SUNDAY SALON AND CHRISTMAS BOOTY

Well, hello all!  I must say that after taking a break from blogging for over a week, I feel TOTALLY refreshed and raring to go for the new year.  I really didn't do much internet stuff at all over the holidays, and it was just wonderful.  But now I am back and realize how much I truly enjoy reading all of your blogs, interacting with all of you (or as many as I can.. how Bermudaonion does it I have no idea!  She remains the QUEEN of COMMENTING for sure!)  and writing on Book Blab here. 

My reading over the holidays consisted of Pope Joan, and I was just itching to see what my hubby and girls picked out for me for Christmas and was SUPER excited with their choices, PLUS my parents, er I mean "Santa" gave me a gift card to Chapters.  SWOON!  So, here is what was given and purchased in all their bookish glory:

Aren't they BEAUTIFUL?..........excuse me, I feel a little light headed.....

I know you can see from the pic what the books are, but here is the run down anyway:

GRACELING by Kristin Cashore

There has been much ballyhoo about this book in the bloggy world, and thus I have wanted to read it for a veeeerrrry long time.  Okay, for a few months, but whatever.  It always feels like a long time when one is waiting to read a juicy little number.  And get a load of the premise, here is the blurb from Amazon.ca

Katsa has been able to kill a man with her bare hands since she was eight shes a Graceling, one of the rare people in her land born with an extreme skill. As niece of the king, she should be able to live a life of privilege, but Graced as she is with killing, she is forced to work as the kings thug. When she first meets Prince Po, Graced with combat skills, Katsa has no hint of how her life is about to change. She never expects to become Pos friend. She never expects to learn a new truth about her own Graceor about a terrible secret that lies hidden far away . . . a secret that could destroy all seven kingdoms with words alone. With elegant, evocative prose and a cast of unforgettable characters, debut author Kristin Cashore creates a mesmerizing world, a death-defying adventure, and a heart-racing romance that will consume you, hold you captive, and leave you wanting more.

Sounds like a gooder, am I right?

Next on the roster is:

WOLF HALL by Hilary Mantel

There has been a lot of talk about this one as well, and it is apparently a very very good historical fiction and the first page has me immediately hooked, which is (most of the time) a good sign.

Here's the blurb on that one (courtesy of Amazon.ca):

England, the 1520s. Henry VIII is on the throne, but has no heir. Cardinal Wolsey is his chief advisor, charged with securing the divorce the pope refuses to grant. Into this atmosphere of distrust and need comes Thomas Cromwell, first as Wolsey's clerk, and later his successor. Cromwell is a wholly original man: the son of a brutal blacksmith, a political genius, a briber, a charmer, a bully, a man with a delicate and deadly expertise in manipulating people and events. Ruthless in pursuit of his own interests, he is as ambitious in his wider politics as he is for himself. His reforming agenda is carried out in the grip of a self-interested parliament and a king who fluctuates between romantic passions and murderous rages.

From one of our finest living writers, Wolf Hall is that very rare thing: a truly great English novel, one that explores the intersection of individual psychology and wider politics. With a vast array of characters, and richly overflowing with incident, it peels back history to show us Tudor England as a half-made society, moulding itself with great passion and suffering and courage.

I have one thing to say about that blurb:  Yu...mmy.

Next is A LION AMONG MEN by Gregory Maguire
This is the next in the trilogy for his Oz series.  I started this one over the holidays and it proves to be as weird and groovy as the last two.  I only JUST started it, though, and as is the way with most of his books it takes a good chunk of the book to get me really hooked, so I'll keep you posted.  Basically this is the life story of the Cowardly lion of the Wizard of Oz story. 

And on to:  PIRATE LATITUDES by Michael Crichton

I have to preface this by saying that I have never in my life... ever... read anything by Michael Crichton.  Yes, I have seen the Jurassic movies, and that's about it.  But there is something about Pirates, and the sea.  I just LOVE to read about them!  In fact, if any of you reading this right now have any recommendations for any sea faring type books set in the piraty type era I would be much appreciated.  For example one of my all time favourite books I discovered last spring by total fluke was John Boyne's Mutiny on the Bounty. 

ANYway, I don't know much about this one other than this manuscript was found among his belongings after his death, and from what I have heard about it, it's pretty good. 

