Taking Stock: December

Savoring: The last few weeks of Christmas break; my new lemon-tea-scented candle.

Waiting: For snow.

Thinking: About fixing myself a cup of hot cocoa.

Reading: Li’l Gotham, volumes 1 & 2 (these stories are hilarious and adorable and BEAUTIFULLY illustrated—I can’t get enough of them); The Magician King (even better than The Magicians); Every Word (perfection).

Worrying: About 2016. Lots of things will be changing for me, and I’m both super excited and super stressed.

Binge-watching: The X-Files on Christmas Eve. It doesn’t get much better than that.

Writing: Very little this month. I’m not sure if it’s writer’s block or good old-fashioned laziness, but lately putting words on paper has felt like filtering Jell-O through a sieve (or some other equally bad metaphor).

Deciding: To make some New Year’s resolutions this time around. They might not stick, but it’s worth a shot.

Eating: Christmas leftovers.

Wishing: You all a happy New Year and a (belated) merry Christmas! Blogging has been such a wonderful experience, and I’m so grateful to everyone who took the time to read my posts. You guys are beyond lovely. 

All pictures via Pinterest.

Unofficial Best Book Award

   Thanks to Olivia from the cwtch for tagging me!

via

Rules:

Steal the tag.

Fill in the tag.

Tag people to steal the tag.

Be happy and have fun!

Best Male Character

   Today I’m rounding up three of my favorites: Ged from the Earthsea Cycle, Commander Vimes from the Discworld series, and Dr. Pellinore Warthrop from The Monstrumlogist. Ged is kind and wise, Commander Vimes is funny and wise, and Dr. Warthrop is also kind and wise (in his own eccentric, Sherlock-esque way).

Best Female Character

   This is even harder. I love Sissy from A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Rachel Watts from Every Breath, Sorcha from Daughter of the Forest, Wendy from Peter Pan…At the moment, though, I guess my favorite might be Harley Quinn from the Batman comics. She somehow manages to be (almost) completely unhinged, yet still a joy to be around (assuming she’s not trying to kill you).

Best Protagonist (good guy/main character)

   Gen from The Queen’s Thief series. One of the things I find really interesting is that he’s always the main character, but not necessarily the viewpoint character, of every book he’s in. The guy doesn’t even have to be telling the story for it to end up revolving around him. If that’s not charisma, I don’t know what is.

Best Antagonist (bad guy/opposing party to main character)

   Long Lankin from Long Lankin. I can’t remember him without shivering.

Best Plot Development or Twist

   A Pack of Lies has a pretty fantastic twist at the end.

Book You Threw Across the Room the Hardest (in either a bad or good way)

   That Was Then, This is Now by S.E. Hinton. It’s a good book, but majorly depressing.

Best Romance

   I actually prefer friendship- and family-centered books to romance, but the three romantic subplots in Entwined are all wonderful. (And funny. I don’t think they’re nearly enough funny romances.)

Best Action:

   The Sisters Grimm books are packed with the wackiest action imaginable.

Best Other Book

   ???

   In the Heart of the Sea in a genre I don’t usually read (nonfiction), but I loved it.

Best Book That Made You Change the Way You Think

   The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton. I hadn’t thought much about poverty and class issues before reading it.

Best Inspiring Book

   Big Magic inspires me to create more.

Best Book That Made You Learn Something New

   Wallace: The Biography. Braveheart is a wonderful movie, but it'll never win four stars in the historical accuracy department.

Best Sad Book

   I cried every day while I was reading Betwixt and Between.

Best Funny Book

   I’ve been reading a lot of Batman comics recently, and Li’l Gotham is both adorable and funny.

Tagging:

Alyssa

Kelsey

Joni

+ Whoever wants to join in

Bookish Collages: The Tales of Beatrix Potter

   Since I apparently have nothing better to do, I spent the better part of this week making book-themed collages. These three are Beatrix Potter-themed, mostly because Christmas is coming and nothing puts me in a Christmassy mood like The Tailor of Gloucester.

The Tale of Peter Rabbit

Once upon a time there were four little Rabbits, and their names were—

Flopsy,

Mopsy,

Cotton-tail,

and Peter.

The Tale of Mr. Tod

I have made many books about well-behaved people. Now, for a change, I am going to make a story about two disagreeable people, called Tommy Brock and Mr. Tod.

The Tailor of Gloucester

But it is in the old story that all the beasts can talk, in the night between Christmas Eve and Christmas Day in the morning (though there are very few folk that can hear them, or know what it is that they say).