What Books Did You Get For Christmas.... [Archive]

Susan

12-25-2010, 07:54 PM

princess garnet

12-25-2010, 08:22 PM

Cleopatra by Stacy Schiff (NF)

Elysium

12-25-2010, 09:00 PM

My son gave me a NF book called "The Queen's Spymaster" about Sir Francis Walsingham during the reign of Elizabeth I. When I opened it, he asked me if I knew where he got it. I said I didn't and he asked me if I was sure. Then my husband and daughter started laughing...they had figured it out. My son took a book he had given me a few years ago that was in my to be read pile and re-gifted it as a joke!

Aww, that was evil :p

I got:
The First Princess of Wales by Karen Harper
Lover Eternal by J.R. Ward
The Crown in the Heather by N.Gemini Sasson
Amarna Sunset by Aidan Dodson
The Crusades by Thomas Asbridge
The Lady Queen by Nancy Goldstone
Bullet by Laurell K. Hamilton

ejays17

12-25-2010, 11:00 PM

That's very funny Susan!

I got:
To Defy a King - EC
The Leopard Unleashed - EC
From Dead to Worse - Charlaine Harris

And in other Historically-related stuff
A pewter chess set of Romans vs Ancient Britons. I collect chess sets (it's a very expensive hobby & I don't indulge very often :D), and we'd seen this one at the market when we were on holidays in October so SLOC boight it for me - on the understanding that it was combined Christmas / birthday prsent this year.

MLE

12-26-2010, 01:03 AM

I got The Traitor's Wife from my daughter. And I had just downloaded it free onto my kindle:o. But it's nice to have in dead-tree format, too.

Our son-in-law the mechanical engineer gave us a DVD set containing all the seasons of Junkyard Wars. He and dh are watching it as I type. What is the saying about 'giving what you would most like to get'?

boswellbaxter

12-26-2010, 01:04 AM

I got The Other Dickens: A Life of Catherine Dickens by Lillian Nayder.

Ash

12-26-2010, 02:08 AM

I got a very sizable gift card to a fav bookstore. They are having their 25% off everything sale next Saturday, and I have great plans for what I plan to buy. Stay tuned....

Nefret

12-26-2010, 02:23 AM

Cleopatra by Stacy Schiff (NF)

How is that one? I have been wanting it.

Divia

12-26-2010, 03:09 AM

Wow. I'd expect you guys to get more books.

I got:

Fruitlands about the Alcotts
Consuelo and Alva Vanderbilt
Marilyn in her own words
Crossing the tracks
Cate of the Lost Colony
Louisa May Alcott He life letters and Journals

2 gift cards to bookstores:) YAY.

SonjaMarie

12-26-2010, 03:12 AM

Wow. I'd expect you guys to get more books.
.

Well it's tight in my house, but if it makes you feel better, my book originally cost $75! :)

SM

Susan

12-26-2010, 03:15 AM

Besides my son's joke gift, my daughter did give me a Kindle gift card and a book which I hope will be useful called Outwitting Squirrels.

annis

12-26-2010, 04:38 AM

I got a hardcover version of Terry Pratchett's Discworld fable, The Last Hero (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Last-Hero-Gollancz-S-F/dp/057506885X/ref=tmm_hrd_title_0). Full of the sort of anarchic humour of Pratchett's earlier novels, it's quite a short story featuring Cohen the Barbarian (five foot tall in his surgically enhanced sandals), but magnificently illustrated by Paul Kidby. I wish I could show you - the pictures of the various assorted decrepit but still dangerous (if only to themselves) members of the Barbarian Silver Horde (oldies but baddies) are just priceless. And Kidby has created a wonderful take-off of the Bayeux tapestry :) I love it!

Margaret

12-26-2010, 06:03 AM

My son took a book he had given me a few years ago that was in my to be read pile and re-gifted it as a joke!

Now that's just rude - and very, very funny! :D

Ash

12-26-2010, 08:00 AM

I got a hardcover version of Terry Pratchett's Discworld fable, The Last Hero (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Last-Hero-Gollancz-S-F/dp/057506885X/ref=tmm_hrd_title_0). ...magnificently illustrated by Paul Kidby. I wish I could show you - the pictures of the various assorted decrepit but still dangerous (if only to themselves) members of the Barbarian Silver Horde (oldies but baddies) are just priceless. And Kidby has created a wonderful take-off of the Bayeux tapestry :) I love it!

