The grammar question I raised last week elicited a lot of comments, so I thought maybe we’d see what you all have to say on another topic:

Many of you have collections of one sort or another — books, yarn, music, movies, games, art, ephemera, memorabilia, etc. How do you keep them from taking over your space? How do you store and/or display them to their best advantage?

Rudi and I have started seriously considering this question and we’d love to hear how others have dealt with it. Share your thoughts in the comments.

I’m still working my way through Shades of Grey, so nothing new to report on the finishing front.

More tomorrow when I’m awake…

I know I haven’t finished telling you about the books I read in 2009, but I’ve started joining reading challenges for 2010. Some are very specific, while others are more free-form. The Winter Words Reading Challenge falls into the latter category.

The idea behind it:

1. Decide on the number of books (between 3 and 9) you’d like to read during the winter season.
2. See what winter word corresponds to your choice on the challenge post.
3. Assign books to match your selected word:

The word you pick above is an acronym & the books that you read during this challenge will have to coordinate with the letters in the acronym. You can use either of the following ways to select your books: (1) A word in the title of your books must start with a letter from your chosen word. or… (2) The author’s first or last name has to begin with 1 of the letters in your acronym. “

I have faith that I’ll get nine books read before the start of spring on March 19, so my word is “snowflake.” Here’s what I think I’ll read to correspond:

S — Marcelo in the Real World, Francisco Stork
N — The Anthologist, by Nicholson Baker
O — Astrid & Veronika, Linda Olsson
W — When You Reach Me, Rebecca Stead*
F — Shades of Grey, Jasper Fforde
L — The Lacuna, Barbara Kingsolver
A — Austenland, Shannon Hale
K — The Help, Kathryn Stockett
E — The Elegance of the Hedgehog, Muriel Barbery

Since the challenge doesn’t forbid it, I do reserve the right to substitute for books that I can’t get from the library or that fail to keep my interest.

*Given that the challenge began on Dec. 21, I’m counting this novel I read last week toward my nine novels.

As promised, this is the first of my weekly book reports, where I’ll share what I finished during the week.

This week, I’ve got three reviews for you, two of which were carry-overs from the end of 2009. The third is my first book for National Just Read More Novels Month. (Yes, there is a month for everything.) (more…)

This week’s Booking through Thursday question (on Wednesday night):

Barbara wants to know:

What books did you get for Christmas (or whichever holiday you may have celebrated last month)?

Do you usually ask for books on gift-giving occasions or do you prefer to buy them yourself?

I love getting books as gifts. Love. I especially love it when someone shares a book they’ve loved (Karen is especially good at this), but am also happy when someone sees something that looks interesting and thinks of me.

I mean, who wouldn’t want to be thought of while in a bookstore?

I got three books for Christmas this year (not counting the Book Blogger Swap gifts I received last month):

1. Hollywood Knits Style from my brother and his partner
2. Sense and Sensibility and Seamonsters from my friend Sam
3. Shades of Grey, the new Jasper Fforde novel, from Grey Kitten

I will be tearing into the Fforde novel as soon as I finish The Complete Persepolis tomorrow (because it’s already a week overdue to the library…).

I can’t wait!

I arrived home Friday night to a package at the foot of the stairs. Sometimes this can be anti-climactic, because our upstairs neighbor is an online ordering fiend and gets boxes delivered several times a month. But this time it was for me — from Santa!

It turns out that in mid-December Santa needs some extra help delivering presents and, in this case, asked Steph to pitch in to send me a gift as part of the Book Blogger Holiday Swap.

And what did Steph send me, you ask?

Books! Wintry Socks! A Bookmark!

How did she know?!

Isn’t that an awesome package? The books are two I haven’t read, although Sophie Kinsella has been on my ever-growing to-be-read list for quite some time. Remember Me? deals with a girl who wakes up in the hospital, having lost three years of her life — the three years in which she’s gotten married to a millionaire! Love, Rosie by Cecelia Ahern is one of Steph’s favorite books. And the blurb on the back made me want to ditch all my weekend plans in order to stay in and read. It’s a tale of two kids who are friends, stay in touch through cross-Atlantic moves, and later might come to find out how important they really are to one another. Doesn’t that sound perfect for this time of year?

As does my cheerful, yellow flower of a bookmark. I read in spurts on the metro and about town, so am always starting and stopping. Usually I just stick random receipts into my books to mark my page, so an actual bookmark, particularly such a pretty one, will be so helpful!

And Steph clearly did her homework to find out about my love of socks, particularly fun, sparkly, holiday-themed socks. My new socks have red accents, blue-clad polar bears, and sparkly snowflakes on them. They were a key component in the cute outfit I wore to Saturday night’s Christmas party.

Steph, who also included a beautiful card in the box, did a fantastic job in bringing me Christmas joy. Thank you so much, Steph!