I of course fondly remember my childhood Christmases -- especially those that we not only spent with my grandparents but also with my my aunt (my mom)'s sister and her family, who for the better part of my life have been more my "immediate" family than my father and his second family (wife and my (half-)brother and -sisters).

 

However, both of the gifts that meant the most to me were not Christmas but birthday gifts: One from my earliest childhood friend, and the other from my "work family" during my clerkship year in New Jersey:

 

Within weeks of my birth, my mom had made friends with a lady who had also just given birth, and they started taking walks with us, tucked in in our prams, along a canal nearby their / our respective homes.  Thus, the other lady's little son -- Heiko -- quite naturally became my first playmate, and as toddler friendships go, ours was a very close one; at least until my mom and I moved from Berlin to Bonn and, shortly thereafter, the other family moved to Tübingen (in southwestern Germany).  After that, though we never entirely lost touch, other friends claimed our chief attention, and it wasn't until we were both adults that we met again -- when Heiko, now a trained classical musician, joined Bonn's Beethoven Orchestra.  For my first birthday after he had moved to Bonn, he gave me tickets for the Beethoven Orchestra and Bonn Opera's concert performance of Gershwin's Porgy and Bess, which at the time was my favorite piece of music theatre.  He hadn't asked what to give me (neither me nor anybody else), and in fact I hadn't even expected any gift from him -- and he hit the nail straight on the head.  I was completely floored.  Of course the performance itself was a great one, but what I remember most about that birthday is his gift, and the time we spent together.

 

He left Bonn to join the Bamberg Symphonic Orchestra a few years later, so we're back to less frequent contact now, but we're hanging onto each other after a fashion -- of course there are opportunities when the Bamberg Symphony come to Bonn, as they did for the annual Beethoven Festival a few years ago (one of the tickets pictured in that post is from their performance), and my mom and I have since also taken a trip down to Bamberg.

 

The other gift that I remember as truly special was also a complete surprise -- in fact, I didn't even expect anybody to take notice of my birthday on that occasion.  This was during the year I spent on the New Jersey coast, clerking (after having obtained my U.S. degree and before moving on to join the California bar).  My birthday was an ordinary working day, and since I wouldn't have had anybody to spend it with, I hadn't seen the point in taking time off work -- imagine my surprise when I was told we'd be breaking early for lunch and was taken to one of the posher local restaurants, where the whole team came together for a birthday celebration ... chocolate cake, candles, and all.  Again, I was completely floored; I wouldn't even have thought any of them would have known or taken note of the date!

 

Later during my stay, they also took turns inviting me to their family Thanksgiving and Passover celebrations -- which, of course, equally meant a lot.  (For Christmas, my mom came to visit me and we took trips exploring the state and visiting New York City.)  It's the unexpected birthday dinner, however, that I remember most.

 

Left: Blowing out my birthday cake candles;
Right: (almost) the entire team, on the occasion of another party

 

(Task: What was the best Christmas / holiday present you ever received – the one that meant the most to you or gave you the greatest joy?  (This can be anything; objects / material gifts as well as something someone did for you, or anything else – whatever made that particular holiday especially memorable.))

 

 

Last year I read 212 books.

 

A breakdown of my reads:

 

Graphic Novels/comics - 146

Audiobooks - 5

Novels/Novellas - 61

 

Here are some of my book stats

 

 

My Favourite Reads of the Year

 

 

 

Author Brian Keene tells a tale of being haunted by a young girl. This story works best as a glimpse into the life of the author as he tries to manage work against family life. This for me was a brutally honest and personal read, kudos to the author for baring so much of his day to day life, warts and all.

 

 

 

Ivan is a captive gorilla, housed in mall zoo!! He and other animal residents seem resigned to their life until Ruby arrives and Ivan decides he wants more for her.

Beautifully told, heartbreaking at times but ultimately uplifting. Ivan's observations on humans had me laughing as well as crying at the senseless cruelty that is meted out to  animals.

 

      

 

The Others series is the book equivalent of crack. I literally can't get enough even though this series should bug the shit out of me, it works. I never expected to like this series as much as I have and I'm grateful to the BL peeps who put up such great reviews that piqued my interest.

 

 

 

1880s New York, a power struggle between Black Lena and the upper class Stallworths begins as the Stallworths sentence 3 of Lena's family members to be hanged.

I loved the period feel to this read, there was a lot of detail that went into each area, the dirty, debauchery of The Black Triangle which contrasted sharply with the sterile elegance of Washington Square.

This tale of revenge was brutal and shocking but I still felt myself cheering Lena on.

 

 

 

Gritty and disturbing as most of Macbrides work is, this was still able to deliver a gut punch at the end that left me reeling. Scottish noir at it's best.

 

 

 

A novella that highlights the relationship between Logan Macrae and DCI Steel who find themselves in a tricky but hilarious situation.

 

 

 

Although this book had me disliking the caricature that DCI Steel is becoming it was still a strong read for me. I do feel sorry for poor Logan and hope that Macbride gives him a happier home life at some point.

 

 

 

Creepy and something I couldn't read when it got dark as it was freaking me out too much. Amazing to think how much horror you can get out of sand and a dysfunctional family.

Simple but very effective

Lilly Lessard has a lot of secrets; you know lots of things she wants to keep hidden. I won’t tell you all her secrets cause well you know that is her story to tell not mine. But I will tell you a little bit about Lilly like that is not her real name and that she is a runaway. Yeah she is just a teenage girl who has followed her “Gentleman” as we may describe him but to Lilly he is just her friend to Florida to ask him for the money he owns her.

Bobby who is Lilly’s “Gentleman” friend took Lilly in a few years ago and has taken “real” good care of her until recently. Lilly worked for Bobby and he promised her that when the time came that he would make sure she had enough money to go to college or start a new life if that is what she chose to do but unfortunately for Lilly Bobby reneged on their little deal.

Lilly has followed Bobby to Florida to get the money he owns her. But Lilly is not the only one that is after Bobby no a detective has also followed Bobby as well. Detective Davis has been after Bobby for a while now for several offenses. Davis only manages to get so close and then Bobby miraculously slips out of her fingers.

Detective Davis knows Lilly’s story and wants to help her and take her out of the world she has found herself in and give her a new life a better and safer life. But Lilly is only thinking about the money Bobby owes her. I don’t think Lilly has ever had anyone to really love and care for her and doesn’t know what that is. I think she has probably had to look out for herself all her life with no one to depended on so when Davis offers to help her Lilly thinks she is just making it all up just to get what she wants and that she doesn’t care about her either no one else does so why should she?

Lilly is a very strong and determined young girl who when she sets her mind to something she just will not stop until she has want she started out for or until she has exhausted all of her options. She may be strong willed and smart on some things but at the same time she can be so naïve about others.

No More Birthdays is filled with so much intrigue and mystery that leads you down a long dark road. While it may leave you feeling sad and upset it will also have you rooting for Lilly.

While I haven’t read that many crime novels I have read enough to know that No More Birthdays is unlike any that I have read before and I am really glad that I have read Lilly’s story and plan on reading more of Lilly story in the next book Dead Memories. If you like novels of this nature then I would highly recommend No More Birthdays to ya.

 

Stories with no definitive ending can be so annoying!