Let It Snow II

Today after school my daughter and I drove an hour to the largest mall in our area to take care of the last of her holiday shopping. I also made a stop at Barnes & Noble. Since this was probably going to be my last trip there before Christmas I picked up the gift books and magazines I know I probably won't find at one of the smaller book stores closer to home. Then I just browsed with the kid and watched her pick up things at random.

Here are two of my teen's gift purchases that I thought were neat: A set of absolutely gorgeous pop-up Snow Globe Greeting cards by Up with Paper ($14.95 for a set of three, and the price did made me wince until she pointed out that we spend that much on flat Hallmark cards, while these turn into dimensional art.) She also found a Cynthia Gale/Artmarks metal, satin cord and mother-of-pearl Bookmark in a Celtic Heart design with a tiny key ($6.95); quite elegant and the perfect gift for any passionate reader.

It's fun to shop with my teenager because she never goes for the usual/predictable gift, and yet whatever she selects always seems to suit her recipient to a T. I wish I could do that, but she didn't inherit that gene from me, so I simply enjoy watching her in action (and I just asked her what it's like shopping with me, and she said: "It's pretty fun. I like spending time with my mom. She makes me laugh and she laughs at my sad jokes. She just rushes me too much." Have to agree; when shopping I have two speeds: move and move faster.)

As for what I'm adding to the Let It Snow tote today: all seven novels from the original Darkyn series (I hardly ever sign complete sets of my series, and the few times I do it's for a charity or fund-raiser, so this is a rare opportunity to get them all.) Two more books are also going in the tote, and to give you a hint about them, both are new copies of books I wasn't planning to buy when I went out to assemble my personal Holiday TBR but bought anyway.

If you'd like a chance to win this giveaway, in comments to this post tell us which author or title you've not yet read but would like to try (or if you're still undecided about trying someone new, just toss your name in the hat.) I will draw one name at random from everyone who participates by commenting on this or any of my other Let It Snow giveaway posts from now until midnight EST on Wednesday, December 21, 2011, and send the winner the tote with all the contents. This giveaway is open to everyone on the planet, even if you've won something here at PBW in the past.