Title: Hiddensee by Gregory Maguire
Pages: 304
Genres: Fantasy, Retelling
Publisher: William Morrow (Oct. 31st, 2017)
Summary
From the author of the beloved #1 New York Times bestseller Wicked, the magical story of a toymaker, a nutcracker, and a legend remade . . .
Gregory Maguire returns with an inventive novel inspired by a timeless holiday legend, intertwining the story of the famous Nutcracker with the life of the mysterious toy maker named Drosselmeier who carves him.
Hiddensee: An island of white sandy beaches, salt marshes, steep cliffs, and pine forests north of Berlin in the Baltic Sea, an island that is an enchanting bohemian retreat and home to a large artists’ colony—a wellspring of inspiration for the Romantic imagination . . .
Having brought his legions of devoted readers to Oz in Wicked and to Wonderland in After Alice, Maguire now takes us to the realms of the Brothers Grimm and E. T. A. Hoffmann—the enchanted Black Forest of Bavaria and the salons of Munich. Hiddensee imagines the backstory of the Nutcracker, revealing how this entrancing creature came to be carved and how he guided an ailing girl named Klara through a dreamy paradise on a Christmas Eve. At the heart of Hoffmann’s mysterious tale hovers Godfather Drosselmeier—the ominous, canny, one-eyed toy maker made immortal by Petipa and Tchaikovsky’s fairy tale ballet—who presents the once and future Nutcracker to Klara, his goddaughter.
But Hiddensee is not just a retelling of a classic story. Maguire discovers in the flowering of German Romanticism ties to Hellenic mystery-cults—a fascination with death and the afterlife—and ponders a profound question: How can a person who is abused by life, shortchanged and challenged, nevertheless access secrets that benefit the disadvantaged and powerless? Ultimately, Hiddensee offers a message of hope. If the compromised Godfather Drosselmeier can bring an enchanted Nutcracker to a young girl in distress on a dark winter evening, perhaps everyone, however lonely or marginalized, has something precious to share.
Hiddensee was such a unique and intriguing retelling. It’s a book that I’ve been meaning to read for a while, but for one reason or another, kept putting it off. Since 2020 is the year I want to get my TBR down, I thought that it would be the perfect book to kick off my reading for the year.
Waiting on Wednesday/Can’t Wait Wednesday is a weekly feature, started by Breaking the Spine and continued by Wishful Endings, that puts the spotlight on upcoming releases!
This week’s pick is:
Happy New Year! Even though January is almost over, I feel like a post about this year’s goals should start with something festive, lol. As the title of this post states, today I’m sharing my hopes and goals for reading and blogging in the year 2020! When it comes to reading and blogging, 2019 was not the best year for me, and I’d really love to improve both of those things this year.
So, here are my goals and plans to help implement those goals this year:
Hello! Today I am introducing a new series on my blog that I’m calling Non-Bookish Notables. For every couple weeks or so, I thought it would be fun to give you all a non-bookish (for the most part) update about my life. This is where I’ll share any fun or exciting update as well as just simple stuff like what I’ve been loving lately when it comes to listening/watching/eating etc.!
So, let’s just jump into it!
Hey everyone! So, I realize this is way late, but I just realized I never shared with you all what I received from my #TBTBSanta this year. My Secret Santa, who it turns out was Liz from Consumed by Books, absolutely spoiled me with such heartfelt gifts!
Title: The Jesus Who Surprises: Opening Our Eyes to His Presence in All of Life and Scripture by Dee Brestin
Pages: 256
Genres: Nonfiction, Christian Living
Publisher: Waterbrook & Multnomah (July 23rd, 2019)
Summary
Join beloved Bible teacher and best-selling author Dee Brestin in discovering the surprising places Jesus shows up in the Old Testament and the unexpected ways He speaks into our lives today.
Offering a fascinating perspective on the historic, poetic, and prophetic books of the Old Testament, Brestin draws on her deep understanding of the full scope of the Bible to explore the timeless story of God’s quest to rescue each of us. She combines rich teaching, memorable storytelling, and an in-depth Bible study component to create a resource that shows readers how the story began (the books of Moses), how to live in the story (the poetic books), and how the story will end (the prophets).
*I received a free copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. A huge thank you to the publisher!*
Lately, I’ve been on a quest to find more biblically sound, Christian living books. If you don’t often read this genre, then you might be surprised to find that a lot of the books labeled as Christian living, are oftentimes not all that Bible-based. There’s a lot of cherry-picking Bible verses to fit the author’s agenda. I’m happy to say, however, that The Jesus Who Surprises is not one of those books!
It’s Top Ten Tuesday (Actually it’s Wednesday, but you guys get the point, lol)! It’s a weekly bookish list hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl! This week’s topic is:
Top Ten Books I Want to Read in 2020
I’ve decided to change up this week’s topic just a bit. One of my reading goals for 2020, is to work on getting my physical TBR down to a more reasonable number. So, instead of focusing on upcoming releases, I’m choosing books that are already on my bookshelf that I’ve been meaning to read and still haven’t.
Let’s get started!
Happy New Year! Last year may not have been the best reading year for me, but of the books that I did read, so many of them were absolutely incredible. I definitely read a few books that I can safely say are now on my list of all-time favorites.
In no particular order, my favorite books of 2019 are:
Happy 2020! I hope you all had a wonderful holiday. I’m really looking forward to this year and am hopeful that I will read soo many books this year. To kick things off, I’ve decided to participate in the VSCO Girls Readathon! This is a super fun readathon hosted by several different people. You can get all the details on the official Twitter, here!
Welcome back to another Countdown to Christmas book recommendation! I may have missed last week, but nevertheless, I’m back! Countdown to Christmas is a weekly feature where I recommend a different Christmas-y book each week to read this holiday season.
Today’s pick is The Afterlife of Holly Chase by Cynthia Hand!
On Christmas Eve five years ago, Holly was visited by three ghosts who showed her how selfish and spoiled she’d become. They tried to convince her to mend her ways.
She didn’t.
And then she died.
Now she’s stuck working for the top-secret company Project Scrooge–as the latest Ghost of Christmas Past.
Every year, they save another miserly grouch. Every year, Holly stays frozen at seventeen while her family and friends go on living without her. So far, Holly’s afterlife has been miserable.
But this year, everything is about to change. . .
the calico books 