Mailbox Monday: 4.26.10

Mailbox Monday is a weekly meme hosted by Marcia at the Printed Page in which many bloggers participate on a regular basis.  I love reading these posts as I always find a new book that I know I will greatly enjoy.

This week I received one book in the mail - and I purchased a few bargains at Half Priced Books.  It is a rather eclectic group of books, but all of them I am very excited to start reading.

Impressionism:  Art Leisure and Parisian Society by Robert L. Herbert  I first obtained this book from my local library, but after reading through the table of contents, I knew that I wanted to have a copy of my very own (which I ordered from Alibris books).  The Impressionistic paintings focus on the years that I am most interested in using for my story (early 1860s to mid 1880s), and I love the way the book is structured according to content, rather than chronologically by author.  The categories include:

• Paris Transformed
• Cafe and Cafe-concert
• Theater, Opera, and Dance
• Parks, Racetracks, and Gardens
• Suburban Leisure
• At the Seaside

Scary Stories by Barry Moser  While I was not in search of a "horror" book at all, when I saw this lovely, hard-cover book for only one dollar, I knew that the bargain was too good to pass up.  The collection of stories include some classics like, The Tell-Tale Heart (Poe), and The Lottery (Jackson), as well as some new-to-me stories like, The Squaw (Bram Stoker), Here there be Tygers (King), The Man Upstairs (Bradbury), and Miriam (Capote).  I think this will make great reading for Carl's next RIP challenge this fall.

Tales from Shakespeare by Tina Packer  As I mentioned in my Sunday Salon post yesterday, I went to a Shakespearean Tea which featured scenes from As You Like It (I plan to post a summary of this event sometime later this week).  Since I was not at all familiar with the play, I had planned to do some summary reading before attending.  As luck would have it, I found this lovely book with a fairly detailed summary of several of the Bard's popular plays geared toward a middle-grade audience.  Not only did this book prove valuable to me yesterday, but I plan to use this in my classes to introduce the Shakespearean unit.  I think the more students know about the play before they begin to read it, the more they will understand it.

The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo  I simply cannot tell you how many classic children's books I found yesterday for a dollar.  At one point I think I had about 10 in my basket (such delightful reads as Crispin by Avi, Harriet the Spy by Fitzhugh, Wind in the Willows by Grahame, The Royal Diaries (Elizabeth 1) by Lasky, and Catherine, Called Birdy by Cushman).  But I decided that I would limit my purchases to just one.  I have never read this book, and yet it receives high acclaims from all ages.

Vincent van Gogh:  Portrait of an Artist by Jan Greenberg and Sandra Jordan  While my Impressionist research ends around 1882 - before van Gogh appeared on the scene, I have always admired this artist's work and simply could not pass up another one dollar bargain.  I also thought that by reading a book on this particular artist, it might give me ideas how to structure my own story.

So there you have it.  Not my typical collection of books --- no current best-sellers or tried-and-true classics, but never-the-less books that I am very excited to read at my leisure.

Did the mailman bring you any literary treasures this week?