Mystical Snow Scene and Nine Fabulous Books

 

I grew up in Wisconsin, land of gorgeous white snow in winter. The cold beauty of icicles hanging from our roof. A perfect murder weapon (ha ha), use it and then it melts so no evidence. Has that ever been done in real life or in a mystery novel? As children my sister and I made snow forts, snow angels, ice skated for free in local parks where rinks were created, and walked to school on the plowed streets. Snowflakes sparkling in the sun. Can you tell from mynostalgic ode to snow that I have now lived half my life in a part of California where it does not snow? In addition to its white glory, I do admit snow can be ugly slushy gray and conceal slippery ice. Anyhoo, above is a photo of a mystical snow covered bridge.

I did not want or need anything for Christmas so I treated myself and bought 9 books. I feel rich in books at the moment. I bought them online at Powells Books so I did not feed a mega monster store owned by a billionaire. Powell's Books has a huge selection, new and used, and they had every book I wanted.

I quickly read one of these books, The Bookseller by Mark Pryor. I am very happy this is the first book I read in 2022, it is brilliant with very high quality writing and plot. The main character is Head of Security for the American Embassy in Paris and he has crimes to solve. Good news that this is the first in a series. The bookseller is an elderly man who has a book stall along the Seine; I spent many happy moments browsing in those bookstalls, when I lived in Paris for two summers, so this book is a mad nostalgic read for me. Plus murder and mystery.

In case you can't read the titles in the photo, I bought two books by my favorite novelist, Anthony Trollope: Castle Richmond and Sir Harry Hotspur of Humblethwaite. This will bring my total of books I read by Trollope to 30. Love that man. His books were set in the 1860s, 1870s and 1880s, when he lived and wrote. I am reading Sir Harry Hotspur now, it is about Sir Harry and his 20 year old daughter, and who will she marry.

What books are you reading in the New Year?

Books I got Christmas 2020, My New TBR books

 

Santa brought me these five books for Christmas 2020. Isn't he thoughtful? They are just what I wanted, well in this case, Santa is me. Of course, I get easily diverted to other books so some of these may not get read for a while. 

My son Colt surprised me with a Kindle Oasis ebook reader for Christmas, and now all my 400 ebooks are loaded on to it. It sure is more slim and light weight than my old Kindle, which is 7 or 8 years old.

Live Not By Lies: A Manual for Christian Dissidents by Rod Dreher. My close friend told me about this book.

Ordinary Grace by William Kent Krueger. Many bloggers recommend this book and I am reading it now and enjoying it.

Portuguese Irregular Verbs by Alexander McCall Smith. I like everything Smith writes and I read this quickly. It has plenty of humor and is about a professor who specializes in a minute, tiny, esoteric subject and who struggles mightily to get recognition. There is even a sword fight and the tip of a nose cut off, and sewn back on.

Unto Us a Son Is Born by Donna Leon. I am reading this police/mystery series set in Venice, Italy, and this is about no. 17. I suggest reading them in order so you get to know the honorable policeman and his extended family.

Crimson Snow: Winter Mysteries, edited by Martin Edwards. This sounds like a perfect book for me to read in the winter. Two bloggers recommended this book.

In Bible study on Sundays after church the teacher said that having a study Bible is helpful. He has the Life Application Study Bible, and two students recommend that one too, so I treated myself to a copy. I chose the large print edition, which is not what I think of as large print, but the font is a just right size and very readable. Every page of the Bible, verse by verse, has helpful notes adding to my understanding. The more I read the Bible, and study it with other people, the more I learn and the richer my faith is. My friend, Terry, painted the book mark for me.

Of course since Christmas I bought quite a few more books, including A Gentleman in Moscow, The Silent Patient, The Problem of Pain by C.S. Lewis, and Anxious for Nothing: Finding Calm in a Chaotic World by Max Lucado, which are all print books. For ebooks I recently added The Broken Way by Ann Voskamp, Agorafabulous (memoir), We'll Always Have Paris: A Novel by Sue Watson, Widowish (memoir), The Wrong End of the Table: A Mostly Comic Memoir by Ayser Salman and PriestDaddy (memoir, yes there are married Catholic priests). I buy faster than I can read. Ha ha. 

I counted the books I read in 2020 and it is 56. I think that is a nice number, I am not rushing through the books but am savoring them.

Did you get books for Christmas or in January? Let me know which ones you got.