There must always be a Christmas book post! :) There are a few more coming from Amazon that I bought with gift cards I received. So this is really like Christmas books part one.

Go-To Dinners, Ina Garten*: I love Ina’s cookbooks—I have all of them—and when she has a new one, it’s a guaranteed item on my Christmas list. I’ve already gone through and marked up the recipes I want to try, and there are a lot of them.

Welcome to Our Table: This cookbook is by the Penguins’ (my favorite hockey team) wives and girlfriends, and the sales support the Penguins’ Charitable Foundation. It is pretty cool to see recipes from Anna Malkin in here. If you’re a hockey fan, this is a great book—with lots of good recipes even if you’re not!

Queens of the Age of Chivalry,* Alison Weir: Why yes, I am a British History Nut. This book is the third in Weir’s series of books on the queens of England up to the Tudors, starting with William the Conqueror’s wife, Matilda of Flanders. There will be four books in the series (here are the other two: Queens of the Conquest and Queens of the Crusades). Weir has written full biographies of some of these ladies, so if you want even more detail, you can get it!

Antoinette’s Sister*, Diana Giovinazzo: I’m a sucker for anything about Marie Antoinette—she was really the first historical figure I “got into”, as it were, so this novel is pretty perfect for me. It’s told from her sister Charlotte’s viewpoint, which should make it even more interesting. I will report back.

The Lays of Beleriand*, JRR Tolkien: This is the third volume in the “History of Middle Earth” series. I’ve been working my way through this, very out of order—I’ve read the four that deal explicitly with Lord of the Rings, but then I went back and started at the beginning, with The Book of Lost Tales Vol. 1 and Vol. 2. If you’re really into Tolkien, these are good reads. If you’re not, then you’ll be bored stiff!

(asterisk—Amazon affilate link)