Books in the Mail!

There is no better kind of mail than books (for a book lover, obviously) and I recently received two!

First, a dear friend from college was kind enough to send me a copy of Except the Queen, by Jane Yolen and Midori Snyder.

This friend is a book person, and one of the perks of her job is getting to take home books that have been sent to the mystery magazine she works for. I haven't read Jane Yolen in a while, and I'm not familiar with Midori Snyder, so this book offers the double benefit of returning to an old favorite and discovering a new author. Plus, my friend has great taste in books, and the cover and blurb make this one plenty intriguing.

And then, and then, folks, I received an advance readers copy of Robin McKinley's as yet unreleased new book, Pegasus. Eat your hearts out, fellow McKinley fans.

..Ah, I don't mean it.

Will you forgive my gloating if I tell you I am attempting to leave both of these tempting books untouched until I've reached the bottom of the teetering pile of library books waiting nearby? Is it weird to feel that it might be somehow rude to return them all unread? Probably. But I really did want to read those books until these shiny new ones came along. My good intentions will probably only last a week or two.

For those of you who love Robin McKinley's writing, but don't have an advance copy of her next book, I recommend that you devote some of you internet meandering time to Robin McKinley's Blog because:
a)Robin McKinley writes it, obviously
b)she also occasionally posts bits and pieces of what she's working on, and
c)reading her blog has a lot to do with how I ended up in possession of a copy of Pegasus.