Gifts for booknerds

December 4. Say it with me, friends - time flies. Gift giving is not a strength of mine unless it's a Favorite Things type of gift giving where I give people things I like. Not the point, really. I'm also trying my damndest not to be a flippant consumer or buying just to buy or buying plastic shit that will end up in a landfill. All that to say these are some cool things I do love or would love as a reader, and if you have a reader in your life, they might like one of them as well.

In this gifty season, just a reminder that no one wants a gift you have to go into debt for or run to the ends of the earth to get. And if they do, get rid of them and give an extra hug to someone who is amazing in your life instead.

Amazon links are affiliate links - buying through the link costs you nothing and pennies of proceeds go to run Show Us Your Books monthly linkups and prizes to giveaways for the same.

1. Number one always is a book from their desired list if they have one. I don't buy many books anymore, but I have a list of books I keep that I can't find at the library so I'll have to buy if I want to read, a list of books I've read and want to own (small), and a list of books that are available via kindle only. If your reader is also a listy reader, inquire within.

2. If your reader is a bibliophile who collects books, a personalized embosser is an awesome idea. This one on etsy.

3. Kindle paperwhite (affiliate link) - No colored covers or fanciness, but you can 100% always read in the sun while wearing polarized sunglasses and never miss a word. Also waterproof (can verify, unfortunately for me/fortunately for you).

4. For the feminist reader: well-read woman bookmark, anonymous bookmark, badass book club tee, strong female characters tee.

5. For library lovers: a donation in their name to Friends of _________Library. Insert their local library. Library card bookmarks, library squad t-shirt, support your local library t-shirt,

6. Mugs because do you even know me? Bookish soul, Go away I'm reading, Fuck off I'm reading. I had to refrain from purchasing these three while I was pulling this together. 

7. For the person who would rather be reading than doing whatever they're doing out in public (i.e. me): I closed my book to be here t-shirt.

 8. Rechargeable booklight (affiliate link). This is the one I use. Perfect for porch reading in the summer or any time after someone else has gone to sleep. 

9. For the kids: personalized reading corner sign, personalized library tote, Readers are Leaders t-shirt.

10. A gift certificate to an independent book store. Tickets to see an author speak in person (check to see if your library or local bookstore has a series). A January date for lunch after you put a donation for the Prison Book Program together together. A donation to Room to Read.

Drop your ideas in the comments.

REMINDER! Show Us Your Books is this Tuesday, Dec 10. The Show UsYour Books Favorite Reads of 2017 is Friday, Dec 27. 

Happy birthday to my uncle Billy today!

Show Us Your Books: Sweater Weather with a side of reading

The title was going to be reading weather but hello all weather is reading weather.

Ahoy fellow booknerds. Thanks for looking up from your pages to join us today. I have some housekeeping items:

1. Once again in December Jana and I will host TWO SUYBs - the regular link up on December 12 and the special Favorite Reads of the Year for 2017 (click on that to see my post from last year) on Tuesday, December 26. Yes, we know it's the day after Christmas. Merry Christmas to all of us! This is the gift we will give to the readers of the internet and holders of the Christmas gift cards burning a hole in their pockets already, one day in. I'm going to prepare my post ahead of time. fa la la la la la la READ BOOKS
2. For your grabbing pleasure, may I direct you to a new Show Us Your Books button on my sidebar that Jana worked on with Tanya? That photo of me and Jana is from college and yes, that is Boone's Farm.
3. Last month was our three year anniversary - congrats to Steph G at Insert Classy Here for winning the $25 Amazon gift card + $25 donation to Children's Literacy Initiative.
4. Happy happy birthday one of my BFF sister resistors, Melissa.
5. The fat man walks alone.

Linkup Guidelines:

This link up is the second Tuesday of every month. The next is  Tuesday, December 12, 2017 with the special Favorite Reads of 2016 Show Us Your Books on Tuesday, December 26.
Please: 

1. Visit and comment with both of your hosts, Jana & me
2. Display the button and/or link back to us on your blog post
2. Visit other blogs who've linked up and talk books as booknerds are wont to do

Here's what I've read since the last linkup.

