In My Mailbox: October 10-16

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme, hosted by The Story Siren, in which bloggers share books they’ve acquired in the mail / at the library / from a bookstore.

Books came to me from every direction this week! One arrived in the mail, one came home with me from the bookstore, and one (um…I mean eight) got checked out of the library. Here are the highlights:

The Girl Next Door by Selene Castrovilla

I won a copy of this new young adult novel during Book Blogger Appreciation Week last month. It arrived this week, and I’ve already read it–review to come! Here’s the jacket blurb (thankfully, the writing in the book is better than what’s on the jacket):

“While most seniors at her high school are worrying about prom and final exams, seventeen-year-old Sam is desperately trying to save her best friend Jesse’s life. He has a rare, treatment-resistant form of cancer, and his odds of survival aren’t good–he may have only ten months to live. Through every bit of his pain and anguish, Sam has been by his side–through the grueling, aggressive treatments and their awful aftermath, to sleeping in his room at night when he’s afraid to be alone. Best friends and neighbors since preschool, Jesse and Sam’s friendship is changing–now they’re falling in love, and the bond between them grows stronger even as Jesse weakens. Will they have a happy ending…or will their story end in heartbreak?”

Blindness by Jose Saramago

I am slowly working my way through Death with Interruptions by Saramago. Despite my snail’s-pace progress, I am thoroughly loving the book. I’ve heard great things about Blindness, so when my mother (who I’m visiting this weekend) offered to buy me a book at her local store’s member appreciation sale, this is the one I picked. It even has the pre-movie cover, which makes especially awesome! From the back of the book:

“A city is hit by an epidemic of ‘white blindness’ which spares no one. Authorities confine the blind to an empty mental hospital, but there the criminal element holds everyone captive, stealing food rations and assaulting women. There is one eyewitness to this nightmare who guides seven strangers–among them a boy with no mother, a girl with dark glasses, a dog of tears–through the barren streets, and the procession becomes as uncanny as the surroundings are harrowing. A magnificent parable of loss and disorientation and a vivid evocation of the horrors of the twentieth century, Blindness is a powerful portrayal of man’s worst appetites and weaknesses–and man’s ultimately exhilarating spirit.”

Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett (audiobook)

First up from my library acquisitions is Good Omens, the audiobook. When Amanda at The Zen Leaf compared Good Omens to the movie Dogma and declared it her favorite out of the books she’s read by either author, I was intrigued. Plus, I’m always up for a good audiobook. From GoodReads:

“The world will end on Saturday. Next Saturday. Just before dinner, according to The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch, the world’s only completely accurate book of prophecies written in 1655. The armies of Good and Evil are amassing and everything appears to be going according to Divine Plan. Except that a somewhat fussy angel and a fast-living demon are not actually looking forward to the coming Rapture. And someone seems to have misplaced the Antichrist.”

The Princess Bride by William Goldman

I have been meaning to read this book forever and ever. Seriously. But this month, Chrisbookarama is hosting the The Princess Bride readalong, and my Google Reader keeps presenting me with posts from the participants. Unable to withstand the onslaught, I caved and requested a copy from my library. Hooray! Summary from GoodReads:

“What happens when the most beautiful girl in the world marries the handsomest prince of all time and he turns out to be…well…a lot less than the man of her dreams?

As a boy, William Goldman claims, he loved to hear his father read the S. Morgenstern classic, The Princess Bride. But as a grown-up he discovered that the boring parts were left out of good old Dad’s recitation, and only the ‘good parts’ reached his ears.

Now Goldman does Dad one better. He’s reconstructed the ‘Good Parts Version’ to delight wise kids and wide-eyed grownups everywhere.

What’s it about? Fencing. Fighting. True Love. Strong Hate. Harsh Revenge. A Few Giants. Lots of Bad Men. Lots of Good Men. Five or Six Beautiful Women. Beasties Monstrous and Gentle. Some Swell Escapes and Captures. Death, Lies, Truth, Miracles, and a Little Sex.

In short, it’s about everything.”

And there you have it–those are my book acquisition highlights for the week. Has anything fantastic wandered across your path over the past seven days? Do tell!