One of my favorite books by Pratchett - those illustrations added so much to his world. Kidby also did many of the original UK covers which I always thought were much more interesting than the ones they have out now. Not all of the illustrations were over the top - some of the individual characters were downright beautiful esp the Discworld turtle. But my favorite was Death petting a very cute little kitten (wish I could find a link to it - its just perfect!)

Gabriele Campbell

12-26-2010, 03:15 PM

And in other Historically-related stuff
A pewter chess set of Romans vs Ancient Britons. I collect chess sets (it's a very expensive hobby & I don't indulge very often :D), and we'd seen this one at the market when we were on holidays in October so SLOC boight it for me - on the understanding that it was combined Christmas / birthday prsent this year.

Any chance you could put up a photo or two of that?

LoveHistory

12-26-2010, 03:27 PM

I didn't get any books. :( Hubby gave me War & Peace on VHS though. The one with Audrey Hepburn, Henry Fonda, and Mel Ferrer. If I ever get a chance to watch it I'll be that much more inspired to read the book.

And my oldest made an empty book for me to fill presumably with my fashion designs. It's about 2 1/2 inches square which works because my designs look best small.

Gabriele Campbell

12-26-2010, 03:30 PM

Christmas presents are a very unsentimental business in our family. My father gives me some money and I go on a shopping spree at Amazon. :) *

So I got me:

Shippey, The Road to Middle Earth
ditto, Tolkien - Author of the Century
Tolkien's Letters
Carpenter's Tolkien biography
Tolkien, Unfinished Tales

Tim Clarkson, The Men of the North
Die Deutschen Herrscher des Mittelalters (a collection of essays by various historians)

Joe Abercrombie, The Blade Itself / Before They are Hanged / Last Argument of Kings
Douglas Jackson, Hero of Rome

Donizetti, Anna Bolena (DVD)

* I buy something for him, but it's easier because I know his taste in books and music while I read a lot of books in foreign languages, plus he doesn't know much about Fantasy (though I got him to read Lord of the Rings, finally).

annis

12-26-2010, 04:22 PM

Posted by Ash
But my favorite was Death petting a very cute little kitten

http://i1044.photobucket.com/albums/b448/ammiemac/Discworld_death.jpg

Tanzanite

12-26-2010, 04:30 PM

I didn't get any books, but my husband made me a very nice bookcase:

fljustice

12-26-2010, 06:10 PM

I got a strange one from my daughter--a Monk (TV show about an autistic private eye) spin off novel. I haven't watched the show for ages! My husband's was more on target: Bill Bryson's newest At Home. Of course he is anxious to read it, as well. I'll continue the tradition of giving books I want to read, by giving him Mark Twain's Autobiography for his birthday on Monday!

Kasthu

12-26-2010, 08:33 PM

I got myself some Virago Modern Classics, and then my mom gave me a Persephone subscription...

Vanessa

12-27-2010, 11:45 AM

What a great present, Tanzanite! A very thoughtful one, I think.

I didn't get any actual books for Christmas but I did get a kindle with a lovely bright pink cover, which was a lovely surprise.

cw gortner

12-27-2010, 05:30 PM

Nice Xmas gift: I got copies of my novel The Tudor Secret (UK edition) in hardback and trade export. :)

TLee

12-27-2010, 08:25 PM

I got lucky this Christmas with some wonderful (I hope) reads:

Queen Hereafter: A Novel of Margaret of Scotland by Susan Fraser King

Heartbroke Bay by Lynn D'urso

The Time Traveler's Guide to Medieval England: A Handbook for Visitors to the Fourteenth Century by Ian Mortimer

A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire, #1) by George R.R. Martin

and a couple of Emma Drummond paperbacks.

Now all I need is time!

Misfit

12-27-2010, 08:33 PM

TLee

12-27-2010, 08:38 PM

Cool, I think you'll like Heartbroke Bay. Which Drummonds did you get?

Beyond All Frontiers, Forget the Glory and Scarlet Shadows.

Misfit

12-27-2010, 09:04 PM

Beyond All Frontiers, Forget the Glory and Scarlet Shadows.

You got the cream of the crop then. Happy reading.

Brenna

12-28-2010, 05:15 PM

I got some good loot from my momma, plus the Kindle from my in-laws which I used to promptly download a bunch of free classics.

In book form, I received:

Dunnett, DorothyThe Game of Kings

*Gulland, SandraThe Many Lives & Secret Sorrows of Josephine B (I'm reading this right now and I'm hooked!!)

