for the upcoming movie adaptation. Plus I received my copy of Caroline Overington's Ghost Child from Fishpond, which I'll be reading and reviewing in the next week or so as part of Aussie Author Month. Any other day, I would have been super excited to receive both of these books, but they had the misfortune of arriving on the same day as the shiniest book I've ever seen. I tend to get distracted by shiny things.

Now, excuse me while I go back to staring at my precious...