Book Blogger Hop (and a Guilty Conscience)

Hosted by Jennifer from Crazy-for-Books, this Book Blogger Hop is a brilliant BOOK PARTY, and lasts from January 28 until January 31. It's a fun, friendly way for book bloggers to socialize, connect with other book lovers, and discover new book blogs. If you'd like me to visit your blog, please leave a comment and I'll be happy to hop by.






Each week, Jennifer chooses a question from those submitted by book bloggers for discussion. This week's question is from Aliyah from Des Absurdités: What book are you most looking forward to seeing published in 2011? Why are you anticipating that book?

This is another great question, although it makes me a bit nervous as well. Here's my story.

A couple of years ago, I started to read a series of books I'd heard about but had never read. I fell in love with this series, and want to read the entire series. I am looking forward to The Saturday Big Tent Wedding Party: The New No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency Novel by Alexander McCall Smith, which is due out in March of this year. I adore this series, which features two clever, caring detectives in Botswana, Mma Ramotswe and Mma Makutsi. I was on a roll with these books and read each and every one of them in order. That is, until last year, when I fell behind in my reading of this series. I had read all of the books up until the one published last year, The Double Comfort Safari Club. I will read that book before I read the new one. I am feeling very guilty that I haven't read Double Comfort yet. But my guilty conscience doesn't end there. There are many other sequels and series books that I have not yet read, and I feel bad about this. Some of the books that I blogged about in earlier days now have sequels (by Michael J. Fox, Elizabeth Gilbert, and Nora Ephron, for example), and I feel bad that I haven't read them; and there are series books such as the Betsy-Tacy books by Maud Hart Lovelace, which are so beautifully written that I want to read more of them. Why haven't I finished reading the Millennium trilogy by Steig Larsson? I have all three books but have only read the first one, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. I even have a "prequel", The Defector by Daniel Silva, the book that came out before The Rembrandt Affair, and provides the backstory--and I haven't read that one yet! Sometimes I feel as if I should stop getting any new books, until I read all of the books that I already have. Or maybe I should just try to spend more time reading! :)

Mailbox Sunday

  Mailbox Monday, one of my favorite memes, just happens to be hosted in September by one of my favorite bloggers, Kathy from Bermudaonion's Weblog. Created by Marcia of The Printed Page, Mailbox Monday is currently on tour. During October, Avis from She Reads and Reads will be hosting this meme. This week, I'm following Kathy's lead and posting a day early. Pictured are the books that recently graced my mailbox.

13 rue Thérèse by Elena Mauli Shapiro arrived from Reagan Arthur books, gift wrapped and with a small tin of candy! This will be the first book I review for The Reagan Arthur Books Challenge.


Have you ever ordered used books from Amazon? I often do, and have been quite happy with my purchases. (I also sell a few used books on Amazon, as I've mentioned previously.) Three of the books in the photo are used books that I bought from Amazon. I'm planning on reading the millennium trilogy by Steig Larsson, and I've read the first book and a bit of the second, but I needed to get the third book, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest, to complete the set. I'm also determined to read all of the books in The No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency series by Alexander McCall Smith, so I ordered the latest book, The Double Comfort Safari Club. (I did not expect to love this series as much as I do. Take me to Botswana!) Lastly, I ordered Say You're One of Them by Uwem Akpan, a short story collection that sounds absolutely extraordinary.

What new (or used) books have you gotten recently in the mail or from elsewhere?