It's here! The pace quickens...

Wow, just like that, we've been dropped into the holiday season. Sorry I missed last week--what with Thanksgiving falling on my usual blog-writing day, it kinda slipped my mind. However, I hope you all had as lovely a day with family, friends, and food as I did!

It's hard to believe that it's really December, but that's what the calendar seems to say. I won't remind you how many shopping days! are Left! till Christmas! because that drives me nuts, but I will mention that The Galaxy Bookshop has put together a list of the books that we're excited to recommend as great gifts (whether for someone else or for yourself.)

Here are the links to our various lists (which you will also find along the right had side of our website):

Babies & Toddlers , Growing Readers , Fiction , Non-fiction , for the Do-It-Yourself-ers , Seasonal titles , Vermont-centric , Marvelous Miscellany

You can also take a look at the New England Independent Booksellers' Holiday Catalog for more suggestions from our cohorts in  bookselling around the region.

After you've made your gift/wish list, come to our Annual Sirius Reader Sale & Party tomorrow--December 5! There will be sales on many of the titles from our Holiday Picks list; coffee, juice, and baked goodies; a good selection of advance reading copies to pick through (a suggested $1 donation per book will benefit the Hardwick Area Food Pantry); and you can help us officially name the two kittens (yes, they're still here!) by voting for your favorite names.

On top of that, we have two authors coming for book signings during the day.

At 11 a.m., meet Leon Thompson, author of Not Too Awful Bad: A Storyteller's Guide to Vermont. He's got a unique and funny take on the state, and we are looking forward to getting to know more about this new Vermont author.

At noon, Ethan Hubbard will be here to sign copies of his new book of collected photos, Thirty Below Zero: In Praise of Native Vermonters. Well, we HOPE he'll be signing copies--as I type this, the books are being held up by Homeland Security in Boston (routine procedure)--but Ethan does have some copies to flip through. In the worst case scenario, we'll take orders for the book and expect to get them to you, autographed, in time for Christmas.

In other holiday news, cats love to help decorate:

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="207" caption="Hmm...let's see what's in here."][/caption]

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="186" caption="Shh--don't tell Linda I used this pic!"][/caption]