"A Christmas Party" by Georgette Heyer

I really like Georgette Heyer's Regency novels, the ones I've read.  They're sparklingly witty and sarcastically clever and generally lots of fun.  I tried reading one of her mysteries earlier this year, though, and ended up DNFing it because I couldn't stand any of the people in it and it was altogether rather dull.  But I tried this one because, well, I like Christmas mysteries.  And lots of people recommended it.  And I found it used at a reasonable price.

I did like it pretty well.  I only liked three of the characters, but two of them fell in love with each other, so that was nice.  I didn't figure out the solution of the mystery before the detective did, so I approve of that.

But most of the book was taken up by disagreeable quarrel after disagreeable quarrel, and there was only one real twist to the story.  It was a very good twist, but not enough to make me love the book, I'm afraid.  It was a fun read, and I'm glad I was able to enjoy one of Heyer's mysteries enough to read a whole one.  I've heard that Heyer herself didn't really enjoy writing mysteries, but only did them to please her publisher.  Maybe that's why this wasn't sparkling fun like her other books.  I did laugh here and there, though.

Particularly Good Bits:

"I don't know that the weapon's going to interest me much," pursued Hemingway.  "What with all these thrillers that get written nowadays by people who ought to know better than to go putting ideas into criminals' heads, there's no chance of any murderer forgetting to wipe off his fingerprints.  Sickening, I call it" (p. 184).

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: PG-13 for a play about an aging prostitute that gets read/described in one scene (nothing truly salacious), more bad language than I was at all expecting, and a murder.

This has been my 62nd and final book read off my TBR shelves for #TheUnreadShelfProject2021.  Huzzah!

"Once Upon a Christmas" by Lauraine Snelling and Lenora Worth

There's something about Christmastime that makes me enjoy cozying up with fluffy, festive romances.  Maybe it's because my life often gets busy, so I don't have energy to follow something deep or difficult.  Maybe it's just the generally cozy cheer of the season.  I don't know.  Anyway, Once Upon a Christmas is two fluffy, festive romances in one volume that I probably wouldn't have even picked up any other time of year.  But the week before Christmas, they were just what I wanted.

In "The Most Wonderful Time of the Year" by Lauraine Snelling, an overworked creative consultant with a dog she loves and a family she avoids meets up with a harried computer tech who's just had to take in his toddler niece because his sister landed in jail.  Which all sounds kind of heavy, and there's definitely some depth to this story that I wasn't expecting, but also plenty of cheery fluff to keep the overall atmosphere light.  

In "'Twas the Week Before Christmas" by Lenora Worth, a pretty Southern belle returns to her grandmother's Louisiana manor for a big family Christmas and falls hard for the handsome, scruffy groundskeeper that her grandmother more or less sets her up with.  This one has a lot more oohing and ahhing over muscles and jawlines and eyes and hair, but I kept envisioning Pierre Jalbert as the Cajun groundskeeper, so I would've been oohing and ahhing over muscles and jawlines and eyes and hair if I'd been the belle, too.  

Of the two stories, I liked Snelling's the most, but I enjoyed Worth's too.  I don't think this is a book I'll reread, but it was just what I needed at the time.

Particularly Good Bits:

After two days of fog and rain, which left her feeling out of sorts, the sun felt like a gift she almost didn't open (p. 13, "The Most Wonderful Time of the Year").

"I believe we can do anything as long as we trust in God and listen to my grand-mere" (p. 296, "'Twas the Week Before Christmas").

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: PG for quite a bit of admiring of the opposite sex, a few nice kisses, and some discussion in the first story of drug use (not engaged in by any characters on the page).

This is my 61st book read off my shelves for #TheUnreadShelfProject2021.

My Favorite Reads of 2021

I'm linking up with That Artsy Reader Girl to share the best books I read in 2021.  As has been my wont for the past few years, I have two top ten lists for you today: my top ten favorite new reads and my top ten favorite rereads.

I've linked all titles to my reviews; for some of the rereads, that link goes to whatever my most-recent review of the book may be, as I don't always review rereads, especially if I've reviewed them two or three times before.

New Reads:

1. The Beautiful Ones (PG) by Emily Hayse  -- breathtakingly good book two of Knights of Tin and Lead, a series that's retelling the Arthurian legends in a magical Wild West setting.

2. Swallows and Amazons (G) by Arthur Ransome -- enchanting stories of a wild and unfettered island summer for some siblings and their friends.

3. On These Black Sands (PG-13) by Vanessa Rasanen -- rollicking pirate fantasy adventure filled with romance, mystery, and handsome pirates.

4. Elizabeth and Her German Garden (PG) by Elizabeth von Arnim -- semi-autobiographical epistolary novel that makes me laugh a lot.

5. The Vanderbeekers of 141st Street (G) by Karina Yan Glaser -- delightful, whimsical, kind-hearted siblings having a Christmas adventure in Harlem.

