I have not posted since November, but I do not give up on my Christmas traditions and it’s no different for my blog. So here it is the annual books of Christmas Past, Present, and Future!
Without further ado, my 2019 Christmas books:
The Miseducationof Cameron Post
My best friend Marble got this book for me last year and I’m reading it now. I have been reading it on and off for a while now because it’s so sad. It’ll take me a while for me to read this.
Books from my family:
Wayfarer
Can’t read this one because I still don’t have Passenger, but eventually I know I’ll read it and love it.
The Tiger and The Wolf
Still have not read this one. I haven’t read much at all this year. It’s been a whirlwind of a year. But I look forward to one day reading this.
Furthermore
God this is one of the most beautiful hardcovers I own. Still have not read it just cause it’s been one insane year, but god I know I’ll love this one.
The Walls Around Us
This book is Magical realism and I adore magical realism. As with the others I haven’t gotten to this yet, but I hope to soon!
THANK YOU ALL FOR READING! Let me know your thoughts down in the comments below!
2019 was a year that was entirely dedicated to my mental health. I decided to really put all my time into just feeling better and it really worked. I still read some in 2019 not nearly as much as I have in previous years, but I’m still happy that I read.
Here is my 2019 year in books!
As I said above, I didn’t read all that much, but of what I did read I enjoyed most of them. I don’t really have a goal for how many books I will read this year. But, I do know that there are many wonderful books in my life to read and I can’t wait to get to them!
THANK YOU ALL FOR READING! Let me know your thoughts down in the comments below! This post is a day late. I got a little sidetracked yesterday, but I hope you all enjoyed it anyway!
Words cannot express how happy I am with where I am in life right now. 2019 started off absolutely terribly. I was not in a good mental health state. I hope was hurting deeply and all I wanted was happiness for myself and everyone involved in the situation that occurred then.
However, because that occurred and because I got so upset with the fact that all I wanted was to feel joy and that I wanted to feel that alongside the people that I love and that I wasn’t living that at the time it allowed me to choose differently for myself. It allowed me to see myself for who I really am. Someone who loves so incredibly deeply and with every inch of her soul. Something that meant that I knew what it was to love unconditionally and that I needed to turn that love inward so that I could live that in my everyday life.
This year was defined by that decision. It took so many inward conversations. So much patience for myself. So much self-soothing and self-care. Then, day after day one improvement became several and it grew and grew to where I no longer felt depression or anxiety period. I gently soothed my depression and anxiety out of existence.
Needless to say I am so proud of myself. So proud of this reality I am now living. One where I have made my joy and my relationship with myself to be the number one most important thing in my life. That by doing so I have created in myself a joyous person all the time. So much so that it is noticeable by those around me.
Doing this allows me to be the wholeness that I am with all who I am with. It lets everyone off the hook of having to be a certain way or do a certain thing in order for me to be happy. I just am. It is the gift I will give to every friend I have. Every coworker and every family member. It will be the gift I give to my significant other in the future. The gift of me taking responsibility for creating my own joy and following it and not making anyone be my excuse to not be happy.
One of my deepest wishes for all human beings is for everyone to experience the fullness of joy that they possibly can for themselves. It is why I have started walking this path of my own joy. Because it would be the greatest gift I could give to myself and everyone in my life would benefit from it.
It is something that is never done, because there is always more and more fun to be had and more and more fun ready to be realized, but to have realized this by the end of the year and to have changed so deeply from it is incredible to me.
I can’t say how much I’ve experienced more fun and more good things just from appreciating every moment of fun and everything that brings me joy in the moment they are there. 2019 has been the set up for what I know will be the best year of my life in 2020. I have no idea what it will look like or what will be in store, but I know that my life is going to continue to change and I can’t wait to embrace it!
THANK YOU ALL FOR READING! Let me know your thoughts down in the comments below!
Will there be hearts coming together in spite of it all?
Will there be cyber bodies risking it to the end?
Will there be magic with a reality twist?
Will there be horrors to celebrate? Or will there be trips to the past that we can’t escape?
Will there be stories of contemporary connections?
And will there be other points of view to consider?
I know that whatever it is to be the case, I will love all the books that come my way!
