Monday Musings & Merry Christmas

Mele Kalikimaka!

My week: It was a fine week here. I feel like it was a busy one, but I can't actually remember why or what I did. I had to work all day on Saturday, but I made the best of it by wearing reindeer antlers and a Christmas shirt. Sunday we went to the beach; Jarrod goes surfing at least once a week, but it was the first time my toes had been in the sand since October!

I actually managed to snap a good picture of Alohi and me this week! We're driving home from her afternoon at doggie daycare here... but what you don't see is the desk leg she chewed into a thousand shards in the morning!

Reading: I finished "Christmas at Little Beach Street Bakery" by Jenny Colgan and enjoyed it well enough. I'm soooo jealous of the protagonists' pet puffin, as well as their quaint English village. It's the third in a series and I do think I want to go back and read the first two.

Then I read and LOVED the first Rat Queens volume. It was so different than I expected. I knew it was about some spunky, badass girls, but I had no idea it was also a sort of medieval fantasy! I already checked out the second volume from the library.

After that I read the sequel to "The Bear and the Nightingale," "The Girl in the Tower." It took me for-ev-er to get into it -- I actually fell asleep reading three times in a row before making it to page 100 -- but once it clicked, I blew through the rest. I enjoyed being back in magic-tinged medieval Russia.

I felt like I needed one more holiday read, so I grabbed "Last Christmas in Paris" from the library. It's a WWI book told in letters -- right up my alley -- and I'm enjoying it so far.

Watching: We watched the newest Pirates of the Caribbean movie this week. It was ok, though I started losing interest toward the end. I didn't really watch any TV this week, or movies, but Jarrod has to work all day today (yes, on Christmas) so I'm planning to catch up on all those Hallmark Christmas movies on the DVR!

Knitting: I didn't do a single bit of knitting this week, but I did snap a picture of the bird ornament I knit for my work Secret Santa last week. (The bird is from the Flock mobile pattern on Ravelry -- my go-to pattern for knit birds.)

Buying: Tickets to see Luke Bryan! One of the things I hate about living in Hawaii is the utter lack of decent people coming for concerts, so we were thrilled when we heard Luke Bryan would be here in March!

Baking: Some really tasty cranberry-white chocolate-pecan cookies with brown butter icing! The recipe is from Taste of Home, and I was very pleased with the results. Plus I was excited to find a recipe for fresh cranberries! I highly recommend it.

Blogging:
Monday Musings
Holiday Q & A
The Grinch Book Tag

Looking forward to: My upcoming three-day weekend!

Merry Christmas to you all!

*I'm linking up with Kathryn of Book Date for It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

Turning the Page on December 2016

*I started a new job at the beginning of the month, at the Air Force base library here in Hawaii. It's been an adjustment after a few months off from work, but I'm glad to be back in a library. I worked there last time we were stationed here, so it's been a little less of a learning curve and that's been positive bonus!

*We had a really nice, quiet Christmas. On Christmas Eve evening, we picked up holiday drinks from Starbucks and drove around to look at lights and stop by the Honolulu City Lights display (and Shaka Santa) while listening to Christmas music. On Christmas, we had a wonderful day of relaxing, eating, talking to friends and family on the phone and watching Christmas movies.

*We made a chalkboard for our front porch from scratch! I'm really excited to change up the message each month.

*I had a great time participating in The Broke and the Bookish's Secret Santa again. I absolutely loved everything my partner sent me, and I had a blast shopping for my recipient. (You can read more about it -- and see photos -- here.) I'm already excited for next year!

*We finished up season 1 of "Westworld" (weird but intriguing) as well as this season's "Poldark" (sooooo good!). I watched a few Hallmark Christmas movies and finished up my re-watch of the last few seasons of "Gilmore Girls." I'm excited to finally start "GG: A Year in the Life" soon.

Books read: 5 (not great, but it's been a crazy month with starting work and adjusting to 8-hour shifts three days a week)

Favorite book: "Maybe in Another Life" by Taylor Jenkins Reid. I will most definitely be reading all her other books!

