November TBR CAT: Book given to me as a gift

Timeo danaos et dona ferentes

Gifts can be dangerous things, as the ancients knew. Do you welcome books as gifts? Do you like to be surprised or do you keep lists to give to people who wish to make a present to you?
But however they arrived on our shelves, we all probably have many books still lingering on our TBR; weeks, months or even years after we joyfully and expectantly unwrapped them. Now’s your chance to read them!

Enjoy your books and please remember the wiki.

I have a wishlist but it gets ignored by everyone. Most people are reluctant to give me books because they assume I have read everything. Two books which were passed on by others who had finished them despite my protests about my burgeoning TBR shelves are:

The Sparsholt Affair by Alan Hollinghurst
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak.

I also have one which was a birthday present:
The Folio Society: The World of Late Antiquity by Peter Brown

Like Robert, people have been reluctant to give me books, but keeping up a wishlist on amazon for them to choose from has been successful especially for my extended family. And so I have several books to choose from for this challenge.

My sister picks up used books at the library sale and sends me a box every so often. Sometimes they are gifts, but I am sure I can find something in that category.

I really hope I'll be able to read my choice this month! It is a signed edition of The Custodian of Paradise, by Wayne Johnston, which I received as a birthday present.

>2 Robertgreaves: Most people are reluctant to give me books because they assume I have read everything.

I think this is why I rarely get books as gifts, as well. I have at least one SantaThing book still to read (likely, more than one), so I'll pick one of those.

I'm in the same boat - I never get books as gifts. In fact, I don't think I have been given a book since late teenage years! Maybe I can choose one of those!

You can always choose a book that you have given yourself as a gift! After all, you know best what you really want to read.

>8 MissWatson: - I'm going to have to do that as I never get books or gift cards for books either.

I'm contemplating reading The Last Dickens by Matthew Pearl. I picked it out last Christmas when I got to pick out the books my mother-in-law was going to give me.

Not getting books as gifts seems to be something we all have in common. Luckily a LT member sent me The Bastard of Instanbul by Elif Shafak some time ago, and my husband actually read my wish list and gave me a copy of Vengeance of Mothers by Jim Fergus as a birthday gift.

Oooo - I just found that Jim Ferguson book at a library sale. I hadn't realized that he wrote a sequel (?) to One Thousand White Women. I'm looking forward to reading it.

I'm considering Laura L. Sullivan's Love by the Morning Star, which I received through an online bookish gift exchange.

Like so many of us, I rarely get books as a gift although sometimes I am given one of those "you have to read this" recommendations. Not sure if I still have any unread so I'll have to do more research for this but even then I might come up empty-handed. :(

>14 VivienneR: On the bright side, Vivienne, if you come up empty-handed, you can gift yourself with something from your wishlist!

>15 DeltaQueen50: Oh good idea, Judy! Thank you for that!

I'm off to buy myself the gift of Travelling in a Strange Land by David Park, one of my favourite Northern Ireland authors.

I don't get books as gifts either unless I request them. I do have 3 ERs on the shelf though, one in process, so I'll probably use it for this challenge.

I'm very lucky in that my in-laws pretty much rely on my wishlist, and they are very generous. Likewise my husband! I have loads and loads I could read, but I have picked out two - As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales from the Making of The Princess Bride by Cary Elwes, and Cunk on Everything: The Encyclopedia Philomena.

>18 Jackie_K: I'm also grateful for a generous MIL who doesn't like to give gift cards. And I look forward to reading your review of the Philomena Cunk. She is a delight.

More options than I thought - all SantaThing books, I believe:
- The Passage / Justin Cronin
- After Visiting Friends / Michael Hainey
- The Power of MEOW / David Michie
- The Book of Joy / Dalai Lama
- Beneath a Scarlet Sky

>18 Jackie_K: - I too look forward to hearing about Philomena Cunk.

I have a book subscription on which I am behind (colour me not surprised) so I will be reading one of those.

