holiday gift-giving, books incoming and outgoing

Now that the holidays are for the most part behind us and 2013 is drawing to a close, I think I will attempt attending to the blog (just recently Russell reminded me that it'd be two months since I'd posted). First order of business, an overview of my holiday (book) gift-giving.

I received:

• The Archived by Victoria Schwab (from Russell)
  This book came out in early 2013. I had to put it on my wishlist since the story revolves around an unconventional archive.
• Baba Yaga Laid an Egg by Dubravka Ugresic (from my dad)
  This is one of the books in Canongate's Myth Series (I've been slowly acquiring them all for my library). I was pleasantly surprised to receive this book from my dad because we'd had a conversation about Baba Yaga in October after I'd seen a sculpture inspired by the story in an exhibit.
• The Rhinebeck Sweater, edited by Ysolda Teague (from Russell)
  Stories and sweater patterns inspired by New York Sheep and Wool Festival, which occurs each October in Rhinebeck, New York. I'm certain that the only reason I received this book is because I told Russell that I was planning on buying it for myself if I didn't receive a copy for Christmas.
• Warchon: Clash at Sygillis (from Russell)
  This is an extremely hard to find European-style board game in book form. The first in an award-winning, but commercially unsuccessful planned series of games: Playmark Book Games by Z-Man Games. I've wanted to play this game ever since I first found out about this failed gaming system and I'm so pleased that Russell was able to find a copy of it.

I gave:

• The Children of Hurin by J. R. R. Tolkien and Christopher Tolkien (to my dad)
  Russell was sure that we'd given him this book already, but it was on my dad's wishlist.
• Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell (to my niece, with instructions for her mom to read it first)
  Not a holiday present, but it traveled with the holiday presents.
• The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrun by J.R.R. Tolkien (to my dad)
  Tolkien's translation of two stories from Norse mythology. A must-have for any true Tolkien fan.
• Logicomix by Apostolos Doxiadis and Christos Papadimitriou (to my book-dislking sister)
  I got a lot of slack for the present that felt disturbingly book-like before it was opened. I knew this was a risky choice for my sister, but given the fact that she's just gone back to school to study applied mathematics I couldn't not get this graphic novel for her. She's already started reading it and has asked me whether I know of any other comics about math. I'd say that's a successful present!
• Playing at the World by Jon Peterson (to Russell)
  Subtitled "A History of Simulating Wars, People and Fantastic Adventures, From Chess to Role-Playing Games."

books, giving and receiving

There were only three books among my outgoing holiday gifts this year.  I did not purchase any books for Russell since we went a bit overboard with book buying this year (remember Borders?).

From my dad's Amazon wishlist I selected, The Transformation of Bartholomew Fortuno by Ellen Bryson.

My mom received Betty Crocker's Best Bread Machine Cookbook to go along with her new bread maker (a gift from my dad). My mom is going to be doing a lot of experimenting with ingredient substitutions to I chose this book in particular because of a section it has on problem-solving, which is full of illustrations. Two other things in its favor: overwhelmingly good reviews and a structure that enables it to lie flat.

I got my sister a copy of The Hunger Games.
She wasn't particularly enthused, but I reminded her about how miffed she was with me when Twilight (the film) was released for not having previously informed her about the existence of the Twilight Saga.
Now, I legitimately thought she would refuse to read Twilight given its slow pacing and her general dislike of vampires and I don't even like the series (my ambivalence turned to hatred after Breaking Dawn).
Since The Hunger Games is coming out next year and I love Suzanne Collins' trilogy, I thought it would be irresponsible of me not to get her a copy of the book.

I received three books this year (all from Russell)

• City of Ships, the fifth Stravaganza book, by Mary Hoffman
• Goliath, the third book in the Leviathan trilogy, by Scott Westerfeld
• The League of Extraordinary Gentleman, vol 2.

I really wasn't expecting books, but I have to say that I was tickled pink to get the two novels as they were among my most wanted books.

Person of the month

This month I was the person-of-the-month for one of our exchange groups. No big deal really, it just means is that everyone else in the group has to send me a book.

You can imagine how much fun it is to check the mail every day during "your" month.

Anyway, here's what I got:

The American Boy by Andrew Taylor

The Curer of Souls by Lindsay Simpson

Definitely Dead by Charlaine Harris

Ghosthunters and the Gruesome Invincible Lightning Ghost & Ghosthunters and the Totally Moldy Baroness by Cornelia Funke

Goetz and Meyer by David Albahari

LionBoy: The Chase by Zizou Corder

A Respectable Trade by Philippa Gregory

The Ruby in the Smoke by Philip Pullman

The Secrets of the Fire King by Kim Edwards

Shalimar the Clown by Salman Rusdie

Wallace & Gromit: Welcome to West Wallaby Street

Christmas and Boxing Day Books

I received a lovely bunch of books over the past few days. In fact, I feel like I'm swimming in knitting books - not that that's a bad thing ;)

Some wishlist books for Christmas:

• Weight: The Myth of Atlas and Heracles by Jeanette Winterson (I've been trying to collect all the books in The Myths series);


• The Best of Interweave Knits: Our Favorite Designs from the First Ten Years (I think I'm going to use some of my Christmas money to get a subscription to Interweave Knits);


• Fitted Knits: 25 Designs for the Fashionable Knitter by Stefanie Japel (I particularly like that this book is supposed to show readers how to customize each project to his/her own unique body);


• Knitspeak: An A to Z Guide to the Language of Knitting Patterns by Andrea Berman Price (my friend Janelle told me that this was a must-have);


• One-Skein Wonders by Judith Durant (full of patterns that only use one ball/skein of yarn, how very practical); and


• preordered More Big Girl Knits: 25 Designs Full of Color and Texture for Curvy Women by Jillian Moreno (I'm going to be very happy to get this next spring).

Two more knitting books that Russell picked out all on his own:

• Knitting Lingerie Style: More Than 30 Basic and Lingerie-Inspired Designs by Joan McGowan-Michael (doesn't this one looks like a knitting book a man might get his wife?) and


• No Sheep for You: Knit Happy with Cotton, Silk, Linen, Hemp, Bamboo & Other Delights by Amy R. Singer (my dad teased Russell that he only got this one because of the cover).

I also got four books from my Boxing Day exchange partner:

• The 3rd and 4th books in Rachel Caine's Weather Warden series: Chill Factor and Windfall (now I need book 2 lol);


• The Royal Pain, the 2nd book in MaryJanice Davidson's Alaskan Royals series (I thought the first book was cute and have had a hard time getting my hands on the other books in the series); and


• The Love Season by Elin Hilderbrand.

Wishing you all the very best this holiday season...

a couple more birthday books

Two more birthday books arrived in the mail yesterday:

- Go to Sleep, Russell the Sheep by Rob Scotton
I happened across this book by accident and put it on my wishlist because it was just too cute.

- Domiknitrix: Whip Your Knitting Into Shape by Jennifer Stafford
Very cool book. There's a hat in here that I really want to knit.