In My Mailbox (1)

In My Mailbox (IMM) is hosted by The Story Siren
In My Mailbox is a place to showcase your new books,
whether you obtained them through the post or otherwise.

As it's getting closer to Christmas, I've been trying to reduce my amount of book swapping as I fear that the books may not get into the hands of their recipients very quickly, thanks to the busy postal service. Nevertheless, it's still early December and so I've sent some books out and received these in return (and all in brand new condition!):


The Kite Runner Graphic Novel - I've never actually read a graphic novel as they don't really appeal to me all that much. However, I absolutely adored Hosseini's original novel and so I couldn't really go wrong with trying this one out - at least the storyline is something that I know I will enjoy!


Forever - If I'm being honest, I didn't enjoy Shiver or Linger, but I'm still a sucker for pretty covers and I feel as though, seeing as I plodded through the first two, that I should read this one. It's not something I'm expecting to enjoy but at least I'll have read the conclusion to the Wolves of Mercy Falls trilogy.


Vanished - This is two books in one - When Lightening Strikes & Code Name Cassandra. I read the first two books in Cabot's 'The Mediator' series earlier this year and whilst I didn't find them fantastic, they were easy enough reads. I've heard a lot of good things about Cabot and I'm hoping this series will be fun to read.


It's Not Summer Without You - This is the second in the Summer trilogy and I'm really excited about getting around to reading it. I've had the first book in this trilogy on my bookshelf for some time now, but I've not picked it up yet. However, I read Han's stand alone book, Shug, earlier this year and loved it. Hopefully these books will be just as good or even better!


Lost Dogs and Lonely Hearts - I admit it, I only really wanted this one for it's wintery cover. I'm not usually one for books about animals, even though I have a lot of pets, but I'm hoping this will be an easy to read piece of chick-lit.

This is the one book I've purchased this week. I've never heard of the book or the author before, but as it was only £1 brand new, I couldn't help but pick it up. There's a comparison to Jodi Picoult on the cover and as I really enjoy her books, that can't be a bad thing.


That's all for this week!

A Christmas Carol

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

Paperback, 100 pages

Published April 1st 2010 by HarperPress
(First published 1843)

My shelves: books-i-own, 1001-books, adult-fiction, christmas-books, classics, currently-reading, fantasy, favourites, ghosts, historical
My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Description via Goodreads

'I am the Ghost of Christmas Present,' said the Spirit. 'Look upon me!' A celebration of Christmas, a tale of redemption and a critique on Victorian society, Dickens' atmospheric novella follows the miserly, penny-pinching Ebenezer Scrooge who views Christmas as 'humbug'. It is only through a series of eerie, life-changing visits from the ghost of his deceased business partner Marley and the spirits of Christmas past, present and future that he begins to see the error of his ways. With heart-rending characters, rich imagery and evocative language, the message of A Christmas Carol remains as significant today as when it was first published.

My Review

A Christmas Carol is one of those books that I always meant and wanted to read, but I never got around to it, even though I've managed to watch the original film version each year. I'm very glad that I finally picked up a copy of this novella as it was certainly everything I expected it to be. The book felt a little more realistic than the film adaptations, yet managed to keep a real sense of magic, and therefore I do feel that this was more effective and a little more special.
This is the first piece of literature that I have read by Dickens and I was surprised with how effortless it was to read, the language wasn't at all difficult and it flowed well - his writing is unique and a real pleasure to read. I particularly enjoyed reading his descriptions. Although the story isn't completely light hearted, Dickens manages to weave humour throughout. The several characters and family members that we're introduced to are well formed in a short amount of writing and you can really see a depth in them all.
The transition of an old man, Scrooge, from dissatisfied and irritable into a considerate gentleman is handled in a stirring way, especially when based around the Christmas period.
At a mere 100 pages, there's no excuse to not pick up this heartwarming Christmas tale. Although it isn't totally perfect or extremely 'deep', it portrays a meaningful story and it has to be the definitive Christmas Classic.

