Books on My Winter 2024-2025 to-Read List

I spent a day planning out my 2025 year of reading, putting in some contemporary fiction and nonfiction, classics, and even a few picture books.

Here's what I hope to read this winter.

1. I am planning to read 24 Christmas-themed picture books this month. Beyond this, I've finished all my yearly challenges, so I plan to read whatever strikes my fancy for the month of December. I'm stuck in a bit of a scifi groove from November, so I'll probably continue with that---Books 3 and 4 of Becky Chambers' Wayfarer series, maybe Ursula K. Le Guin's The Lathe of Heaven. 

2. I'm thinking about something uplifting for my first book of the year. I got a copy of The Day the World Came to Town for my birthday, and I've heard great things about it; that might be what I choose.

3. I was invited to join another face-to-face book club in my town, and how can I resist? The group will meet in January and discuss The Women by Kristen Hannah. Since the library has 2,560 holds (not kidding) on this book, and I gave my copy away unread (!) I shall probably have to purchase another copy. 

4. My naturalist book club is reading and discussing The Nature of Nature: Why We Need the Wild in January, so that is another book I need to read in December.

5. January-February-March is traditionally a three-month celebration of Japanese Literature Month. I might like to read I Am a Cat by Natsumi Sōseki or The Master of Go or Palm-of-the-Hand Stories by Yasunari Kawabata in January.

6. I hope to read some classics for Black History Month in February. I might read The Weary Blues by Langston Hughes or Up From Slavery by Booker T. Washington.

And who knows what else will come my way?

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together. Each Tuesday That Artsy Reader Girl assigns a topic and then post her top ten list that fits that topic. You’re more than welcome to join her and create your own top ten (or 2, 5, 20, etc.) list as well. Feel free to put a unique spin on the topic to make it work for you! Please link back to That Artsy Reader Girl in your own post so that others know where to find more information.   

The Sunday Salon: Holiday Guests; a Sleepover; and a Wild Hog Christmas Party

 

Welcome! I am delighted that you joined us here at the Sunday Salon. 

What is the Sunday Salon? 

The Sunday Salon is a place to link up and share what we have been doing during the week. It's also a great opportunity to visit other blogs and join in the conversations going on there. 

Our granddaughter and great-granddaughter came to our house for a wonderful visit. Then I enjoyed a fun sleepover with my writer group friends. And we celebrated with our naturalist group friends at the annual Wild Hog Christmas party where we ate---yes, you guessed it---wild hog. 

It's been a busy, busy week.

What I Read Last Week:

The Nights Before Christmas: 24 Classic Christmas Stories to Read Aloud collected and illustrated by Tony Ross

What I'm Reading Now:

The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula K. LeGuin

The Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin

The Wood at Midwinter by Susanna Clarke

What I Posted Last Week Here at Readerbuzz:

The Wood at Midwinter by Susanna Clarke

Nine Books You Might Read During a Storm (or a Pandemic or Any Sort of Awful Time)

The Sunday Salon: 2025 Reading Challenges

I began to list 3 Good Things every day during the pandemic. Now I've established a regular routine of writing down my 3 Good Things. Here are 3 Good Things from last week:

Good Thing #1:

Reading a book to g-granddaughter, Lucy, 2.

Good Thing #2:

Going out to eat in Galveston

with my writing friends

before our sleepover.

Good Thing #3:

Naturalist friend Dick knows how to dress

for a Wild Hog Christmas party.

Weekend linkup spots are listed below. Click on the picture to visit the site.

        

I hope you will join the linkup for Sunday Salon below.

The Wood at Midwinter by Susanna Clarke: Book Beginnings on Fridays, First Line Friday, The Friday 56, and Book Blogger Hop

   

Today's Featured Book: 

The Wood at Midwinter

by Susanna Clarke

Genre: Fantasy Novella

Published: November 8, 2024

Page Count: 64 pages

Summary: 

Nineteen-year-old Merowdis Scot is an unusual girl. She can talk to animals and trees-and she is only ever happy when she is walking in the woods.

One snowy afternoon, out with her dogs and Apple the pig, Merowdis encounters a blackbird and a fox. As darkness falls, a strange figure enters in their midst-and the path of her life is changed forever.

