One-Stop Shopping - A Compilation of "Best of 2011" Book Lists

To be honest I'm still working my way through January Magazine's Best of 2010 list, which was brilliantly categorized by genre, but for those who are a little more up-to-date and looking for 2011 picks (imagine that), I've compiled a wee list of links. Happy shopping!

Best Books of 2011

From the Christian Science Monitor (Which has nothing to do with Christianitiy or science)

From the NY Times (For people who want to impress their in-laws)

From GQ Magazine (A magazine my husband claims most men are neither gay enough nor straight enough to read)

From Slate Magazine (This list's got a nice mixture of fiction and non-fiction)

From The Guardian (For Anglophiles / people who really want to impress their in-laws)

From USA Today (For people who don't read. "See what books authors, from Laura Bush to James Patterson to Snooki, fondly remember as the best book they ever got for Christmas." (Must I? ;))

From Kirkus Reviews (A list of "Best Teen Books," and they look absolutely gorgeous)

I (heart) Local Television

From 4:30 a.m. to 10 a.m. on Christmas Day, KCAL 9 and KTLA (channel five in SoCal) will air the yule log! Yes, they really still do this! For those who don't know, the yule log is literally an image of a log in a fireplace, crackling along all warm and inviting, with Christmas music or, for some unexplained reason, classic rock on in the background.

It warms my heart that this will be airing on television for 5 and a half hours on two fairly major stations!

Merry Christmas, everyone.

Feast-ival

Today we feast all day at my office in an epic pot luck. So far I've had fruit salad, chips and homemade guac, some vegetables, pita and hummus. Each year we decide on a "base" food, like Italian, Chinese Take-Out or Indian food. This year it's Greek (with grape leave things, more hummus, and various lamb and vegetable skewers), plus everyone brings completely random salads, appetizers, drinks* and of course insane amounts of dessert** -- cookies, brownies, pie, cake, chocolates.

We try to pace ourselves by wandering into the main buffet room every half-hour or so from our desks, but it's basically a never ending circle of filling up, grabbing a new plate, going back for fourths, and gathering leftovers.

Lots of publishing offices close today until 2010. If you've ever wondered how many queries a literary agency receives in a year, how many fulls they request, and how many books they sell, etc., definitely check out Pub Rants' end-of-year stats.

I'll be back to post my own end-of-year stats (how many books I read, things like that) next week.

Have a great weekend!

*Okay, wow, edited to add: there apparently exists such a thing as Greek lasagna, and it is tasty. Also on tap right now: cornbread souffle, yellow rice, olive spread for bread, mashed potatoes and fried chicken(??)...

** Last edit, I promise. The desserts have been unveiled, and they include homemade Viennese and lemon/blueberry cheesecakes, a yuletide log cake, persimmons cake, hot apple cider (being ladled in the kitchen!), dark chocolate brownies, vanilla ice cream, cobbler, mini-cupcakes and, well, that's when I went into a food coma.

Christmas in Beverly Hills

In Los Angeles, "good" neighborhoods are stacked right next to "bad" neighborhoods, sometimes even within the same block, which is how the likes of me ended up living 10 minutes from Beverly Hills. :)

No snow for Christmas of course, but on clear days after it rains, you can see snow-tops on mountains in the distance, and I've grown rather fond of the juxtaposition of holiday lights and palm trees.

Hope you enjoy my wee photos, taken last Saturday.