Top Ten Tuesday: Bookish Wishlist 2021

For That Artsy Reader Girl’s Top Ten Tuesday:

December 21: Books I Hope Santa Brings/Bookish Wishes (This was so popular when I did it in June that we’re doing it again for the holidays! List the top 10 books you’d love to own and include a link to your wishlist so that Santa can grant your wish. Make sure you link your wishlist to your mailing address [here’s how to do it on Amazon] or include the email address associated with your ereader in the list description so people know how to get the book to you. After you post, jump around the Linky and grant a wish or two if you’d like. You can make your identity known or be someone’s secret Santa! Please don’t feel obligated to send anything to anyone! If you would rather not include your wish list, just share the books you hope you find under your tree on Christmas morning.)

I’m just sharing books I want. In many cases I’d like a physical copy for the reasons specified.

1. Fallen Angel by Kim Wilkins– This is also published under the title Angel of Ruin. I’ve seen this recommended very highly from Kate Forsyth, who is a pretty trusted source for me. But it doesn’t appear to be in print. I’ve got my Aussie book buddy on the lookout for a copy (the author is Australian) but if she can’t find it, I may have to just get a used copy from Amazon.

2. Hat Box: The Collected Lyrics of Stephen Sondheim by Stephen Sondheim – This set includes Finishing the Hat and Look I Made A Hat. Together they make up the lyrics of the recently departed Stephen Sondheim He also shares anecdotes, observations, and memories. I’ve been wanting to get it for some time, but it’s quite pricy.

3. Heavens to Betsy/Betsy In Spite of Herself by Maud Hart Lovelace– This is volume two of the Betsy Tacy Treasury. I picked up volume one in a used bookshop in 2021 and found it wonderfully comforting. I somehow missed these when I was a child. It’s set in a time and place I’m never been, but it’s amazing that some of the games, performances, and plans reminded me very much of my own childhood. I look forward to spending more time with these characters in 2022.

4. The Dorothy Dunnett Companion by Elspeth Morrison – I’ve been trying to read though Dorothy Dunnett’s Lymond Chronicles series for several years now. It’s slow going because while they’re entertaining and interesting, the main character speaks several languages and regularly makes references that many readers won’t understand. Plus we’re not in his had much, so his plans are often a mystery until late in the game. I think having a guide would help me as I go.

5. A Glove Shop in Vienna and Other Winter Stories by Eva Ibbotson – Eva Ibbotson is a favorite of mine. I’m especially interested in her work for older readers, yet I’ve somehow missed this book’s existence until recently. I’m looking forward to it though.

6. The Red Queen by Isobelle Carmody– This is the seventh and final book in the Obernewtyn Chronicles and I really want to read it. It’s hard to find in the US and I feel bad asking my Aussie book buddy for it since it’s 1068 pages so it’s a monster to ship across the entire planet. I may have to go for the ebook on this one.

7. The Thorn and the Blossom: A Two Sided Love Story by Theodora Goss– This is one where I want a physical copy. It’s a love story from both perspectives. The story is based on an Arthurian tale. It has illustrations and accordion binding (held in a cardboard sleeve) so that you can read one view from one side and then turn it around and read the other one that way. It’s something I’d love to have both for the story (I’m a fan of Goss as a writer, and it sounds interesting) and for the format.

8. Miss Ranskill Comes Home by Barbara Euphan Todd– I think I want my next Persephone read to be this one. It’s about a woman who’s shwrecked on a desert island for several years before returning to England, in the midst of WWII and rationing. I think it’s probably an appropriate pandemic read. Our daily lives suddenly have all kinds of rules and regulations that didn’t exist only a few years ago. It’s almost as if we left the world we knew and were dropped somewhere totally unfamiliar. Like most Persephone reads, I would like this as a physical book.

9. Rereadings: Seventeen Writers Revisit Books They Love Edited by Anne Fadiman – I’m a fan of Anne Fadiman, and I have a very complicated relationship with rereading books (What if I don’t like something as much the second time around? Plus there are all those books out there that I haven’t read at all yet…) so I’d love to see how some other readers and writers handle this dilemma (after all there are books I’d like to reread at some point!)

10. Take Courage: Anne Bronte and the Art of Life by Samantha Ellis – This is another that’s been on my TBR for quite a while. I really liked Samantha Ellis’ How To Be A Heroine: Or What I’ve Learned From Reading Too Much. This one looks like it blends biography with memoir. I’m always interested in the Bronte family. Especially the most overlooked member! And I enjoy reading Ellis’ thoughts and observations about literature and life.

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