Double-Stacked Bookshelves

 Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish and it's a way to share what you're loving in list form. The topic changes every week, so there is always something new to discover! This week's topic is:  Top Ten Books I Wouldn't Mind Santa Bringing This Year .  This list will be a smattering of new and old releases, so here goes: Outlander  by Diana Gabaldon...the entire series All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr The Boston Girl by Anita Diamant Winter by Marissa Meyer (event though it's not out yet...Santa is magic!) The Winds of Winter and A Dream of Spring by George R.R. Martin (again, Santa is magic!) The Selection series by Kiera Cass Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay by Elena Ferrante Delicious Foods by James Hannaham The Sasquatch Hunter's Almanac: A Novel by Sharma Shields The Body in the Woods and Blood Will Tell by April Henry Though some of these have been out for a while, a lot of th...

Worst Gift...EVER! Sadly, the worst gift I ever received during the holidays is easy to remember.  I think I was in high school and we were at my grandparent's house (my dad's father and his third...or fourth...wife).  Now, my step-grandmother has never been the best at gifting, and her "real" grandkids we never subjected to her delightful gifts the way we were.  But this one took the cake.  Upon opening the box, wrapped in Sunday comics, I discovered the following: Pens and pencils (I didn't mind that) Men's cologne from the Dollar Tree.  I am not now, nor have I ever been, a man... A box of assorted safety pins...yeah Other various small items Safety pins!  Men's cologne!  What?!?  I think everyone was slightly horrified.  Even my brother was like "what the f*@%".  How do you even respond to that?  Naturally, I thanked them for the gift but I will never forget that... She's also given me underwear...but that's an entir...

Another Wednesday has fallen upon us and that means it's time for another edition of "Why I Love Wednesday", a meme hosted by Alexis at Reflections of a Bookaholic .  This week's topic is Gifted Books .  While I don't tend to get many books as gifts (I can be slightly difficult to buy books for) and am more apt to give them, there are a few that have been given to me and were great gifts. First on this list would be Ingeborg Bachmann's Malina .  I received this book in the original German from my, much loved, German professor when I graduated from undergrad.  She wrote a beautiful inscription on the front page and it's definitely a book that I will keep for as long as I can.  I have yet to read the entire thing (it's in German, therefore a little more slow-going than an English version), but I am determined to one day finish it. Secondly would be a Christmas present I received from my parents years ago.  I have always been a huge fan of Nirvana a...