Two Books Any Reader Would Love for Santa to Deliver

   

Step away from this blog post.

Slowly.

Slowly.

Slowly.

Good. Stop where you are. Take a deep breath.

Ready? 

Okay. I urge you: Do not allow either of these two books into your home. 

These books should be banned for us bibliophiles much as alcohol is banned for alcoholics. 

These. Books. Will. Do. Nothing. But. Build. Your. (Already. Huge.) TBRs. Into. Shaky. Towers. Of. Astonishing. Altitude.

You have been warned.

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together. Each Tuesday That Artsy Reader Girl assigns a topic and then post her top ten list that fits that topic. You’re more than welcome to join her and create your own top ten (or 2, 5, 20, etc.) list as well. Feel free to put a unique spin on the topic to make it work for you! Please link back to That Artsy Reader Girl in your own post so that others know where to find more information.

Merry Christmas from Readerbuzz!

"I love being a grandmother.

 I love everything about being a grandmother. 

It's one of the splendid unimagined joys of life."

---Maira Kalman

                                                           

Annie didn't cry. 

But she was sure suspicious of this fellow in the funny red suit.

In any case, it was much better than two years ago.

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Cooking Class

Last summer I took an Italian cooking class.

It was at the Catholic Church.

It was free.

Chef Angelo taught the class.

He was a chef for many, many years.

He was born in Italy.

Chef often stopped us and shared his tips for good cooking.

Chef put olive oil and garlic and lots of salt in everything.

Sometimes we added an extra ingredient.

We made lots of amazing food that week.

I hope I can take this class again next summer.

For more wordless photos, go to Wordless Wednesday.

Saturday Snapshot is hosted by West Metro Mommy Reads. To participate in Saturday Snapshot: post a photo that you (or a friend or family member) have taken and then leave a direct link to your post in the Mister Linky at West Metro Mommy Reads.

Weekend Cooking is hosted by Beth Fish Reads and is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book (novel, nonfiction) reviews, cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page. For more information, see the welcome post.

1483 Pages: What I'm Hoping to Read This Winter

838 + 645  =  1483

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together. Each Tuesday That Artsy Reader Girl assigns a topic and then post her top ten list that fits that topic. You’re more than welcome to join her and create your own top ten (or 2, 5, 20, etc.) list as well. Feel free to put a unique spin on the topic to make it work for you! Please link back to That Artsy Reader Girl in your own post so that others know where to find more information.

Jólabókaflóð: A Holiday Tradition

My own personal Jólabókaflóð

Iceland has an amazing holiday tradition that I plan to celebrate one year. It's called Jólabókaflóð, pronounced yo-la-bok-a-flot. At the start of the holiday season in Iceland a Bokatidindi, a catalog of every new book published in Iceland, is mailed to every home in the country. On Christmas Eve, everyone in Iceland exchanges books and then reads them.

Doesn't this sound fun?

I've my own personal Jólabókaflóð. It's all the fiction picture books and board books I've received as a Cybils judge. I will be donating these to our school district's Book Bus after the finalists are announced on January 1st.


WHAT I'M READING

I'm reading two big, wonderful books. I will be reading these into the new year.

What are you reading today?

What is the Sunday Salon? Imagine some university library's vast reading room. It's filled with people--students and faculty and strangers who've
wandered in. They're seated at great oaken desks, books piled all around them,and they're all feverishly reading and jotting notes in their leather-bound
 journals as they go. Later they'll mill around the open dictionaries and compare their thoughts on the afternoon's literary intake....That's what happens
at the Sunday Salon, except it's all virtual. Every Sunday the bloggers participating in that week's Salon get together--at their separate desks, in their
own particular time zones--and read. And blog about their reading. And comment on one another's blogs. Think of it as an informal, weekly,
mini read-a-thon, an excuse to put aside one's earthly responsibilities and fall into a good book. Click here to join the Salon.

The Sunday Post is a meme hosted by Kimba at Caffeinated Book Reviewer. It's a chance to share news and recap the past week.

Mailbox Monday was created by Marcia at The Printed Page. We share books that we found in our mailboxes last week. 

 It is now being hosted here.

Stacking the Shelves is a meme hosted by Tynga's Reviews in which you can share the books you've acquired.

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is where we share what we read this past week, what we hope to read this week…. and anything in between!
This is a great way to plan out your reading week and see what others are currently reading as well… you never know where that next “must read”
book will come from! I love being a part of this and I hope you do too! It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is hosted at The Book Date.

