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In My Mailbox # 24 The Michelle Moran Special
In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by The Story Siren and inspired by Alea of Pop Culture Junkie. It features bought, borrowed, or received books as well as other cool stuff from the mail.
This week's In My Mailbox is a special one - dedicated to all the books/stuff I got from author, Michelle Moran!! For those of you who don't know, Michelle Moran is one of my favourite authors. She writes historical fiction and has written four books to date: Nefertiti, The Heretic Queen, Cleopatra's Daughter and her latest, Madame Tussaud.
I read and reviewed Michelle's third novel, Cleopatra's Daughter way back in January 2010 and was more than excited when she sent me an email, asking if I was interested in reading her latest offering, Madame Tussaud - HELL YES!
After a few weeks, I got this letter in the post [picture on the left]. It was handwritten by Michelle and written on a stationery with I presume, Marie Antoinette on the side. Interesting! What's really cool was that the stamp on the envelope it was in was very, very unique! It was designed after the final cover of Madame Tussaud! OMG!!!
So, I was still waiting for the book to arrive in the mail, but before that, Michelle was offering signed bookplates up on her website. I jumped at the chance and signed up for three. It came with a bonus bookplate too! So I got four, one for every book that she has written :) Of course, I stuck one on my copy of Cleopatra's Daughter, and stuck another one [the one with Nefertiti] on my copy of Nefertiti.
But wait, there's more! The same week after I got the bookplates, my copy of Madame Tussaud arrived! I thought it was lost forever in the mail, turns out it was just misdirected to another town's post office.
If you live in the Philippines, you'll know that whenever you receive small parcels via post, you'll have to collect them from your city's pot office and pay a customs fee. I live in a place called Muntinlupa, and the closest post office we have in our city is in Alabang. However, the book was mailed to the Las Pinas post office - around 40 minutes away from my place!
Nevertheless, I asked someone from the house to make the semi-long commute to get the book for me and tadaaaah! It's now on my hands!! I can't believe it! I got an ARC!
But wait, there's more!! I was browsing on the internet, looking for some used books that I'm looking for, and one of the sites I frequent, Julie's Sari-Sari Store, had Nefertiti up for sale!!
I immediately reserved it [along with a few others on my wishlist], and got the book a day later! What a wonderful surprise!! Now I have 3 books by Michelle and I just need The Heretic Queen to complete my collection. I won't give up trying to find it though! I know it's out there somewhere, and if I can't find it in Manila, there's always the Book Depository!
I'm a happy, happy girl! I can't wait to start reading Madame Tussaud and Nefertiti! Watch out for my reviews soon! And if all goes well, Madame Tussaud and Nefertiti will go with me on my trip of a lifetime. If all goes well :)
All three books pictured below!
So, what did you guys get in your mailboxes? Care to share? :)
This week's In My Mailbox is a special one - dedicated to all the books/stuff I got from author, Michelle Moran!! For those of you who don't know, Michelle Moran is one of my favourite authors. She writes historical fiction and has written four books to date: Nefertiti, The Heretic Queen, Cleopatra's Daughter and her latest, Madame Tussaud.
I read and reviewed Michelle's third novel, Cleopatra's Daughter way back in January 2010 and was more than excited when she sent me an email, asking if I was interested in reading her latest offering, Madame Tussaud - HELL YES!After a few weeks, I got this letter in the post [picture on the left]. It was handwritten by Michelle and written on a stationery with I presume, Marie Antoinette on the side. Interesting! What's really cool was that the stamp on the envelope it was in was very, very unique! It was designed after the final cover of Madame Tussaud! OMG!!!
So, I was still waiting for the book to arrive in the mail, but before that, Michelle was offering signed bookplates up on her website. I jumped at the chance and signed up for three. It came with a bonus bookplate too! So I got four, one for every book that she has written :) Of course, I stuck one on my copy of Cleopatra's Daughter, and stuck another one [the one with Nefertiti] on my copy of Nefertiti.But wait, there's more! The same week after I got the bookplates, my copy of Madame Tussaud arrived! I thought it was lost forever in the mail, turns out it was just misdirected to another town's post office.
If you live in the Philippines, you'll know that whenever you receive small parcels via post, you'll have to collect them from your city's pot office and pay a customs fee. I live in a place called Muntinlupa, and the closest post office we have in our city is in Alabang. However, the book was mailed to the Las Pinas post office - around 40 minutes away from my place!
Nevertheless, I asked someone from the house to make the semi-long commute to get the book for me and tadaaaah! It's now on my hands!! I can't believe it! I got an ARC!
But wait, there's more!! I was browsing on the internet, looking for some used books that I'm looking for, and one of the sites I frequent, Julie's Sari-Sari Store, had Nefertiti up for sale!!
I immediately reserved it [along with a few others on my wishlist], and got the book a day later! What a wonderful surprise!! Now I have 3 books by Michelle and I just need The Heretic Queen to complete my collection. I won't give up trying to find it though! I know it's out there somewhere, and if I can't find it in Manila, there's always the Book Depository!
I'm a happy, happy girl! I can't wait to start reading Madame Tussaud and Nefertiti! Watch out for my reviews soon! And if all goes well, Madame Tussaud and Nefertiti will go with me on my trip of a lifetime. If all goes well :)
All three books pictured below!