*Hollick, Helen Forever Queen

Heyer, Georgette The Conqueror

*Mantel, Hillary Wolf Hall

Barnes, Margaret Campbell Within the Hollow Crown

princess garnet

12-28-2010, 09:17 PM

*Gulland, SandraThe Many Lives & Secret Sorrows of Josephine B (I'm reading this right now and I'm hooked!!)

Barnes, Margaret Campbell Within the Hollow Crown

Loved the Josephine B. trilogy too!

I've got Within the Hollow Crown on my TBR pile...

Ash

12-28-2010, 10:27 PM

A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire, #1) by George R.R. Martin

Warning, addiction highly likely! (Enjoy!)

rockygirl

12-28-2010, 10:36 PM

None! What's up with that???:)

SCW

12-29-2010, 05:58 AM

I received
Five Quarters of the Orange by Joanne Harris
Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
D-Day by Antony Beevor
and the new 20th century history book by Ken Follet (Sorry can't remember the title)

Madeleine

12-29-2010, 10:52 AM

I received
Five Quarters of the Orange by Joanne Harris
Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
D-Day by Antony Beevor
and the new 20th century history book by Ken Follet (Sorry can't remember the title)

It's called "Fall of Giants" in the UK, not sure if it has the same title in other territories.

wendy

12-29-2010, 12:04 PM

I didn't get any books, but my husband made me a very nice bookcase:

Nice bookcase Tanzanite! He did a great job.

My friend went 'down under' for the holidays and brought me back a book of cute Australian poems.

Ludmilla

12-29-2010, 01:06 PM

No books, but I did receive a Borders gift card and a Visa gift card. My husband also got me a Kindle which I can use to sync with my iPad. :D

My daughter asked me to buy her the Hunger Games trilogy over Christmas break, so she's reading those and I'll read them when she's done. She really liked the first book. Of course, my book recommendations fall on deaf ears. She wanted these because a teacher recommended them.

aceuggy

12-30-2010, 02:16 PM

I received quite a few which should keep me quiet for a week or two. :)

The Last Bear-Mandy Haggith
The Fort-Bernard Cornwell
The Book Thief-Markus Zusak
Gallows Thief-Bernard Cornwell
North and South-John Jakes (Part 1 of the North and South Trilogy)
And finally Restless-William Boyd, not excactly HF, but it looks a good read! :p

LoveHistory

12-30-2010, 05:08 PM

Beautiful bookcase, Tanzanite!

aceuggy, let me know what you think of North & South. Jakes is one of my favorites, and I loved that one. Strongest of the trilogy in my opinion.

Brenna

12-30-2010, 05:43 PM

So in addition to the books I received for Christmas, I also received amazon.com gift cards which I decided to use today. Merry Christmas to myself from myself with lots of love!

There were having major sales for kindle, so I stocked up!
Freda Lightfoot "The Hostage Queen" Kindle Edition
Ceclia Holland "Great Maria" Kindle Edition
N. Gemini Sasson "The Crown in Heather"
Nan Hawthorne "An Involuntary King"
Roseanne Lortz "I Serve, A Novel of the Black Prince"

In book form I picked up the following:
Sandra Gulland "Tales of Passion, Tales of Woe"
Sandra Gulland " The Last Great Dance on Earth
Laura Corona "Penelope's Daughter"
David Blixt "The Master of Verona"

LoveHistory

12-30-2010, 05:45 PM

Reading through this thread inspires serious bookshelf envy. I think I'm going to buy myself some belated Christmas/birthday books. Might not do so until January though so maybe they'll be New Year's books. Oh, I know...Twelfth Night! :D

Lucy Pick

01-02-2011, 01:57 PM

I only got one book this Xmas --- very unusual for me --- Michael Chabon's The Amazing Adventures of Cavalier and Klay. I think it just fits the scope of this board.

CrimsonPetal

01-04-2011, 04:30 AM

Ooh! I got some good ones:

Mariana by Susanna Kearsley
Charlotte and Emily by Jude Morgan
Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly
Cheri and The Last of Cheri by Colette
Love, Janis by Laura Joplin

Veronica

03-25-2011, 12:53 AM

Jakes is one of my favorites, and I loved that one. Strongest of the trilogy in my opinion.

I have to say that I struggle to finish this book after watching the tv-series... I try and read a page here and there to finish it but yeah, once you start at the wrong end (tv-show) you're done. :p