Friday, January 02, 2009

the Christmas haul...

I know I tend to whine too much about the timing of Rich's Bahamas class. (And please do keep your finger crossed for me that we have a very light January snowfall this year, as I really don't want the extra chore of snow shoveling each day on top of taking care of three human children, one dog, two cats, six mice, one tarantula, two hissing cockroaches, and a tank full of guppies and snails.) But in actuality, the timing of his trip actually works in my favor. See, he feels great guilt in leaving me here in upstate New York, with the whole crew to take care of, while he's off teaching in the Bahamas. And as this guilt is being felt during those weeks leading up to Christmas, I rake in a pretty good pile of loot! (And if I keep up the "Oh, woe is me!" for long enough, it also relates into a pretty good haul for my birthday which falls a few weeks after he gets home.)

Anyway, this is what I got for Christmas:



*The Best of John Bellairs (A wonderful book for a family read from Nymeth)
*The Best of Roald Dahl (Also from the incredibly sweet Nymeth...I am soooo anxious to crack this one open)
*The Hoboken Chicken Emergency by Daniel Pickwater (another wonderful family gift, this one from Carl)
*Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life by Anne Lamott (Also from Carl...and I have to say that it meant a lot that he would pick out this particular book for me...thank you from the bottom of my heart, Carl!)
*Strange Roads by Peter S. Beagle (Admit it, you're feeling a tad envious, aren't you? It won't help to tell you that it's autographed either, will it? Again, thank you, thank you, thank you, Carl! I want to save this for once OUaT, but I'm not sure I'll be able to wait.)
--And the rest are all from Rich:
*Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos by H.P. Lovecraft and Others
*A Few Short Notes on Tropical Butterflies by John Murray
*Just After Sunset by Stephen King
*The Complete Hans Christian Andersen Fairy Tales
*Grimms Complete Fairy Tales
*The Illustrated Treasury of Fairy Tales
*Little Oxford Dictionary of Quotations
*The Know-It-All: One Man's Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World by A.J. Jacobs
*The Plot Against America by Philip Roth
*The Silver Donkey by Sonya Hartnett
*Living Dead Girl by Elizabeth Scott
*Fledgling by Octavia E. Butler
*The Ghost Writer by John Harwood
*My Cousin Rachel by Daphne Du Maurier
*Solstice Wood by Patricia A. McKillip
*The Black Jewels Trilogy by Anne Bishop
*Rising Tide: The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and How It Changed America by John M. Barry
*The Siege of Mecca: The Forgotten Uprising in Islam's Holiest Shrine and the Birth of Al Qaeda by Yaroslav Trofimov
*Yokohama Burning: The Deadly 1923 Earthquake and Fire That Helped Forge the Path to World War II by Joshua Hammer
*Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner

And as if that isn't bad/good enough...I also acquired these over the holidays:



*An Abundance of Katherines by John Green (Because Looking for Alaska for was so freakin' good that I couldn't resist.)
*Last Night at the Lobster by Stewart O'Nan (My sweet friend, Kara, was kind enough to pass this along.)
*The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz (Also from Kara. Thank you, sweetie!)
*The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears by Dinaw Mengestu (Impulse buy.)
*Crimes Against Humanity by Adam Jones (Another impulse buy.)
*The United States Constitution: A Graphic Adaptation by Jonathan Hennessey (Just because it looked fun for school.)

I probably shouldn't mention at this point that Rich also gave me an Amazon gift certificate (free from using using credit card points), and I've got a bunch of books ordered. Or that my brother gave me a big B&N gift card, and we're headed there shortly. Oh my, oh my, oh my. At least I'm among folks who understand...

*****

I just wanted to mention one thing. Many of the books that Rich bought me came from my wish list, and would have earned people points in the Blame Game. And I know the game was supposed to go until the end of January. But I just haven't had the heart to keep up with it the past month. Dewey made it so much fun, with her "friendly competition" with Nymeth and with her not-so-subtle suggestions and such. I'm sure you all understand why I'm just going to end it. Nymeth and Dewey battled back and forth for the lead. And there's no question in my mind that Nymeth now deserves the prize. And of course, even though the game is over, I know you all will still be responsible for more book piles like those above! :)

16 comments:

Dawn said...

That's quite a supply of books!!! My mother got me the same Stephen King book :) I want to read the Twilight books first though! I am just about done with the first one.

I hope the snowfall is a minimal amount for you. I am so fortunate that (my) Rich always does it. Now, I've got to train Tim :)

Enjoy your reading.

take care,
Dawn

chrisa511 said...

Wow!! Uh, I don't think you have to buy any books now for the rest of the year...yeah right ;) You know Debi, it's posts like this that just make me feel better, lol! And congrats to Nymeth on winning the prize!! She'd have an abundance of prizes if we all did this little game, lol.

Carl V. Anderson said...

You're very welcome. I thought of you right away when I saw Bird by Bird in the bookstore when I was shopping for you guys. If I had my way I would have gotten you guys The Avocado of Death by Daniel Pinkwater as that is my favorite book of his and far and away one of my favorite books ever. I hope you'll track it down in the library (I believe it is in one of his collections) as it is so fun to read and even more fun to read aloud. A couple minor bad words I think but other than that very fun.