Christmas time is a magic one.
You never know what will come to be until it’s all done!
THANK YOU ALL FOR READING! Let me know your thoughts down in the comments below! This post is a day late. I got a little sidetracked yesterday, but I hope you all enjoyed it anyway!
This year I’ve had a wonderful Christmas! I got a myriad of presents that I really love and that I’m excited about using. My sister loved all the presents I got her and that was an awesome gift in itself.
I got five wonderful books this year! All books that I know I will one day enjoy reading.
Here they are:
The Miseducation of Cameron Post
“
The acclaimed book behind the 2018 Sundance Grand Jury Prize-winning movie
“LGBTQ cinema is out in force at Sundance Film Festival,” proclaimed USA Today. “The acerbic coming-of-age movie is adapted from Emily M. Danforth’s novel, and stars Chloë Grace Moretz as a lesbian teen who is sent to a gay conversion therapy center after she gets caught having sex with her friend on prom night.”
The Miseducation of Cameron Post is a stunning and provocative literary debut that was named to numerous best of the year lists.
When Cameron Post’s parents die suddenly in a car crash, her shocking first thought is relief. Relief they’ll never know that, hours earlier, she had been kissing a girl.
But that relief doesn’t last, and Cam is forced to move in with her conservative aunt Ruth and her well-intentioned but hopelessly old-fashioned grandmother. She knows that from this point on, her life will forever be different. Survival in Miles City, Montana, means blending in and leaving well enough alone, and Cam becomes an expert at both.
Then Coley Talor moves to town. Beautiful, pickup-driving Coley is a perfect cowgirl with the perfect boyfriend to match. She and Cam forge an unexpected and intense friendship, one that seems to leave room for something more to emerge. But just as that starts to seem like a real possibility, Aunt Ruth takes drastic action to “fix” her niece, bringing Cam face-to-face with the cost of denying her true self—even if she’s not quite sure who that is.”
My friend at work Daisy got this book for me. She had read it and enjoyed it and hoped that I’d enjoy it. I knew about this book previously and had wanted to read it so I’m exited to do so and share with her my thoughts.
The rest of the books I got were all from family:
Wayfarer
I’m not going to say what this book is about because it’s a second book and I have not read the first and I don’t want to spoil it for myself or anyone. I guess this means I’m buying Passenger sometime in the near future.
The Tiger and The Wolf
“Maniye’s father is the Wolf clan’s chieftain, but she’s an outcast. Her mother was queen of the Tiger and these tribes have been enemies for generations. Maniye also hides a deadly secret. All can shift into their clan’s animal form, but Maniye can take on tiger and wolf shapes. She refuses to disown half her soul, so escapes, rescuing a prisoner of the Wolf clan in the process. The killer Broken Axe is set on their trail, to drag them back for retribution. Maniye’s father plots to rule the north, and controlling his daughter is crucial to his schemes. However, other tribes also prepare for strife. Strangers from the far south appear too, seeking allies in their own conflict. It’s a season for omens as priests foresee danger, and a darkness falling across the land. Some say a great war is coming, overshadowing even Wolf ambitions. A time of testing and broken laws is near, but what spark will set the world ablaze?”
I know nothing about this book. I hadn’t heard of it before, but it does look interesting. It will be a wonderful surprise to read.
Furthermore
“Inspired by her childhood love of books like A Secret Garden and The Chronicles of Narnia, bestselling author Tahereh Mafi crafts a spellbinding new world where color is currency, adventure is inevitable, and friendship is found in the most unexpected places.
There are only three things that matter to twelve-year-old Alice Alexis Queensmeadow: Mother, who wouldn’t miss her; magic and color, which seem to elude her; and Father, who always loved her. The day Father disappears from Ferenwood he takes nothing but a ruler with him. But it’s been almost three years since then, and Alice is determined to find him. She loves her father even more than she loves adventure, and she’s about to embark on one to find the other.
But bringing Father home is no small matter. In order to find him she’ll have to travel through the mythical, dangerous land of Furthermore, where down can be up, paper is alive, and left can be both right and very, very wrong. It will take all of Alice’s wits (and every limb she’s got) to find Father and return home to Ferenwood in one piece. On her quest to find Father, Alice must first find herself–and hold fast to the magic of love in the face of loss.”
