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."