As for the Peter Beagle book, you won that through the Lisa Snellings giveaway for R.I.P. so congrats to you!!!

Glad you got such a wonderful haul for Christmas.

Anonymous said...

Nothing like a little guilt! Great pile of books!

Stephanie said...

I'm am green with envy. I didn't get one book for Christmas :(

I am just going to have to live vicariously through you!

Eva said...

Yay for guilty-inspired book piles!! Those are awesome. :D

~**Dawn**~ said...

I'm sorry, but I am stuck on the fact that you have cockroaches as pets. ::resisting the urge to grab my can of Raid::

Megan said...

Wow - you must really be working that guilt thing! Those are some seriously impressive book stacks!

Ana S. said...

*keeps fingers crossed for light snow*. If I could drop by to help you shovel, I so would. And there aren't all that many people I'd offer to shovel snow for :P

Also, cockroaches? snails? You're running a zoo now? :P

Love the Christmas book haul! So many great books in there :D And the same goes for what you got over the holidays. Do you want to read them all RIGHT NOW? That's what I feel when I look at my Christmas book pile. Sigh.

Dewey really made the game so much fun :( I miss her calling me her "nemesis" or "fiendish foe" and everything else she came up with. She always cracked me up. And I completely understand you wanting to end it.

Kailana said...

I hear you on the shoveling snow! One of our worst snowfalls of the year, my dh pulled his back out and I thought I was going to cry there was so much damn snow! He has helped the last few, but his back is still not great. He really shouldn't be doing it, but I would be forever doing it myself! So, I am with you on less snow in January!

You did awesome with books! I didn't get any books for Christmas, I never do, but I did get gift cards. :)

Thoughts of Joy said...

Wowsers! Happy New Year, Debi and I hope your loot brings you hours and hours (and hours and hours) of Happy Reading! :)

A trantula!?!?! You have got to be kidding. Please say you are kidding. I could handle the snow, but a TRANTULA - NEVER! It would NOT be in my home - EVER! Shiver, shiver, shiver.

DesLily said...

wow! Guilt can be really a good thing! lol that's some haul! Makes me wish I could make someone guilty! hahahaha

I have 2 of your new hord in my tbr pile My Cousin Rachel and The Black Jewels trilogy!

Awwwwwwwww.. i think everyone should participate and make a blame.game list! A nice rememberence and we all know we blame each other for good reviews as to why we buy more books than we need!! *groan* I realize some of the fun has gone out of it, but from someone who did not know Dewey (me) I found the game hysterically funny... and oh so true! Everyone should have a blame list... not one of us is beyond it!

Debi said...

Dawn,
Annie bought the last in the Twilight series last night, and I know it's killing her that she's in the middle of a different book and couldn't start it immediately!
Hope Tim does a better job than Gray and Max...whenever they "help" Rich with the shoveling, poor Rich ends up with twice the work than he'd normally have! :)

Chris,
Oh, you are sooooo right...I really don't need to buy any more books for the rest of the year!!! (But of course, I will. Self-control, Debi, learn some self-control!)

Carl,
I will definitely track down The Avocado of Death! Sounds like way too much fun to resist! (Besides, the title alone will get Rich...as there's this goofy movie he loves called Cannibal Women in the Avocado Jungle of Death.) Thank you again!

Lynne,
Yep, a little guilt can go a loooong way!

Stephanie,
I can't tell you how terribly sad that makes me! Seriously. I can't think of anyone more deserving of a big ol' pile of books under her tree!

Eva,
I'm so spoiled, aren't I? And I'm excited that a couple of them should work for your challenge!

Dawn,
Yeah, I still haven't quite adjusted to the fact that we have cockroaches either. Rich brought those home without consultation...I'm sure because he could anticipate my reaction. I like insects, really I do...but somehow cockroaches just cross of the line into heebie-jeebie-ness.

Megan,
You know I really don't have to work it much before he leaves...he feels guilty enough. Now, once he returns, that's when I'll have to nurse it a bit... ;)

Nymeth,
Thanks! We've actually had the snails for a while, but the cockroaches are new. And frankly, not among my favorites. ;)
Oh, and I know just what you mean about wanting to read them all RIGHT NOW! It's almost like you can get too much of a good thing. Well, not really. But it is frustrating to have so many good books all just begging to be on the top of the TBR pile.
I know, she cracked me up, too! I looked forward to awarding the two of you points, just to see what she'd have to say. (((HUGS)))

Kailana,
Oh my goodness, that's just horrible about your husband! I hope he's back to 100% very, very soon! Both for his sake and for yours...as I'm sure you've got plenty more snow a-coming this season.

Joy,
As slow as I read, it's decades worth of enjoyment!
Yep, a tarantula! And I was skeptical at first, but she's actually very sweet. Now the cockroaches on the other hand...

Anonymous said...

What an awesome stack of books! Way to go!!

Trish @ Love, Laughter, Insanity said...

Wow! So envious of the stacks...especially Oscar Wao. I've been wanting to read that one for a while now. And what is this about a tarantula??

Melody said...

What a nice haul, Debi! Enjoy your books!!