I’ve been wanting to read some good middle grade and I don’t even think my mom realized that. I think she picked based off the cover which to me was a wise choice. The second I laid eyes on Furthermore I knew I wanted to read it! I’m so happy to have it on my shelves.
The Walls Around Us
“A #1 New York Times Bestseller “With evocative language, a shifting timeline and more than one unreliable narrator, Suma subtly explores the balance of power between the talented and the mediocre, the rich and the poor, the brave and the cowardly . . . To reveal more would be to uncover the bloody heart that beats beneath the floorboards of this urban-legend-tinged tale.” —The New York Times The Walls Around Us is a ghostly story of suspense told in two voices–one still living and one dead. On the outside, there’s Violet, an eighteen-year-old ballerina days away from the life of her dreams when something threatens to expose the shocking truth of her achievement. On the inside, within the walls of a girls’ juvenile detention center, there’s Amber, locked up for so long she can’t imagine freedom. Tying these two worlds together is Orianna, who holds the key to unlocking all the girls’ darkest mysteries: What really happened on the night Orianna stepped between Violet and her tormentors? What really happened on two strange nights at Aurora Hills? Will Amber and Violet and Orianna ever get the justice they deserve–in this life or in another one?”
This books is MAGICAL REALISM!!! One of my absolute favorite genres. With every magical realism ya book I own I get happier. There’s only so many out there and I want to read them all!
THANK YOU ALL FOR READING! Let me know your thoughts down in the comments below! I hope you all received all you wished for and more this Christmas! Merry Christmas everyone!
Last year, I did not receive any books for Christmas. Typically this boat talks about just that, but last year was a tough Christmas for me, but all that happened then has turned into a blessing for me.
See I was in no position to even really feel enjoyment with books or much of anything in general. The contrast to how I feel now in this moment is incredible. I have changed so much this year and I achieved the ultimate goal that I’ve had for the entirety of my life. Which is to no longer have depression or anxiety way on me. Especially the last three months, I’ve felt free of any sort of Depression or Anxiety.
I’m at a point where I’m happy all the time. I find enjoyment everywhere and life is wonderful all the time for me. After my birthday, I set out to write the best things that happened each day and I was so surprised and delighted to find these past 8 days have been absolutely incredible! I look back on this week and I think that I’d want to fill my life with as many wonderful and unique moments every single day into the future. It’s been incredible.
Mainly, what has changed is my beliefs about life. Which sounds bigger then it really is. I’ve just discovered that I can and should be responsible for my own happiness and that I’m good at it. I’m good at keeping myself happy. I’m good at finding things to think about that bring me joy. I’m good at allowing myself the things that create greater joy in my life. It’s an incredible thing.
THANK YOU ALL FOR READING! Let me know your thoughts down in the comments below! I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas Eve! Merry Christmas everyone!
I need to get my hands on some Christmas themed novels. The only book I’ve ever read even remotely related to Christmas is “A Northern Light” by Jennifer Donnelly. It looks like it would be a Christmas Novel, but it isn’t. However, I loved every moment of reading it!
Now on to the books I’d love to read!
In no particular order:
Decked With Holly by Marni Bates
This one is endorsed by Julie Kagawa, one of my favorite authors ever, so it’s a no brained that I would want to read this one!
My True Love Gave To Me by Various Authors
So many great short stories by so many incredible authors! I’d love to read them!
The Afterlife of Holly Chase by Cynthia Hand
I didn’t realize this was a Christmas book. I wanted to pick this one up anyway, but now I love the idea of it all the more!
‘Let It Snow: Three Holiday Romances’ by John Green, Maureen Johnson, & Lauren Myracle
You gotta have John Green in here. You just gotta.
‘Pride and Prejudice and Mistletoe’ by Melissa de la Cruz
This is both a cover love thing and the fact that it’s Pride and Prejudice although I still haven’t read it yet. It looks adorable!
Well that’s all! I hope you enjoyed this list!
THANK YOU ALL FOR READING! Let me know your thoughts down in the comments below! I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas season and that you all receive all that you hope for.
