Ho ho ho, we’re already into the new year, but I’m flashing back to Christmas because Santa Claus brought me some books again this year and it’s delightful. Inevitably I will have acquired a stack more before it’s time for the January Books Incoming because of the sales and also my birthday. I am realistic about my will power. So here we have it:
So here we have it: there’s a new cook book, a crochet book because I sucuessfully made my first crochet project a few months back, three books from my Buy Me a Book for Christmas post – the Tim Curry memoir, the first Nora Breen book and The Author’s Guide to Murder and then my Christmas book to myself – Sarah McCammon’s The Exvangelicals. Becuase of course I bought myself a Christmas book, what else would you expect from me?!
I do hope your Christmas season has been filled with good food and good company and that Santa brought you what you wanted/were hoping for. The weather where I am is Baltic now, which is good because that’s what it’s meant to be like in December, but also a bit of a shock given how mild it has been until now. Still it’s perfect weather for staying inside and keeping warm with a book, and if you have time off because of the festive season or New Year all the better. It should be noted that I have now finished my final state and have read my way across the USA for the year and am freeeeeeeee to read whatever I want. Which may explain why I’ve started two more Christmas books this week and haven’t finished the long runners. But I do want to try and start the new year with a clean sheet so I will keep trying…
Oh dear. There have been a rash of post-Christmas sales from authors that I like and it has been somewhat dangerous. And then I got a stack of books for Christmas which was delightful and you can see what I got on Saturday.
Bonus picture: the Christmas Tree. Tis the season etc.
*next to a book book title indicates that it came from NetGalley. ** indicates it was an advance copy from a source other than NetGalley.
Three more states ticked off this week, leaving me with only two states to go. Just two. And I’ve still got nine days left in the year. Exciting times. Apart from that, a bit of Christmas reading, a bit of non Christmas read and a lot of Christmas parties last week!
A very busy week, and increasing numbers of Christmas books on the list, despite the fact that I still have a couple of states still to go. Two more ticked off this week though. Nearly there.
Read:
The Most Wonderful Crime of the Year by Ally Carter
Happy Saturday everyone, we’re in the middle of December and I’m back with a round up of the books that have arrived in the house over the last little while. I’m expecting to be doing a post-Christmas Books Incoming this month too, so consider this a first bite of the December cherry.
As you know, a couple of these are already off the pile – I read Second Chance Romance last week pretty much as soon as it arrived, although I paced myself while reading it to try and make it last. Strawberried Alive from Jenn McKinlay’s Cupcake Bakery series is this year’s Arizona book for the Fifty States Challenge, and Sugar Plum Poisoned will be next years – as will One for the Books from her Library Lovers series for Connecticut. Actually there are quite a lot here that could end up being on the 50 states list next year – To Brew or Not to Brew is the first in a cozy mystery series set in Pennsylvania that I picked up in Waterstones Picadilly when I was checking out their Legami popup, Everyone Dies Famous in a Small Town is a short story collection set in Alaska and the American West, Love is a War Song is a romantic comedy with a pop star and a cowboy set in Oklahoma and On Spine of Death is the sequel to last week’s Book of the Week Buried in a Good Book and set in Washington. That just leaves the non-states books and Do Admit is a graphic novel about the Mitford sisters while How to Spot a Fascist was a purchase in Riverside Books.
The start of December was cold and sometimes wet, but the Christmas lights are making everything a bit more cheerful, so that’s good. On the reading front, I’m another state down and two more started. But almost more importantly, I got one book off the long runners list. So I’m proud of me, even if I didn’t stick to my goal of finishing off the 50 states before I bought the first in the Last Ditch series and not only have I bought it bt I’ve already read it. I will try and do better this week…
Happy Monday everyone – it’s December and the end of the year is hurtling towards us in a blur of festive events and things to get done before The Big Day. It’s definitely feeling pretty wet and wintery now too, so curling up with a good book feels ever more appealing, even as the to-do lists continue to grow. This week I have plenty of train journeys to do, which usually means for solid reading time, although it does always depend on whether I get a seat or not…
Another week, another four states ticked of the 50 states list. It’s almost looking doable now, but I’m not relaxing too fast because that’s what gets me into trouble. That’s especially true as it’s starting to get proper busy in the run-up to Christmas now, which usually means less free time for reading because I’m out and about having fun – or doing Christmas shopping!
I said last week that I have started my panic for the Fifty States Challenge early this year – and everything I finished this week except Gaudy Night is ticking off one of my missing states! If I can keep this rate up, I’ll be finished before Christmas, but my record on keeping this up is not great so I could still be in a panic on New Year’s Eve like every previous year!
Happy Saturday everyone, I’m back with some more new arrivals in the house. Some of them are already off the pile though, so that’s good and one of them will help me with the 50 States Challenge, which is becoming ever more critical so that’s good too!
So here we have three more Jill Churchill books because I went a little mad on Abebooks. But two of them are safely off the pile already so they don’t really count. Also not really counting is The Dead Side of the Mike which is a Charles Paris novel, which I have already read and already own in ebook format. But I couldn’t resist this when I saw it on a charity donation shelf at a cafe in Cumbria. The shelf had a lot of Simon Brett of various types and I think I did well to just stick to one – and I picked this one because of the BBC microphone and all the tape. So this is also going off to a proper shelf and not the pile. Also from that charity shelf is the Edith Skom, which is set on Hawaii and so even if it is truly terrible, it is useful to me! Then we have the second Rosemary Shrager after I enjoyed The Last Supper so much. The Anthony Horowitz is The Marble Hall Murders, the latest Magpie Murders, which is less giant now it’s out in paperback and also was on offer. Another offer was Jonathan Miles’s The Once Upon a Time World which is a history of the French Riviera, which as you know is a firmly in my Rich People Problems non-fiction area and I have been waiting for an offer on for ages. And finally there is the new Katherine Center in paperback which I had preordered even though it came out in kindle months ago.
And finally as a bonus, because I had left Days at the Torunka Café at my parents’ house last month and it wasn’t in the picture for Books Incoming, here it is with this month’s books:
Verity Reads Books (lots of them) 