BW51: Books, Christmas, and Winter! Oh My!

 

“I am pieces of all the places I have been,

and the people I have loved. I’ve been stitched together 

by song lyrics, book quotes, adventure, late night 

conversations, moonlight, and the smell of coffee.” ~ Brooke Hampton

Happy Sunday! We have much to celebrate as we approach the end of the year: Christmas, and the beginning of Winter, which of course, leads us to books, books, and more books. 

Speaking of books, the interweb is abuzz with the best books of 2025, and fortune was upon me when I clicked on Literary Hub's Ultimate Best Books of 2025 List.  They did the work for me as they checked out all the lists, compared who and what and which books were repeated multiple times, then linked to all the sites. Oh Boy!  I fell down the proverbial rabbit hole yesterday, exploring all the links and  adding several books to my year end wish list to purchase before my new year buying ban goes into affect. 

Plus it's time to cozy up to the fire with a hot toddy and read books about Christmas and/or set during Winter.  

Read a Cozy Christmas book or  with Christmas in the title, 

Read a book set during Winter, or with Winter in the title. 

A proverbial rabbit holes had me adding to my stacks the young adult science fiction story, Claus: Legend of the Fat Man which fills the bill for a Christmas read as well as Winter. 

"In the early 1800s, Nicholas, Jessica and Jon Santa attempt the first human trek to the North Pole and stumble upon an ancient race of people left over from the Ice Age. They are short, fat and hairy. They slide across the ice on scaly soles and carve their homes in the ice that floats on the Arctic Ocean. The elven are adapted to life in the extreme cold. They are as wise as they are ancient.

Their scientific advancements have yielded great inventions -- time-stopping devices and gravitational spheres that build living snowmen and genetically-modified reindeer that leap great distances. They’ve even unlocked the secrets to aging. For 40,000 years, they have lived in peace.

Until now.

An elven known as The Cold One has divided his people. He’s tired of their seclusion and wants to conquer the world. Only one elven stands between The Cold

One and total chaos. He’s white-bearded and red-coated. The Santa family will help him stop The Cold One. They will come to the aid of a legendary elven

known as...Claus."

Have fun exploring all the titles! 

Note:  Week 52 is going to be really short with only four days  so if you need more time to do a reading wrap up, they may be posted in the new year as L.E.S.T.E.R  begins January 1st.  And if you want to continue with your 52 books goal, the links will be available each week.  

Merry Christmas!  ~Clink~

BW51: Books to fill up your stockings!

 

Happy Sunday! It's time to peruse the best books lists as well as book club lists to fill up your stockings and TBR stacks because Winter is coming. The perfect time to curl up and read or figure out your reading plans for the new year.  So get out those journals and take note! 

Manning and Napier's - Our 2024 Year-End Book List

NPR's massive Books We Love 

Barnes and Noble's Best Books of the Year

Oprah's The Most Thought-Provoking Books of 2024

Vulture's The Best Books of 2024 The novels and nonfiction that offered unique robotproof perspectives.

The Complete List of Reese's Book Club Picks

Jenna Bush Hager Book Club list from the Today Show

The Best Celebrity Book Club Picks of the Year

Before you panic and think the year is almost over, please note book week 52 will run from December 22nd through December 31st.  Plenty of time to enjoy the holidays and ruminate over what you read this year and what you want to read next year.  

Happy Reading! 

BW48: Best Books of 2023

 

Happy Sunday!  It's that time of the year again when all the Best Books of 2023 lists come out. I'm amazed at some of the lists, especially the ones where I have never heard of or seen any of the books listed. What planet have I been living on?  Hee Hee! I'm having fun perusing the best of lists and adding to my ever growing Wishlist of books to buy before the end of the year and my annual buying ban.  Hubby said since we're redone all our bookshelves that I can't double park anymore, so will be sorting through for another round of what will I never read again books to donate in order to make room. 

According to the Chinese Zodiac, 2024 will be the Year of the Dragon which is perfect for me because I love books with all sorts of dragons.  

Rising Shadow's Best Dragon Books of 2023  

Perhaps, Perhaps Not 24 Best Dragon Books to Light Up Your Life. 

And we can't forget all the books which aren't about dragons 

NPR has published their Books We Love for 2023. 

Time released their 100 must read books of 2023. 

Bill Gates talks about Great Books, Courses, and Music from 2023.

Powell's Best Fiction of 2023

BookPage Best Fiction of 2023 .

Have fun exploring! 

Our post is sponsored by the letter E for eager, earnest, eloquent, endeavors. 

BW48: Best Books of 2022

Happy Sunday! It's that time of year when we are all thinking about next year's reading plans and  making our lists and all the best of the best 2022 book lists are popping up.   According to the Chinese zodiac 2023 is going to be the Year of the Rabbit, which is great for me since we all know how much I get lost following rabbit trails and jumping down rabbit holes on the internet.  

I'm resisting the urge to buy at the moment, adding books that sound interesting or intriguing to my wish list, and will  revisit them later, rather than impulse buy.  My kindle is full of books that I look at and wonder what was I thinking.  But then again, I have a broad assortment to choose from, whatever my mood. I'll read them in the end, eventually.  Let's explore: 

Readers Digest Best Time Travel Books That Will Transport You to Another Time and Place and 30 Best Fantasy Books of All Times.  Lots of rabbit holes to fall into with links to historical fiction, romance, young adults books, and more. Will be coming back to this one over and over again. 