I have been pretty good about shopping for gifts for everyone I love this Christmas season. Mostly, because I haven’t shopped last minute. However, things happen. Sometimes, your just busy and you haven’t gone out to shop. Some of us are motivated by the last minute madness. So, if your having a hard time figuring out what the heck your going to buy your friend when Christmas is only a week and a half away!
Buy them a book: I mean this one should be obvious. Books are great! Know a friend that likes Karate? buy them a book about it. If they like cooking, there are tons of fantastic cook books. Also, whatever genre of movies they like there are tons of great fiction to pick from and even if they don’t like to read, you can give them the gift of opportunity and who knows? Maybe you’ll save a life.
A Nice Mug: Mugs are versatile and necessary. There is a mug for every life situation. There are beautiful mugs. There are meme mugs. There are mugs for every hobby out there. Never underestimate the power of a good mug.
Some nice treats: Have a foodie in your life? Get them some good snacks. I have a friend that straight up told me they are getting me treats for Christmas and I’m 100% happy with that. I love a good snack. Many of your friends probably feel the same way.
A Quick Charging Charger: This is a gift idea I found from Molly Burke’s list on YouTube that I really love. It’s something that most don’t typically buy for themselves, but its something they would use all the time and that will 100% be appreciated.
Some nice socks.I don’t know about everyone else, but socks disappear all the time on me. My dog destroys them, the washing machine eats them up, the universe steals one half of a pair into the black hole of pair-less socks. I would be so grateful to receive a nice pack of socks for Christmas.
Coffee/Tea: Most of the world runs on these two staples. I am personally in love with both of these drinks. I got a thing of tea from my boss one year and I still enjoy a cup of that type of tea now. It can last a long time and it’s just nice to have.
Also, A BOOK: Just because I have some other great ideas on this list doesn’t mean this one isn’t the most important. I don’t see enough book giving to just random people for Christmas and honestly that’s sad. There are millions of great books in the world. Play matchmaker with a book to a friend or loved one. Have them talk about the book with you after. Increase your level of friendship. It’s the best gift ever!
A Curated playlist on a DVD: I really wanted to do this for a loved one, one year and I never got the chance to do it, but its a really cool gift. Put together songs that remind you of them. Songs you know they love. Songs you love they haven’t heard. Whatever feels right. There is effort in this that shows how much you care and I think its one of the most adorable gifts ever and if you pair it with a book…then it is perfect!
An Experience: Another gift idea from Molly’s list. Pay for an experience for you and your friend or loved one to do together. Maybe its something neither of you have done before or something they have mentioned wanting to do like a workout class or a painting lesson or going to customize their own sneakers or something like that. Another good one is a VR experience or to go and enjoy a laser tag hang out thing. The possibilities are endless!
Something they have specifically asked for. Sometimes, to me this feels like cheating. I tend not to like doing this, but you’ll know they love what they get when its something that they have been wanting for a while.
Thank you all for reading! Let me know your thoughts down in the comments below! I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas season and that you all receive all that you hope for.
Alone in the twilight between night and day the green and blue hew of Christmas Lights danced along mixing hews with the starry sky. From afar a young girl of five watched them flicker from the window of her home.
She should have been sleeping, yet some great pull of excitement pulled her to look out that night from her window. It was Christmas Eve, but for her it was just another night. Her family didn’t celebrate Christmas. Didn’t bring her up to look forward to decorating a tree and awaiting Santa’s gifts the next morning.
Yet as she peered out of her room that night she saw the most beautiful sight. Santa flying way up high in the sky. A silver sleigh lead by a team of Reindeer tapping their feet in unison leading him to the next home to stop by.
She felt a feeling of wonder light up her heart. Knowing that the myth was real made her smile really bright. Down into her parents room she ran. To wake them up and let them know the truth of magic she’d witnessed.
They awoke and hurriedly she explained, “Santa’s real! I saw him outside! There’s a sleigh and Reindeer and they really really fly!!!”
“Baby please go on back to sleep. Stop playing around. You know mommy has work tomorrow. We will talk about it in the morning, ok sweetie?”
Discouraged she ran back on to bed, but that morning a miracle just for her appeared. A Christmas gift by her bedside. One that opened up to be a Christmas Ornament of glittering gold that seemed to jingle when she shook it and a notch to open on the side of it.
