This year’s #TBTBSanta was a wonderful success. I sent cards and a box of gifts out into the world and received some in return.

Holiday cards arrived from places as far flung as New Mexico and Alaska:

Thank you Rochelle, Heather, Lark, Denise, and Melissa!

And here is the wonderful package I got, which I took up to Connecticut to open on Christmas itself:

As you can see, Kai spoiled me:

There was a new tshirt, two books I’d really been coveting, bookmarks, stationery, stickers, lip balm, a pin, a bracelet, socks, pens, tea, and tasty treats.

And Kai made sure Ember and Coal were included, too. Ember didn’t even make it down to the floor with her treat. She stopped on the sofa to munch it.

And Coal, in perhaps one of his boldest moments yet, grabbed that feathery toy and bolted with it! This is the best shot I could get. All the rest were blurs!

Thank you so much, Kai! This was such a lovely gift!

This week’s Top Ten Tuesday topic from That Artsy Reader Girl is the perennial favorite top ten planned reads for the upcoming season. As is my wont, I went back to see how I did for the fall, and imagine my surprise to find that I’ve read six and might finish a seventh before autumn officially ends on Sunday!

Now, on to my top ten for this winter:

1. Brigands and Breadknives by Travis Baldree
2. T.J. Klune’s Somewhere Beyond the Sea
3. Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett
4. Rainbow Rowell’s Slow Dance
5. Jasper Fforde’s Red Side Story
6. Black-Owned: The Revolutionary Life of the Black Bookstore by Char Adams
7. Guilty by Definition by Susie Dent
8. The Elsewhere Express by Samantha Sotto Yambao
9. Candace, the Universe, and Everything by Sherri L. Smith
10. Theft by Abdulrazak Gurnah

Half of these are by beloved writers, and the other half come out early this winter. What do you like to read during the winter months? Re-reads of familiar favorites? Chunksters? Specific genres?

This week’s Top Ten Tuesday from That Artsy Reader Girl is a holiday-themed freebie. My apartment is currently littered with books of a winter holiday bent, so I’m going to share ten of them I hope to get to before my Christmas tree comes down:

1. Good Spirits by B.K. Borison (currently listening)
2. The Matzah Ball by Jean Meltzer (on my phone)
3. The Wood at Midwinter by Suzanne Clarke, with illustrations by Victoria Sawdon (own)
4. Make the Season Bright by Ashley Herring Blake (checked out)
5. Death Comes at Christmas edited by Marie O’Regan and Paul Kane (own)
6. Winter in Paradise by Elin Hilderbrand (own)
7. You Make It Feel like Christmas by Toni Shiloh (checked out)
8. Holly and Nick Hate Christmas by Betsy St. Amant (checked out)
9. I’ll Be Home for Christmas by Jenny Bayliss (checked out)
10. Mint to Be by Katie Cicatelli-Kuc (checked out)

How about you? Any holiday-themed books on your radar this month?

This week’s Top Ten Tuesday option from That Artsy Reader Girl invites us to share ten random books from our shelves. I am feeling sleepy and lazy (and eventually put the computer down and went to sleep), so instead opted to share ten of the books I have out from the three libraries I have cards at. (Many libraries have reciprocity with nearby communities, and I highly recommend this as a tactic if you spend a lot of time on holds lists.)

1. The Emperor of Gladness by Ocean Vuong (I started this from one library and had to return it unfinished. It’s now overdue to a second library system, and I’m hoping to check it out from the first library again before the end of the year.)
2. The Village Library Demon-Hunting Society by C.M. Waggoner (currently reading)
3. Mrs. Claus and the Trouble with Turkeys by Liz Ireland (There are surprisingly few Thanksgiving reads. I’m hoping this one isn’t terrible — or, at least, that it’s good terrible. TBR)
4. The Book of Doors by Gareth Brown (audiobook; currently listening, but parts are highly stressful)
5. How to Have a Killer Time in D.C. by Sam Lunley (audiobook; started but haven’t gotten back to it)
6. The Nightmare before Kissmas by Sara Raasch (finished last week — solid read for Halloween or Christmas, and the sequel has to do with Christmas and St. Patrick’s Day)
7. No Less Strange or Wonderful by A. Kendra Greene (halfway through, but haven’t picked it up in weeks)
8. Falling like Leaves by Misty Wilson (started)
9. Cinder House by Freya Marske (TBR)
10. When the Tides Held the Moon by Venessa Vida Kelley (TBR)

How about you? What do you have out from the library right now? Are you reading those books or ones from your personal collection instead?

This week, That Artsy Reader Girl invites us to contribute a Halloween list of our own choosing for Top Ten Tuesday. I’m going to give you ten books that would be a fun, seasonal read during the next week or so that might not appear on more conventional lists:

1. Tuesday Mooney Talks to Ghosts by Kate Racculia (ghosts, Halloween setting)
2. The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna (witches)
3. Thistlefoot by GennaRose Nethercott (“haunted” house)
4. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (Death narrates)
5. Akata Witch by Nnedi Okorafor (African witches)
6. Greenglass House by Kate Milford (Christmassy ghosts)
7. The Ex Hex by Erin Sterling (Southern and Scottish witch romances)
8. The Afterlife of Mal Caldera by Nadi Reed Perez (a whole dead community)
9. Under the Whispering Door by T.J. Klune (ghosts, sorta)
10. Carry On by Rainbow Rowell (vampires and witches)

I’m currently reading a seasonal romance and a literary thriller and hope to fit in one more witchy book before next week.

How about you? Do you have anything seasonal in your TBR pile, or do you eschew books of that ilk?

As today was the first day of fall, it’s time to share ten of the books I’m hoping to read this autumn as part of That Artsy Reader Girl’s Top Ten Tuesday:

1. Sherry Thomas’ The Librarians
2. Falling Like Leaves by Misty Wilson
3. Hannah Nicole Maehrer’s Accomplice to the Villain
4. The Scandalous Confessions of Lydia Bennett, Witch by Melina Taub
5. The People’s Project, curated by Saeed Jones and Maggie Smith
6. The Nightmare before Kissmas by Sara Raasch
7. Haikyu!, Vol. 1 by Haruichi Furudate
8. Jolloff Rice and Other Revolutions by Omolola Ijeoma Ogunyemi
9. Sonali Dev’s There’s Something about Mira
10. The World’s Greatest Detective and Her Just Okay Assistant by Liza Tully

I’m averaging about three finished titles out of the ten for this year’s earlier lists, so I’ll be interested to see if I do better this fall or not.

How about you? What do you hope to read this autumn?