Did You Get Any Books For Christmas?

[naomi24]

I got two.  Boris Johnson's new one and Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey - coincidentally the only one of hers I haven't read.  That was a good guess by the giver!

[Madgeorge]

Only one....and they've let me colour it in already.

[Tilly2]

A new diary.

However, I did buy a couple of Reginald Hill novels from the charity shop last week. I shall take them back when I've read them.

[naomi24]

Wow!  You got crayons too!  😂

[pastafreak]

Unfortunately not...but then I didn't request any. I did get my daughter a "coffee table" book on volcanos...it will help her plan the next excursion. 😉

[hellywelly4]

No. Don't read much these days. Northanger Abbey was in my English Lit O level in 1955. I never liked it and couldn't tell you what it's about. Always used to get a Rupert Annual at Christmas and an Enid Blyton.

[Pete65]

"A Walk in the Woods" by Bill Bryson.

"Centennial" by James Michener.

[Cloverjo]

I was given a Waterstones voucher. Not sure what to spend it on, yet. 

[netherfield]

Bob the Robin among others, Putman and Robin can be found on Facebook and Instagram. My daughter does work in a bookshop though.

[drmorgans]

 

My readers group book for December, All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr, set immediately before and during WW2, about a blind French girl Marie-Laure, and a German orphan Werner and his sister Jutta. Marie-Laure's father decides to move them from Paris to St Malo. Werner is talented and is sent to a technical school where he learns to make and repair radios. Marie-Laure and Werner's lives become linked and they meet, briefly. I thought it was wonderful, sad, life-affirming.

Published about 10 years ago, made into a Netflix series which I haven't seen.

 

[Cloverjo]

That looks lovely, netherfield. I wish I'd known about it before. I'd have got that for my dad.

[sandyRoe]

I've been given an old kindle with Elana Ferrante's Neapolitan novels on it.

I haven't started on them yet.

[1ozzy]

No books, thank goodness, the library is overflowing. 

Chocolates and random nuts this year.

Beats undies and socks any day.

[Khandro]

It is said 'It is better to give than receive' - I didn't receive any but gave Boris's to Madame. Not exactly a complaint, but she thinks it's a bit to heavy in weight to read in bed!

Her birthday follows shortly and she will be receiving, Richard Bassett's, Last Days in Old Europe, Trieste '79, Vienna '85 Prague '89. 

 It's a Penguin edition, so bit lighter. 

[naomi24]

Got to say it's a hefty tome, khandro.

[vulcan42]

For the first time for a long time I wasn't given any books for Christmas. During the past year I'd noticed a number of my friends had cut down on and some had even cut out completely, reading books, so I'm assuming this is why I didn't receive any. One friend however did request 'The diary of a bookseller' which seems quite funny. On the back cover I read " This morning a woman said she had recently joined a local book reading club and Dracula had been suggested. She went on to say that she'd checked it out but couldn't find anything he'd written".

 

[naomi24]

^very good.  🤣

[Khandro]

n. How's your friend ?

[douglas9401]

Biting satire.

[barry1010]

Not for Christmas, but I was gifted a book that I'm currently reading.  It's a big disappointment, a Tess Gerritson which I usually very much enjoy.  I've read all of her Rizzoli & Isles and The Bone Garden and similar.

The Shape of Night is a different genre altogether, dabbling with romance and the supernatural.  I'll stick with it but it's not my cup of tea at all.

[nailedit]

As a kid, I used to LOVE getting a book voucher. Always been a book lover/reader.

 

The advent of the internet seems to have killed that love off. Most of my reading is now done online.

I miss that simplicity of spending a book token on any book that I wanted just after xmas.