The little girl didn’t notice the notch that year. She hid her present away and as years went by she’d take it out to remember. That magical Christmas night that one cold December.
As years past the little girl grew up she was now a woman of age 23. It was Christmas once more and she revisited the ornament of her past. This time she noticed the small little latch.
She opened it up and was surprised to see a little button on the inside of it. She pressed the button and was surrounded by snow. Then, when it all cleared she found herself at the North Pole.
There she met Santa and all his elves. He asked her if she’d help him making toys for all the Christmas’s to come.
She excitedly accepted and every November after, the girl who’d never celebrated Christmas became one of Santa’s sweet helpers.
Thank you all for reading! Let me know your thoughts down in the comments below! I had to rewrite the second half of this because it deleted itself somehow and I couldn’t get the original version back, but this story really got my creative juices flowing so I’m still really happy with it!
Christmas is one of my favorite holidays. It’s magic and joyous and kind. It’s as much the gifts you get as the gifts you give, yet as I’ve gotten old enough to go out and buy my own gifts for people, it’s the look on someone’s face when I give them something they really love that puts the biggest smile on my face.
Everyone on this earth wants to feel joy and happiness and to feel cared for. Christmas is the time where I really feel and see that all around me.
Then there is the romantic parts of it. Mistletoe and ice skating dates, drinking egg nog or a peppermint mocha with someone your getting to know, feeling that romantic pull in your heart. It’s a beautiful thing and it makes me feel excited, because I’ve never experienced that in person before and love during the holidays feels like it’s sprinkled with that little extra spice of magic.
People change during this time of year. There is more kindness. More remembering that we really are all in this life together and we are all deserving of being treated well. A lot of people donate time to feeding the homeless and more people give a little extra to those in need. More people are willing to give the benefit of the doubt and understand that mistakes are human.
This time of year is special. The decorations all around are gorgeous. There is a festive spirit you can feel in the energy of the people around you. I’ve seen so many guys wearing Christmas sweaters this year… so so many. More then the girls and I thought to myself, “the men really came through in terms of spirit this year and I want to hug every single one wearing one of those sweaters because I’m so proud. All of the women too while I’m at it. The Christmas cheer ends nowhere in my heart.”
But, what I’m most happy to say here is that this has been my favorite Christmas so far. It’s been happier then any other Christmas I’ve had and it’s because I’m happier now then I’ve ever been. Every single day of my life recently has been so joyful and full of life that it baffles me. I’m treating myself the way I always deserved to be treated. I follow my joy at all times. I follow my excitement at all times. Everything is working out for me. I’ve never appreciated myself or life in general more.
This Christmas feels so rich. Rich in happy moments with my family. Rich in dancing. Rich in singing until I got my annual sinus issues and even that hasn’t been bad at all. I’ve never had such a good time while my nose and throat were acting up in my entire life. I’m so deliriously and wonderfully happy and I know there is no end to it in sight. I know that my life is just going to get better and better. There is so much good to experience. So much music to fall in love with. So many books to read and movies to watch. So much to laugh about. I feel so blessed this Christmas and I know it’s a feeling I will have for the rest of my life.
Christmas is like all the best parts of life to me. I can only explain it as these visions of beautiful moments in my head. Moments like when I gave the item in my hand to a woman who was looking to buy that item and didn’t know where to find it. Then I just went back and got another one to buy myself. Moments like one of the guys that work as a janitor taking out the trash from my store so I didn’t have to do it myself. Then another time me holding the door open for the same guy when I was on my way to storage (which he didn’t want to accept at first.. which made my eyes roll, but I digress). Moments like my sister tickling me when I was trying to get her to fist bump my hand and us both ending up laughing tell we started coughing because it was all too much. Moments like picking out a free ornament from World Market with my family and finding the most beautiful animal ornaments to hang on the tree.
Christmas is a beautiful time of year. Filled with the taste of peppermint and lots of music and cheer. I love it with every fiber of my being and I appreciate so much Christmas this and every year.
Thank you all for reading! Let me know your thoughts down in the comments below!
The Book Raven 