Engrossing Reads

I Am Watching You by Teresa Driscoll - I was totally glued to this book. Lots of loose ends. Creepy throughout. And you know I do love a creep. You might not know that I'm obsessed with things that should be, in my mind, contracted. I would have liked I'm Watching You better.  Free copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review

Lie to Me by J.T. Ellison - I was very impatient to know WTF was going on in this novel. Sometimes suspense books aren't super suspenseful. That was not the case here. I couldn't put this one down. One of those no one is likable but it doesn't even matter books.  free copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review

Deep Freeze (Virgil Flowers #10) by John Sandford - That fuckin' Flowers has done it again. If you read the series, you get why I called him that. The Virgil series is very reliable for me. OCNJ library hardback

Daisy in Chains by Sharon Bolton - Well, I was completely taken off-guard by how this shit went down, which is a very, very good thing when you're reading a book like this. I liked how Bolton gave you a little something easy to figure out relatively early on and saved the sucker punch for the end. Good stuff. OCNJ library hardback

Passed the Time Just Fine

Dead Certain by Adam Mitzner - I can't even remember where I got this book, how I heard of it, if it was on my kindle or a library book. It was fine. A little too tight. A little weird and not in a way that I Liked.

The Last Mrs. Parrish by Liv Constantine - This book is straddling all the lines between my very scientific categories. The second half of the book is definitely engrossing - I stayed up until midnight on a Sunday night to finish it. The first half passed the time just fine/was not worth it. It seemed like a really long build up and the repetition was starting to annoy me. I wish you could just read the last half of the book, but that's not how this works. OCNJ library hardback

Y is for Yesterday (Kinsey Milhone #25) by Sue Grafton - The 25th book in the alphabet series. The series definitely needs a relief pitcher, but I will of course read the 26th and will miss the prospect of more Kinsey. I love that cranky lady who is so set in her ways. OCNJ library hardback

Triptych (Will Trent #1) by Karin Slaughter - A new to me series, recommended by one of you...Erin? Anyway, Will is quite a different character for the detective/murder genre and I'll keep with this. OCNJ library hardback

Fractured (Will Trent #2) by Karin Slaughter - See? OCNJ library hardback

Not Worth It

The Seven Rules of Elvira Carr by Frances Maynard - This reminded me of a weak version of either Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine or The Rosie Project - both books I enjoyed immensely. To be fair to this book, I was comparing it to how enjoyable I found those two. This felt like it took forever to read and was really surface when it could have been much deeper. Kindle e-book

Did Not Finish

Summer at Little Beach Street Bakery by Jenny Colgan - I read the first Beach Street and liked it fine. I couldn't face the prospect of the similar formula of this one a few pages in. It might be better in the summer, so I will keep it in mind. OCNJ library hardback

Red Clocks by Leni Zumas - I couldn't finish this one. I'm disappointed because I liked the premise. I thought it was very hard to get into. Free copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. 

And you? What have you been reading? 

An InLinkz Link-up

Books I loved as a teen

My Christmas gift to you is this photo of me with a femullet as a teen. Enjoy!

Ah, the teen years - acne, growing pains, awkward situations, and books. Always books. I love the urgency found in many young adult novels - it was a time in life when everything seemed so freaking important and life ending/changing. And some stuff was, sure...but most of it wasn't. I still love young adult books to this day. There's a quality about them that makes me relive a little of my teen years the only way I'd ever want to - through the pages of a novel.

1. Forever by Judy Blume - I still feel tender inside just thinking about this book. Judy dealt with first love and sex so wonderfully. No one beats her for writing for people on the verge of adulthood. I still re-read this book often.

2. Up a Road Slowly by Irene Hunt - I must have read this book at least 10 times in my early teens. I felt a little like I was growing up with Julie.

3. Christopher Pike novels - I started out with the Final Friends party trilogy when I was like 10 or 11 and read them as fast as he could put them out into my teens. I still re-read them.

4. V.C. Andrews Flowers in the Attic & Heaven series - Like, no adults knew we were reading these. And they were way over our heads at the time. It's like a right of passage for young girls to read these. Well, it was. I hope it still is.

5. Sweet Valley Twins & High series - I also felt like I grew up with the Wakefield twins. I read every one of these books. I think I devoured over 15 of them in one week on vacation with my grandparents in Ocean City. Gamma never limited the amount of books she bought me, and she bought a lot that week at a used bookstore. No one in my life ever denied me some bucks for books. It was amazing.

Hope to see you back here to check out or link up for Show Us Your Books with me and Jana of Jana Says this Tuesday, December 8. Bonus holiday giveaway.

And don't forget the Bonus linkup on Tuesday, December 29. We want you to show us your favorite books you read in 2015. I'm going to try to limit myself to five. FIVE ONLY out of 97 read (as of now, surely over 100 by then). Anyway, please join us! I love best of lists, especially when they concern books.

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Happy birthday to my uncle Billy today!

What are some books you loved as a teen?