6. These War-Torn Hands (PG) by Emily Hayse -- marvelous first book of Knights of Tin and Lead with achingly wonderful scenery and archetypical characters that I just love.

7. The Last Fire-Eater (PG-13) by Charity Bishop -- the latest installment of the Tudor Throne series is my favorite yet, mainly due to the feisty, friendly title character.

8. Bat Masterson: The Man and the Legend (PG-13) by Robert K. DeArment -- biography of the Old West legend that left me wanting more.  Happily, there's a sequel about his later life!

9. Land of Hills and Valleys (PG) by Elisabeth Grace Foley -- vintage-feeling western that filled me with nostalgia.

10. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass (PG-15) by Frederick Douglass -- enlightening, electrifying account of Frederick Douglass's early life as a slave and his escape to freedom.

Rereads:

1. The Count of Monte Cristo (PG-16) by Alexandre Dumas -- my second-favorite book of all time.  It gallops along, and I didn't want it to end.

2. The Blue Castle (PG) by L. M. Montgomery (PG) -- I reread this on January 1 and 2, and I plan for it to be my first read of this coming year too.  Because I completely love it, but I don't want to reread it so often that the sparkle dims from over-familiarity.

3. Shane (PG) by Jack Schaefer -- an unfairly wonderful book.  Unfair because I will never write a book this excellent.

4. Jane of Lantern Hill (G) by L. M. Montgomery -- this might now be my kids' favorite LMM book; I read it aloud to them this spring, and I think they've all reread it themselves a time or two after that.

5. The Enchanted April (G) by Elizabeth von Arnim -- this book refreshes me, and I love that about it.

6. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (PG) by J. K. Rowling -- my favorite Harry Potter book, which introduces my favorite Harry Potter character!  Just perfect.

7. Sense and Sensibility (PG) by Jane Austen -- I read the annotated version while leading a read-along, and it was such a joy.

8. Little Town on the Prairie (PG) by Laura Ingalls Wilder -- another one I read aloud to my kids, and we all loved it.

9. Trouble is My Business (PG-13) by Raymond Chandler -- none of the these are my favorite Chandler short stories, but they're delicious anyway.

10. North and South (PG) by Elizabeth Gaskell -- I liked it even better this second time through, as I knew about the rushed-feeling ending and was prepared for it.

You can check out my previous end-of-the-year top ten lists on this page.  They go back to 2014!

Did you share an end-of-the-year top ten list?  Drop a link in the comments so I can check it out!

"The Christmas Pig" by J. K. Rowling

Having just finished rereading the Harry Potter series, it was super exciting to have a brand-new Rowling adventure to enjoy before the end of the year!  And The Christmas Pig did not disappoint.

Jack's favorite toy, Dur Pig or DP for short, has been his constant source of comfort throughout his short and sometimes troubled life.  When his father leaves, DP comforts him.  When Jack and his mother move to a new house, DP bolsters his courage.  When Jack gets bullied, when life is unfair, when nothing goes the way it ought to, DP is always there for Jack.

Until he isn't.  DP gets lost.  And, with a new Christmas Pig for a guide, Jack goes on an Epic Quest to find and rescue DP from the Land of the Lost.  And I do mean Epic Quest.  You know Rowling loves her mythology, and this book kept reminding me of the myth of Orpheus descending into Hades to rescue his wife Eurydice.  With a little of Dante's Inferno and Toy Story mixed in.  All of that infused with Rowling's heady creativity, of course.

Did I love The Christmas Pig?  I might have.  I think I will when I reread it.  I certainly laughed and cried over it, and I'm now handing it off to my kids to add to their box of Christmas books.

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: PG for some intense scenes of peril to a child, themes of loss and broken families, and bullying.  No bad language or other objectionable content.

This has been my 53rd book read off my TBR shelves for #TheUnreadShelfProject2021.

"The Vanderbeekers of 141st Street" by Karina Yan Glaser

Wow.  Wow, wow, wow.  I'm not even sure how to review this book!  My friend Jennifer gave it to me because she has recently fallen in love with this series, and she thought I would too.  And she was right.

I mean, I basically cried from joy through the last 30 pages, it was so good.

The Vanderbeeker family lives in Harlem in the first two floors of an old brownstone.  The family is devastated when their grouchy, never-seen landlord Mr. Beiderman calls them a few days before Christmas to say their lease is up at the end of the year and he's not going to renew it, he's going to find new tenants.  The five Vanderbeeker kids (Isa, Jessie, Oliver, Hyacinth, and Laney) are determined to change Mr. Beiderman's mind.  They try everything they can think of to show him what a wonderful family they are -- they bring him tasty treats, make him gifts, even get up a petition with lots of signatures from people who don't want them to move.  Nothing works.  Christmas comes closer and closer, and the kids start to lose hope, but they never give up.

