Angieville

Each year, my dear friend Beth and I get together a few days before Christmas to eat popcorn and pomegranates, drink cider and hot chocolate, talk in general and specific terms about the year that's past, and exchange gifts of the bookish variety. It's one of the loveliest nights of the year. But this year, Beth outdid herself in the gift department. Not only is she a talented writer, but she is something of a consummate artist. What this means is that she is the opposite of myself and can essentially turn her hand to any medium and produce something lovely.  Artistic ability is not the only way in which we differ. She comes from a family of eleven children, while I am an only. We've enjoyed many a conversation dissecting the ways in which our family life and upbringing contributed to shaping us into who we are and how we look at the world. This year, she prefaced my gift by saying that she has always felt that books came into my life like siblings. So that we could g...

Remember how roundabout this time last year, Aaron gave me the best early Christmas present ever ? Well, the book closet is all decked out for the holidays this year and it's making my stressed out/overworked/longing-for-Christmas-magic heart lift each time I walk down the hallway. And now that it's a mere week until Christmas, I've been spending the most enjoyable and large part of the time that I wasn't stressing out/overworking/longing handing out book recommendations right and left to loved ones far and near. I absolutely adore it when the emails/texts/calls begin pouring in and I get to happily sift through everything I've read over the last year to find the perfect ones for the people on their lists. No joke, I have said the words, " Six of Crows " no less than 12 times in the last 24 hour period alone. A Desperate Fortune has been not far behind it. In other words, these are the droids books you're looking for. I'm certainly passing ...

. . . a book closet as an early Christmas present! I came home yesterday to this at the end of my hall, and I'm still a bit giddy over the whole thing. We're going to add a French door in the near future, and then I will have to force myself to leave the hall each day. 

I was having a discussion with my co-worker the other day about holiday book gifting. She said her husband traditionally gives only books at Christmas. Just books. They sit down together and carefully pick out a book for each person in the family, tall to small, and then place one whopping Barnes & Noble order. She mentioned they'd chosen Fangirl for one of his sisters at my recommendation (ah, the tingles, I hope she loves it as much as I do). Someone else was getting The Fault in Our Stars , another The One and Only Ivan . A litany of lovely reads. As I mentioned in my last review, this holiday season I've enjoyed rereading a couple of my favorite Christmas novellas from last year as well as discovering a new favorite or two. Silent in the Sanctuary has been calling my name as it always does at Christmas, and I've snuggled up in the light of the tree on several occasions. I've also been busy plotting and acquiring my bookish gifts for friends and loved ones....

My birthday occurred last week and it was a lovely one, filled with sleeping in, unexpected flowers and jelly beans, Boston-style pizza, and cake made to order. But it started off in the wee hours with the best part. Just after midnight, DH asked me if I wanted to open the first part of my present. "How many parts are there?" I asked curiously. "Three," he replied. After some thought, I agreed and he brought out a promising package, just the right size and shape to fill my heart with anticipation. I quickly unwrapped it and slid it out of its protective clear, plastic slipcase. Beauty . The one I'd been wanting. For ages. "It's a signed, first edition," he said. They all were, as it turned out.  And I opened one later that day. And one the following day. Two Robin McKinleys and a Mary Stewart (Signed! I'd never even seen one of those before.) The boy knows me well, doesn't he? I also received a stack of shiny, new pretties from my...

. . . and to all, a good night.

For Christmas DH gave me this beautiful painting of two love birds atop a row of books. Isn't it just wonderful? It's titled "Well Versed Love" (possibly my favorite part) and I fell in love with it the moment I opened it Christmas morning.  A new Christmas painting from my sweetheart is fast becoming a tradition it seems, as you may remember he gave me this gorgeous one last year. It's currently hanging above the piano in my library and I'm trying to decide which wall I'm going to hang this new one on. Clearly it, too, belongs in the library. I'm pleased as punch with this new tradition, particularly as he has such good taste in art and knows just what I'll love. Apparently he spent hours browsing Etsy leading up to the holiday as a few other lovely items from that wonderful site ended up under my tree as well. That's my boy . . .