 

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAY is hosted by Rose City Reader. What book are you happy about reading this week? Please share the opening sentence (or so) on BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAY! Add the link to your blog or social media post and visit other blogs to see what others are reading.

Happy Friday and welcome to the FIRST LINE FRIDAY, hosted by Reading is My Superpower! It’s time to grab the book nearest to you and leave a comment with the first line.

It was winter, just a few days before Christmas.

THE FRIDAY 56 is hosted by Anne of Head Full of Books. To play, open a book and turn to page 56 (or 56% on your e-reader). Find a sentence or two and post them, along with the book title and author. Then link up on Head Full of Books and visit others in the linky. 

If you ask me, said Pretty, interrupting hurriedly, this is not a safe conversation to have.

The purpose of THE BOOK BLOGGER HOP is to give bloggers a chance to follow other blogs, learn about new books, and befriend other bloggers. THE BOOK BLOGGER HOP is hosted by Ramblings of a Coffee Addicted Writer.    

December 13-19. Are there any winter or holiday-themed books you like to read every year?

Yes! How the Grinch Stole Christmas. The Little Match Girl. Truman Capote's A Christmas Memory.

Nine Books You Might Read During a Storm (or a Pandemic or Any Sort of Awful Times)

I wasn't myself when the pandemic started. I had a hard time settling down into a book. 

During the early months of the pandemic, these are some of the books I read.

Some calmed me down, while others suggested that we can make it through bad times. I seemed to like to read about awful disasters from the past, reminding me that things have been terrible in the past, but we got through them.

Erik Larson's The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz

Laura Ingalls Wilder's The Long Winter

Ways to Make Sunshine, children's fiction by Renée Watson

Ikigai: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life

Right Ho, Jeeves, classic humorous fiction by P. G. Wodehouse

Influenza: The Hundred-Year Hunt to Cure the 1918 Spanish Flu Pandemic by Jeremy Brown

I Am, I Am, I Am: Seventeen Brushes with Death, a memoir by Maggie O'Farrell

The Storm of the Century: Tragedy, Heroism, Survival, and the Epic True Story of America's Deadliest Natural Disaster, the Great Gulf Hurricane of 1900 by Al Roker

Anne Frank's Diary: The Graphic Adaptation by Ari Folman

What calms you down when you face a storm?

By the way, I'm reading Doris Keans Goodwin's book, Team of Rivals now, about President Abraham Lincoln and the team he created from his rivals for office in order to help put America back together when it came apart in the Civil War. And I'm planning to read The Day the World Came to Town: 9/11 in Gander, Newfoundland as my first book of the year. 

Thank you to Astilbe for this prompt!

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together. Each Tuesday That Artsy Reader Girl assigns a topic and then post her top ten list that fits that topic. You’re more than welcome to join her and create your own top ten (or 2, 5, 20, etc.) list as well. Feel free to put a unique spin on the topic to make it work for you! Please link back to That Artsy Reader Girl in your own post so that others know where to find more information.   

The Sunday Salon: 2025 Reading Challenges

     

Welcome! I am delighted that you joined us here at the Sunday Salon. 

What is the Sunday Salon? 

The Sunday Salon is a place to link up and share what we have been doing during the week. It's also a great opportunity to visit other blogs and join in the conversations going on there. 

Our granddaughter and her daughter, our great-granddaughter, are here for a lovely visit! We just managed to get our tree up and stockings hung before they arrived. So glad to have them here!

What I Read Last Week:

Orbital: A Novel by Samantha Harvey (Booker Prize Winner)

What I'm Reading Now:

The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula K. LeGuin

The Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin

The Nights Before Christmas: 24 Classic Christmas Stories to Read Aloud collected and illustrated by Tony Ross

What I Posted Last Week Here at Readerbuzz:

The Lathe of Heaven

Christmas Book-a-Day Advent Calendar

The Sunday Salon

NPR's 2024 Books We Love

I began to list 3 Good Things every day during the pandemic. Now I've established a regular routine of writing down my 3 Good Things. Here are 3 Good Things from last week:

Good Thing #1:

Wicked!

Good Thing #2:

Cream Cheese Braid

Good Thing #3:

2025 Reading Challenges

I'm working on making my list.

Are you doing any challenges next year?

Weekend linkup spots are listed below. Click on the picture to visit the site.

        

I hope you will join the linkup for Sunday Salon below.