I celebrated a birthday this weekend (no, I’m not saying which one!) and have to squee over some of my presents.
My husband knows books are my favorite gift and as usual didn’t disappoint.
Among the haul is CLANDESTINE, by Julia Ross, which I have been dying to read but couldn’t because I’m not allowed to buy books on my wish list between October and my birthday.
Another treasure is LIFE IN WELLINGTON’S ARMY, by Antony Brett-James. Just looking at the table of contents is tantalizing. Chapters with titles like “Bivouac Life”, “Come Dancing” and “Army Wives” promise to answer so many questions I have about what my soldier and ex-soldier heroes would have experienced.
Lastly, I also got HOW TO AVOID MAKING ART (Or Anything Else You Enjoy) by Julia Cameron. It’s a collection of cartoons of “creative wannabes doing everything except actually getting down to work.” Some of the cartoons cut so close to the truth it is painful. Here’s an example of a hangup I used to struggle with on a regular basis, though I’m more sensible about it now.
A nice dinner, chocolate cake with raspberry sauce and afterwards, a date to see AMAZING GRACE (we had to drive 45 minutes to see it, but it was well worth the trip!) and my day was pretty near perfect.
What sorts of books are on your wish lists? What is your fantasy birthday?
Elena
www.elenagreene.com
That was a nice haul!
I can just see Kalen and me rushing to abebooks.com to buy Life in Wellington’s Army! I’d better check, though, because I may have it already. (I wonder if buying the same book twice is still tax-deductible?)
Your hubby knows how to treat his wife. This is very unlike mine, who just doesn’t have the gift-giving gene, but only because he just can’t believe anything he’d buy would be good enough.
My favorite birthday celebration is to go out to dinner with my husband and my kids. I got it this year!!
*blush* I already own it, but yeah, I do tend to buy a lot of books (bought 5 from Hamliton’s yesterday). Anything that gets mentioned on a loop and sparks my interest is MINE if it’s less than $20 (I’ll pay more if I really MUST have it). Hence, my wish list is very small (I’m trying to be “good” right now since my b-day is just around the corner).
Enjoy CLANDESTINE. I just love Julia’s books. LOVE THEM!!! And she’s such a nice woman, too.
My wish list? The entire set of the Kemble Shakespeares. Not cheap. 🙂
I don’t even know about my fantasy birthday… We generally go out for dinner, but, then, we do that a lot anyway! Ditto for movies.
(BTW, what specifically did you like about Amazing Grace, Elena?)
Cara
I just got my own copy of Life in Wellington’s Army. Back when I was first researching my manuscript with the Rifle sergeant hero I got it through interlibrary loan and took something like 30 pages of notes! Along with Judith Schneid Lewis’s In the Family Way (a study of pregnancy and childbearing in the British aristocracy 1750-1850), it’s my favorite research book so far.
As for my research wish list, well, I’d like to own copies of two books I recently got from the library: Napoleon’s Lost Fleet, by Laura Foreman, which focused on the Battle of the Nile but is beautifully illustrated and has a lot of good stuff on everything from how naval ships were rated to the flow of governmental changes in France from the Revolution through Napoleon, and City of Laughter, the one that’s been so much discussed on the Beau Monde list of late.
Ideal birthday? Chocolate cake, a nice dinner, and gift certificates for all my favorite stores (gift certificates rather than money, because that way I don’t feel guilty about buying what I want instead of putting the cash toward something I need.) Oh, and since my birthday is New Year’s and I’m a big college football fan born and raised in SEC country, my Auburn Tigers playing for the national championship!
Very nice! 🙂
For my birthdays, I just want my Carvel Ice Cream Cake and I’m happy. 🙂
The books on my list are recent releases, but money’s been, well, you know. . . that darn lottery for crying out loud. LOL 🙂
Lois
Julia Ross is so nice. I was lucky enough to sit next to her at the Beau Monde booksigning in Denver and we had such a nice chat.
(BTW, what specifically did you like about Amazing Grace, Elena?)
Lots of things. Ioan Gruffud is wonderful of course. The history was interesting–I would like to read more about it, in part to see if there were more tweaks than we all noticed and in part just because of the issues of social justice.
Given it was a movie just 2 hours or so long, they did a good job of presenting some of the difficulties and complexities of championing a cause. It’s something that speaks to me personally because there are many charities and causes I am interested in and never feel I do enough for, between writing and motherhood. Perhaps raising caring and tolerant children makes for a better world too.
I have a copy of Life in Weelington’s Army! I found it at a library booksale last year, and think I startled the people around me with my cry of triumph as I snatched it up. Totally addicted to library booksales. 🙂
Happy bithday, Elena! Wish I was there for some of that chocolate cake…
BTW, Kalen, what did you buy from Hamilton’s???
they did a good job of presenting some of the difficulties and complexities of championing a cause.
So true! One thing that struck me as quite (and sadly) real (and true to today as well) was that the same people who booed him in Parliament, and shouted at him to shut up already, were applauding him a decade later on the exact same issue…without any sign of embarrassment or acknowledgement of their hypocrisy…
Cara
My favorite birthday celebration is hanging out with husband and son, and getting to have champagne and oysters. I’m not such a huge fan of oysters, mind you, but they seem like such a huge treat and I only eat them once a year.
I love books as gifts, or gift certificates to bookstores. Very boring. My husband has actually taken the challenge lately of getting me non-book gifts, since books are so easy. And I buy them for myself through the year anyway.
Happy Birthday, Elena!
Happy birthday and yes, you made out like a bandit.
Happy Birthday, Elena! I hope you enjoy your loot.
I had a birthday myself, recently. Ahem. Though I am still very, very young. I think we did the “dinner and a show” thing–an oldie but a goodie.
Books work for me, too, though CDs and DVDs are very nice, too. There aren’t too many other things I really want–I can always use the odd article of clothing, I suppose, and every once in a while some little electronic gadget catches my fancy, but books are the main thing.
Though a really useful birthday gift would be more room to store the books I already have!
Todd-who-finds-it-hard-to-type-with-one-hand-while-propping-up-a-stack-of-books-with-the-other