Biggest let-down: "The Couple Next Door" by Shari Lapena. It's pretty popular, but I didn't find much to like in this kidnapped-child "thriller."

Weird as fuck: "Vassa in the Night." I had to read it for the library's book club, which I'll be co-facilitating. I still cannot get over the minor plot point of a guy abandoning his wife and kids to become a German shepherd -- as in literally be turned from a human into a dog (by means never explained). And it had zero bearing on the rest of the story, which made it even more bizarre. Also, there is a talking pangolin (of all animals?!) who also happens to be a lawyer. WTF is going on in your head, Sarah Porter?

January release I'm most excited about: "Carve the Mark" by Veronica Roth, the first in her new sci-fi series.

Book I'm most looking forward to reading in January: Since I'm still trying to get adjusted to my new work schedule (and its negative effect on my reading time) I'm probably going to be sticking pretty closely to my reading list, which includes several advance-read books that come out in January and February, like "The Fire by Night" by Teresa Messineo, "The Second Mrs. Hockaday" by Susan Rivers, "The Young Widower's Handbook" by Tom McAllister, "The Gilded Cage" by Vic James and a few more. I'm not particularly excited to read any of them (I hate e-books!) but I'm hoping there are a few gems on the list.

Reading challenges signed up for: The Backlist Reader Challenge, hosted by Lark at the Bookwyrm's Hoard. It focuses on reading pre-2016 releases already on your to-read list. I picked 25 books that I'm going to (finally!) endeavor to read this year. You can see them in my sign-up post here!

Books added to my to-read list: 12

Books added to my maybe-to-read list: 15

Most intriguing TBR addition: "Himself" by Jess Kidd, which comes out in March (and sadly, I didn't get approved for the advance-read copy -- sniff, sniff). Here's the first line from the Goodreads blurb: "Blending strange kindnesses, casual violence and buried secrets: an unforgettable debut from a dark new voice in Irish fiction."

Favorite bookstagram: This is a little more knitstagram than bookstagram -- and it features the book I liked least this month -- but I just love this photo! Find me on Instagram @knittinglindsay.

I had a yarn-filled December! I spent the first part of the month working on my Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life mystery knit-along cowl (which I actually ripped out and re-started when I was nearly done because I didn't like the shape). Then I whipped up a cozy little owl ornament for a last-minute Secret Santa gift for work, and since then I've been enjoying knitting Christmas ornaments from the "55 Christmas Balls to Knit" book.

Year-end posts:
The Best Books I Read in 2016
2016: My Bookish Year in Review

Favorite post: A Very Merry Christmas Survey. I decided to come up with a holiday questionnaire and I had a wonderful time brainstorming questions and reminiscing about Christmases past!

Favorite link-up posts: 10 New-to-Me Authors I Read (and Loved) in 2016

Book reviews:

The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin (4 stars)

Mini Reviews: Maybe in Another Life by Taylor Jenkins Reid (Yay!) and The Couple Next Door by Shari Lapena (Ugh!) (4.5 stars, 2 stars)

Monday Musings: Mele Kalikimaka

My week: We had a lovely, quiet Christmas. On Christmas Eve we got holiday drinks from Starbucks, then went to see Hanapa'a Christmas, a cul-de-sac that goes all out for Christmas in Clark Griswold-esque style, and the crown jewel is a huge Christmas tree made out of Heineken bottles synced to flash in time with Christmas music. Then we went headed back in the opposite direction to see the Honolulu City Lights display and, of course, Shaka Santa.

I got some wonderful Christmas gifts, including a massage appointment from Jarrod, a niffler Funko and some Harry Potter playing cards from my parents, a gorgeous handmade personalized clutch from my best friend, and a variety of Lindsay-brand olives from my brother-in-law! And my parents got us a fancy stainless steel trash can, which I was really excited about. We'd been using the same kitchen trash can I got my sophomore year of college (many, many years ago now), and it was about time we upgraded to a grown-up version!

