My Monday Mailbox (July 23/12): Swapping Edition

I went back through my archive and saw that I haven't made a MMM for almost a year! I have been receiving novels here and there throughout the year but it has been very sparse since I no longer review actively; which is why I don't do this meme anymore. However, this past Saturday I went to a swapping event where people traded in books, DVDs, and CDs! I brought in 32 picture books and came out exactly with 32 items. Since I do have a lot more books on hand, I will try to get through them some more!

CDs

Tub Ring - Fermi Paradox

Ahead of the Lions - Living Things

Meowingtons Hax 2k11 - deadmau5

Sweet Kisses - Jessica Simpson

Bye Bye Boyfriend - Fefe Dobson

DVDs

17 Again

Down with Love

Will & Grace, Season 1, Disc 4 (Ep 18-22)

Paranormal/Horror/Thriller

The Laughing Corpse by Laurell K. Hamilton

The Dead Room by Heather Graham

Deep Down by Karen Harper

Midnight Club by Christopher Pike

Hot Case by Patricia Rosemoor 

Exposed by Alex Kava

Young Adult

The Iron King, The Iron Daughter, The Iron Queen, The Iron Knight by Julie Kagawa

The Agency: The Body and the Tower by Y.S. Lee

Stop Me If You've Heard This One Before by David Yoo

Romance/Chick Lit

The Single Life by Liz Wood

Sex and the City by Candace Bushnell

Hot Spot by Susan Johnson

Undone by Carly Phillips, Donna Kauffman, & Candace Schuler

Contemporary

Genes, Girls, and Gamow After the Double Helix by James D. Watson

The Autograph Man by Zadie Smith

Manga

Kamisama Kazoku vol. 1 by Tapari & Kuwushima

Neon Genesis Evangelion Angelic Days vol. 1, 6 by Fumino Hayashi

Guardian Hearts vol. 1 by Sae Amatsu

Junk: Record of the Last Hero vol. 4 by Kia Asamiya 

Shakugan no Shana vol. 3 by Yashichiro Takahashi, Ayato Sasakura, & Noizi Ito

Short & Simple (10): Gothic Horror Special

I haven't been able to review as much this summer as I hoped because I ended up taking a summer class. But! It's an English course so I have been reading quite a bit of Gothic Horror for this past month. So I will give you a quick take of my opinions on the reads I had to do thus far! All these stories could be found online for free if Googled. :)


Title: Frankenstein
Author: Mary Shelley
Age Group: Adults
# of Pages: N/A (Read online edition)
My Rating: 4/5


Sentence Summary: Victor Frankenstein desire to create a man goes awry, leading to his downfall.


Speaking Straightly: Everyone who knows of Frankenstein but have yet to read the novel would be in for a surprise. Definitely a captivating read and one would much sympathize for the creature compared to what has been portrayed in Hollywood for years. It questions the morality of playing with life and death and as well as playing the role of God.

~~~

Title: The Picture of Dorian Gray
Author: Oscar Wilde
Age Group: Adults
# of Pages: 229 (Oxford World's Classics Edition)
My Rating: 4.5/5


Sentence Summary: A gorgeous man wishes to be young forever and it comes true, while a painting of him begins to age and decay with every corrupted deed.


Speaking Straightly: This is a brilliant and dark story that captures the Victorian's fascination with aestheticism and the corruption of the human mind. Wilde writes a very captivating plot and mindset of the protagonist, Dorian. I was able to chuckle in a couple of places here and there, something I wouldn't think I would be able to do for a 19th century lit. I admit though, towards the middle, it got slow for a couple of chapters. However, it picks up again. Definitely recommended.

~~~

Title: The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Author: Robert Louis Stevenson
Age Group: Adults
# of Pages: 200 (Broadview Literary Texts' Edition)
My Rating: 3/5


Sentence Summary: A respectable doctor is strangely associated with a brute with a mysterious background. For what reason may that be?


Speaking Straightly: Luckily this is a novella and it wasn't a very long read. However, I wasn't captured by this story compared to the first two. I guess maybe I more or less knew the end result? The content and writing weren't bad though and I can see why it's a classic, especially for its era. 

Short and Simple (9)

Title: Arisa
Mangaka: Natsumi Ando
Age Group: Teens
Series is: Ongoing with 9 volumes
Volume(s) Reviewing: 2
My Rating: 4/5


Sentence Summary: Tsubasa's guess of who the King really is might not turn out to be that person after all!


Speaking Straightly: I really like the continuation from the first volume so far. It seems predictable where the story is going, but the mangaka is definitely great at building up the suspense regardless! It might be even a tad darker than Zodiac P.I. I highly recommend this series for fans of Natsumi Ando's other works and shojo mysteries!

~~~

Title: Time and Again
Mangaka: JiUn Yun
Age Group: Teens
Series is: Completed with 6 volumes
Volume(s) Reviewing: 1-2
My Rating: 4/5


Sentence Summary: Haunting stories that follow the exorcists-for-hire, Baek-On and Ho-Yeon during the Chinese Tang Dynasty.


Speaking Straightly: I enjoyed the first two volumes of this series very much. Similar to Nightmare Inspector in terms of what the stories are like (but a lot less dark). Each story is tragic in its own sense and a couple would have Chinese myths incorporated. I absolutely love the Chinese's historical outfits, so it was fun to see a manhwa based on a time period that had some of the best clothing!


Highly recommend for anyone would like reading mangas/manhwas that have a few stories per volume, each unique and scary on its own.