birthday books

I have been meaning to post a list of all the awesome books I received for my birthday this year; some were on my Amazon wishlist, and some were purchases made with me in mind. All were very appropriate, and they're on my to-read-in-the-near-future list. I hope against hope to get to most of them this summer:

Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World (Isa Chandra Moskowitz & Terry Hope Romero)
Given by: Sarah K.
Unaware that it was recently added to my Amazon wishlist, Sarah K. mailed this to me entirely out of the blue! It's, clearly, a vegan cupcake cookbook. I can't wait to try some of the recipes.

The Knitting Circle (Ann Hood)
Given by: Sarah (sister)
Because I love books & knitting!

The Friday Night Knitting Club (Kate Jacobs)
Ditto above. This one I've already read; it was an enjoyable, light, chick-lit-ish read, and would be even for those who don't knit, I think. And luckily it wasn't quite as tepid and fanciful as some knitting novels I've read in the past...but we won't get into that right now.

The Killer Angels (Michael Shaara)
Given by: Mom & Dad
On my Amazon wishlist because Dave recommended it a few years ago (I forget why). It's a historical novel, about the "four most bloody and courageous days" of the Civil War. My one issue with it right now that it's the mass market paperback version. Ugh. I wish they'd never invented that format. Those don't ever feel like real books.

Sin and Syntax (Constance Hale)
Given by: Mom & Dad
On my Amazon wishlist because I think I saw it on someone else's...? It's subtitled "How to Craft Wickedly Effective Prose." I don't know much about it; I'm looking forward to cracking it to see what it's got to say.

Persepolis (Marjane Satrapi)
Given by: Mom & Dad
On my Amazon wishlist because of a review in Bust magazine. It's an autobiographical "graphic novel" (how do you describe this format without calling it a novel? - it isn't one) about a girl growing up in Iran during the Islamic Revolution.

The New Penguin History of the World (J.M. Roberts)
Given by: Mom & Dad
On my Amazon wishlist because my friend & coworker Karen highly recommended it after we had long discussions about history (and how we wanted a comprehensive, over-arching understanding of it) over microwaved lunches in the atrium. I plan to read this in small, digestible bites over a long period of time, somewhat like Zinn's A People's History.

Accomodating Brocolli in the Cemetary (Vivian Cook)
Given by: Bethany
This title was difficult to type. Bethany knows of my love of proper grammar & orthography. The book looks to contain photographic examples of many common mistakes in everyday writing (mostly images of signs) as well as thorough notes on history, historic mistakes (some by very famous authors), other problematic spellings, etc. Also: I thought it was written by a woman, but Vivian is in fact a man.

Thanks, everyone, for such thoughtful and such appropriate gifts! You know you generally can't go wrong giving me a book (my to-read pile continues to grow out of control...), but these were just so spot-on. I'm excited for each & every one of them.

xo

NB: These books were listed by order of receipt, not by order of preference or order I intend to read them.