Reading: Last night I finished "The Bear and the Nightingale" by Katherine Arden, a novel set in medieval Russia and inspired by Russian folktales, which comes out January 10. I really enjoyed it, and even though the first half was a little slow I really loved the atmospheric quality and the good writing. (Review to come soon; I gave it 4 stars.)

Next up is "Vassa in the Night" by Sarah Porter. I have to read "Vassa" (another novel, this one YA, inspired by a Russian fairytale) for the adult book club at the library, which I'll be co-facilitating the first week in January. Have you read it? I'm not too keen on YA (I only read one YA book this year, and probably not coincidentally it was my best reading year yet), but a co-worker loved it so I'm trying to keep an open mind.

After that will be "The River at Night" by Erica Ferencik, a thriller set in Maine involving a white water rafting trip gone wrong, which also comes out January 10.

I'm still trying to get into a good routine (that doesn't involve falling asleep on the couch at 10 p.m. every night) with my new work schedule, and my reading has most definitely suffered. Normally I'd have read three or four books in the 11 days it took me to read "The Bear and the Nightingale"!

Knitting: I finished the knitted Christmas ornament (from the "55 Christmas Balls to Knit" book) I started last Sunday and I really like the way it came out!

Watching: "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation," "How the Grinch Stole Christmas," "Home Alone," you get the idea.

Listening to: Christmas music, obviously! ;)

Eating: Our Christmas feast included ham, which Jarrod did on our smoker, sweet potatoes, corn pudding, green bean casserole, sweet Hawaiian rolls and apple crumble. Yum!

Looking forward to: Five days off from work to start the new year!

I'm linking up with Kathryn at Book Date for It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

Yarn Along: Christmas Balls and "The Bear and the Nightingale"

Yarn Along is a wonderful weekly link-up hosted by Ginny at the Small Things blog about two of the best things in life: reading and knitting.

Over the weekend I checked out the "55 Christmas Balls to Knit" book from the library and I've thoroughly enjoyed working on these satisfying little projects! My first ball was a reindeer-themed one (with an added red nose -- you can see it here) and I'm almost done with the above poinsettia ball. I started it on Sunday but didn't have any time to knit the past few days. I'll be finishing it up today though -- I just want to duplicate stitch over two small errors that have been bugging me as well as the wonky unaligned spot at the beginning/end of the row. I've already picked out which pattern I'm going to knit next -- a snowman design!

I'm about a third of the way through "The Bear and the Nightingale" by Katherine Arden (out January 10), a novel inspired by Russian folk tales. So far I'd give it my recommendation! It's got tinges of "Uprooted" by Naomi Novik, one of my favorite reads of 2016, in that it's got a magical feel and the main character has a strong connection to nature.

I just found out I'll be running the adult book club at work in 2017 so I've got to hurry up and read the first selection, a YA novel called "Vassa in the Night" by Sarah Porter (not my choice, but I'll give it a shot). It's also based on a Russian fairytale, which is kind of ironic. At this rate, I'll be an expert soon! ;)

Dear Santa: Please Bring Me These Bookish Gifts!

Dearest Santa,

I've been an awfully good bookworm this year and I'm looking forward to lots of fun presents under the tree. For your gifting ease, I've compiled a helpful list! Give Rudolph my love.

Festively yours,

Lindsay

"Fantastic Books and Where to Find Them" t-shirt
(from Out of Print Clothing)

I love me a good bookish t-shirt, and I like the punny play on "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them."

Newt Scamander and niffler Funko Pops

There are a few versions of Newt, but the only one I want is the Newt with the Hufflepuff scarf and suitcase -- and apparently this version is sold out everywhere! Why on earth don't the Funko people just make more already?!?! Luckily, Santa, you don't need the Funko people -- you've got elves and magic!

Pride and Peppermint tea and tin
(from Novel Tea Tins)

Santa, have you heard of this fun new company that combines two of life's best things: books and tea?!

