A quick post about the books I received for Christmas:
The Beauty of Different - Karen Walrond (this was the gift I received from our book club exchange from Average Jane. LOVE it!)
The Art of Racing in the Rain - Garth Stein (this is a book club selection for next year)
Me Talk Pretty One Day - David Sedaris
Naked - David Sedaris
The Magicians - Lev Grossman (book club selection)
A Visit from the Goon Squad - Jennifer Egan
Composed: A Memoir - Rosanne Cash
The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake - Aimee Bender (book club selection)
I do love books. A lot. A lot!
Did you get any books? If so, which ones?
Update: I forgot to add in the Kindle purchases/gifts. They are:
I’d Know You Anywhere - Laura Lippman (book club selection)
Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life - Amy Krouse Rosenthal
Mr. Peanut - Adam Ross (book club selection)
Super Sad True Love Story - Gary Shteyngart
Room: A Novel - Emma Donaghue (book club selection)
Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand - Helen Simonson
The Imperfectionist: A Novel - Tom Rachman
The Zookeeper’s Wife - Diane Ackerman (book club selection)
One Day - David Nicholls
The Lonely Polygamist - Brady Udall
Skippy Dies -Paul Mitchell
Matterhorn - Karl Marlantes
Wow, I’m an avid reader and these are ALL new titles for me! Thanks for sharing; I am off to the library! I read Lawrenece Hill’s Any Known Blood over the holidays… it was good, but not as good as his Book of Negros.
PS read in your comments about Barbara Kingsolver and Geraldine Brooks… anything by both are fantastic! Check out also Prodigal Summer, Year of Wonders and March… the last is a cleverly done Little Women from the father’s perspective.
I recently read I’d know you anywhere. It was good! I only got one book for Christmas, well 3-in-1, I guess. The book includes 3 stories by Jeff Guinn - The Autobiography of Santa Claus, How Mrs. Claus Saved Christmas and a another I can’t remember. I just listened to The Autobiography of Santa Claus this month and it was fantastic! Can’t wait to read the others next year.
Read The Magicians this summer-good book. Got a Kindle for Christmas. Yay!
Happy Reading. :)
love love love david sedaris….he comes to the area every now and again to read…so hilarious…if you get a chance go see him & wait in the line to have him sign your book…you will not be disappointed….
Plz do a review on The Art of Racing in The Rain. I have wanted to read that but I when I go to get it I always change my mind, as if I know it may not be as good as I think. So do let me know. PLEASEE!
I didn’t get any books for Christmas, but I did get a $50 Amazon gift card1 I’m definitely looking up all the books listed herein to make my selections :-)
My MIL found “The Glass Castle”, which she forgot to give me last year. So a bonus gift. I’ve just started.
Excellent book. One of my book clubs read it.
for Christmas I got ”The New York Regional Mormon Singles Halloween Dance” by Elna Baker. It was a hilarious memior. I read it in two days. supurb!
Adding it to my list. I love funny, easy books - especially between heavy, serious ones.
I am a huge fan of David Sedaris - I don’t have his new book yet. If you can get your hands on a copy of him reading (via book on CD) the Christmas story, “Six to Eight Black Men,” which is one of the shorts in “Me Talk Pretty Some Day,” DO IT; it’s priceless. Also if you like short stories, Miranda July just released her 1st book of shorts called, “Noone Belongs Here More Than You.” She wrote directed and starred in one of my top ten movies called, “You and Me and Everyone We Know.” A quirky gal with a beautiful artistic sense and some keen observations on the delicate string of human relation.
I listened to Holidays on Ice. He is so funny! Now I’m adding a book and a movie to my list. Thanks!
Can’t wait to check out some of yours… I’m just geeky enough to keep a little notebook in my purse with recommendations of all kinds; books, movies, blogs, magazines, articles, artists, you name it! One more for your boys, my friend Laurel Snyder writes wonderful children’s books. She wrote, “Inside the Slidy Diner,” which is essentially a what’s grosser than gross book… the diner serves up, “lady fingers that really are.”
What a great list! I really enjoyed The Imperfectionist. I received the Millennium Trilogy (The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo and its two sequels). I can’t believe I hadn’t gotten around to reading them before, but I’m looking forward to it. I also received a couple of books by a favorite author of mine (Alastair Reynolds) that I haven’t read yet. Hard sci-fi is a new, strange genre for me but I enjoy his writing.
A very good list of books. Thanks for sharing.
Room and Me Talk Pretty One Day are good!
The Art of Racing in the Rain…one of my favorite books ever! You will never look at your pet the same way again! And make sure you can read the last of it alone, as I was crying my eyes out! I can’t wait to hear what you think of it!
I am a book lover as well… and you have some great books on that list! Sadly, I did not receive any books this year, only a years supply of Godiva Hot Cocoa mix! HA! But, I think my husband is well aware that I have over 150 books sitting here I have yet to read! My favorite book I read in 2010 was The Same Kind of Different As Me by Ron Hall and Denver Moore. AMAZING book!
I just picked that up about a month ago at a used book store. Looking forward to it.
Great list! wish I was your neighbor so we could trade! I just finished “The Poisonwood Bible” by Barbara Kingsolver, and am starting in on ” The people of the book” by Geraldine Brooks.
Wouldn’t that be fantastic! I’m always handing books out to friends when I’m done so that we can talk about them. 2 books club may not be enough for me.
Loved the Poisonwood Bible and The People of the Book is in my to-be-read stack.
I love “the Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake.” A great story, a bit strange while reading it, but 6 months later, it still makes me smile.
I got The Bishop by Steven James. Yikes, scary mystery.
great book “the art of racing in the rain!”
“I’d Know You Anywhere” was a good one! I love Laura Lippman’s books.
You know, I didn’t receive ANY books for Christmas! But I did receive a notebook for my own writing ;P
If I were to buy one for myself right now, it would probably be Neil Gaiman’s Fragile Things.
I just finished “The Lonely Polygamist”, great book. Also just finished, “The Murderer’s Daughters”, by Randy Susan Meyers………..totally recommend.
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5 of those are on my wish list. We haven’t exchanged gifts yet, but I’m hoping for at least one good book score. Of course my nightstand is creaking under the weight of unread books, but a few more could keep them good company.
I love the David Sedaris books! Hope you enjoy them. I’m usually a book nut too, but since I got my Kindle in Spetember, I’ve been buying as I please, not leaving uch room for gifting. But I did get a very cool edition of The Divinde Comedy adapted by graphic artist Seymour Chwast. It reads like a graphic novel and I supposed has the same appeal as the No Fear Shakespeare graphic Novels. Great fun for a nerd like me : )
And…
Crap! Can’t believe I didn’t list it the first time. I’ve updated. Whew, thankfully that option exists.
:)
Just read The Magicians and loved it. David Sedaris is always fun, and I’ll check out the other titles. I got The Sherlockian by Graham Moore which I’m excited to start, although I think that I should read a couple stories of the original first, it’s been years.
You received some of my favorite books and some I am dying to read! I received:
Just Kids by Patti Smith (which I have almost finished already!)
Blow by Blow by Detmar Blow
Decoded by Jay-Z
Vegetables from Amaranth to Zucchini by Elizabeth Schneider
I am so happy getting books of any kind.
Your 2009 list is very similar to mine :) Have you read “Blind Your Ponies” by Stanley G. West? I can’t recommend it highly enough.
Wow, someone chose a lot of great books for you! ;-)