I'll be reading Working Class Man which I received for Christmas a couple of years ago. After I've read Working Class Boy which I'll borrow from the library. Yes I realise this kind of defeats the purpose of TBR Cat, but I couldn't possibly read his second book without reading his first book first!

I have completed my read of The Vengeance of Mothers by Jim Fergus, and although this book didn't carry me away quite as much as the first one did, I still enjoyed the read. I was a little disappointed with the abrupt ending but have learned that the author is planning a third book so hopefully we will get full closure then.

I just finished Travelling in a Strange Land by David Park the gift I gave myself (see >15 DeltaQueen50:). And what a gift! It was a five-star read.

My review: It doesn't matter who you are, becoming a parent is like travelling in a strange land. Tom and Lorna worry about their son Luke, a student at university in England. Luke has been stranded by a snowstorm cancelling travel plans, the only person left in his student digs at Christmas. Tom sets out to bring him home to Northern Ireland. This novel records Tom's journey as he reflects on another son, Daniel and where he went wrong. Interrupting his thoughts the satnav voice regularly advises him to stay on the route. At one point he turns off the satnav in case the woman can hear his thoughts.

Park's intriguing, quiet story is beautifully written, where each apparently trivial thought and event has significance.

>25 VivienneR: They do say that the best gifts are received from the people who know you the best. ;)

I read Limu the Blue Turtle and His Hawaiian Garden by Kimo Armitage, which was a gift from my sister. She bought it for me when she went to Hawaii.

I just finished As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales from the Making of The Princess Bride and, just like the film, it was utterly delightful and wonderful.

>28 Jackie_K: That is one of my all time favourite films. I can pretty much recite the entire thing when I watch it. Tempted, as long as it doesn't rub off any of the magic.

>29 Helenliz: Honestly, it doesn't. The first chapter felt a bit 'luvvie' till I got into it, but it is just full of genuine affection for everybody and everything to do with the film. I loved it.

I don't get many books as gifts, either, and I wasn't sure I'd get anything read for this month. However, the nice people at TOR had the second book in Seanan McGuire's Wayward Children series, Down Among the Sticks and Bones, as the free ebook this month, so I'm counting that as a gift.

A friend gave me Magpie Murders a year or so ago. It's pretty good so far!

I've just finished Cunk on Everything. As with a lot of TV comedy creations, having her in the longer format of a book meant that the comedy wore a bit thin at times - this is better for dipping in and out of, I think, rather than doing what I did which is reading it from start to finish. Having said that, some of the entries were very funny, especially I thought the one on 'Nigel Farridge'. And the entry on Dr Who was pretty vicious, but very clever. 3.5/5.

I finished Magpie Murders, in which we have one complete detective novel nested within another complete detective novel. The friend who gave it to me knows how much I like detection!

In my family, we usually stick to wishlists. Sometimes my sister passes along books that have been donated to her public library but are not really suited to her readership. The 1898 border edition of Waverley was one such book, and I have finished it finally, read in parallel with the OUP edition which had far more explanatory notes. Very enjoyable and less intimidating than I thought it would be.

COMPLETED The Sparsholt Affair by Alan Hollinghurst (passed on to me by a friend who'd read it)

I didn't have a gift book on my shelf so I read an ER, Two-Buck Chuck & the Marlboro Man.

COMPLETED The World of Late Antiquity by Peter Brown (birthday present)

Chicken Soup for the Cat Lover’s Soul / Jack Canfield, et al.
3.5 stars

I think everyone knows what the “Chicken Soup” books are – little “feel good” stories on whatever the topic is for that book. Mostly, these were good while I read them, but I’ve also already forgotten most of them. There is one I will definitely remember – the cat (he is ok, and we are told that at the beginning of the story) who got his head stuck in the garburator! While reading, I had planned on 3.5 stars (good), but only a day later, I can only remember the one story. I will stick with how I felt about the book while reading (which is usually how I rate, anyway).

I read An American Sunrise by Joy Harjo Poet Laureate of the United
States. It was given to me by a coworker upon my retirement this year.