I have to confess I didn't have much Christmas spirit going into the holidays this year. It was hard to muster the enthusiasm after one of the hardest years of my life. But it was good to be with family and to see friends back home. There are glimpses of light when I look hard enough. Here's hoping 2018 is good to all of us.  

Read and Reading 

You know those books you love so much, you’re practically incoherent? I finished The Gentleman's Guide To Vice And Virtue (Lee) a few weeks ago and I’m still swooning. It’s an adventure story the likes of which I’ve never seen before. Progressive, fresh, feminist, and as fun as it’s funny. My admiration for Mackenzi Lee’s genius grew with every page of this rollicking tale. Monty is an absolute rake, one you despair over and cheer for in equal measure. Percy’s devotion in the face of his society-imposed limitations was inspiring. The character growth was stupendous and the plot twists had me dying to know what would happen next while not wanting the book to end. Monty and Percy’s love story is for the ages and what a magnificent ride it was getting there. Highly recommended. (If you've read this, we must discuss! I have so many thoughts about the way privilege, race, entitlement, attitudes toward the LGBT community, women's roles, etc. play into this novel.)

I started What Happened (Clinton) at the end of September. I thought I was ready to handle it. Then I cried my way through the introduction and first chapter. I had to take frequent breaks because it made me so sad. And then I would get even more angry about Trump. Then I would read HRC's policy ideas and imagine how wonderful it would have been, especially in contrast to what we're currently dealing with, and get sad all over again. Clinton is a great writer and it was a treat to experience her words again, no matter the emotional response they evoked. This was a hard but powerful book to read. I appreciated how she encouraged us to choose love and kindness and used the last chapter to discuss activism and what we can do as a country. We need to stay involved and resist and enlist where we can. It's hard to think about what might have been but I'm grateful to have read this book and thankful for her example. I'm still with her.

Penny Reid is my gold standard for smart romance and I’m thrilled to have found a new author to add to that list: Susannah Nix. Remedial Rocket Science introduces us to Melody, an IT worker who is passionately nerdy about her fandoms. Melody and Jeremy didn’t have the most auspicious beginning when they reconnect three years after hooking up. We learn very troubling information about Jeremy and I wasn’t sure he could be redeemed. But I believe in second chances and as Melody and Jeremy become friends, it’s clear he’s grown up a lot. He totally won me over! This novel was clever and refreshing and made me laugh out loud. 

I'm still gathering my thoughts about Celeste Ng's second novel Little Fires Everywhere. Suffice it to say it was phenomenal and I'll be retroactively adding it to my favorite fiction list for the year once my review is done.

Favorite Book Lists for 2017: Fiction and YA, Romance Novels, Nonfiction.

You can see all the books I've read at Goodreads. 

Currently reading: Write Naked: A Bestseller's Secrets to Writing Romance and Navigating the Path to Success (Probst),  Divine Intuition (Robinson), This Is Where You Belong (Warnick), You Are A Badass (Sincero), salt. (waheed), Text Me When You Get Home: The Evolution And Triumph Of Modern Female Friendship (Schaefer), Tell Me More (Corrigan)

Podcasts:

I listened to Kristin Hanggi and Natalie Roy are just getting started on the Robcast twice. The first while I was driving, the second so I could take notes. So many great insights about intuition.  

Gabrielle Union Is Fed Up and I Can't Fix It: A First Responder and Heroin are both worthy listens from Death, Sex, and Money.

Pantsuit Politics has become a must-listen. I'm so grateful for Sarah and Beth's commentary on everything happening in our country.

Pop Culture Happy Hour's Our Hanukkah Special was fantastic! Love that they did this episode.

I've started listening to the bookish podcast Lit Up, mainly just going through the archives and downloading episodes of authors or books I like. I especially enjoyed Chapter 110: Rachel Khong on Family Matters & Food. I really enjoyed Khong's book Goodbye Vitamin and it was great to hear where some of her inspiration came from. 

I wish both Neil Patrick Harris and Octavia Spencer's episodes of Off Camera with Sam Jones had been longer! So interesting. 

Highlights:  

• I loved my time in Louisville visiting Anne, Will, and their family. While I've visited them regularly over the years, we usually just hang out at their house. It was so fun to explore more of the city. We got a lot of book-ish time in, from visiting bookstores to simply nighttime reading in their library. I sampled bourbon- Henry McKenna and Larceny were two favorites. And we relaxed and chatted about everything under the sun. I can't wait to go back!

• My friend sent me a box of clothes she no longer wants and it was filled with glorious sweaters and cardigans. It was the best!

• The globe ornaments at World Market

• Millenneagram mugs  

• Rikki and Michaela from The Ardent Biblio organized a book exchange and I was delighted by Rhode Read's thoughtful selections for me. She sent me a Little Free Library book that turned out to be a vintage romance novel (score!) and a copy of Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore, a book I loved but did not own. Her thoughtfulness blew me away!

• Tea and conversation about the Enneagram and intuition with Kelly at The Good Earth

• Christmas with family

• My cousin addressed my Christmas card with Favorite. I now have proof that I am the favoritest of all the cousins! 

• Being back in my hometown, which means time with good friends and stopping by as many of my favorite places as possible.

Favorite Instagram:

Do you want to build a (book) snowman? 

(If you want to follow me on Instagram, my user name is leighkramer.)

On The Blog:

All my tea recommendations: Tea For You And Tea For Me: A Tea Lover's Guide. 

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What have you been into this month? 

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