Am I mad or what? I have taken up the #blog12daysxmas blogging challenge and decided that not only would I do it for myself I would also do it for the City of Boroondara Library Service local history blog, Telling Tales! Amidst much todo on Twitter this morning I realized that I am already TWO posts behind! So fortunately it is a dreary, rainy day in Melbourne and I am hunkering down to get this on the road.
Last year I decided that I would focus on reading for my twelve days personal blogging, and I am going to start here again but you never know! I might move to food as there is certainly a lot of relevance to Christmas there or to technology as it plays a key role in Christmas for me and my connections both locally and around the world.
But to books and reading! One of the joys of Christmas to me for as long as I can remember has been the great pleasure I have got in getting new books for presents. As I said last year, these authors and titles have changed over the years and have reflected my current favorites. I have so many books (Georgette Heyer and Agatha Christie immediately come to mind) which are inscribed with 25 December 19xx inside the cover. Some date back over 40 years and I often think as I read them and reread them what good value these presents have been to me.
But I have found increasingly that I get fewer books for presents though I certainly give them and book vouchers. What of this year? I gave Readings vouchers to all the Boroondara staff who were part of our Being The Best We Can continuous improvement project. I gave the Lonely Planet England to a friend planning a trip to the UK in 2012 and the Movida cookbook to a friend who loves Spain and cooking - what a great combination! My nephew got the latest Janet Evanovich, Kerry Greenwood's Cooking the books, and Cassandra Clare's Clockwork Prince and my niece the latest Elsbeth Edgar, On orchard road. My sister got a book on knitting cats and kittens - the purrfect present!
And me? Well although there was discussion on Christmas Day (not instigated by me) about Georgette Heyer and Agatha Christie being my favourite Christmas authors, I didn't get a single book on Christmas Day! I hasten to add that this is not to say that I didn't like my presents! I did and they all reflected other things that I like. But no books on Christmas Day :(
However, I did get one fabulous book for Christmas - in fact it was the only book I actually got for Christmas this year. Thank you so much KC for the effort you took to get me Jennifer Kloester's Georgette Heyer: biography of a bestseller! I had noted it as an advance publication and hadn't even realized it was out. I have started reading it and will relish it over the 12 days of Christmas. How appropriate is it as a Christmas book, given that I used to love getting my new Heyers every Christmas!
I finished two books over the past week. Almost unheard of for me in recent years. Reread all the Agathas over the past few years. Have yet to get into Phryne though....
ReplyDeleteTry Greenwood's Corinna series: it's all about cooking and crime.
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