I’ve received a lot of packages in the mail, since The Chancellor and I did a majority of our Christmas shopping online this year, but it’s always been presents for someone.
Not today. Today, the presents are for ME. This is the haul that I got from emmalita, who also graciously loaned me an ebook of hers to test out an author:
The Chancellor read A Year of Living Biblically by A.J. Jacobs a few years back and LOVED IT. He’s been at me to read it, and the excerpts he read aloud to me were insightful and hilarious. I can’t wait.
I’m also super excited about The Master by Colm Toíbín, especially since I have a fascination for Henry James. I did my undergraduate history thesis on James’s process of expatriation and his ambivalence towards the United States in his nonfiction and letters. My dissertation has a chapter on two contemporary iterations of The Portrait of a Lady. My second reader is a James scholar, and she suggested that I read The Master, since she enjoyed it so much. I may have squealed a little when I opened the box and saw it inside.
This is the top of my 2015 CBR7 to-read list! Thanks so much, emmalita!!! And a HUGE thank-you to faintingviolet for coordinating!!!!
**Please also note the lovely paper garland she sent me. My office is threadbare, and this is exactly the kind of trimming I need to cheer my spirits as I write and revise this winter.