… apparently some of the wish list books were elusive; a few were sold out at the local book shops we prefer to patronize over the online megastores, which is rather a good sign than otherwise, don’t you think? But we did collect a small pile.
- Flyover by Chris Harris – local aviation history and character portraits of some of our unique Cariboo-Chilcotin pilots, illustrated by absolutely stunning photos from a unique perspective over our special part of the world. Some of these people are friends, and my husband has been up in the air with them, so it is a nice personal read as well as a grand coffee table book to browse through.
- Trappers and Trailblazers by Jack Boudreau – Northern Alberta and Interior B.C. historical anecdotes.
- All Those Drawn to Me by Christian Petersen – short stories from yet another accomplished local author.
- The Sweet Girl by Annabel Lyon – the sequel to The Golden Mean, which I liked a whole lot when I read it a month or so ago.
- The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater – last year’s The Scorpio Races was a hit here – carnivorous sea-dwelling horses – that was unexpected – so I was hoping for some more YA magic from this author, who seems to be finding her groove after some a-little-less-excellent earlier works (a werewolf trilogy and several books featuring scary fairies – yawn). I just powered through this one – my Christmas Day binge – and it was, hmmm … interesting. Cliffhanger ending – maddening. I hate series books, which this one obviously is. Aha – here it is on the spine, in tiny letters. The Raven Cycle – Book 1. Argh. (Quick review: It was pretty decent. Not as good as Scorpio Races, but miles better than the Shiver/Ballad/Lament ones.)
- Days of Blood and Starlight by Laini Taylor – the sequel to last year’s it-was-everywhere YA novel Daughter of Smoke and Bone. My daughter’s tackling this one today, and reports that the writing is ho-hum but the story is decently absorbing. Demons and angels and such, and an emotionally tormented heroine.
- Not books, but faithful and handsomely produced Wodehouse adaptations – the complete Fry & Laurie Jeeves and Wooster series on dvd. We’d borrowed several from the library, and look forward to viewing the rest.
- I’ve also been given a generous cash gift “to buy myself a treat”, so I’ve just spent a lovely afternoon interlude on ABE and have ordered five Margery Sharps I don’t yet have, all later works: The Innocents, The Lost Chapel Picnic, The Sun in Scorpio, Summer Visits, and In Pious Memory. When these arrive I will only be lacking Rosa and The Faithful Servants to complete my collection of Sharp’s twenty-six adult novels; I now have all of the early ones, including the über-rare first two books from the 1930 and 1932, Rhododendron Pie and Fanfare for Tin Trumpets. <pause for happy dance> Anyway, I’m counting them as Christmas books.
And that’s it. Not nearly as many as usual, but I can’t say I’m suffering, as I’ve been acquiring loads of promising titles this year, many of which I still need to read. An embarrassment of books, actually!
I hope everyone else has scored some good reads – I love seeing your lists!
Have a lovely Christmas and Boxing Day, everyone – hope you all are having an enjoyable holiday.
Leaves & Pages 
Merry Christmas and happy reading! I didn’t get any books this year, though I did get two gift certificates & I’m considering an on-line browse myself.
The only bad thing about gift certificates is the delayed gratification aspect! 😉 Otherwise – bring ’em on ! (And of course you do get happy anticipation, and guilt-free shopping!) Hope you find some good ones, Lisa.
That sounds like a lovely pile of books, Barb, though I am most jealous of the Jeeves and Wooster DVDs!
I am debating where to start with J & W – whether to watch them in order, or go straight to the ones I haven’t seen! The first time I saw one of these I was immediately smitten, so perfectly cast are they. We then discovered some copies of the Fry & Laurie comedy shows & had a few more happy hours watching those. Stephen Fry has an autobiography out (well, it’s some years old now) that I have just added to my wish list for my next new book order. The reviews on Amazon were intriguingly enthusiastic. *And* to continue the literary theme I have a thriller which Hugh Laurie wrote – can’t remember the title – it’s out in the cabin with my son’s books now – very bang bang bang James Bond-ish but really quite decently written. Quite the modern Renaissance man, Mr Laurie! (Not bad to look at, either… 😉 )
What a lovely book stack! The Margery Sharp collection sounds very good, and hurrah on having the rarer first two.
I received no books at all…people seem to think it is too risky to chance giving me any!! But I did get gift cards so will be making some bookish decisions at some point 🙂
I am truly thrilled with my Margery Sharps. I am *not* looking forward to reading the last one – I’m going to space them out as long as possible! (And luckily they are the type of book which is even better the 2nd & 3rd time around.) I hope you find some treasures of your own to buy with your gift cards!