Thanks for bearing with me during this fun little project which I'll probably repeat this year. I wish everybody a happy 2016 with lots of awesome reads; may your TBR always contain one book more than you'll need! :)

I meant to post the last update of the book advent calendar on Christmas Eve, but the holidays were really busy this year, and then life and a reading marathon got in the way, so I'll just post it now.

On the 23rd I got Charlotte Perkins Gilman's The Yellow Wallpaper, a book that I have wanted to read for quite some time, but it was out of print for some years in Germany. A new edition has been published only recently, and now the pre-loved copies are much more affordable, so I bought one eventually.

On Christmas Eve I got three books:

Louis Sachar's Holes, which is supposed to be quite funny, Alice Sebold's The Lovely Bones because everybody I know IRL loved it, and David Gilmour's The Film Club because it sounds interesting and I need to read more non fiction.

You can find my other posts about the Book Advent Calendar here:

• Book Advent Calendar
• Day 1 to 3
• Day 4 to 6
• Day 7 to 9
• Day 10 to 15
• Day 16 to 19
• Day 20 to 22

On the 20th I got James Tiptree Jr.'s Crown of Stars. Another one of those butt-ugly covers. Ugh. I haven't read any of her books so far, so I'll be starting with this short story collection with some of her late works.

Yesterday I drew Carson McCullers' The Ballad of the Sad Cafe, a recommendation from somebody who had seen that I had liked Capote's The Grass Harp and thinks I might enjoy this one as well.

Today I got a book with collected texts from my favorite columnist, Max Goldt. Although the title suggests that this is an English book, it is not. He always has the strangest titles. Here are some of the weirdest ones:

• "The ashtray gymnastics" (Die Aschenbechergymnastik)
• "Bilingually educated bisexuals with bicycles on their car tops" (Zweisprachig erzogene Bisexuelle mit Fahrrädern auf dem Autodach)
• "A life on the run from the coral" (Ein Leben auf der Flucht vor der Koralle)
• "On the magic of passing something sideways" (Vom Zauber des seitlich dran Vorbeigehens)
• "Naked in a fairytale castle full of really bad people" (Nackt in einem Märchenschloß voll wirklich schlechter Menschen)
• "Ä"
  Needless to say that I adore him.

You can find my other posts about the Book Advent Calendar here:

• Book Advent Calendar
• Day 1 to 3
• Day 4 to 6
• Day 7 to 9
• Day 10 to 15
• Day 16 to 19

On the 16th, I drew Sara Gran's Claire DeWitt and the City of the Dead, a mystery I chose because of its strong, kick-ass, substance abusing female protagonist, who makes the story sound really promising.

Day 17 was Paul Auster's Sunset Park, a novel that I want to read because (as I have said here) I recently read Moon Palace and really liked it, but couldn't get into the reading flow, so reading another one of Auster's books might tell me if it was because of the book or me.

On day 18 I got David Weber's Honor, which contains the first two books in the series, On Basilisk Station and The Honor of the Queen. Did I already mention that I love strong female protagonists?

Today was Elizabeth Moon's Remnant Population. Some time ago, I asked for recommendations regarding female protagonists that are not in their twenties or early thirties, and this was one of those that were suggested. Ain't the cover ugly? I hope the story is better...

And in case you were womdering: I haven't added any of the books from the advent calendar to my shelves for statistical reasons - if you know what I mean *coughtbrcough* ;)

You can find my other posts about the Book Advent Calendar here:

• Book Advent Calendar
• Day 1 to 3
• Day 4 to 6
• Day 7 to 9
• Day 10 to 15

I am a bit late with this update, but I have been suffering from migraine the last two days, so today you'll get the books of the last six days in one post.

On day 10 I got Gerald Durell's My Family and Other Animals, a book that is out of print in Germany, and used copies are quite expensive. Fortunately I was lucky to find a pre-loved edition from the 90s at an affordable price.

Day 11 was Stanislaw Lem's Solaris. I haven't seen the movie, but I have read and loved The Star Diaries, so I want to read more from this author.

On the 12th it was was J.K. Rowling's The Casual Vacancy, her first mystery. I want to find out how well she does in this genre. I haven't read any of the "Robert Galbraith" books so far, and I'll make it conditional on how much I enjoy this one.

Day 13 was José Saramango's Blindness; the premise of having an epidemic that makes everybody lose their eyesight sounds captivating.

Yesterday I drew the Gears' People of the Wolf, a recommendation when talking about Auel's Ayla series, or at least the better ones of its books.

And today I got Roger Zelazny's A Night in the Lonesome October. I simply can't resist a humorous fantasy novel that has so many well-known classical characters in it.

You can find my other posts about the Book Advent Calendar here:

• Book Advent Calendar
• Day 1 to 3
• Day 4 to 6
• Day 7 to 9

Again, three different genres:

Day 7 was Equal Rites, one of the very few books by Terry Pratchett that I haven't yet read.

This year, the holidays will not be quite the way they used to be, because one thing will be missing: for the last 20 years, whenever there was a new Discworld novel out, my parents would give it to me for Christmas. But not this year. Sadly, never again.

I miss his books, his imagination and his humor. I miss waiting for the next novel, waiting to visit Discworld and meet old friends again. And I miss being totally excited to read the next book when I finally got it.

I miss P'Terry. A lot.

Day 8 was Charles Stross' The Atrocity Archives. Originally I was thinking about reading Accelerando, but someone pointed out that it was not the best book to start with unless you're a quantum physicist. They suggested this one instead, and here it is.

And today I got Jennifer Egan's A Visit From the Goon Squad. I heard somebody say that there is a chapter that consists only of PowerPoint slides, and that made me curious.

BTW, whenever I say "somebody recommended" or "someone suggested", I am usually talking about one of my BookLikes or GoodReads friends. Thanks, y'all!

You can find my other posts about the Book Advent Calendar here:

• Book Advent Calendar
• Day 1 to 3
• Day 4 to 6