So, what did you guys get in your mailboxes? Care to share? :)
Tag :
in my mailbox,
michelle moran,
Cleopatra's Daughter - A Virtual Tour Part I
I'm LOVING this book. Seriously. It opened my eyes up to the world of Ancient Egypt like it never had.
Granted, I'd always been biased to British history and literary figures but this book has blown me away.
Though it does have it's ups and downs [more of which I'll post when I've finished reading the book, I'm about 1/3 there], I constantly have to google and research to create a visual interpretation of what Michelle Moran was saying in the book.
So, hence, for myself [and any others who might be interested in Ancient Egypt], I created a virtual tour and guide of the times as based from the book of Michelle Moran. Well, mostly I did it to avoid having to google everything again, so I'll just post everything I come up here and credit as necessary. And basically I just want the readers of my blog to appreciate the same things I did whilst I was reading the book!
No spoilers below! But if I do slip, let me know in the comments so I could update this post!
First up, who are these characters from the Hellenistic Egypt times? Well, there's Kleopatra Selene. As per the book, she is the only daughter of Marc Antony and Kleopatra VII.
[Photo on the left from http://www.bible-history.com/] The book is told from her point of view [hence the title "Cleopatra's Daughter". No, it's not about the famous Cleopatra VII talking about her daughter] She was only 11 when her mother and father committed suicide when their empire was falling against Octavian's forces. [Previous sentence is not a spoiler because everyone pretty much knows that they killed themselves -- its part of Ancient History!]
She has a twin brother, Alexander Helios, whom I can't find a decent portraiture on the internet right now, who is more level-headed and is an excellent horseman like his father.
She also has a younger brother, Ptolemy Philadelphius, described to look a lot like Marc Antony [now, I really have to look for photos of Marc Antony!!! Is he that much of a looker? Really?? I couldn't imagine although the bust pieces of him from the museums kinda look interesting -- he's got wavy [or curly] blonde hair, doesn't he?]
Anyways, the book was initially set in Alexandria, where Selene was recounting how lovely the place was. One of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World was located there: The Lighthouse of Alexandria, to which Selene has drawn many wonderful views of the city [painting by Salvador Dali on right].
Granted, I'd always been biased to British history and literary figures but this book has blown me away.
Though it does have it's ups and downs [more of which I'll post when I've finished reading the book, I'm about 1/3 there], I constantly have to google and research to create a visual interpretation of what Michelle Moran was saying in the book.
So, hence, for myself [and any others who might be interested in Ancient Egypt], I created a virtual tour and guide of the times as based from the book of Michelle Moran. Well, mostly I did it to avoid having to google everything again, so I'll just post everything I come up here and credit as necessary. And basically I just want the readers of my blog to appreciate the same things I did whilst I was reading the book!
No spoilers below! But if I do slip, let me know in the comments so I could update this post!
First up, who are these characters from the Hellenistic Egypt times? Well, there's Kleopatra Selene. As per the book, she is the only daughter of Marc Antony and Kleopatra VII.
She has a twin brother, Alexander Helios, whom I can't find a decent portraiture on the internet right now, who is more level-headed and is an excellent horseman like his father.
She also has a younger brother, Ptolemy Philadelphius, described to look a lot like Marc Antony [now, I really have to look for photos of Marc Antony!!! Is he that much of a looker? Really?? I couldn't imagine although the bust pieces of him from the museums kinda look interesting -- he's got wavy [or curly] blonde hair, doesn't he?]
Anyways, the book was initially set in Alexandria, where Selene was recounting how lovely the place was. One of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World was located there: The Lighthouse of Alexandria, to which Selene has drawn many wonderful views of the city [painting by Salvador Dali on right]. Alexandria is on the top of Egypt, it is also known for their sea ports and was the capital of Egypt. Alexander the Great had founded this city when he conquered Egypt!
This city is also known for the Library of Alexandria, it was also stated in the book that it's filled with thousands of scrolls and Selene and Alexander loved to read through them. The book also describes the mausoleum of Antony and Kleopatra, and I would've loved to see the mausoleum as well as the Library of Alexandria and the Lighthouse, but unfortunately, they're all destroyed now :( Well, who would've thought it would survive after 2000 years [except for the pyramids of course]
My, my, who would've ever thought that people in those days would ever think that their works and legacy would still live 2000 or more years on?? Hopefully I would love to make at least a tiny bit of impact to the world as much as they did.
I left out my notes at home so I'll create a virtual tour part II when I come up with more interesting bits and bobs. I'm at the part where Kleopatra and Alexander are already seeing the sights and structures of Rome, so the next part would probably be longer than this!
Hope you enjoyed :) I'd already included Alexandria as one of my places to visit in my goal to see the world!
Winner of Cleopatra's Daughter
It's the 16th in Manila, and nearly the 16th in the West Coast of the US so it's time to announce the winner for my giveaway.
I will send you an email later tonight when I get home. Congratulations! :)
Using a random line picker from http://mytexttools.com/Random-Line-Picker.html
The winner of Cleopatra's Daughter is:
I will send you an email later tonight when I get home. Congratulations! :)