Daily Bookish Challenges | Day Three

What are your favourite books to give as gifts?

This is a tough question, because I don’t typically give books as gifts. As much as I WANT to, and I do have some readers in my circle, I have very few who would rather have books than other gifts.

But, this year, I am giving some books. And I’m definitely not sharing them with you. Can’t give away the surprise, no?

I did, however, give my husband two books for his birthday:

41 by George W Bush

Killing Patton by Bill O’Reilly

 

Ironically enough, the people in my life who I do sometimes buy books for lean more towards nonfiction than fiction–which is completely opposite from what I read, so buying books for them can be difficult! It is absolutely uncharted territory for me, and I must rely on reviews and suggestions, rather than my own knowledge.

Thank goodness for gift receipts…I’ve never been the most confident gift giver.

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Daily Bookish Challenges | Day Two

What’s on your book wishlist for the holidays?
Surprisingly, I don’t normally ask for books for Christmas.

*gasp*

WHAT?!

I know, right? As much of a book lover as I am, why wouldn’t I ask for books for Christmas?

Well, one, because it’s so damn hard to choose which books to ask for. I have such a huge wish list, I can’t just give the whole damn thing to my family. They would have no idea. My Nana used to get me the latest Nora Roberts books, but I have long outgrown those, so she’s stopped with that. Now, I usually just ask for Barnes and Noble gift cards, which I hoard until I can figure out what I actually want to purchase.

The second reason is that my mom LOVES clothes shopping. And she loves clothes shopping with her girls. So, every year, we would do a pre-holiday (and birthday, since it’s in November) shopping spree. She’d come down to Indy, take me to lunch, sometimes my sisters would come along too, and we’d all go crazy. So most years, I’d know what I was getting. But, my wardrobe would be set for the year–and it would be fashionable! Haha!

This year is a little bit different–since I live so far away now, we couldn’t do our traditional shopping trip. I missed it terribly. Instead, I built an Amazon wishlist, and there were quite a few books on there. They are exactly what you would expect from me:

Harry Potter by JK Rowling–I KNOWWWWW…but I still don’t own them, and it’s killing me. I would love to own the new UK collection, but if someone gets it for me, it’ll be the US version. If I buy it with my Christmas money afterwards though…I will be ordering it from across the blue.

Hogwarts Library–obviously.

I got The Wise Man’s Fear and The Slow Regard for Silent Things for my birthday, but The Name of the Wind is still on the list to complete the collection. I suspect it has already been purchased though…

Not that Kind of Girl by Lena Dunham–I haven’t read this one yet, but I keep hearing about it, so I must.

The Giver Quartet by Lois Lowry–That big gorgeous gray and red hardcover version.

Quiet by Susan Cain

Chronicles of Narnia by CS Lewis box set

The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley

The Lunar Chronicles Series by Marissa Meyer

Solitaire by Alice Oseman

Chasers of the Light by Tyler Knott Gregson

 

I can’t wait to see what books I get, and I’ll be sure to do a book haul post in January! Happy Holidays!

 

Games

My family is extremely competitive. We have a proud tradition of teasing and taunting…and maybe a few temper tantrums. But just a few. We certainly would never go overboard. Of course not.

We never had any structured game nights when we were growing up, but on holidays, there was always something going on. The kids would break off to play video games or pool downstairs, and the adults had a heavy game of Euchre and Aggravation upstairs. There was also a board game called Sequence–a card based game that took a lot of strategy.

As the age groups converged, outside influences started influencing the types of games played. Now, when we go home for the holidays, there is one card game we all look forward to playing:  313. This is a quick paced game, that thankfully for me, doesn’t require much math to calculate strategy. It goes in levels 3 cards in a hand means 3 of a kind. 4 cards in a hand means 4 of a kind or 4 in a run, and on it goes. Hard to explain in writing, but after a few hands you start to pick up the pattern. R beat us all in his first round, I think. My baby sister, who is the most competitive of all of us, didn’t like that so much. He and she are two of a kind.

Last year, I introduced my other favorite game. Cards Against Humanity. Have you guys played this yet? Oh man. It’s basically Apples to Apples…for horrrrrrible people. Which I am. Yep.  My parents ducked out of this one, but us young ones stayed up until 2 am laughing our asses off at the different combinations. There’s nothing better than gigging to tears with your family.

Christmas will come a little bit late for us this year, but hopefully I’ll get to spend a little time playing games with them this year. Definitely looking forward to going home!

NOS4A2

HO-HO-HOoooooooooooooly shit!

NOS4A2 is basically a Christmas Story from hell, that should only be read in October.

Joe freaking Hill. Wow. This is another horror masterpiece. Guys, if you haven’t read his work yet, you NEED to get on it, right now. Especially during Halloween month. He does not mess around with his psychological thrillers. They blow my mind.

Imagine if Santa Claus and the Grim Reaper were essentially one and the same. This twisted, evil psychopath creature captures kids and kills their mothers, all for the “good of the children,” ushering them away to Christmasland. Combine this chilling world with tesseract bridges crossed by British motorbikes, a Rolls Royce Wraith, and stuttering Scrabble tiles.

There were so many geeky references in this book I was almost giddy. Nathan Fillion is somewhere wetting his pants over the Browncoat nods. Kudos Joe Hill. Kudos. It was like a bit of comic/geek relief spattered throughout the craziness of the book, and it was much appreciated. In a world where even Christmas music is sickening and Scrabble tiles are sinister…geeky things are heroic.

Am I maybe laying it on a bit thick? Perhaps. I’m totally typing this with the Movie Trailer guy in my head.

I’m pretty sure I said this when I read Horns, but READ THIS BOOK. At least, if you are in any way inclined to love freaky psychological scary thriller type horror. Do it.

And put on your favorite holiday playlist. You won’t regret it.