I love this time of year. I love plotting and planning which books I'm giving to which loved ones as gifts. And I love coming up with tailored recommendations for the friends, family, and co-workers who ask me. I even found a Christmas read this year--which can sometimes be hard. But I had a craving to revisit Lady Julia Grey and Mr. Nicholas Brisbane the other night. And so I did. And after finishing my re-read of Silent in the Grave , I couldn't just stop there. So I blithely continued right on to Silent in the Sanctuary and it occurred to me that that one is, in fact, a  perfectly lovely Christmas read. Set in a quaint English village in Sussex at Christmastime, it's a festive Victorian confection, complete with a murder mystery, gypsies, Christmas puddings, large quantities of snow, and some rather serious swooning. What more could you ask for? As far as the books I'm giving away this year, at present count the stack includes a little Juliet Marillier , a little ...

Sunday was Mother's Day and it was a very relaxing day indeed. The weather was nice, the lilacs out back were blooming their little purple hearts out, and my boy gave me a plant he'd been secretly growing in his Kindergarten classroom along with the plant journal he'd been keeping on its progress from a seedling to its present robust state. He's sweet the way only a six-year-old boy can be.  DH gave me an armband in which to put my iPod, along with some spiffy in-ear, noise-isolating headphones so that I might properly listen to my carefully crafted playlists while I bike to work and back. I should probably note that in our home, headphones are the gift of kings. Behold, Aaron's headphone rack: He's sweet the way only a dedicated audiophile who loves me can be.  And lastly my sister-in-law Liza surprised me with a small white bag containing this: (front)  (back) She's sweet the way only a sister & kindred spirit can be.  The quote is (famously) fr...

Even though Valentine's Day has passed, I couldn't resist a quick post on what made mine surprisingly lovely this year. The thing is, Aaron and I, we don't really do the big day of love. Occasionally we'll get out for an early dinner but that's about it. This year the topic didn't even come up. And then, after a long frustrating day, I came home, did the whole evening routine with the kids, and turned around to find an unassuming silver bag sitting on my desk. Aaron was in the other room so I was able to read the poem sitting on top and cry in private (I'm a sucker when the boy writes me poems). The poem was entitled, "Appropriate Footwear." You see, we have a long tradition of him making fun of me for my inappropriate footwear. Let me make it clear upfront, there is nothing wrong with my shoes. It's just that I tend to wear moccasins in the snow, sandals in the rain, no socks when temperatures are in the teens... that sort of thing. I won...

So for Christmas DH got me this beautiful painting of a girl reading under a tree. Isn't it pretty? "Literary Captivation" I originally came across it in Trish's post on Bookish Gifts over at Hey Lady! Whatcha Readin'? and loved it. I clicked on over to the Hilaria Galleries shop on Etsy and drooled over her lovely work. Trish had posted the print of the left panel but, when I browsed through the gallery, I realized it was actually one half of a two-panel painting. There were prints available of the left panel but not the right. However, the original painting itself (both panels) was for sell. I IMed DH and, being the devious man that he is, he oohed and ahhed over it with me, agreed how perfect it would look hanging in my library, and then proceeded to tell me (in a shocked IM voice) that it had just sold. Sadness! Woe. It really would have looked so perfect hanging in my library... This was all about a month before Christmas and I regretfully let it go an...

It's that time of year again. The holiday season is in full swing and the phone at Chez Angie starts ringing off the hook. Friends and family checking in asking for book recommendations to give as gifts. For the record, these are my very favorite sort of calls to get. I love searching out the perfect book for someone, passing on the info, and then sitting back with my mug of cider and just savoring how that book will be enjoyed by that someone. If I'm extra lucky, I get to hear about it later. A lot of great books came out this year and I have enjoyed spreading the word about them. Some of them famous and some of them deserving of so much more attention than they got. As well as a host of perennial favorites. Books I'm giving away this year include: Diana Peterfreund 's Secret Society Girl series , Juliet Marillier 's Sevenwaters series , Graceling and Fire by Kristine Cashore , The Hunger Games and Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins , Girl in the Arena by Lise ...