Journal
(from Rifle Paper Co.)
I've been wanting a nice journal for writing down quotes I like from books, favorite words, and running lists of the books I read and their ratings. I've been lustfully eyeing other people's gorgeous stuff from Rifle Paper Co. forever, so Santa, please step in and just get me something. And, hey, maybe throw in some notecards and stationery too...

Any and all book-themed candles

This one is from NorthAveCandles on Etsy and is made up of Hermione's three amortentia scents: freshly mown grass, new parchment and spearmint toothpaste. Candles inspired by books are another thing I've been ogling forever but haven't taken the plunge on yet. And there are a gazillion different ones to choose from, so Santa, just bring me a wide variety, ok? I'll take some 221-B Baker Street and some Pemberley and some butterbeer and some hobbit garden; just chuck it all in there. And some bookish wax for my Scentsy would be cool too.

Bookish socks
Santa, whatever you designs you select will surely be wonderful -- it's hard to go wrong with book-themed socks -- but I'd happily take these Sherlock Holmes socks and these Jane Austen socks, which say, "I declare after all there is no enjoyment like reading." I actually bought the Austen socks for my Broke and Bookish Secret Santa partner (but not for myself -- dumb!).

"Never a Quiet Year at Hogwarts"
(from Society 6)
I love this magical Hogwarts picture! I'm not sure if I'd rather have the print or the notecards, which I could send to my fellow Harry Potter- and letter-loving friends...

An all-expenses-paid trip to the U.K. and a stay in an English country cottage...

...preferably stone, must have a garden. In Cornwall, if possible, and within walking distance of the sea. Please and thank you. (This may or may not be Kate Winslet's cottage in "The Holiday.") (This is indeed book-related; I've read so many books set in the English countryside that I am dying to go there!) Of course, while I'm in England I'm going to need to visit all the other bookish spots, like the Harry Potter film studio, Platform 9 3/4, the Bodelian Library, Jane Austen's house, up to Scotland to see the scenery from "Outlander," you get the idea, Santa. Let's make it a two-week trip; you fill in the itinerary for me!

(photo source)

(I'm linking up with The Broke and the Bookish blog to share my Christmas wishlist. Head over to see what other bookworms want for Christmas!)

Monday Musings

I love my Harry Potter Christmas ornaments! I also have a Hogwarts Castle one, and the little Hedwig on the tree came with a snitch and a sorting hat.

My week: This was my first full week of work at my new library job and man, was I exhausted. Jarrod's schedule changed this week, too, to 4 a.m. to noon, so it was adjustments all around. We both fell asleep on the couch around 10 p.m. on Friday night and I slept all the way til 9:45 Saturday morning!

I work three 8-hour shifts (really 9, with my lunch hour), which is a huge change from the four or five 5-hour shifts I had at my previous job. And I've been spoiled by getting to sleep in these past several months, so getting up at 7:30 wasn't too fun. I'm sure I'll get used to it all soon, but I'll admit this week was a little rough -- and even rougher on poor Jarrod, who is most definitely a night owl; his body is hardwired to go to sleep at 3 a.m., not get up then. I do have to say, though, it IS wonderful to be back in a library!

Reading: I finished up the thriller "The Couple Next Door" by Shari Lapena, which I found to be pretty disappointing (here's my review) and then I started "The Bear and the Nightingale" by Katherine Arden, a novel inspired by Russian fairytales (due out in January). I haven't gotten very far but I've enjoyed what I have read!

Knitting: I had a work Secret Santa swap sprung on me at the last minute this week; I got my recipient on Monday and the gift swap was on Wednesday. I only had one day to get my gifts together, but luckily my new co-worker was pretty easy to shop for. She likes owls, so I whipped up this cute owl ornament (from the Owl Puffs pattern on Ravelry). I love how it came out and I think I might just make one exactly the same for myself!

This week I checked out a book from the library called "55 Christmas Balls to Knit," and I worked up a Rudolph ornament Saturday night while we watched a movie. I started a second Christmas ball yesterday. They're definitely addicting little projects!

Watching: We've continued watching the HBO show "Westworld." It's a little strange but we're enjoying it for the most part. 

