I've been a bit M.I.A. this month. Although I've still been reading, everything else has kind of taken a back burner to the big exam I just completed. I became an accredited genealogist earlier this year, with a specialty in the U.S. Southwest region (Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, and California, as defned by ICAPGen), but, because I'm a little crazy, I decided to accredit in an additional region. This one has actually been a long time coming thanks to COVID delays, but I finally took the 8-hour exam to accredit in the U.S. Great Lakes region (Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin, Indiana, and Illinois). It was stressful, but I'm done. Keep your fingers crossed that I pass it!

As a reward for completing my testing (not that I ever really need an excuse), I treated myself to a Barnes & Noble trip. I considered driving to Tempe to hit up my local(ish) indie, Changing Hands Bookstore, but after a long morning of testing, I was basically on the verge of collapse and I just didn't want to drive that far. So, I stayed really local and bought this lovely trio at B&N:

Believe it or not, Christmas is only two weeks away.  Yikes!  Are you ready?  I'm not even ready for tomorrow, so ... yeah.  I have, however, bought myself a number of gifts already.  Nothing for anyone else yet, but I can say with a surety that Santa is taking good care of me this year!  Since a lot of my purchases were books and this week's topic for Top Ten Tuesday is a holiday freebie, I'll show off the goods below.  Then, I better get going on Christmas shopping for the fam ... 

If you've never played along with TTT before, you really should.  It's a fun weekly event that helps book bloggers spread the love across our fabulous online community.  I love dropping in on favorite blogs, discovering new ones, and, of course, adding great-sounding reading recommendations to my TBR list pile mountain mountain chain.  It's a good time, I promise!  All you have to do is click on over to That Artsy Reader Girl, read a few instructions, create your own list, and start hopping around the Web.  Easy peasy.

Here we go with the Top Ten Books Santa Already Put Under My Tree (metaphorically speaking—they're actually on my festive red book cart):

*I should mention that I brought this haul home from my favorite local indie, Changing Hands Bookstore.  One of my favorite things about the place is that they offer their customers a yearly birthday discount.  They also let you trade in your old books in exchange for a generous store credit.  Since I have a December birthday, I made a trip to Changing Hands the other day.  I traded in some books and used both store credit and my birthday discount to get a whole stack of goodies.  If you live near me or are just visiting the Phoenix area, you should definitely visit one of their two locations.  I prefer the Tempe store (it's funky, fun, and has a lovely staff), but the Phoenix one is a treat as well.*


1.  The Line Between by Tosca Lee—In this post-apocalyptic novel, an eradicated disease reemerges from the melting permafrost in Alaska, causing its victims to go insane.  An escapee from a doomsday cult finds herself trying to navigate her way in a strange, new world while also learning the disturbing truth about the emergent virus.  Post-apocalypse + cults?  Count me in.

2.  The Women of the Copper Country by Mary Doria Russell—I haven't read anything by this author, but this historical novel, about a woman who defies convention to stand up for the rights of miners in turn-of-the-century Michigan, sounds intriguing.

3.  The Life and Death Parade by Eliza Wass—I realized after buying this book that it has pretty ho-hum ratings on book sites.  Oh well.  It sounds interesting.  The novel concerns a boy who visited a psychic who told him he had no future.  Now, he's dead.  His girlfriend vows to find out what really happened to him.

4.  My Bookstore by Ronald Rice—This gem was in the clearance section for super cheap, so I snatched it up.  It's a collection of essays by authors like John Grisham, Fannie Flagg, Ann Patchett, Carrie Ryan, etc. talking about their favorite bookstores.  Sounds fun!

5.  A Noël Killing by M.L. Longworth—After talking about holiday books I wanted to read in last week's TTT, I was immediately drawn to a display table full of just that.  I bought several titles I mentioned in that post, plus this one.  It's actually the 8th book in a mystery series set in France.  Maybe I'll be able to read the first seven before next Christmas.

6.  Before and After by Lisa Wingate—If you've read Before We Were Yours, Wingate's based-on-a-true novel about the horrifying Tennessee Children's Home Society orphanage, you might be interested in this one.  It's a collection of real-life experiences from people who lived at the orphanage.  Sounds fascinating.

7.  The Black Hour by Lori Rader-Day—I've enjoyed several novels by Rader-Day.  This one, about a college professor who's disabled after being shot by a student trying to come to grips with what happened to her and the graduate student who's obsessed with the event, sounds compelling.

8.  The Nature of the Beast by Louise Penny—I'm a rabid Penny fan, but I'm purposely reading her Armand Gamache series slowly so I can savor it.  This is the 11th installment and I'm sure I'll love it just as much as I have all the others.

I picked up these two at Deseret Book a few weeks ago:

9.  This Road We Traveled by Jane Kirkpatrick—I enjoy pioneer novels and this one, about a woman's journey across the Oregon Trail, sounds like a good one.

