Saturday, November 24, 2018

Reading Goals Til New Year's

My header for this entry sounds so ambitious, as if I'm really going to forge forth and consume books by the armful until December 31st at midnight. 
I do plan to make reading and listening to books a priority in December, but we'll be busy as well.
This year we will thrust aside our laziness and put up a Charlie Brown Tree.

A Charlie Brown would be one of our own balsam firs growing on our 27 acres, somewhere. Balsams growing wild are a bit straggly, hence the CB designation. We've done it before but have not had any tree of any kind for about 4-5  years. I just need Ken to construct a base for it, so the trunk can sit in a bit of water.
We have the decorations. I have missed a Christmas tree.

So reading:
I'm loving Jenny Colgan's Christmas on the Island (the fictional Scottish island of Mure) a little too much. So much so, that I don't want it to end. It is that good. Do consider it for your holiday fun!

I've just started reading a Christmas murder mystery novel by the Canadian author Douglas Whiteway, writing under the pseudonym C.C. Benison. The book is the first in a Christmas series, entitled Twelve Drummers Drumming, published in 2011. I've read 25 pages and the humor and pathos have kept me turning the pages.  Father Tom Christmas (no, no--please just call me Tom!) is vicar at a new posting less than a year after the death of his wife. His daughter Miranda, age 9, has made a wonderful adjustment to the new village in Devon, attached as she is to the sprawling Swan Family of children. Father Christmas--no, no, please! Call Me Tom is engaging in the life of the congregation, but still there are all those nagging doubts about what happened to the previous vicar who vanished under bizarre and mysterious circumstances.  Good characters are in development here, and good writing. My only hesitation is that the book is 347 pages long.
I bought this ebook years ago and I now see that I must read it this holiday season, if the length does not do me in.

I do plan to read multiple additional Christmas-themed novels before Christmas. Help me keep track.

Norwegian Christmas Custom Alert!
Did you know, or have you heard, that many Norwegians are supposed to have a custom of giving books as gifts on Christmas Eve, intended to be read all night? I learned of this online somewhere, yet wonder  if it is truly a custom in Norway. I would love to invite friends for Christmas Eve to participate in this custom, but Christmas Eve is far from an ideal time for many who will have extended family visiting at that time. But what about New Year's Eve? Now that sounds like a plan! I'd love to pull this off. We'll see.

4 comments:

  1. I always hope to get a lot of reading done at Christmas but it never happens as we always have family staying etc. I tend to look forward to that period between Christmas and the New Year after everyone's gone home. Plenty of leftovers in the fridge so no need to cook much either.

    I had heard that they do that book exchange thing in Iceland but not Norway. Suspect it's a Scandinavian 'thing' and they all do it... how lovely!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Cath,
      It is a fact that there are so many things to do in December, that personal hobbies do take a backseat. I'm going to try to convince Ken to do this reading on Christmas Eve with me, if only for a few hours.

      Delete
  2. I don't know what December will be like for us, Judith, since my husband is having cataract surgery in late December, and we have several appointments in preparation for that. But we do both have a week and a half around Christmas and New Year's Day off, so that will help. I want to get several Christmassy books reviewed. I am reading Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow now which is set at Christmas.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hogmanay (New Year's Eve) would suit me better as Christmas Eve is J's birthday so the family will be here. I enjoyed Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow a few years ago.

    ReplyDelete

 
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