From Post Secret– I hope they are able to raise enough money this holiday to keep the site ad-free.

My family is a big bunch of nerds– not that there is anything wrong with that.  its just that, at Christmas, we all just tend to exchange books with each other.  I love it, since I get lots of beautiful art books that I might not actually be able to justify and Mom gets interesting books she might not pick up on her own.  Herewith, a list of books that made the family very happy this holiday.  I’m going to drink coffee and read all day.

3191: A Year of Mornings, a favorite blog from last year came out as a book.  Just peeking through it I am already feeling peaceful and full of inspiration.

This book isn’t quite what I’d expected, but the photos are wonderful and it is also a pretty inspirational book– full of lots to get my creative juices flowing.

I’m hoping to embroider a few handkerchiefs this week… maybe some initials and a few cute little stamps from that book I got over the summer.  This book has good tips.

I read Sarah Vowell’s Assassination Vacation on the plane on my way to TX and loved it.  This book is well worth a read– funny, historical, interesting, and a page-turner.  Plus, it’s in paper back!  I’m reading her new book, The Wordy Shipmates, now.  Not quite as good as this one, in my opinion, but still wonderful.

I got my mom Girl Sleuth for Christmas– it is a non-fiction account of Nancy Drew, the author(s) who worked on her books, and the role those books had in young girls lives in mid-century America.  I was a little nervous about this book, as histories like this can go either way, but mom says it is really interesting and easy to read.  Hooray!

There are more books, but these were the big hits from the holiday book exchange.  Besides, I can’t imagine you’re interested in books on death in the Civil War (what I read for the rest of the time I was home).  What are you reading now?