Maibox Monday

Mailbox Monday is a weekly meme created by Marcia at Mailbox Monday and is being hosted all this month by Martha of Martha's Bookshelf.

Well, I received a very nice (big) box of books recently, for my challenges in A Century of Books and The Classics Club:

The Homemaker, by D. Canfield:

"this is the story of Evangeline Knapp, the perfect, compulsive housekeeper, whose husband, Lester, is a poet and a dreamer. Suddenly, through a nearly fatal accident, their roles are reversed: Lester is confined to home in a wheelchair and his wife must work to support the family. The changes that take place between husband and wife, parents and children, are both fascinating and poignant". 

A very intriguing book, this will be my 1983 entry in the Century.

What dreams may come, by R. Matheson

"What happens to us after we die? Chris Nielsen had no idea, until an unexpected accident cut his life short, separating him from his beloved wife, Annie. Now Chris must discover the true nature of life after death.  But even Heaven is not complete without Annie, and when tragedy threatens to divide them forever, Chris risks his very soul to save Annie from an eternity of despair"

This will be my 1977 entry in the Century.

I know why the caged bird sings, by M. Angelou

"Maya Angelou recounts a youth filled with disappointment, frustration, tragedy, and finally hard-won independence"

I know I will be crying from page 1 onwards, but I've wanted to read this for a long time.  It will be my 1969 entry in the Century and an entry in the Classics Club.

Mrs. Dalloway, by V. Woolf

"Mrs. Clarissa Dalloway is preoccupied with the last-minute details of party preparation while in her mind she is something much more than a perfect society hostess. As she readies her house, she is flooded with remembrances of faraway times. And, met with the realities of the present, Clarissa reexamines the choices that brought her there, hesitantly looking ahead to the unfamiliar work of growing old"

I've never read Woolf, and am looking forward to reading this for the Classics Club!

The Driver's Seat, by M. Spark 

"Lise has been driven to distraction by working in the same accountants' office for sixteen years. So she leaves everything behind her, transforms herself into a laughing, garishly-dressed temptress and flies abroad on the holiday of a lifetime. But her search for adventure, sex and the obsessional experience takes on a far darker significance as she heads on a journey of self-destruction. Infinity and eternity attend Lise's last terrible day in an unnamed southern city, as she meets her fate"

This was actually inspired from a retrospective hosted by Simon and Harriet.  I read it within one day, and was seriously blown away.  Now I'm looking for more books by Spark!