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A lady with a love for literature and shiny things discusses books & bling.

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What I’m reading: Vol. 94.

What I'm reading

Happy Monday, my darlings!

I’m jetting off to Tucson to cover the AGTA GemFair (so excited!!!!) and heading to the Original Miami Antique Show after that.  I’ll be showing you all the best goodies here on the blog when I get home, but be sure to follow me on Instagram if you want the behind-the-scenes scoop.

If you miss me while I’m traveling, I have a little something for you to listen to! I was interviewed on INSIDE THE JEWELRY TRADE, the jewelry industry’s favorite insider podcast: check it out here or listen in the convenient embedded player below.

Thanks again to Rod Worley of Four Grainer for inviting me to the podcast! I’d never done one before and I had a great time.

All right: time for me to go back to packing. I can’t wait to wear lots of dresses without leggings and leave my coat at home! I’ll see you soon, Tucson sun!

xoxo,
Becky

What I’m reading:

A Princess in Theory by Alyssa Cole. This book rocked. If you’re sad, read this book. It’ll cure what ails you.

Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix by JK Rowling. Mr. DitL have been working on a Harry Potter reread via audiobook since I was sick in December. I forgot how angry Harry is in this one! Puberty really it him hard, didn’t it?

More or Less a Marchioness by Anna Bradley. You know I love my historical romance novels! I felt lukewarm about the heroine in this one at the beginning, but then she did something unexpected and became awesome.

Internets:

A little jewel history from The Court Jeweller, this time taking a look at royal wedding presents.

How Montana Gold Rushers Literally Threw Away a Fortune in Sapphires.

Shiver me timbers! New signs pirates liked booty AND books.

Princess Eugenie’s new engagement ring is a padparadscha sapphire – one of my very favorite stones for an alternative engagement ring!

The Year in Discovery: The 50 Greatest Finds of 2017. This is SUPER cool.

Jewelers Mutual interviewed me for this fun post: 3 Major Jewelry Bloggers Share Their Travel Secrets.

A guy made ravioli shaped like the Death Star and you need to see it immediately.
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My favorite reads of 2017.

I thought I read a lot of books in 2016. Then Donald Trump became President, and my anxiety levels skyrocketed. My favorite way to self-soothe is reading, so my 2017 book total blows 2016 out of the water.

My year in books - 2017.234 is a new personal record. What can I say? Books make me feel better. Lots of re-reading this year, too. Sometimes you just need to read a book that you already know you love.

Also, I love the Goodreads “Your year in reading” feature. How else would I ever have discovered that I read 84,218 pages this year? That makes me feel like a true book nerd badass.

Statistics about the books I read in 2017.I did round up my total by one book: I’m in the middle of one and I’m assuming that I’ll finish it in the next week.

Almost all of what I loved this year was genre fiction. When the real world is stressful, sometimes there’s nothing better than to vanish into a story that takes you somewhere else, even if it’s just for a while. Also, it’s impossible to ignore the fact that 100% of these books are by women, and 100% of the fiction has female main characters.

In other words: I was so annoyed with men in general in 2017 that I couldn’t stand to read about them or even read books by them. I credit this to our awful President and his cohort of creeps. I’ve always loved reading books about powerful women, but current events have left me uninterested in anything else.

Keep reading to hear about the the best books I read in 2017 (in no particular order):

Kushiel’s Dart by Jacqueline Carey.

This book is stunning. Dark, complicated, surprising; with an intricate cast of characters and and a gorgeously crafted world. It’s the first in a series, but I actually loved this one book so much that I haven’t gone back for more yet. I do that sometimes when I don’t want to risk a disappointing sequel soiling my experience of a great opening novel.

I think I’m about ready now: soon I’ll reread Kushiel’s Dart and then pick up the next in the series.

Lord of Scoundrels by Loretta Chase.

Fun fact: I’ve followed Loretta Chase’s blog for years, but I only just discovered my love for her books. After the first, I read as many as I could get my hands on (19 in quick succession).

If you enjoy a good historical romance novel – especially if you like ’em with a healthy sprinkle of darkness in the storyline – go read everything you can find by Loretta Chase immediately, just like I did. You won’t be sorry.

The Throne of Glass series by Sarah J. Maas.

I know it’s cheating to include a whole series, but the way that I read it’s hard to differentiate individual books. Also: I’m still in the middle of book 5, so it’s possible this series takes a turn. But right now I’m all about it.

These books mature along with their characters. The plot of the first book is relatively simple, but the complexity of the story increases exponentially as each book adds layers to the characters’ universe. The main character is a powerful woman and every book is filled with strong female characters.

I want to read more by Sarah J. Maas in 2018.

The Life-Changing Magic of Not Giving a F*ck: How to Stop Spending Time You Don’t Have with People You Don’t Like Doing Things You Don’t Want to Do by Sarah Knight.

This books sounds silly – and it IS silly – but it also makes some fantastic points. Self-care is so important, and this book is all about how to take care of yourself in a world that constantly demands so much of us.

It also makes a great gift, thanks to its hilarious title.

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What I’m reading: Vol. 93.

What I'm reading

Happy Winter Solstice, darlings! It’s the shortest day of the year. It’s also apparent an astrological time bomb, if you believe in such things.

I have mixed feelings about this time of year. I struggle with Seasonal Affective Disorder, if you hadn’t guessed by how frequently I’ve talked about hiding in a nest of blankets since October, and the less daylight there its, the harder that tends to be.

But I have ways to deal with that and I’m trying to be good about taking care of myself. Also, I love the holidays. I grew up in an Interfaith family and I’ve carried both Hanukkah and Christmas traditions forward into my own life. Double the holidays, double the fun, right?? Who doesn’t love celebrating things?

Mr. DitL and I both have family locally, so we’ve been lucky enough to spend a lot of December with those closest to us, eating delicious foods and toasting to the season. I hope that that same is true for you: that whatever this time of year means to you, you’re staying warm in the cold and getting to spend a little extra time with your favorite people.

I’m not going on winter break yet: I’ll be back next week to talk about my top picks of the year. Have a great weekend and I’ll be back soon!

xoxo,
Becky

What I’m reading:

The Throne of Glass series by Sarah Maas. I’ve read a few of these before, but there have been several more published since I last checked. I’m devouring them again now – picked them up again while I was recovering from my asthma attack last week. They’re pretty great. Badass ladyhero, interesting universe, lots of action.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. The Stone family’s Harry Potter audiobook re-listen continues!

Internets:

The Anxious Activist’s Survival Guide. Relevant to so many of our lives right now.

18 Boozy Hot Chocolate Recipes You Need to Make Right Now. Boozy hot chocolate is perhaps my favorite beverage on earth. My preferred poison is usually Swiss miss + Bailey’s, but some of these options in here make me want to branch out.

6 books about Net Neutrality: an unfortunately necessary reading list.

Have you heard the news? Santa’s reindeer are female. Suck on that, patriarchy.

Speaking of which…have you seen the reindeer boob trend? It’s hilarious. (Don’t click if you won’t think it’s funny to see women who have made their boobs look like reindeer, because that’s what this is.)

And how about the best stories by women in 2017? According to Bustle.

Gingerdoodle cookies. Please come to my house and make these for me, because I would like to eat them.

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