Here is the blurb from Amazon.ca: 
The Caribbean, 1665. A remote colony of the English crown, the island of Jamaica holds out against the vast supremacy of the Spanish empire. Devoid of London's luxuries, Port Royal, its capital, is a cutthroat town of taverns, grog shops, and bawdy houses. In this steamy climate, life can end swiftly by dysentery--or dagger. But for a daring soul like Captain Charles Hunter, this wild outpost in the New World can also lead to great fortune, if he abides by the island's code. In the name of His Majesty King Charles II of England, gold in Spanish hands is gold for the taking and the law of the land rests with those ruthless enough to make it.



Word in port is that the Spanish galleon El Trinidad, fresh from New Spain, is awaiting repairs in nearby Matanceros. Heavily fortified, the impregnable Spanish harbor is guarded by the bloodthirsty Cazalla, a favorite commander of King Philip IV. With the Jamaican governor's backing, Hunter assembles a crew of ruffians to infiltrate the enemy island and commandeer the galleon and its fortune in Spanish gold. The raid is as perilous as the bloodiest tales of Matanceros legend, and Hunter will lose more than one man before he makes it onto the island's shores, where dense jungle and the firepower of Spanish infantry stand between him and the treasure.

With the help of his cunning band, Hunter hijacks El Trinidad and escapes the deadly clutches of Cazalla, leaving plenty of carnage in his wake. But the danger--and adventure--are only just beginning. . .


And last but by no means least is the brand spankin' new cookbook by Ree Drummond from Pioneer Woman who I have loved since she launched her little wee blog two and a half years ago.  This wee blog grew to the mammoth it is today (and I know you bloggers reading this will appreciate this stat) which has an AVERAGE OF 33 MILLION HITS EVERY SINGLE MONTH.  Thaaaaaat's right.  She is the little blogger that could.  What started out as blog like we all have, to share her thoughts and a few recipes with a few family members, exploded into the juggernaut that it is today from her post on how to cook a steak.  But it wasn't just that, the appeal about Ree is she is just like us, her blog is written in the funniest best voice E-V-E-R, and you will find yourself reading every little scrap she has on there, just because she is so damn charming and funny.  Her cookbook is just like her blog, very charming and cute.  I have only one small bone to pick with it though, I in no shape or form needed a recipe for egg in the hole.  I just don't need to read how to cut a hole in a piece a bread and fry an egg in said hole.  Don't need that.  And I also don't need a recipe on how to mash potatoes.  I mean puh- leeeze.  Otherwise it is pretty good.  But all of her recipes are available on her site FOR FREE, so in hind site I guess I didn't really need the book, but I am totally happy my hubby bought it for me.  It is beautiful, and I look at it every night in bed and dream about all of the yummy things I'm going to make with it. 

So, that was my Christmas booty!  Not to mention my ACTUAL booty has grown about a size and a half due to the holidays, but I'm not going to cry about it.  I'm totally not.  Really. 

We were at the library today and I aquired a copy of "Shiver" by Maggie Stiefvater  (how much do I love that woman's last name? Go 'head, ask me.)  which I have been in line to get for ages so I'll be reading that along with "Lament" (and OH MY GOD I literally JUST discovered as I opened another page to google the author of this one to type in here, and it is MAGGIE STIEFVATER!  I had no idea!  Okay, she may just be my new favourite YA author.  I'm just sayin'.)  by Maggie Stiefvater.

What was YOUR holiday booty???

WISHLIST WEDNESDAY

Is a weekly meme hosted by Book Chick City.  It gives us all a chance to post about books we are wishing for!

Like many of my fellow bibliophiles I have an ever growing wishlist, and an actual wishlist that is in my hubby's iPhone as we speak! Here are some  of the highlights:

Barbara Kinsolver's The Lucana

I have always been a HUGE fan of Barbara Kingsolver.  I read The Poisonwood Bible and LOVED it, and my other one which I actually loved even more was The Bean Trees. 

The reviews for this have been all over the place, but I'll take my chances! 

Here's the blurb from HarperCollins:
In her most accomplished novel, Barbara Kingsolver takes us on an epic journey from the Mexico City of artists Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo to the America of Pearl Harbor, FDR, and J. Edgar Hoover. The Lacuna is a poignant story of a man pulled between two nations as they invent their modern identities.


