Buckeroos and buckerettes, you sure do have me pegged. I seem to get a heap of new books every Crhistmas (along with all the other fantastic stuff), and this year’s haul is no exception. A few that I’ve already started sampling, with the understanding that there are many more to come:

Revenge (Stephen Fry):
I haven’t read a new Stephen Fry novel in years (probably because he hasn’t written one in years), but this one looks to be worth the wait. I’m not far into it yet, but it’s the kind of thing I might end up reading in bed all day and then put it down finally when it’s already dark out and I’m still wearing pajamas. His stuff is perfect vacation reading - it’s light but not stupid, and endlessly entertaining.

Reason, Truth, and History (Hilary Putnam): I’ve been sort of embarrassed about not already owning this - I’ve read most of it over the past few years in one context or another, but it’s one of those books that philosophy majors are just supposed to have. I’ve even written two half-assed undergraduate papers on the damn thing, thanks to the copy at Bobst, but I’ve wanted for a while to have one of my own. And now I do!

The Egyptian Book of the Dead: The Book of Going Forth By Day (Raymond Faulkner, Trans): Chris and I saw this edition at the Met a while back, and it’s really impressive - images of the Papyrus of Ani are placed above the corresponding English translation, and I can spend hours just looking at it. I had a friend years ago who was obsessive about Egyptian history and had a version of this that wasn’t nearly as nice (but cost a great deal more). I’m not quite as into it as she was, but I can completely understand the appeal.

The Simarillion (J.R.R. Tolkien): I’ve already read about the first fifth of this from a much-abused mass market paperback copy I found at the Strand - that’s when I realized that something like the last third of the book is missing, so I tossed it. Now that I have this much nicer edition, I can feed the dorky Tolkien fangirl within once more. Of course, I could always just re-read the entire series, and I probably will, but it’s nice to have something completely new (even if everyone else has already read it).

Persons, Animals, Ships, and Cannon in the Aubrey-Maturin Sea Novels of Patrick O’Brian (Anthony Gary Brown):
What with the number of Patrick O’Brian fans in my family, it’s not all that surprising that multiple copies of this were ordered for multiple people this year - but I ended up with one of them, so I’m pretty pleased. It’s the definitive reference to pretty much everything in the canon, fictional and historical, and it’s got me itching to reread the entire series again.

Stitch ‘N Bitch: The Knitter’s Handbook
(Debbie Stoller): For Christmas this year, my brother got me everything one needs to learn how to knit - needles, point protectors, yarn, and this book. I spent an awkward forty minutes learning how to cast on and do a few rows of stitches, and although there was a lot of swearing (and asking my mother why on earth anyone would want to knit), I think I’ll get the hang of it soon enough.