From One Book Lover

2023 was a busy reading year for me. I got into the triple digits, discovered some great cozy reads, and lured another unsuspecting person into the World of Books. My husband was a perfectly normal person who would read books when the mood struck. Then he discovered Andy Weir, began listening to audiobooks, joined a book club, and installed bookshelves in the living room for his growing collection. It's fun to hear him say, "You'd like this book I read." It wasn't an instantaneous transition, but it has stuck long enough to be a part of his personality now. But back to the topic at hand: I read 102 books. (Goodreads calculates the average book length at 264 pages.)  I indulged in  Escargot  and met  The Knight Owl;  encountered octopuses, an ogress, Christopher Marlowe, and an alien with a Scottish accent; and discovered Dark Academy.  I read popular books, including Demon Copperhead  and Lessons in Chemistry . I discovered Howl's Moving Castle a...

Readers are a sentimental lot who re-read when appropriate. I'm not a frequent re-reader, but I do have a few favorites I pull out at about this time of year. I also throw a few new ones into the mix every year, and sometimes they join the usual holiday suspects the next year. First, my husband David and I re-read A Christmas Carol . We have a lovely reprint of the original, complete with drawings, that we read aloud (hopefully before Christmas Day). It was so important to us that we — okay, I — bought a second copy before the library was set up in our current home. If you've never read it, please pick it up today and read a few pages aloud. It's how Charles Dickens intended it to be experienced, and it sounds glorious. Another favorite is Connie Willis' Miracle and Other Christmas Stories, which has an excellent mix of classic sci-fi and mystery — with a couple of surprises. A new read I plan to pick up this season is Holidays on Ice . I want to see...

Everyone has their favorite Christmas stories.  Many of us have migrated from the page to the screen, taking in our stories through video.  Just remember: many of them started out as stories themselves. In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash was written by Jean Shepherd, known world-wide for creating Ralphie Parker and his love of Ol' Blue.  The stories take place during the Great Depression, and many of the stories take place outside the Christmas season.  However, with the rich language Shepherd uses to amuse and illustrate the movie, how can someone resist such a read? Take a walk through a different landscape with science fiction writer Connie Willis in Miracle and Other Christmas Stories .  I just met the author during her East Coast book-signing stop in Maryland, and had I realized I would fall in love with this book a week later, I'd have discovered it earlier. This collection pays tribute to other stories that already had shaped the season, but allow ...