book days of Christmas

Every year I spend at least an hour making out a list of books I would like for Christmas.  I spent an hour plus a few more this year as I had to make separate lists and was slightly distracted by looking at dishes.  Here are a few* books I've recently read that I can recommend for your reading lists. 

44 Scotland Street by Alexander McCall Smith

You will recall that I read the fifth book in this series over the summer. At the end of the summer, I found the first book in the series at a used book store at which I had a groupon to get $20 worth of books on which I only spent $10...I should start paying attention to the grammar in the books I read so that I won't write so many preposition-filled run-on sentences.  This book was written as a serial story in a newspaper.  Knowing that made reading the book so much easier as it jumps from character to character and plot to plot.  I liked meeting the characters in their original form since reading their character progression in the incorrect order.  I viewed it as a prequel like The Magician's Nephew to all the books in the Chronicles of Narnia.  I would like to read the rest of the stories in this series, but I will borrow them from the library instead of purchasing them.

* edit: I have completed a couple more books that will be reviewed later this week with Etsy coupon codes.  I just wanted to go ahead and include an extremely good coupon code for my book on Lulu; it makes a great stocking stuffer!

Ruth on Lulu code: BUYMYBOOK305- 25% at checkout - expires December 14, 2011