The Camera Sits There, Looking at Me

Why, you may be asking, am I posting a photo of a camera?

Why, instead, am I not using said camera and posting said pictures from said camera?

Simple answer. I don't know how to use it.

I've proved that. Twice. 

My sister oh-so-kindly loaned me this lovely gem to carry along on our Big Trip to Europe last spring. She gave me a short tutorial. I lugged this heavy thing everywhere, and tried taking pictures. 

Everything came out blurry.

I didn't say anything. I thought I just didn't know what I was doing. 

Finally, everything came to a head. I was in a dark old church in Florence, trying to take a photo of a candle. Blurry. Blurry. Blurry. My sister noticed I was having trouble and asked me what was wrong. I confessed that my pictures were blurry. She gave me a couple of suggestions, but it didn't correct the problem. Then she took the camera and tried to take pictures. Blurry. Blurry. Blurry.

Something's broken, she said. 

I felt terrible. Not only had all my pictures from my Big Trip to Europe come out blurry, but I'd also broken my sister's second-best camera.

When we got home, my sister took the camera to her son-in-law, a professional photographer. 

Red-faced-moment. It turns out the camera wasn't broken at all. A tiny switch had been flipped. My sister's son-in-law flipped the switch back, and everything was right with the world.

My sister has oh-so-kindly loaned me her camera again.

Now I'm too scared to touch it.

Are there picture-taking classes online? I need help!

For more wordless photos, go to Wordless Wednesday.

Saturday Snapshot is hosted by West Metro Mommy Reads. To participate in Saturday Snapshot: post a photo that you (or a friend or family member) have taken and then leave a direct link to your post in the Mister Linky at West Metro Mommy Reads.

The Best Read-Aloud Christmas Stories for Children

I retired in May, and I loved being a school librarian. There are lots of things I miss.

One of the things I miss most about being a school librarian is this time of the year when I shared my favorite Christmas stories with children. I'm a researcher by nature, and I carefully polled people and researched books other librarians and teachers loved to read aloud to children. Then I found out for myself what works best: I read aloud stories. 

I won't be singing Christmas songs, or dressing up for Polar Express Day, or sharing my favorite Christmas read-alouds with children this year, but I can share some of my favorite read-aloud stories with you.


FUNNY STORIES ABOUT SANTA AND REINDEER AND CHRISTMAS TREES AND OTHER CHRISTMAS-Y THINGS

          

Mrs. Claus Takes a Vacation

Auntie Claus

Santa's Crash-Bang Christmas

How Santa Really Works

I See Santa Everywhere

Santa's Book of Names

Olive, the Other Reindeer

Mr. Willoughby's Christmas Tree

STORIES WITH BELOVED BOOK CHARACTERS

Just about every beloved children's book character has his or her own Christmas book. Clifford. Arthur. Froggy. Fancy Nancy. Bear. Minerva Louise. They all have their own books. Take a look.

         

Clifford's Christmas

Bear Stays Up

Merry Christmas, Big Hungry Bear

A Christmas for Bear

The Peterkins' Christmas

Minerva Louise on Christmas Eve

NEW VERSIONS OF OLD STORIES

    

The Teachers' Night Before Christmas

A Pirate's Night Before Christmas

The Soldiers' Night Before Christmas

Texas Night Before Christmas

A Cajun Night Before Christmas

The Twelve Days of Christmas Dogs

Pete the Cat's Twelve Groovy Days of Christmas

Twelve Days of Christmas in Texas

CHRISTMAS MUST-READS 

       

The All-I'll-Ever-Want Christmas Doll

Mr. Willoughby's Christmas Tree

Yoon and the Christmas Mitten

The Year of the Perfect Christmas Tree

The Polar Express

The Little Match Girl

The Steadfast Tin Soldier

A Christmas Carol

A Child's Christmas in Wales

A Christmas Memory

The Night Before Christmas

How the Grinch Stole Christmas

What have I forgotten?

I've created a Best Read-Aloud Christmas Stories for Children list at Goodreads. I'd love to have you add your favorites to the list and vote.

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together. Each Tuesday That Artsy Reader Girl assigns a topic and then post her top ten list that fits that topic. You’re more than welcome to join her and create your own top ten (or 2, 5, 20, etc.) list as well. Feel free to put a unique spin on the topic to make it work for you! Please link back to That Artsy Reader Girl in your own post so that others know where to find more information.