In My Mailbox

This weekly meme is hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren! Check out her blog to see what others are reading.

Received these books in my mailbox this week:

Just Don't Call Me Ma'am: How I Ditched the South, Forgot My Manners, and Managed To Survive My Twenties With (most of) My Dignity Still In Tact by Anna Mitchael

Received from Newman Communications, Inc.

 Synopsis (Barnes and Noble)

Anna Mitchael is like a lot of twentysomething women with full lives. In her fast-moving world, she might be called on as a friend, coworker, daughter, girlfriend, confidante, brat, cynic, or domestic-goddess-in-training. But there’s one label she’s simply not ready to embrace: ma’am.
Like so many bright-eyed college graduates before her, Mitchael begins her twenties armed with the conviction that the world is hers for the taking. And she discovers that it is, mostly—only no one told her just how often she’d have to pick herself up off the floor along the way.

From moving to new cities to domestic disasters to the occasional nervous breakdown, Mitchael guides readers through the various stages of her self-discovery with disarming humor and—like the best of friends—unmitigated honesty. Written for every woman who’s experienced the ups and downs of trying to figure out who you’re really meant to be, Just Don’t Call Me Ma’am is a story of one woman and the choices that add up to be her twentysomething life—and of how sometimes you have to remember where you came from before you can figure out where you’re going.



Dead Man of the Year by Stephen Hawley Martin

Received from The Oaklea Press Inc.

Synopsis (Barnes and Noble)

Brian Durston left a bright future at a big Madison Avenue agency to join his uncle's medium-sized firm because his uncle promised him a stake in the business. The future looked bright until Brian discovered his uncle slumped over his desk with a bullet through his brain. The cops think it's suicide, which means his uncle's life insurance won't pay, and Brian won't inherit the money to buy his uncle's share. Who benefits? The surviving partners. So Brian decides some investigating is in order. Meanwhile, the agency's largest account goes into review, and Brian must pull out the stops to save it, or there won't be much agency left. In steps the beautiful and enigmatic copywriter, Nickie D'Agostino. She wants to help Brian save the account and find the killer. But wait, could she be the one who did it? A romance tortured by suspicion follows, and a frantic race to find the murderer before Brian's share of the business reverts to the surviving partners, or worse - he joins his uncle in the afterlife.

By Heart: Poetry, Prison, and Two Lives by Judith Tannenbaum & Spoon Jackson

Received from newvillagepress courtesy of Librarything.com

Synopsis (Barnes and Noble)

“A boy with no one to listen becomes a man in prison for life and discovers his mind can be free. A woman enters prison to teach and becomes his first listener. And so begins a twenty-five year friendship between two gifted writers and poets. The result is By Heart— a book that will anger you, give you hope, and break your heart."—Gloria Steinem
For most of their adult lives, since meeting as teacher and pupil at San Quentin State Prison, Judith Tannenbaum and Spoon Jackson have conferred, corresponded, and sometimes collaborated, producing very different bodies of work resting on the same understanding: that human beings have one foot in darkness, another in light. Moving stories of their childhoods and adult creative lives reveal both tragedy and beauty.

In alternating chapters—part memoir, part essay—By Heart reveals painful truths about prison, education, and which children our world nurtures and which it shuns. At its core are two stories that speak for human imagination, spirit, and expression.

Judith Tannenbaum is a nationally respected poet, educator, lecturer, and the author of Disguised as a Poem, among other works, including poetry, anthologies, and guidebooks for teaching arts in prison. She coordinates training at WritersCorps.

Born into an impoverished family of fifteen boys, Spoon Jackson was sentenced to life without possibility of parole by age twenty. He discovered himself as a writer for the first time in prison, eventually becoming an award-winning, internationally-known poet and essayist, as well as a facilitator of creative writing classes for other prisoners.

 Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Dawn of the Dreadfuls by Steve Hockensmith


Received from FSB Associates

Synopsis (Barnes and Noble)

With more than one million copies in print, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies was the surprise publishing phenomenon of 2009. A best seller on three continents, PPZ has been translated into 21 languages and optioned to become a major motion picture.

In this terrifying and hilarious prequel, we witness the genesis of the zombie plague in early-nineteenth-century England. We watch Elizabeth Bennet evolve from a naïve young teenager into a savage slayer of the undead. We laugh as she begins her first clumsy training with nunchucks and cry when her first blush of romance goes tragically awry. Written by acclaimed novelist (and Edgar Award nominee) Steve Hockensmith, Dawn of the Dreadfuls invites Austen fans to step back into Regency England, Land of the Undead!

Queen of Your Own Life: The Grown-Up Woman's Guide to Claiming Happiness and Getting the Life You Deserve by Kathy Kinney & Cindy Ratzlaff

Received from FSB Associates

Synopsis (Barnes and Noble)

Discover the Seven Best Gifts You Can Give Yourself
Queen of Your Own Life is a philosophy, a decision and an invitation to happiness for women who have made the tough but rewarding journey to the midpoint in their lives. Kathy Kinney (best known as Mimi on The Drew Carey Show) and Cindy Ratzlaff (marketing genius behind the launch of The South Beach Diet) have been best friends for more than thirty years, and have helped each other navigate the ups and downs of their lives with humor and grace.

In this entertaining and inspiring book, they share the tried-and-true techniques they call "the seven best gifts a woman can give herself." They reveal how they learned to value themselves just the way they are—women in full bloom, sensual, vibrant, wise and more beautiful than ever—and they'll show you how you can, too.

With these seven gifts you'll discover how to:
• Claim your beauty and feel your power
• Clean your mental closet and find your queen voice
• Admire yourself for who you've become
• Build deep, fulfilling friendships with other women
• Establish firm boundaries that will strengthen all your relationships
• Learn the simple trick to finally being happy
• Place the crown firmly on your head

With humor, comfort and inspiration, Queen of Your Own Life offers easy step-by-step actions to blast away at the societal tall tale that young is beautiful and old is just old. If you've been feeling that the best part of your life may be behind you, then this book will prove to you just how untrue that is, and that the door to being happy is not only never closed,but just waiting for you to fling it open. Remember, you don't have to be twenty to have your whole life ahead of you. Now is the time to become Queen of Your Own Life!