Bill Gates 5 of my all time favorite books.  Mendeleyev's Dream is on my wishlist and I should probably consider rereading Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land since it keeps popping up for me.  Synchronicity!

Powell's Best Fiction Books of 2022 - the staff's descriptions alone will make you want to read every book on the list.  

Financial Times Best Fiction of 2022 - An eclectic list of  fiction 

NPR's massive list of Books We Love  - You'll be dipping in and out of this one for days. 

Time's 100 Must Read Books of 2022 - Great for the cover art alone. 

BookPage Best Non Fiction Books of 2022 - A wide range of non fiction that are intriguing. 

Our A to Z and Back Again letter and word of the Week are E and Explore. 

😘 

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BW48: Books, books, and more books

 

As the year winds down, the best books of the year lists rise up with many books in common.  Some I may have missed and others I may have deliberately missed on purpose. Some may not have been stories that enticed me into reading more...  Yet.  Some weren't my style, which can change from year to year. Different phases, different places, different mind set, or just not in the mood. But when I am in the mood, watch out. My TBR stack gets taller, while some books grow older and wait patiently, knowing that in time, I'll get to them.

If you are like me, your book shelves may be filled to the brim with books double and triple parked.  Every so often, I'll rearrange them, pulling stories and authors forward to sit front and center, pushing others to the back until it's their time to shine again.  I really don't need to buy more books, but you know, you can never have enough.  While the sleepy, dusty tome, bides its time, the shiny penny calls your name. 

While perusing the best of the best for 2021 the past few days, and adding a few to my virtual and physical stack as well as my wish list, I thought, wait.... What about 2022? All those shiny new pennies!  Time to preorder a few before my book buying ban clicks in at the beginning of the year.  Now I know why my stacks keep having babies and those babies have babies. LOL!  I'm ever so grateful to the authors and their creativity who keep me entertained.  

And I love bringing you all along to play as well, so for your enjoyment, enlightenment, and edification, below are a few links to the best of the best for 2021 and the most anticipated for 2022.  

The Irish Times Best of fiction, biography, sport, and children's books

Foreign Policy's the best books we read in 2021

The Manual: The men share the 20 Best Books of 2021 for your next read. 

Five Books Best of.....

NPR's Book Concierge is now The Books We Love.  I got lost in this one for quite a while.

On to the new shiny pennies: 

Marie Claire's 2022 Book Releases to get excited about. 

Buzzfeed's 25 Of The Most Anticipated Books Coming Out Next Year, According To Book Lovers

We are Bookish 24 Highly-Anticipated Books Hitting Shelves in 2022

The Bibliofile January 22 Most Anticipated New Book Releases

Criminal Element's Most Anticipated Mysteries and Thrillers of 2022

Bibliolifestyle's Most Anticipated Winter 2022 Romance Novels and Historical Fiction

You're welcome!

P.S. In anticipation and preparation for next year, check out the links above which has been updated and includes four new challenges for 2022.  

Have fun following rabbit trails. I did.

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BW47: Best of 2020

"Reading is like breathing in, Writing is like breathing out" ~ Pam Allyn     What a wonderful quote!  Reading to me is as necessary as breathing and writing has become much the same. I get grumpy without my daily dose of words.  I am ever so thankful for books and those who make them possible from the writers to the publishers to the online and brick mortar stores from whom I can satisfy my bookish sweet tooth.  Especially writers, as we are the beneficiary of  their creativity. They inspire, entertain, enrich our lives, teach us how to do new things, enlighten us with knowledge, make us laugh or cry, and ponder the meaning of history and life.  

From classic literature to comic books, there is a wide variety to satisfy every reading palate. As we head into the end of the year, the best of lists are being released and the desire is great to fill our shelves, both virtual and physical with those books we want to read. My year ends with an end of the year shopping extravaganza, before I institute a buying ban at the beginning of the new year.  Usually until April, sometimes longer, to give myself time to enjoy those which reside on my shelf for a bit before abandoning them to the temptation of the new. 

Ready for the best of the best?  Let's begin with New York Time's 100 Notable Books of 2020 and the 10 best books through time. 

According to Oprah, these are the best of 2020

Financial Times shares their 20 best from crime to history to economics.

Esquire presents 44 of the best books to elevate your reading list. 

Electric Literature offers up 20 Small Press Books you may have missed in 2020.

Five Books shares a plethora of  top 5 lists from award shortlists to audiobooks.

And let's not forget the Greatest Books  of all time. 

Stay tuned to NPR's Book Concierge who will be coming out with their year end interactive reading guide for 2020 in a couple weeks. Meanwhile 2013 to 2019 lists are available. 

Have fun following rabbit trails. 

Happy Thanksgiving from my family to yours!

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Please share your book reviews and link to your website, blog, Goodreads, Google+, Tumblers, or Instagram page. If you do not have a social media account, please leave a comment to let us know what you are reading. The link widget closes at the end of each book week.

In the Your Name field, type your name and the name of the book in parenthesis. In the Your URL field paste a link to your post, then check the privacy box and click enter.