The Vanderbeekers are one of those lively families I always wanted to belong to when I was a kid.  I would read about the Quimbys and the Melendys and the All-of-a-Kind family and wish I was either a friend to those kids or else their long-lost sister  And this hit me very much the same way, except that now that I'm an adult, I spent half my time wishing I was a kid who was friends with the Vanderbeeker kids and half the time wishing I was an adult who was friends with their parents.  Because their parents are EXCELLENT.  Warm, loving, sensible, kind, firm.  I could totally be friends with them.

Particularly Good Bits:

It was a particular gift of Oliver's that he could say things that adults couldn't hear but his sisters could (p. 70).

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: G.  Good, clean, wholesome, heartwarming fun!

This is my 52nd book read from my TBR shelves for #TheUnreadShelfProject2021.

"Christmas at Thompson Hall and Other Christmas Stories" by Anthony Trollope

I got this book because the first story, "A Christmas at Thompson Hall," was one of the selections for the  #DickensDecember2021 reading group this year.  And I went ahead and read the whole thing because... Christmas!  I'm not sure that I've read anything by Trollope before, but I really want to read something else of his now because he has a very engaging and conversational style, and I like that.

Anyway, here's what I thought of each story in this collection:

+ "Christmas at Thompson Hall" was hilarious.  I was laughing and laughing aloud over this story.  So much so that my kids asked me what was so funny, so I tried to summarize it, but it's so ridiculously complicated that I only confused them.  They'll just have to read it themselves.  It all revolves around a woman who is dragging her husband back home to England to have Christmas with her family.  And then he catches a cold, and she tries to get mustard to make a mustard plaster for him, and Victorian hijinks ensue.  I really don't want to explain more than that because it would spoil the fun for anyone who hasn't read it yet, but wants to.

+ "Christmas Day at Kirkby Cottage" was kind of a let-down after the bouncing fun of the previous story. Young lovers have an argument about the importance of Christmas and then make up.

+ "The Mistletoe Bough" is about a girl who thinks she shouldn't marry the man she loves because she thinks she's being a better person by denying herself happiness.  If that sounds like a downer to you, well, that's because it is.  It ends happily, at least.

+ "The Two Generals" was interesting because I haven't read any other stories about the American Civil War written by an Englishman.  His perspective of what people on either side of the conflict might be thinking was very interesting, and pretty even-handed.  The story is about two brothers from Kentucky who each become generals during the war... but one in the Union Army and one in the Confederate.  And they both love the same girl.  And they both sneak home for Christmas, and conflict ensues.

+ "Not If I Know It" revolves around a verbal misunderstanding between two friends, one of whom takes terrible offense to the way the other answers a request.  They spend Christmas glaring and grumbling, and it's just kind of a grumpy story all around.

So, clearly, "Christmas at Thompson Hall" was my favorite, and I really liked "The Two Generals" too, but I doubt I'll reread the other three stories.  Still, the first was so funny that I'll keep my copy just to reread it for laughs some future Christmas.

(Mine from my Instagram account)

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: G.  Clean and unobjectionable stories.  But you may never look at mustard pots the same way again, or handkerchiefs, or hotel corridors.

This is my 33rd book read and reviewed for my third Classics Club list and my 50th for #TheUnreadShelfProject2021!!!

"The Abbot's Ghost" by Louisa May Alcott

I mostly just bought this because of the gorgeous cover painted by Haleigh DeRocher, and the fact that it's something by Louisa May Alcott I hadn't read yet.  I expected to like it moderately well, but not to like it lots and lots.  Maybe that's why I liked it lots and lots!  Low expectations can be a blessing sometimes.

Maurice Traherne was injured saving his cousin Jaspar's life and is now confined to a wheelchair.  Another cousin, the sweet and lovely Octavia, has been Maurice's constant nurse and companion and comfort.  But Octavia's mother wants her to marry someone rich, and Maurice is penniless.  Pretty standard story so far, right?

A handful of friends come to stay with this family at their big English home, which used to be an abbey.  One of the visitors is a woman that both Maurice and Jaspar had loved once, but she's now married to a rich man much older than herself.  She starts to meddle with both young men, flirting with one and antagonizing the other, even though her husband is also a guest there.  Emotions run high, and then the servants start seeing the abbey's legendary ghost!

After the first few pages, I cared very much about Maurice and Octavia, and I flew through this book, hoping against hope that somehow, everything would turn out well for them.  I was fully prepared for a tragic or hopeless or unhappy ending... but surprise!  Everything turns out really well for them!  I won't say how, though.

I love that DeRocher is bringing out these beautiful illustrated editions!  I have her Christmas Carol and Anne of Green Gables too, and I'm hoping to get more of hers eventually.  They are such a nice size, with clear and readable type and lots of full-color illustrations inside.  But the covers are my favorite thing because they are so smooth and clean-feeling.  I just love to hold them.  You can check out this section of her shop to see all the books she's currently offering.  She's been putting out some lesser-known or obscure works by well-known classic authors too, like this, which is so cool.

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: G.  Clean and lovely.

This is my 34th book read and reviewed for my third Classics Club list and my 51st for #TheUnreadShelfProject2021.