Mailbox Monday - February 15, 2010

Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came into their house last week (checked out library books don’t count, eBooks & audio books do). Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles and humongous wish lists.

Marcia from The Printed Page is quite right about that! I love seeing what people are getting each week, even though I'm getting my buying under control (knock on wood).

This week I only bought one book:

Mariana by Susan Kearsley
The amazon.com product description:

Julia Beckett believes in destiny. When she moves into Greywethers, a beautiful sixteenth-century farmhouse, she suspects that more than coincidence has brought her there. The locals are warm and welcoming, especially the eligible squire of Crofton Hall, yet beneath the ordinariness, Julia senses a haunting sadness about her new home. Then she learns of Mariana, a beautiful young woman who lived there three hundred years ago. It seems history has been waiting for Julia.

 This is a book I've been eyeing for a little while but didn't want enough to pay full price for. When I saw it on the sale table at my local library, I took the chance to snap it up (the library needs my money anyway). I'm definitely looking forward to reading it, although I don't know just when that'll be yet.

Edited to add:
I got to work to find an ARC waiting for me:
Doing Dangerously Well by Carole Enahoro
Due out May 2010

The Amazon.com product description:

A dark comedy about disaster capitalism, cutthroat office politics, vicious sibling rivalry, hapless do-gooderism and the corporatization of water.
When a humanitarian catastrophe strikes Nigeria, an unforgettable cast of Machiavellian opportunists and quixotic do-gooders swoop in to make the most of the tragedy.

Some time in the near future, Kainji Dam, the engineering marvel that is the pride of Nigeria, collapses, killing thousands of villagers. The Minister of Natural Resources can hardly believe his luck - now he can make a bid for the presidency. On the other side of the world, the grimly ambitious executive of a water company also sniffs an opportunity - to make her bosses happy by privatizing a major African river. Her sister, Barbara, who has never encountered a cause she wouldn't carry a placard for, joins forces with Femi Jegede, a charismatic Nigerian activist whose family was swept away in the disaster. The result: a wickedly satirical romp along a road to hell paved with both good and bad intentions. Brazen, hilarious and sublimely written, Carole Enahoro's debut novel is simply dazzling.