10.  Wildly Optimistic by Al Fox Carraway—Carraway, a convert to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints who calls herself "The Tattooed Mormon" is a popular speaker, writer, and online personality.  Her books are fun and inspiring.  I'm excited for this one, her newest. 

There you have it, ten books "Santa" already delivered.  Have you read any of them?  What did you think?  Have you been so good this year that Santa's already gifted you some fun books?  What intriguing titles are you hoping to find under the Christmas tree this year?  I'd truly love to know.  Leave a comment on this post and I will gladly return the favor on your blog.

Happy TTT!

Even though Halloween's over, I still have a few treats up my sleeve. Mostly they're treats for me, but still, I thought I'd share. I'm just generous that way :)

-- First off, I have a winner to announce. Pam, you won copies of all three books in the Iron Elves series by Chris Evans. Congratulations! If you'll shoot me an email (blogginboutbooks AT gmail DOT COM) with your mailing address, I'll pass it onto the author's publicist so she can get your books to you.

Thanks to everyone who entered the contest. I'll be having more giveaways, including a big one to celebrate my 1000th post - when I reach that milestone, of course (this post is #951). So, definitely stay tuned.

-- Secondly, I thought you might like to see my new license plate. I totally love it, especially the Q's, which look like little googly eyes. Anybody else have a bookish plate? They're so fun!

-- Thirdly, I wanted to give a big shout-out to my (kinda) local indie bookstore, Changing Hands. Since it's about a 30-minute drive from my house, I don't go there that often, but when I do, I'm always impressed by the place. They have a HUGE selection of new and used books and the booksellers there are so helpful and friendly. Case in point: CH has a promotion going on where you get a $10 gift card to their store when you purchase a one-year subscription to the Arizona Republic. Since I'm big into coupons, I wanted another copy of the paper anyway, and this seemed like the perfect time to order it. So, I did. My extra paper came right away, but I didn't hear anything about the gift card. When I still hadn't heard anything after a week, I emailed the folks over at CH. Soon, I got an email back apologizing for the mix-up and offering me a $15 gift card for my trouble. Nice, right? CH also has a rewards program and they give you a discount during your birthday month. Plus, the Wildflower Bread Company store/restaurant is right next door, so the bookstore smells amazing! There are so many reasons to check Changing Hands out - if you're in the Tempe area, stop in. You'll love it.

I took my 9-year-old daughter with me on this excursion. Neither of us can resist a bookstore. She was super excited to find some old American Girl books and at bargain prices, too. Since she was making such frugal choices, I wandered over to the new releases section and found these two titles:

I've been really excited about When She Woke by Hillary Jordan ever since I first read about it. A dystopian Scarlet Letter-ish story? Yes, please! Cannot wait to read this one. And the book's signed by the author to boot. Insert happy dance here.

I'd never heard of Those Across the River by Christopher Beuhlman until I saw it in the store, but it looks really good, too. Creepy. I probably should have read it before Halloween. Oh well.

-- Speaking of things I should have done before Halloween, I have a Cooking the Books post for you that I'm going to publish today (with an earlier date on it, though, so it looks like I did it when I was supposed to). It's for Whoopie Pies and it'll go up right before my review of Pumpkin Roll by Josi Kilpack, since that's the book it came out of ('kay, the recipe is now up. Click here). Even if you're not interested in Whoopie Pies (which you should be because they're rich and chocolatey and just yummy), you might want to check out the post about Pumpkin Roll. Josi's running a giveaway for an iPad 2 that ends today. You can get extra entries by commenting on my review of Pumpkin Roll. So, if that interests you (and why wouldn't it?), click here for all the details.

-- Okay, that's it. I'm going to be working on catching up on everything today - reviews, reading, laundry, ironing, coupons, dusting, mopping, etc. Gah! I can't believe it's November already. Where did 2011 go?

In case there's anyone out there who doubts the power of book bloggers to sell books, I offer you the following:

EXHIBIT A: Books I recently purchased from Costco

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley

Saving CeeCee Honeycutt by Beth Hoffman

EXHIBIT B: Books I recently purchased from Amazon

Dirty Little Secrets by C.J. Omololu

This World We Live In by Susan Beth Pfeffer

The Dead-Tossed Waves by Carrie Ryan

All of these books have been so talked up on book blogs that I couldn't wait for my turn at the library - I had to buy them. Yes, had to. While I'm busily making my way through these shiny beauties, let's talk about a couple other things ...

You only have a few more days to enter the giveaway for My Ridiculous, Romantic Obsessions by Becca Wilhite. This is a light, clean, fun romance that really is a delightful read. You know you want it, so enter already. Deadline is midnight on March 20.

