Here is the book haul from the holidays:

I want to read more of Tracy Chevalier's books, so I asked for and got The Virgin Blue and Burning Bright. I feel terrible that I have not kept up with her work, so now's my chance to catch up!

When I first saw this book last year, I thought, "Oh! I wish I'd written that!" What a perfect topic. Sentence diagramming! My husband never learned diagramming in school, but I remember fondly many a fifth-grade afternoon drawing lines on the blackboard. The book is good so far. It's nice to learn the history of it and see the structures again.

My aunt and uncle sent this book to me, knowing that I enjoy reading of the Nicholas II family history. These are stories told to the children by the Imperial family's physician's son. The illustrations are wonderful, and I'm sure the stories are fun.

It may seem strange, but I think this is my favorite book of them all this year. I love apples! I've picked them in the orchards of a manor by the Hudson River, I've canned jars of homemade applesauce in my mother's kitchen, the only thing I eat at McDonald's is their fruit and walnut salad (apples, nuts, and yogurt! rather good!), and the only way I can swallow a pill is to bury it in thick applesauce and pray it goes down. This book has beautiful illustrations of apples, one to a page. My plan is to eat one of each kind in here and note the date and my observations. I feel like Darwin!!