A Very Bookish Christmas

What is it about the holidays that makes them go by so fast? I woke up this morning and couldn't believe that it was all over already! I had an awesome Christmas Eve full of tradition with my family, a great dinner and time catching up with my grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins on Christmas Day, and then yesterday was my annual progressive dinner with my group of best girlfriends. It was a lovely holiday, and I hope you all had an awesome one, too!

This year, more than others, seemed to be an especially bookish Christmas! I got a bunch of books to usher in my two-month library ban, and a lot of other really cute bookish things.

The Writers Guide to Character Traits by Linda Edelstein : my boyfriend got me this really amazing collection of human traits for my writing. It breaks it down into different traits like 'narcissism' and then gives a brief description of what type of behavior a narcissist would carry out, what the childhood/adulthood is like, etc.

We Are Water by Wally Lamb: I wrote about this already in my post about books on my Christmas list. Every book of his that I've read I really loved so I'm triple excited.

The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith (aka the Goddess aka JK Rowling): Another one I mentioned in my Christmas list post, and another one that I am so freaking excited about.

Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez : Boyfriend took me to the bookstore to blow the rest of his Christmas budget. Since lately I am mostly drawn to YA, I wanted to go for a classic, and I only hear great things about this one.

The Shining by Stephen King : Another one my boyfriend got for me. I've been dying to read it for the longest time, and I'm obsessed with the movie, so it just seemed like a logical choice...obviously.

Across the Universe by Beth Revis : A friend of mine strongly recommended this series to me, and I also hear great things about this book. Unfortunately the hardcover wasn't immediately available (it has the most beautiful cover EVER) but this one will suffice, I'm sure ;)

Attachments by Rainbow Rowell : This one shouldn't need much of an explanation. I love Rainbow Rowell, and I needed this book!

Then, because my boyfriend is amazing, he created what I am going to call a 'booksperience' for one of the books on my Christmas list. In A Tale for the Time Being, a Japanese teen girl has decided she is going to kill herself, but she does not want to until she documents the life of her century-old, Buddhist nun, great-grandmother. Then, across the ocean, a novelist finds a Hello Kitty lunchbox (hence the lunchbox) which contains remnants of the teen girl's life and drama. My boyfriend stuffed the book into the lunchbox, along with incense that is handmade by Tibetan nuns.

What is life without some great accessories? My mom snagged me the awesome 'I Like Big Books & I Cannot Lie' tote bag from Etsy that I included in my bookish gift guide. It is just as huge and sturdy as I imagined it when I made that post! Since I am reading more on my Kindle now, I wanted a Kindle case to make it a little sturdier in my hand and prevent the slipping that tends to happen since it is so smooth/thin. My grandma hooked it up with the beautiful pink case, and she also got me three cute, tasseled bookmarks, since I wanted something pretty dangling out of my current reads. 

I had an amazing Christmas, and I cannot wait to load my tote with books, and stuff those bookmarks in my pages, and get more mileage out of my Kindle. I'm so grateful for all of these awesome gifts and I'm officially ready for the new year!

What did you all get for the holidays? What were your favorite books you received?