Born in the United States, reared in a series of provisional households in Mexico—from a coastal island jungle to 1930s Mexico City—Harrison Shepherd finds precarious shelter but no sense of home on his thrilling odyssey. Life is whatever he learns from housekeepers who put him to work in the kitchen, errands he runs in the streets, and one fateful day, by mixing plaster for famed Mexican muralist Diego Rivera. He discovers a passion for Aztec history and meets the exotic, imperious artist Frida Kahlo, who will become his lifelong friend. When he goes to work for Lev Trotsky, an exiled political leader fighting for his life, Shepherd inadvertently casts his lot with art and revolution, newspaper headlines and howling gossip, and a risk of terrible violence.


Meanwhile, to the north, the United States will soon be caught up in the internationalist goodwill of World War II. There in the land of his birth, Shepherd believes he might remake himself in America's hopeful image and claim a voice of his own. He finds support from an unlikely kindred soul, his stenographer, Mrs. Brown, who will be far more valuable to her employer than he could ever know. Through darkening years, political winds continue to toss him between north and south in a plot that turns many times on the unspeakable breach—the lacuna—between truth and public presumption.

With deeply compelling characters, a vivid sense of place, and a clear grasp of how history and public opinion can shape a life, Barbara Kingsolver has created an unforgettable portrait of the artist—and of art itself. The Lacuna is a rich and daring work of literature, establishing its author as one of the most provocative and important of her time.

AND: 

PIONEER WOMAN COOKS by Ree Drummond   

I wish I could verbalize HOW EXCITED I AM ABOUT THIS BOOK!!!!  I found her blog (back when it was a blog and not the amazing empire that the charming Ree has created!) about 3 years ago, and have watched it grow from a blog to an INCREDIBLE funny, informative, generous, and yummy site.  You MUST MUST MUST check it out.  Click here.  I'll wait.   She was recently featured on the Bonnie Hunt show, and as is her way she shared every step of the way with her readers.  She is A-W-E-S-O-M-E.   I make her super yummy Pecan Caramel Apple pie all of the time, and can't WAIT to get my hands on this book.  Her photography is amazing too.  
 
Okay, enough raving.   
 

The other one I am wishing for is A Lion Among Men by Gregory Maguire.  It's the third in the Oz series and I just loved the first two, so I am dying to read the last one. 
 
Here's the blurb from HarperCollins for this one:
Since Wicked was first published in 1995, millions of readers have discovered Gregory Maguire's fantastically encyclopedic Oz, a world filled with characters both familiar and new, darkly conceived and daringly reimagined. In the much-anticipated third volume of the Wicked Years, we return to Oz, seen now through the eyes of the Cowardly Lion—the once tiny cub defended by Elphaba in Wicked.



While civil war looms in Oz, a tetchy oracle named Yackle prepares for death. Before her final hour, an enigmatic figure known as Brrr—the Cowardly Lion—arrives searching for information about Elphaba Thropp, the Wicked Witch of the West. As payment, Yackle, who hovered on the sidelines of Elphaba's life, demands some answers of her own.

Brrr surrenders his story to the ailing maunt: Abandoned as a cub, his earliest memories are gluey hazes, and his path from infancy in the Great Gillikin Forest is no Yellow Brick Road. Seeking to redress an early mistake, he trudges through a swamp of ghosts, becomes implicated in a massacre of trolls, and falls in love with a forbidding Cat princess. In the wake of laws that oppress talking Animals, he avoids a jail sentence by agreeing to serve as a lackey to the war-mongering Emperor of Oz.


A Lion Among Men chronicles a battle of wits hastened by the Emerald City's approaching armies. What does the Lion know of the whereabouts of the Witch's boy, Liir? What can Yackle reveal about the auguries of the Clock of the Time Dragon? And what of the Grimmerie, the magic book that vanished as quickly as Elphaba? Is destiny ever arbitrary? Can those tarnished by infamy escape their sobriquets—cowardly, wicked, brainless, criminally earnest—to claim their own histories, to live honorably within their own skins before they're skinned alive?

At once a portrait of a would-be survivor and a panoramic glimpse of a world gone shrill with war fever, Gregory Maguire's new novel is written with the sympathy and power that have made his books contemporary classics.