My parents moved house while I was at school, and the new place is all kinds of cozy There's a gas fireplace! And a heated pool! And a Christmas tree! (well, okay, I guess that didn't come with the house). It's a great place to curl up and read, which I plan to do a lot of.
2. The other thing I'm going to do a lot of is sorting through my books here to cull, sort and shelve them. I've already found this one, which was the first book I ever read in bed, past my bedtime. NB. it was still light out. I was five.
There will probably be much more book nostalgia over this break. Expect it.
3. I don't know where this has been all my life, but the other day I discovered Mark Watches and Mark Reads. Basically, this guy provides commentary on All The Things. He's currently doing Buffy on Watches and Looking for Alaska on Reads (!!!), but he also has things I LOVE in his archives. There. Goes. My. Break.
4. Last week, I read Dash and Lily's Book of Dares for the first time. I'm not going to do a full Book Musing on it, because frankly, I can't. It's kind of flawless to me. It's got a kind of romantic-comedy plot, about two teens who spend the days before and after Christmas communicating via a red notebook the girl hides in The Strand--but the execution is far from Rom-Com. It's intelligent and mind-bending and about what it is to find your place in your world, in your family, in your city. It is absolutely the perfect holiday read and nothing will convince me otherwise.
There's a Muppet named Snarl in there, though, and all I can do is wonder if David Levithan and Rachel Cohn knew Gonzo was originally named Snarl.
5. In case you didn't know I'm a total dweeb, I am in love with Taylor Swift's new video. Watch, then tell me what the first book you remember reading as a child is. (Unrelated? You bet!)
