Winter Book Haul

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Merry Twixmas, bookworms! (Or merry Feral Week. If you have small children, that description seems more accurate.) I hope you're all having an excellent winter holiday time. Have you gotten any new books recently? I did! Here's what Santa left under the Christmas tree.

All I Want For Christmas Is Niche Nonfiction

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This Christmas list is inspired by Butts. That's right. Butts. A few weeks ago, I read Butts: A Backstory by Heather Radke. It's a history book about fashion and why different silhouettes go in and out of style. I found it surprisingly interesting. Now I want to read more quirky history books about niche topics.

Here are a few niche nonfiction stories I came across in my research. One of them stretches the "history" category, but I promise it has history in it. I checked.

I think these books would make great gifts for lovers of (weird) history.

The Sunday Post #393

 

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The Sunday Post is a chance to recap the past week, talk about next week, tell you what I’m reading, and share news. It’s hosted by The Caffeinated Book Reviewer, Readerbuzz, and Book Date.

The End Of The Year Book Tag

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It's not the end of the year yet, but we're getting close, which means it's time to do The End Of The Year Book Tag. Hopefully these six questions will help me (and you) organize our reading lives before the year is over. It's time to get our butts in gear and smash our reading goals, people!

If you want to answer these questions on your blog, go for it. Consider yourself tagged. You still have a few weeks before the year is really over!

The Sunday Post #392

This post contains affiliate links. I earn a commission from qualifying purchases.

The Sunday Post is a chance to recap the past week, talk about next week, tell you what I’m reading, and share news. It’s hosted by The Caffeinated Book Reviewer, Readerbuzz, and Book Date.

Books Set In Snowy Places

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These novels either take place during winter, or are set in a location that’s often cold and dreary. If you’re looking for an atmospheric book to read while drinking hot cocoa by a fire, then these are your books!

Books I Should Read Before They Become Classics

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I've already written a post about modern books that I think will become classics, but I'm not done yapping yet! What about the modern books I haven't read but think could become classics? Let's talk about the books on my to-be-read list.

First, what makes a book a classic?

• Staying power: It came out years ago, but people are still discussing and recommending it.
• Trendsetting: This one is challenging to spot because some modern books haven't been around long enough to spark serious trends (yet). A book is considered a classic if it becomes a blueprint for a genre.
• Re-re-readable: It has enough depth that readers can discover something new each time they reread it. 
• Artistic merit: There's something unique about the writing style or narrative structure that sets it apart from other books.
• Universal themes: Classics are often about love, death, or morality. Humans from different cultures and generations can relate to the themes.
• Cultural relevance: Classic books are like time capsules. They capture and preserve a moment in human history or culture. They show what society was grappling with at the time the book was written.
• The pretentious people say it's good: Sometimes, it seems like books become classics just because critics and college professors keep insisting that the book is a work of literary genius.

The books in this post are on my to-be-read list. I haven't read them, but I suspect they meet the qualifications to become classics.