Holidays Book Haul

I should have started this thread back the end of October. Ah well. My brain has been mush for too many months.

So what books did you get for your celebrated holiday?

My haul was small this year. But then we're gearing up for a move soon.

Firefly: Generations by Tim Lebbon

Zip, zero, nada. We don't do much gifting anymore among the adults in our family, and I haven't been requesting books due to the groaning and moaning of my TBR shelves. Groaning with weight, moaning because they each of them want me to read them, NOW.

Which is not to say that I haven't purchased some for myself in the last month or two. :)

OMG! I just realized that for the first time in ... ever? ... I didn't get any books for Christmas. I guess it's finally time to read all the those TBRs on my shelves!

I don't receive Christmas presents, which makes the answer kinda easy.

This was a good book year for me, my family was very generous, as usual.

My wife can't let me run out of books, so earlier in the month, she gave me

Crossroads by Barbara Hambly
The Waterborn by Gregory Keyes (replacement for a lost book)

Then for actual Christmas, in no particular order: Howl's Moving Castle, Peoples of Middle-Earth, Knights of Dark Renown (another replacement), The Consuming Fire and The Judging Eye: One.

Thanks for all of the great reviews and recommendations.

>5 -pilgrim-: this isn't limited to Christmas. It could be Halloween, Hanukkah, Kwanza, Yule, or any of the holidays that run from Late October to Mid January.

Another one in the bookless-Christmas tribe.

>7 gilroy: Same applies to all. I wasn't intending to be restrictive, but Christmas (or New Year) is the only festival in the season where gift-giving is traditionally appropriate, for me personally.

>9 -pilgrim-: Fair enough. But it's good to have the clarification in the thread too. :)

I got no books except the one I bought myself that arrived a few days before Christmas, and the library books I picked up on Christmas Eve. It's rare for people to give me books, because most of them claim not to know what I like and none of them know what I've already read. The exception would be my sister, because we like most of the same things and she's also here on LT.

My husband and I rarely exchange gifts, although he did get flowers for our anniversary, which was on the 21st. His opinion of Christmas is such that if anyone does give him a gift, he mostly ignores it and I end up opening it for him.

All the gifts so far have been food. Father-in-law brought us 4 bricks of butter that he got from some restaurant that was going out of business, mother-in-law gave us a panettone (which I had to go buy because she can't), older son and girlfriend gave us frozen springrolls and dumplings that they made that we can cook later, brother- and sister-in-law gave us a tin of assorted cookies. All very welcome and delicious.

I added all of my new acquisitions to my catalog here on LT and updated my Green Dragon reading thread as well. It was a good year for added reading material. (Except for the son who begged me not to get him any new books because he hadn't been reading and had a towering TBR pile as it was. So he just got clothing this year.)

The other son got The Oxford Companion to Beer.

Paul and I have mostly ignored presents this year. We're picking up Kindle Deals, but by and large I've not been doing a lot of reading this year, it's mostly been re-reads. I've found it difficult to concentrate on new books.

I've been hitting Amazon & Ebay for house and garden items this year; that's mostly what I've been spending on. I've dropped well over £500 on a Roomba and a Braava plus accessories, and haven't regretted it. At least now the hoovering and floor cleaning is being done.

I received the leather bound copy of Warbreaker, which is absolutely stunning. I'll have to put photos in my thread. I also received a new coloring book :)

To be honest, most years, wife and I give experiences instead of stuff. So it's rare for us to give a true gift. (Last year it was a three day trip to Williamsburg, expenses shared by us both.) It felt weird to have actual gifts to unwrap.

From Katherine: The Lunar Men (which is not about what you might think it's about) and The Triumph of the City (which is probably about exactly what you'd think it's about).

I was very fortunate and got several books this year - Silver Sparrow by Tayari Jones, Mum & Dad by Joanna Trollope, Anti Inflammatory Diet Cookbook by Amber Hultin (touchstones removed from this one as although I've got it added to my library, I couldn't find it in the list of works) , The Sol Majestic by Ferrett Steinmetz and Wrinkle in the Skin by John Christopher. I also received a journal to log the books I read and the ones I'd like to read and a personalised bookmark from another friend.

(We won't mention me succumbing to a Boxing Day Sale on Audible and maybe I can pass off the books I bought as some of my Thingaversary acquisitions next month?)

Further to >5 -pilgrim-: & >9 -pilgrim-: I have, to my surprise, actually now received a Christmas present this year.