-----

I still haven't heard back from Jenii, who won a copy of Taken By Storm by Angela Morrison. Since I've been out of commission lately, I'm going to give her until Monday to contact me. If I haven't heard from her by then, I'll select another winner.

-----

The lovely Jillian over at Random Ramblings gave me The Stylish Blogger Award and the Beautiful Blogger Award. Thanks so much! I'm supposed to pass it on to 15 other bloggers. Recently, I discovered Crazy for Books and Jennifer's Book Blogger Hop. I think this is a fabulous idea. I already subscribe to 200+ book blogs on my reader, so it's not like I need to discover anymore, but still ... it's kind of an addiction, you know? Anyway, I'm going to pass the award on to Jennifer and 14 other blogs that I've found through the Hop:

1. Jennifer @ Crazy for Books - for spreading the book bloggy love

2. Robby @ Once Upon A Book Blog - a 14-year-old boy who reviews books in a very intelligent, well-written manner. Need I say more?

3. Laura Fabiani @ Library of Clean Reads - because I always get excited when I find blogs dedicated to clean reads.

4. Christie @ The Fiction Enthusiast - a "kinda crunchy" SAHM reviews YA paranormal books. Pretty blog design, succinct reviews (something I'm always failing at), and fun personality.

5. Libby's Library - fun blog layout and I love how her reviews are short, sweet and look like poetry. Plus, she adores Adriana Trigiani - a girl after my own heart.

6. Bethany @ Words, Words, Words - nice, well-written reviews

7. Tweezle @ Just One More Paragraph - enjoyable reviews and she hates housecleaning as much as I do!

8. Jessica @ Forever Young: A YA Lit Blog - a high school English teacher who reviews YA books. If only all h.s. teachers were so cool!

9. Angela @ Reading Angel - I love the whimsical layout of her blog. Plus, I love finding other SAHMs that read and blog. So fun!

10. The Little Reader - I love how she reads books that are a little different from the norm - most of her newer picks are ones I haven't seen reviewed a million times already.

11. Mrs. B @ The Literary Stew - love the title of this blog and her reviews of classicish books

12. Juju @ Tales of Whimsy - I love the way she sets up her reviews. Also all the recipes. Yum.

13. Jeannie @ Pine Cottage Books - because doesn't "Pine Cottage" just conjure up an image of cozy reading in front of a roaring fire? Plus, this Miss Marple wannabe grandma is funny and writes such enjoyable reviews.

14. Jonita @ The Book Chick - her reviews remind me of mine, which is to say thorough :) [Argh! I've got the wrong URL on this one - anyone know the correct one?]

15. Amanda @ Desert Book Chick - Read Amanda's "About" section and you'll find that she's absolutely fascinating. I love reading what this Australian adventurer has to say!

Phew! That's a lot of book bloggers. And there are so many more out there. Your Google reader will hate you, but you should really join in the Book Blogger Hop and check out all the great book blogs out there.

You're supposed to pass on the award to 15 others. I know some people hate passing them on, so I'll understand if you don't, but it's always nice to spread the bloggy love around.

-----

I just received an email letting me know that my blog is being included in Rachelle Rogers Knight's Read, Remember, Recommend. It's listed in the Resources section under "Lighter Book-Related Blogs." Cool, huh? According to the publisher (Sourcebooks):

Read, Remember, Recommend brings exceptional works of fiction to the attention of readers while inciting their overall enjoyment by exploring thoughts, feelings and emotions through the course of reading. The journal features dozens of cross-referenced lists of literary awards and notable picks and offers more than 2,500 suggestions to help readers discover great literature and new authors. Users can record books read, jot down thoughts and ideas, and keep track of recommendations, books borrowed and loaned, and book club history.

I'm thrilled to be included. Can't wait to get my copy of the book!

-----

Angela Morrison. You may have heard that her publisher did not pick up Unbroken Connection, the sequel to Taken By Storm. If you (like me) are a little miffed about this, consider posting about it on your blog or joining the Facebook support page.

Also, Angela wanted me to let you know that "Beth's Song" (from Sing Me to Sleep) is now available on iTunes - find it here. You can also check out the book's Epilogue (which was cut in the final printing) on Angela's website.

-----

And just for fun, a bookish meme taken from Jillian's blog, Random Ramblings:

1. Book next to your bed right now: I don't usually keep a book on my nightstand. If I'm going to read in bed, I just bring up whatever book I'm reading.

2. Favorite series: I love, love, love series', so I'm just going to list the first 5 that come to mind: Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling; Big Stone Gap by Adriana Trigiani; Temperance Brennan books by Kathy Reichs; The Last Survivors by Susan Beth Pfeffer; Virgin River by Robyn Carr

3. Favorite book: Again, I couldn't possibly choose just one. If you held a gun to my head and made me pick one, it would probably be Little Women by Louisa May Alcott. Or Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery. Or The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak. Or ...

