Friday, November 11, 2016

Ordering for Christmas

My family lives in Colorado, Wisconsin, New Jersey, and the Netherlands, and Paul's family is spread over the U.S., too.  Because many of our Christmas gifts need to go into the mail fairly soon, I have started shopping, and much of what I buy is books.  We love to give books!  And many of our family and friends rely on us for recommendations.   I try to get things that I've enjoyed over the last year or so, and these include:

All the Light We Cannot See, by Anthony Doerr - absolutely the best thing I read this year
A Man Called Ove, by Frederik Backman - I hesitate to see the film since I liked this so much
Tannie Maria's Recipes for Love and Murder, by Sally Andrew - first in a mystery series set in South Africa
A Lady's Life in the Rocky Mountains, by Isabella Bird - an old favorite.  The illustrations by Bird are wonderful, so this is the edition to get
Nothing Daunted:  The Unexpected Education of Two Society Girls in the West, by Dorothy Wickenden - picked up in an airport and couldn't put it down
Be Frank with Me, by Julia Claiborne Johnson - a sweet family story
The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry, by Gabrielle Zevin - unlikely romance between a curmudgeonly bookstore owner and publishers saleswoman

While I like to support my local bookstore and have a "frequent shopper" card, shopping online really does make sense for bulk buys at this time of year.  Some of my favorites are not yet out in paperback, so I will wait and get those for gifts next year.

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