Winter Book Bingo!

The days are getting crispy (sometimes downright cold!), the nights are longer, and it's time for a reading diversion .... Book Bingo has returned!

This time, we're doing it a little bit differently ... The holiday season can be busy, occasionally stressful, and it's easy to forget to take time to breathe and savor the moments. Then, once those moments have all passed, the winter slump hits hard. So ... Winter Book Bingo to the rescue! 

The board will be "live" from now until the end of February, and there's a mix of prompts to choose from. You can read across a row for Bingo, or you can try to knock out the whole board. The hope is that joining in our bookish fun will help you take a moment to escape - to savor - to have some quiet "me time" while reading - and add a little something special to the holiday season and beyond.

The bingo board is posted below, but it will also be on our Instagram page!

If you join in, please tag us on Instagram @ArchdaleLibrary and use #ArchdaleReads so we can cheer each other on!

Read Together

There's something about finishing a book and knowing there's a list of other books that relate to what you've just read ... Especially when you read something that opens multiple avenues for further reading discoveries. Such was the case with one of my recent selections.

The Collector's Daughter (Gill Paul, 2021)

This is the story of Eve Herbert, daughter of the Earl of Carnarvon (you may know the family seat, Highclere Castle, aka Downton Abbey), and her role in the discovery of Tutankhamen's tomb in the 1920s. The narrative takes place in multiple timelines, revealing what happened in the past as it impacts the events of the "present" (1970s, when Eve is the last remaining discoverer).
As someone who studied both Art History and History in college, I was mesmerized by the account of finding the tomb - and the later discussions about who and where the uncovered artifacts belong. 

Read Together:

A World Beneath the Sands: The Golden Age of Egyptology
(Toby Wilkinson, 2020)

The Visitors

(Sally Beauman, 2014)

Lady Almina and the Real Downton Abbey: The Lost Legacy of Highclere Castle
(Fiona Carnarvon, 2011)

When Women Ruled the World: Six Queens of Egypt
(Kara Cooney, 2018)

The Woman Who Would be King
(Kara Cooney, 2014)

Mirage: Napoleon's Scientists and the Unveiling of Egypt
(Nina Burleigh, 2007)

Friday Ramble

Another Friday, another ramble ... Is anyone else confused by how fast time is flying this year? It seems like just yesterday it was mid-July, and now we're less than a week from Thanksgiving! It's a busy time for everyone, but here's a few rambling thoughts for you...

Festive Reading
Do you read Christmas/holiday books? If so, when do you normally start reading them? I try to wait until October 1st every year, but this year I actually started the last week of September - Susan Mallery has a new book, The Christmas Wedding Guest, and I managed to snag a copy on release day. 
Since then, I've read a few others, and have a nice sized stack waiting for me to get to ... There's something about holiday books - a special sparkle, a little extra magic (even when there's no "actual" magic involved). A friend recently asked me for a list of titles to help jumpstart her festive reading, so I'll share some here as well. [Note: some of these are newer releases and others are backlist; I tried to mix it up so not everything has a waitlist.]

• The Christmas Bookshop (Jenny Colgan)
• Christmas by the Book (Anne Marie Ryan)
• Twelve Dates of Christmas (Jenny Bayliss)
• Dashing Through the Snow (Debbie Macomber)
• Bonus: there's a Hallmark movie of this one!
• The Santa Suit (Mary Kay Andrews)
• In a Holidaze (Christina Lauren)
• The Mistletoe Promise (Richard Paul Evans)

The Olympics
It seems a little strange to be thinking about the Olympics already, since we just had the [delayed] Summer Games a few months ago, but ... I'm excited. The Winter Games are my favorite, and it's nice to have something exciting to look forward to in the wintry months post-holidays.

Book Bingo
Yes, Book Bingo is coming back! Our Winter board will go live after Thanksgiving and run through the end of February ... because adding a little spice to our reading makes hibernating more fun!

Personal Reading
I've read more so far this year than I did in all of 2020, and I am very pleased with that fact. I may be behind on my official Goodreads goal, but the most important thing is the reading mojo is returning, and I'm enjoying more books again ... Besides, there's still a month and a half left - who knows what I might manage to read in that time?