Jólabókafló∂

[ironymaiden]

philotera put together a Jólabókafló∂ party (but in January because fuck trying to wedge something else into December) and it was delightful. there were about 20 of us, and several people who didn't know each other - we did a random draw and many of us had to do some stalking.*

we had pan-scandinavian smörgåsbord, with three kinds of pickled herring, fish dumplings, open-faced roast beef on rye, an epic smörgåstårta, homemade bread, cheeses, chocolates, and cookies. i failed to take pictures but everything was both pretty and delicious.

we went around the room and opened the books one at a time. wonder of wonders, in the entire party only one book had been read by the recipient (and he loved the book but didn't own a copy). then philotera gave everyone another book she had chosen, or in my case a brick that consisted of an entire series of paperbacks by David Gemmell that i haven't read.

i had the toughest draw, the manager of a local bookstore. they write a book review blog and have an extensive goodreads, plus they wrote a good likes/dislikes post. example one star novels: Sabriel, The Golem and the Jinni. dislikes include: YA, epic fantasy. wow, we do not want the same things out of books. (hopefully soon i will come up with the time to write a post about what i learned about myself.) ultimately i had a good time solving the puzzle of what book i had read and endorsed that a) they had not and b) might actually like. the list was short, but i settled on Too Like the Lightning. not only had they not read it, but they had previously held the book in their hand and nearly purchased it (only because they didn't like the typesetting on the paperback, but i had purchased the more-readable hardcover). victory!

i did get to talk with them about why Sabriel was a one star.** they don't like anything that has a flavor of folk tale or narrative distance from the characters. i wouldn't have said that it reads that way, but i can see it, and Sabriel herself is pretty stoic.

i hope (if philotera is in the US at the appropriate time next year) we do it again.




*the whole thing was coordinated via facebook, which always makes me sad. it did allow everyone to supply links to their various goodreads and amazon wishlists and blogs and whatnot. (i didn't link to my books tag here because i'm never voluntarily connecting this account to my facebook activity.)
**✨Sabriel by Garth Nix✨ i endorse this book and its immediate sequel, Lirael...and might love the latter more due to having a giant library and a dog.