For the Saturday before Christmas, sharing a snapshot of decorations seems kind of mandatory, doesn’t it? 🙂
I have a small apartment (with large bookcases) so I got a small tree. And then just by chance, most of the gifts I’m giving are (in size) small as well, so it all fits together proportionately rather well…apart from the large pirate nutcracker, of course!
Visit West Metro Mommy for more Saturday Snapshots. And have a wonderful holiday!
This week’s Book Blogger Hop question: What is your favorite book set around Christmastime?
Most of my holiday traditions, oddly enough, center around movies rather than books. The Charlie Brown Christmas Special is a must-watch every year, closely followed by It’s a Wonderful Life.
As to books though…I’m a traditionalist, and I like A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. A lovely message, with one of my favorite Christmas quotes–not Tiny Tim’s, but this rather longer one from Scrooge’s nephew, on the meaning of the season: “I have always thought of Christmas time…as a good time: a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time: the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow-passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys.”
A more recent favorite Christmas book is The Mischief of the Mistletoe by Lauren Willig. Arabella and the wonderfully-named Turnip join forces to investigate possible spies at a girls’ school during a Regency-era Christmas–with Jane Austen as a supporting character! It’s funny and sweet and Arabella and Turnip are two of my very favorite book characters.
I could use a few more good books set at Christmas…what are your favorites?
First of all, Happy Friday the Thirteenth! Watch out for ladders and talking ravens. 🙂
This week’s Book Blogger Hop question: What books do you want for Christmas?
You know, there are less than you might think…because I get the vast majority of my books from the library, and when I madly love something, well–I usually buy it! And then, I’ve been working on collecting books by my favorite authors for so long, I own all the obvious ones.
However–that doesn’t mean I don’t have an Amazon wishlist… And near the top are Cybele’s Secret and Heir to Sevenwaters by Juliet Marillier, Princess of the Midnight Ball by Jessica Day George, and (bookish if not actually a book) the Masterpiece Theatre film of Northanger Abbey. Maybe the best would be The Bread We Eat in Dreams by Catherynne M. Valente, because I must admit I’m balking rather at the current list price (downside–it won’t actually be released until December 31st).
What books would you like to receive? And may I suggest a really great book to put on your Christmas wish list? 🙂
I’ve mentioned knitting projects a few times before, and they always make a good thing to share for Saturday Snapshot… I finished my most recent project on Thanksgiving, which was perfect timing for wearing it to family gatherings–and for a sudden cold snap we’ve had this week!
This isn’t the most accurate of pictures, as it’s more purple in life, and not so sparkly–but I thought it was a cool shot anyway. My next scarf will probably take until next winter, as the plan involves seven different colors and will be 14 feet long…perhaps something to share another Saturday? 🙂
Have a nice weekend, and visit West Metro Mommy for more Saturday Snapshots!
I think it’s about time I checked back in on the What Are You Reading meme from Book Journey…and this is good timing, since I have plans. We’re launching on the Sci Fi Experience from Stainless Steel Droppings, after all!
I’ll be starting the Experience off today with some Star Trek viewing. In the book realm, I first want to finish off Wintersmith by Terry Pratchett, third book of the Tiffany Aching subseries of Discworld. I’ve never felt much concern about finishing Discworld (despite my two-year effort to complete series), but the Tiffany books feel more tightly woven into each other than other Discworld subseries, so I am trying to complete those four.
After Wintersmith, I plan to go on to The Masterharper of Pern by Anne McCaffrey, a first read for the Sci Fi Experience. By the time I finish that, I will most likely have watched all relevant Trek and be ready for the next stage of The Great Khan Adventure, reading The Eugenics Wars: The Rise and Fall of Khan Noonien Singh, Volume One.
And somewhere in there I plan to finish a collection of essays, The Intimate Life of L. M. Montgomery. I have officially run out of new-to-me writing by Montgomery herself (including novels, short stories, letters, journals and poetry). This collection included a comic journal she co-wrote with a friend over several months. It was, to my knowledge, the last of her writing I hadn’t read–at least until they make available any other currently-unpublished writing! In the meantime, I’ll probably keep looking for essays and biographies. I had doubts about this particular collection because I read a previous book by the editor and found her conclusions exceedingly far-fetched, but so far this set of essays has been well-reasoned and engaging. I’ve got about four left I hope to finish reading soon.
So much for my plans…what are you reading?
Tales of the Marvelous 