Listening to: More Christmas music. I love Celtic-themed music and this is a new favorite:

Drinking: Peppermint tea galore!

Blogging:

Monday Musings: Our Norfolk Pine Christmas Tree

New Year, New Books: Early 2017 Book Releases I'm Looking Forward To

Yarn Along: A Cozy Owl Ornament and "The Couple Next Door"

Jingle Bell Book Tag

Mini Reviews: Maybe In Another Life by Taylor Jenkins Reid (Yay!) and The Couple Next Door by Shari Lapena (Ugh!)

Broke and Bookish Secret Santa 2016

Looking forward to: Christmas!

I'm linking up with Kathryn of Book Date for It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

Broke and Bookish Secret Santa 2016

I have never had so much fun with a Secret Santa swap as I have with The Broke and the Bookish blog's gift exchange. This was my second year participating and once again I had a fantastic time! I enjoyed shopping for my recipient and I got a wonderful box of goodies from my Secret Santa. It's so nice to give and receive stuff when you have a shared love of books!

My Secret Santa was Carrie, @onebookishmom, and I was absolutely thrilled with all the goodies she included for me -- two historical fiction novels I've been meaning to read for ages, a skein of my favorite yarn in my favorite color plus a reusable bag from a local knitting shop, a Jon Snow Funko Pop (only my second Funko!) and some delicious mint chocolates. It's like she knows me so well even though we've never met! Also, we clearly share a love of owls -- look at that adorable wrapping paper!

My recipient this year was Amy from Bookzilla, and I had such fun putting together her package! Of course I included some Hawaii goodies (a few more than the picture shows), and since she's a Jane Austen fan I thought these socks, which say "I declare after all there is no enjoyment like reading," would be right up her alley! I got the bookmarks from the Etsy shop Juniper and Ivy -- and I confess that I also ordered a "For Fox Sake" one for myself. ;)

 I'm already looking forward to next year's bookish Secret Santa -- and if you haven't joined in yet, you should most definitely keep it in mind next November when sign-ups roll around! Merry Christmas, fellow bookworms!

Jingle Bell Book Tag

I saw this Jingle Bell Book Tag on Adventures of a Bibliophile (originally from The Humpo Show) and I just couldn't resist! Feel free to consider yourself "tagged" by me if you'd like to participate. I had fun filling it out!

1. “All I Want For Christmas Is You…” – What book do you want to see under the Christmas Tree?

I'd love to see a copy of "Pride and Prejudice" with the perfect cover. I planned to read it over the summer, and then I decided to buy a copy with a cover I really liked but it was so overwhelming! And some of the covers that jumped out at me aren't really available anymore. So maybe Santa or the Book Fairy could just find the exact right cover for me and leave that edition under my tree!

2. “Simply Having A Wonderful Christmas Time…” – What book that you have read this year have you enjoyed the most?

Probably "A Gentleman in Moscow" by Amor Towles. It was such a charming book!

3. Elf – What book unleashes your inner child?

"Animalia" by Graeme Base. I discovered this book in first grade and have loved it ever since. Not surprisingly, I've always had a special place in my heart for the "L" page, which features a library, lions, and the first letter of my name!

4. “It’s Beginning to look a lot like Christmas…” – Which book has the most festive look to it?

I totally loved the cover of Donna VanLiere's "The Christmas Town"! I was a little less impressed when I saw that it was a whole slew of Shutterstock images Photoshopped together, but don't you just want to step into the picture? I also really like the U.K. cover of "The Great Christmas Knit-Off," which I read and enjoyed last Christmas.

5. The Grinch – Your favorite villain…

Joe Goldberg, sociopath extraordinaire, from "You" by Caroline Kepnes.

6. The Holiday – Name your favorite TWO couples…

Louisa and Will from "Me Before You" and Alana and Marko from "Saga."

7. What book would you like to give as a present to your followers?

"Red Rising" by Pierce Brown. I think almost everyone who reads this book will love it and I'm constantly recommending it!