What is more, it is a book.

But, it is a second copy of a book that I already have, having been sent a copy in 2019.

What is more, the sender knew it to be a duplicate, because they sent the first book.

I am bemused.

My holiday book haul came from myself this year - I splurged on the Murderbot Diaries bundle which contains the five existing books and pre-orders the sixth one due out in April. Happy Yule to me!

My book haul this year was unusually low. I received two books:

That Old Country Music by Kevin Barry. This is a new collection of short stories from my favourite Irish Author. I draw a couple of parallels between him and Joyce. His short stories are very accessible and his novels could be seen as a bit more challenging. Unlike Joyce, Barry is really a man of the people; there is not a pretentious bone in his body. I had the pleasure of interviewing him at a convention about eight years ago, and I have attended a few of his readings and other events he has been appearing at. A real gentleman who makes everyone feel at ease and who is very entertaining.



The Macabre Tales of E.A. Poe published by Tartarus Press. This was a limited edition copy of Poe's tales and is a very beautiful volume.



These were perfect gifts from Mrs PGMCC. There were exactly what I wanted. I bought them and gave them to her to give. I think this is a wonderful arrangement.

I bought her a copy of Christmas Carol as she is considering joining in on the book club session in January. I also bought her a blanket with sleeves. Apparently it is all the rage. She is always feeling the cold and now she can wrap up in this and still be able to use her hands while keeping her shoulders warm

My wife got me Nos4A2 by Joe Hill.
And I got my daughter Ready Player Two by Ernest Cline.

I received the following books, all chosen from my Wishlist:
The lost words by Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris
The lost spells also by Macfarlane and Morris
Death goes on skis by Nancy Spain
Entangled life by Merlin Sheldrake and
Land of the rising cat by Manami Okazaki.

I am still waiting for a package from my friend in Oregon, which I know will also contain books.

>22 Sakerfalcon: Is that the Nancy Spain who participated with Frank Muir and Denis Norden in My Word back in the day?

From my mom and dad I got The Dark Deception which is volume 2 of the Daphne and Velma YA books (Scooby Doo tie in).

Since I was waiting on the results of a COVID test (turned out to be negative yesterday, yay!) I pretty much spent my holiday quarantined to my room so I treated myself to the remaining books of the Whyborne and Griffin series that I had started a short time ago on my Kindle. I loved the books so it made things a bit less frustrating.

>24 Jenson_AKA_DL: Congratulations on your test result. (It's strange how the meaning of a phrase mutates; a year ago that would probably have been a comment about an exam.)

>25 -pilgrim-: Thanks! That is so true, 2020 has been such a strange year.

>24 Jenson_AKA_DL: Congratulations on the test results!

>24 Jenson_AKA_DL:
Yeah for the negative! (Now in this case is negative a passing grade? ;) )

>28 gilroy: I believe it is LOL Thanks!

I got two books for Christmas - both from tardis. The Adventures of Isabel by Candas Jane Dorsey, and Tales from the Folly by Ben Aaronovitch. I've already read the first, which was great, and am looking forward to the second, as the Rivers of London series is a favourite.

I have also indulged in a number of ebooks for myself.

Hope 2021 will be a good year for everyone!

>20 pgmcc: Oddly coincidental, I bought my wife A Christmas Carol also, a nice 1977 hardcover edition which was the nicest and oldest one I could find for a reasonable price.

>31 Karlstar: I got my wife the Penguin Classic hardback edition. A modern edition, but still nice.

I caught the George C. Scott film adaptation of A Christmas Carol on TV yesterday. It was great and the performances were excellent.

Talking of Christmas Carol - I've just downloaded a copy from Audible with Hugh Grant reading. I hope he does it justice.

>33 Peace2: I will be interested to hear what you think of his narration.

>23 hfglen: Yes, it is. The book is what you might expect - frothy, irreverent and fun.

>35 Sakerfalcon: In that case, I shall have to keep an eye peeled.

>32 pgmcc: That's one of our favorite film versions of A Christmas Carol as well.

I did get a book for Christmas! If you can't Stand the Heat: a New Orleans Firefighter's Cookbook by Robert Medina. The author is the uncle of my son's girlfriend. She also made me a jar of his flash over seasoning. Yummy!

And, they gave me a recipe book to write my recipes in. It is lovely, with an engraved wooden cover which says, Lee's Recipes.