Mailbox Monday #15

 Happy Monday! This is the last week of my first year back at university and it's honestly flown by! So many memories, even if I wasn't really able to dip into the student life much because of COVID. But I've just joined the board of our course society so hopefully we can arrange some fun events for the next year! One of my housemates did sprain her knee this weekend, so we're kinda in emergency mode, trying to rush her to the doctor's, keeping the knee elevated and cooled etc. Here's a general PSA: sign up to a doctor/GP before you have an accident, it helps!

But let's get back to what's really at the forefront of my mind, the bookmail that I will be enjoying over the summer!  Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came in their mailbox during the last week. Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles and humongous wish lists. It is hosted weekly over at Mailbox Monday and every Friday they do a round-up of some of their favourite, shared reads!

They are also still looking for volunteer to help run Mailbox Monday! Do please email: savvyverseandwit@gmail.com if you have some time to spare to help out this lovely meme and its lovely hosts!

The Follower by Nicholas Bowling (Titan Books, 7/20/2021)

When her twin brother goes missing in Northern California, Vivian Owens follows his trail to the town of Mount Hookey, home to the followers of Telos: a mountain-worshipping cult that offers spiritual fulfilment to those who seek it.
 
While trying to navigate the town’s bizarre inhabitants and the seductive preaching of the initiates of Telos, Vivian will have to confront
questions about herself, her family, and everything she thinks she knows about the world. She quickly realises that her search is about far more than her missing brother – it is a quest for the secret of happiness itself.
 
To that end, there is only one question she needs to answer: what is really at the top of Mount Hookey?

I got really sucked in by the cover initially, but I mean... mountain-worshipping cults?! Sign me up! I might save this one for when I hopefully manage to get into the mountains myself later this summer.

How I Became a Tree by Sumana Roy (Yale University Press, 9/28/2021)

“I was tired of speed. I wanted to live tree time.” So writes Sumana Roy at the start of How I Became a Tree, her captivating, adventurous, and self-reflective vision of what it means to be human in the natural world.
 
Drawn to trees’ wisdom, their nonviolent way of being, their ability to cope with loneliness and pain, Roy movingly explores the lessons that writers, painters, photographers, scientists, and spiritual figures have gleaned through their engagement with trees—from Rabindranath Tagore to Tomas Tranströmer, Ovid to Octavio Paz, William Shakespeare to Margaret Atwood. Her stunning meditations on forests, plant life, time, self, and the exhaustion of being human evoke the spacious, relaxed rhythms of the trees themselves.
 
Hailed upon its original publication in India as “a love song to plants and trees” and “an ode to all that is unnoticed, ill, neglected, and yet resilient,” How I Became a Tree blends literary history, theology, philosophy, botany, and more, and ultimately prompts readers to slow down and to imagine a reenchanted world in which humans live more like trees.

I read about this book already so the moment I saw it on NetGalley I knew I really wanted to get into it. It will be the perfect follow-up to The Overstory I think.

Goddesses Inc. by Autumn Bardot (Flores Publishing, 3/11/2021)

The goddess life is fabulous…until you’re fired!

A laugh out loud read about friendship, love, hot guys, and what matters most.

Four ex-goddesses struggle to find friendship, love, and purpose. Except mortals get in the way. Sexy mortals. Obnoxious mortals. And dangerous ones.

Mnem has everything. A glamorous lifestyle, beauty, family, and immortality. But she doesn’t have a platform. Or followers. Or relevance. Which is why Mnemosyne, goddess of remembrance and mother of the nine muses, is fired. She isn’t the only goddess. 

Three other goddesses from different cultures are also up a mortal creek without a divine paddle. Now they must build a life—a real one. 

Although their divinity is gone, their soul and courage remain. But mortal life is so frustrating! Before they have a chance to get a handle on the whole mortality thing, their lives take an unexpected turn with an epic decision. One with deadly consequences.

Meet the Goddesses

Mnemosyne ~ Greek goddess

Inna ~ Nigerian goddess

Axtis ~ Persian goddess

Phra Naret ~ Thai goddess

This book sounds so lovely! I think there will be plenty of chances for shenanigans but also some lovely moments.

So those are the books I got this week! I am very excited for all of these, from cults on mountains to a love song for nature to goddesses getting their sh*t back together!