In My Mailbox #3

No matter how hard I try, I can never seem to control my library requests! My branch is small so almost all of my books are requested online and transferred from another branch. I have the maximum amount of books in queue and I'm trying to space out when they come, but I always seem to end up with more than I can read in a week! Here's what I picked up this week:

Between Two Worlds: My Life and Captivity in Iran by Roxana Saberi

On the morning of January 31, 2009, Roxana Saberi, an Iranian-American journalist working in Iran, was forced from her home by four men and secretly detained in Iran's notorious Evin Prison. The intelligence agents who captured her accused her of espionage - a charge she denied. For several days, Saberi was held in solitary confinement, ruthlessly interrogated, and cut off from the outside world. For weeks, neither her family nor her friends knew her whereabouts. In this gripping and inspirational true story, Saberi writes movingly of her imprisonment, her trial, her eventual release and the faith that helped her through it all. Her recollections are interwoven with insights into Iranian society, the Islamic regime, and U.S.-Iran relations, as well as stories of her fellow prisoners - many of whom were jailed for their pursuit of human rights, including freedom of speech, association, and religion.

Goodbye Jimmy Choo by Annie Sanders

Self-confessed bohemian Izzie Stock prefers cargo pants to Donna Karan and has never seen a coffee shop she didn't like. Private-schooled and privileged, Maddy Hoare can name the best boutiques in Paris and is convinced proper English civilization ends at the London city limits. These two women couldn't seem more different until, forced to move to the English countryside for their respective husbands' careers, they meet at a luncheon with the local Stepford wives contingent - and immediately recognize their shared longing for the city streets they left behind. In this bizarro world of parish fairs and cow crossings, Izzie and Maddy may just by each other's last hope. But a tragedy is brewing...and together with a secret stash of French beauty secrets, some foul-smelling weeds, and a lot of excellent wine, the bonds of this unique friendship are about to turn the world they got stuck with into one they wouldn't trade for anything.

I am Hutterite: The fascinating true story of a young woman's journey to reclaim her heritage by Mary-Ann Kirkby

In 1969, Ann-Marie Dornn's parents did the unthinkable. They left a Hutterite colony near Portage la Prairie, Manitoba with seven children and little else, to start a new life. Overnight, the family was thrust into a society they did not understand and which knew little of their unique culture. The transition was overwhelming. Desperate to be accepted, ten-year-old Ann-Marie is forced to deny her heritage in order to fit in with her peers. I am Hutterite chronicles her quest to reinvent herself as she comes to terms with the painful circumstances that led her family to leave community life. Rich with memorable characters and vivid descriptions, this ground-breaking narrative shines a light on intolerance, illuminating the simple truth that beneath every human exterior beats a heart longing for understanding and acceptance.

The Baby Trail by Sinead Moriarty

Makeup artist Emma Hamilton is thirty-three when she and her husband James decide it's time to start a family. She has it all mapped out: Go off the pill in December, have sex, get pregnant by January, have the baby in September. With the help of a personal trainer, she figures she'll be back to her fighting weight in time for Christmas. But when three months of candle-scented sex fails to produce the desired result, Emma decides that maybe Mother Nature needs a helping hand. Soon her life is a roller coaster of post-coital handstands (you can't argue with gravity), hormone-inducing (sanity-reducing!) drugs, and a veritable army of probing specialists (torturers more like). It's out with alcohol and spontaneous sex, in with green tea and ovulation kits. Emma and James try everything from fertility drugs to in vitro, but all their carefully laid plans seem to go south - along with Emma's rapidly plummeting self-esteem. But just when Emma feels as if her obsession may have alienated all of her loved ones, including James, events take a ninety-degree turn that will have unforeseen consequences for everyone.

I also received one book in the mail for review:

The Jesus Manifesto by Leonard Sweet and Frank Viola

Christians have made the gospel about so many things - things other than Christ. Religious concepts, ideas, doctrines, strategies, methods, techniques, and formulas have all eclipsed the beauty, the glory, and the reality of the Lord Jesus Himself. On the whole, Christians today are starved for a real experience of the living Christ. We know a lot about our Lord, but we don't know Him very well. We know a lot about trying to be like Jesus, but very little about living by His indwelling life. Jesus Manifesto presents a fresh unveiling of Jesus as not only Savior and Lord, but as so much more. It is a prophetic call to restore the supremacy and sovereignty of Christ in a world - and a church - that has lost sight of Him. Every revival and restoration in the church has been a rediscovery of some aspect of Christ in the process of answering the ultimate question that Jesus put to His disciples: "Who do you say that I am?" Read this book and see your Lord like you've never seen Him before.

In My Mailbox is hosted each week by The Story Siren. Check her out for many more wonderful blogs and see what others received this week.