Sunday, November 20, 2016

It's Monday and the holidays are coming!

Hello bookish ladies and gentlemen! How are things in your little corner of the world?

We are very much looking forward to the rest of the year. We have given in a few days earlier than usual: the tree is up (just lights, no ornaments yet) and Christmas music is in occasional rotation. It will probably be full-time towards the end of this week. We'll be spending Thanksgiving with my family and then looking forward to a certain little boy's ninth birthday (someone please hold me).

I finished A Thousand Nights pretty quickly and then went to the interwebs to discover if this would be the first book in a series. Apparently, E.K. Johnston is writing a related book that uses some of the events in A Thousand Nights as background for a retelling of Sleeping Beauty. I will definitely be checking it out next month. Then I read Glennon Doyle Melton's Love Warrior. I'm a big fan of hers and I think she tells her story with such grace and compassion for both herself and her ex-husband.

        A Thousand Nights        Love Warrior 

I'm currently reading My Grandfather Would Have Shot Me, which is a really fascinating but difficult read. To give my heart a break I'm concurrently reading Blind Submission, a novel about an assistant at a literary agency who receives a manuscript that seems to be about her.

          My Grandfather Would Have Shot Me: A Black Woman Discovers Her Family's Nazi Past   

What are you reading right now? If you are celebrating this week, have a happy turkey day! Don't forget to eat some pie and watch Gilmore Girls on Friday!

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18 comments:

  1. Thanks for a lovely post. When my kids were younger they also wanted the tree up early so they could enjoy it all the more. I think I would like My Grandfather ... but not during this holiday week because I can sense it will make me melancholy. Never heard of it, so thanks for that, though.

    I too am looking forward to Gilmore Girls on Friday. I don't do the frantic sale shopping on that day-- only if it's online. I'm not into crowds. My daughter is off work on Friday so I hope we stay in our robes all day, eat leftovers and watch tv :) Enjoy!

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    1. My little one was quite upset tonight when I told her it would be a few weeks until Christmas!

      My Grandfather Would Have Shot Me was a really powerful read, but I agree that it's not really a story to boost your spirits.

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  2. We're thinking of getting our tree up early, too - it just seems right this year! I've heard great things about Love Warrior, so I'm glad to hear you liked it :)

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    1. It really does. Life seems a bit more manageable with our Christmas decorations up, a candle burning, and a good blanket.

      Did you read Carry On, Warrior or will this be your first foray into her books?

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  3. I always like to stretch Christmas out a bit, too. It's much more fun before than after! I hadn't heard of Blind Submission, but it sounds really interesting. Thanks and happy Thanksgiving!

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    1. Me too! I am all about a month-long Christmas celebration. :)

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  4. You are way ahead of me! I'd put my tree up Christmas Eve if I could, lol. I have an evil cat who climbs up the tree and takes great joy in nibbling through the lights and removal all of the ornaments. He also keeps up all night kicking ornaments around.

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    1. That makes a lot of sense, then! My kids are old enough to not trash the decoration (usually).

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  5. We have a teeny tiny little mini tree that we bought at a discount store that fits into our teeny tiny little apartment. :-) I can't believe we're at the end of November and Christmas really is just around the corner!!!

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  6. We haven't figured out what to do about a Christmas tree this year. It's an important family tradition to me to have a real tree, but now we have a little guy crawling around... It seems easier to just skip the tree altogether! :)

    Happy Thanksgiving!

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    1. I think we gated off our tree when our kids were crawling. It's not as pretty, but you can enjoy the effect!

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  7. Wow - My Grandfather Would Have Shot Me sounds like a gut-puncher. And I just heard that Glennon Doyle Melton is dating Abby Wombach (the soccer player), who also has a new memoir out. I'd like to read both.

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    1. It was a tough read, but I really appreciated the way the book was set up.

      I'd like to read Abby's book too.

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  8. I really want to read "My Grandfather Would Have Shot Me." It's been on my list for a while, but I just haven't gotten to it yet.

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    1. It's been on my list too and I figured Nonfiction November was a good time to finally read it!

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  9. It sounds very festive your way - enjoy this special time of the year :-)
    A Thousand Nights has such a stunning cover, it really caught my eye. I will have to look into reading it!
    Have a lovely week!
    Amanda @ Mrs B's Book Reviews

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    1. It was a great read. It seems like there are a lot of 1001 Nights retellings lately, but I've been enjoying them!

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