4. The one book you would have with you if stranded on a desert island: Well, the handiest would be "How to Survive on a Desert Island" or, perhaps, Swiss Family Robinson.

5. Book/series you would take with you on a long flight: Hmmm ... some nice, fat family saga.

6. Worst book you were made to read in school: Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger. I can't stand that book.

7. Book that everyone should be made to read in school: I agree with Jillian on this one - The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak.

8. Book that everyone should read, period: The Bible; The Book of Mormon; The Lord of the Rings; Jane Eyre

9. Favorite character: Of all time? Anne Shirley, hands down.

10. Best villain: I've been wracking my brain on this one, but I can't think of one. Still wracking ...

11. Favorite concept book/series: Right now I'm really fascinated by post-apocalyptic/dystopian worlds like those in the Gone series by Michael Grant and The Last Survivors series by Susan Beth Pfeffer. My favorite concept, though? Hmmm ... I'm thinking the Inkheart books. Haven't all of us fantasized about stepping into our favorite storybook worlds?

12. Favorite invented world: Since I would NEVER want to step into worlds like those created by Grant and Pfeffer, I'm going to go with Virgin River, the setting for a series of books by Robyn Carr. It's a quaint little town in California populated by good, hardworking folks. Mountains, rivers, Preacher's home cookin' at Jack's Bar, and some eye candy to ogle - what's not to love?

13. Most beautifully written book: Tough question. Let me think on it ...

14. Funniest book/series: Anne of Green Gables is hilarious in a funny, old-fashioned kind of way.

-----

Whew! I think that's it. I'm going to dive back into Dirty Little Secrets by C.J. Omololu. And yes, I am going to be shunning housework to read about a teenage girl who has to deal with the humiliation of her mother's excessive hoarding. Oh, the irony!

While I sipped my hot chocolate this morning, I read an editorial about the decline of reading in the U.S. The reporter, one Kevin Horrigan, was pondering the irony of Amazon.com selling out of Kindles in the same week the National Endowment for the Arts reported that the U.S. is experiencing a reading crisis. According to the NEA, which got its info from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, "the average American, age 15 and up, spends three hours and six minutes every weekend watching television and only 26 minutes reading." In addition, the NEA cites a 2002 survey which said that 43% of Americans hadn't read a single book for pleasure in 2001. Seriously? That's appalling.

Considering all this, I thought I should do my part to support booksellers and encourage reading in my home. It was all out of duty, I promise. So, I hit Borders, where I bought the following:

Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky
Rhett Butler's People by Donald McCaig - I love Gone With the Wind and am excited to read this "official" sequel (prequel?) to Margaret Mitchell's classic
The Lost Memoirs of Jane Austen by Syrie James - I'm planning a Jane Austen binge for the Triple 8 challenge, and thought this one would fit in nicely.

Then, because my sense of duty was so overwhelming, I forced myself to go to a big sale at the Scholastic warehouse in Phoenix. Obviously, I took the obligation seriously, because I couldn't stop myself from purchasing these goodies (all at 30-60% off - yipee!):

Magyk by Angie Sage and Mark Zug - I've seen some great reviews of this YA book
Black Duck by Janet Taylor Lisle - This YA mystery/adventure caught my attention
The Secret School by Avi - I'm excited to read this one for the Newbery Award Project
The Mercy of Thin Air by Ronlyn Domingue - This is the story of a woman hovering between Earth and whatever comes after death - sounds interesting
Coraline by Neil Gaiman - It's Neil Gaiman - what more do I have to say?
The Princess Academy by Shannon Hale - I've read great reviews of this one
Monday with A Mad Genius - This one is for my daughter, who loves the Magic Treehouse Series
A Year Down Yonder by Richard Peck - This book cracks me up, and it was only a dollar! What a steal.
Hattie Big Sky by Kirby Larson - I thought this historical novel about a young woman who works a homestead in Montana sounded intriguing
Elijah of Buxton by Christopher Paul Curtis - This one has gotten fabulous reviews. I can't wait to read it.
Diary of a Fly by Doreen Cronin - This one is for my son, who adores Diary of a Worm
The last book is a book about weather for my science-obsessed son.

Phew! I love stacks of books - they carry such promise. Plus, they give me something to write about when I haven't quite finished the book I've been reading for a week. I'm getting there...hopefully, a review of The Golem's Eye will be up tomorrow. Until then you can feast your eyes on my bargains :)

The only thing better than getting a big check in the mail is getting free books! Thanks, everybody, for sending these fun titles my way. I can't wait to read and review them.

The top two, Christmas Jars by Jason F. Wright and Fablehaven by Brandon Mull, came from the former's publicist at Deseret Book. I won American Gods by Neil Gaiman from Chris. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen was a win from Katrina. Thanks, again!