I mentioned that I was at Borders on the weekend and was able to jot down some titles that I think I need to get soon. Or, hopefully Santa is reading this post. I don’t know how new the books are but I hadn’t seen them before so they are new to me. Although there is one new book that doesn’t come out until next year so let’s start with that one.

• Clara and Mr. Tiffany by Susan Vreeland. I’ve had the pleasure of hearing the author talk at an event several years ago and really enjoyed hearing about her background in art and how she brings that into her stories. I’ve read a few of her books and have loved them so of course I can’t wait to read this one. This title comes out in January.
• Heartbroke Bay by Lynn D’Urso. A novel about a woman in the Alaskan wilderness during the Gold Rush of 1898. I’m normally not into survival type stories and “Alaskan wilderness” sort of screams that to me but I don’t know, this sounds very different from my usual read.
• The Cookbook Collector by Allegra Goodman. I barely saw what the book was about but just I like the author’s writing so I want to read this one. The story is about rare-book collecting so that’s another plus.
• Chosen by Chandra Hoffman. A story of a case worker who becomes very emotionally involved in the lives of her clients. This already sounds like it has the potential to be a good book for discussion.
• Under the Poppy by Kathe Koja. Late 19th Century Brussels, a puppeteer, a brothel, oh my this sounds like it will have a lot of juicy drama.
• Family Album by Penelope Lively. I’ve read one of her books which I really like and I’ve been meaning to try another so this one about family dynamics and how everyone remembers things differently seems like it’d be a great read.
• How to Read the Air by Dinaw Mengestu. I found his first novel a very good account of the immigrant experience. I believe this one will probably explore more of the same themes and I can’t wait to read it.

Actually I didn’t make it past the M’s on the shelves so I’m sure I have more books for Santa but this is a good start don’t you think? Have you read any of these and do you have one to recommend?

I’ve been playing on Artfire with making collections and I thought I’d share some of the bookish goodies I found that would be perfect for the bookworms in your life, that is if you aren’t all shopped out from Cyber Monday. Ha.

Aren’t these great? You can click here to see the items in more detail.

Someone had asked me recently if I had a shop on Artfire and I do (my Artfire shop) although it’s not as stocked up as my Etsy shop. I’m still trying to decide actually if I want to have the same items in both shops or maybe have some differences between the two. I guess I can think on that as I continue to create.

Anyway, tomorrow I’ll try to share the list of books I’m thinking of asking Santa to bring me.

Who braved the shopping malls this weekend? Not us. We did go book shopping though and that’s always fun. I had coupons for Borders and I also wanted to check out the stock at Half Price Books so here’s what I found.

At Borders after enjoying a vanilla latte and reading some magazines I spent a good bit of time jotting down titles I want to check out later (I’ll have to share those in another post) and I then I looked for The Company of Liars by Karen Maitland but they didn’t have it. I was in the mood for a historical so I was really bummed out when I couldn’t find that one.

I had a coupon though and I was determined to buy something and then I saw The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver. Oh I love her writing so I quickly grabbed this one and I was about to get going but then I also saw Night Train to Lisbon by Pascal Mercier and well I didn’t want to leave it behind either so I took both.

Then it was off to Half Price Books where my husband found some German mystery/crime books and he was very excited about those. I was able to find a couple of great bargains on old vintage books. These are books I tear up and use in projects. Yes, I do damage to books sometimes but I also try to give books a new life so I don’t feel so bad about that.

A bit of a sidenote on book projects and crafting in general, I was looking through Amazon and there are at least four books coming out next year on bookbinding and art journaling that I must have. I showed them to my husband so I hope he paid attention. Hee-hee.

Alright I hope you all have a wonderful week ahead. I’ve finished a couple of books recently so I want to write some reviews this week. For now, I’ve just started The House at Riverton by Kate Morton and am wondering what took me so long. Great so far.