The Christmas Mystery

The Christmas Mystery by Jostein Gaarder

Paperback, 247 pages

Published October 7th 1999 by Phoenix Press (first published 1992)

My shelves: books-i-own, childrens, christmas-books, classics, historical, magical-realism, read, read-in-2011, translated, young-adult
My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Description via Goodreads


The bestselling modern classic. Fifty years ago a girl disappeared from her home in Norway. She ran after a lamb and found herself travelling right across Europe to Palestine, and back through 2000 years to meet the Holy Family in Bethlehem. There she met angels, shepherds, wise men and other biblical characters who joined her on her pilgrimage; and she heard of many of the things that happened in the world in the last 2000 years. In present-day Norway, a boy acquires a strange old Advent calendar. Hidden in each of the windows is a tiny piece of paper. Little by little these pieces unfold the girl's story, and as we learn what happened to her, another story is revealed - that of the strange old man who made the calendar.

My Review


It's really quite a risky thing to try and retell one of (if not the) most well known stories in the world, especially if you're going to put a twist on it. However, I'm pleased that Gaarder did it because he managed to execute it very well. The choice of chick-lit Christmas themed stories is bountiful, and I do enjoy them, but to be able to read a different take on the original Christmas story is a rare treat.
I believe this book was primarily targeted at Children, but this could certainly be classed as a family book. Gaarder shares an important story and he also incorporates some more philosophical questions in this book - infact, because of this, I'd probably recommend it more for older children, perhaps 8yrs +.
The story of the birth of Christ is retold in this book, in the form of following young girl named Elisabet as she travels through different countries and time, retracing the steps of several biblical characters (sheep included), as they make their way to Bethlehem.
This story as staged as a story inside another story. The protagonist, Joachim, stumbles across a magical Advent calendar in an old bookshop, and each day he opens a new window, another part of the story is revealed. Reading this book during Advent was fantastic and like Joachim and his parents, I was eager and excited for another window to be opened to see what happened next during Elisabet's journey.
The Advent format of this book was really exciting and it wouldn't be a bad idea to use this book as a type of calendar itself (if you could resist reading on!). I'd urge people to pick this up for a slightly different, easy to read but interesting Christmas read.

Miracle on Regent Street

Miracle on Regent Street by Ali Harris
Paperback, 484 pages
Published October 13th 2011 by Simon & Schuster Ltd


My shelves: adult-fiction, books-i-own, chick-lit, christmas-books, read, read-in-2011, realistic-fiction, cover-appeal
My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars


Description via Goodreads

Evie Taylor, a girl with a big heart, gets lost in the big city. For the past two years, Evie has lived an invisible life in London. Her neighbours think she’s just moved in, her sister mistakes her for a live-in nanny, and even Evie’s manager at work can’t remember her name. But all that is about to change …this Christmas has brought a flurry of snow and unimaginable possibilities into town. Evie works in the stockroom of an old-fashioned, family-run, London fashion department store. Hardy’s is a beautiful, wood-panelled jewellery box of a building, but it’s in dire need of a makeover. One day Evie overhears that if the entire store’s takings don’t turn round by Dec 26th – 3 weeks’ time – the family who own it will be forced to sell to one of the big chains. Hardy’s is in need of a Christmas miracle. Determined to save her beloved store, Evie hatches a plan to secretly transform it into a magical place to shop again. But has the time come for her to be noticed too? When an accidental romantic encounter with handsome, enigmatic Joel gives her the chance of a whole new identity, she takes it.

My Review


Miracle on Regent Street was a light, festive read. Straight from the beginning, we are introduced to London, where Evie works and resides. The story begins on the 1st December and the atmosphere that is created surrounding the festive holiday is almost magical. Harris manages to make London come alive with her vivid descriptions of the city. The Christmas feeling is very clear too, with the sights, sounds and smells being explored throughout the book. Evie is a likeable character, as are her friends, particularly Lily and Sam. As characters, their personalities were realistic and their thought processes seemed authentic, but their actions just didn't seem very believable. Harris did well to include a strong community of different people - different in age, culture and mannerisms. For me, Lily was one of the strongest characters and I managed to get a good, bold image of her. Sam was slightly cliché, but sweet and I found the relationship between Eve and her sister to be the most interesting, relationship in the book and I enjoyed seeing it evolve.
I feel as though the main issue with this book is that it's very unbelievable. Notably, in the sub-plot, Evie pretends to be one of her co-workers and pretty much gets away with it-something which, in the real world seems practically impossible. My other concern with this book was the length. It was fairly lengthy at nearly 500 pages, and I feel as though it could've been condensed down a lot more which would've made it, in my opinion, more enjoyable.
The storyline of friendship and Evie finding her identity made for a fine plot, it wasn't very complex, it was simple and it was seasonal. This wasn't a bad book, but it was nothing spectacular.