On Christmas Eve, I had a lovely dinner with my sister's family, and then there was a long, loud discussion of TLJ with my nephew (I believe I've mentioned this before, but Anthony will defend the prequels long and loudly, since they are the Star Wars he imprinted on as a little kid, and even though I disagree with him about them, I'm glad he enjoys them so much. Someone should, I guess. And hilariously, we're united in our defense of Anakin Skywalker against everyone else, though he has yet to watch TCW, though I've told him repeatedly that he should. I didn't tell him this, but he would fit right in on Tumblr with his fervent fangirling of Anakin and Obi-Wan.) and my niece's boyfriend, who is also a big Star Wars fan (of the OT variety; he was wearing a Boba Fett polo shirt). Neither of them liked it much at all, though they disagreed as to why, so it was interesting.

Christmas was also nice - it was good to see Victor, who is completely healed, and Nicki, who is still in a neck brace and has to go for physical therapy (also she still has fragments of glass in her hand, which the doctors say they'll leave there unless it starts causing a problem), but they're handling it well.

I received a bunch of Amazon gift cards and a cute dress and a fancy pitcher to make iced coffee. My brother is waiting for me to tell him what I need for the new place, so he didn't get me a birthday or a Christmas present. I'll have to think of something good. *g*

Yesterday, when I got home, I developed achy skin and chills, and I think I had a low grade fever, so I went to bed early. It was hard to get out of bed this morning - we're expecting a high of 26°F and a windchill in the single digits - but I managed. I have to go to the apartment tonight to meet the contractor - is it wrong I'm hoping he cancels so I don't have to make the trip? The walk is rough in the cold, but I could handle it if I don't have to go back out, but for now, I do the walk, spend an hour inside, and then have to walk back and schlep home. It's tiresome. And cold. I guess we'll see what happens.

Now it's Wednesday, so that means books!

What I've just finished
Persepolis Rising by James S.A. Corey. I didn't realize that this was kicking off the final trilogy of the series until partway through. I though it was going to be the elegiac last book! But no, the Roci crew is still in the thick of it, joining up with old OPA folks to be freedom fighters as the dude who disappeared with all those Martian Navy ships a few books ago has reappeared to conquer the galaxy. It was a compelling page-turner, and now I need the next book, stat!

What I'm reading now
Back to Fosse, where so far he couldn't get the rights to make a musical out of Chicago and he's passed up The Berlin Diaries, but now he's working on Sweet Charity. I'm interested in seeing how he finally gets back to those first two properties, but I'm also enjoying the discussion of how Sweet Charity came into being.

What I'm reading next
Probably The Girl in the Tower, which is the sequel to The Bear and the Nightingale.

Which leads me to the part of the post where I list my favorite books of 2017:

• The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden, which is a beautifully written retelling of a Russian fairy tale.
• All the Crooked Saints by Maggie Stiefvater, which is probably the best thing she's written yet, about a family who perform miracles for pilgrims but can't seem to help themselves.
• The Rules of Magic by Alice Hoffman, which is about the aunts growing up (excluding the bits about the brother).
• Castle Hangnail by Ursula Vernon, a darling story about a 12 yo witch who saves a castle.
• City of Miracles by Robert Bennett Jackson, the third book in the Divine Cities trilogy, which wraps the story up in a satisfying ending.
• Thick as Thieves by Megan Whalen Turner, another strong outing in The Queen's Thief series.

Honorable mention to 84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff, which was a wonderfully charming read for a Sunday morning.

The best Star Wars books I read this year:
• Leia, Princess of Alderaan by Claudia Gray, which is a coming of age novel for my favorite space princess (and also introduces Amilyn Holdo as one of her friends).
• Guardians of the Whills by Greg Rucka, in which Baze and Chirrut are totally the crankiest old married Force monks.

I didn't read a lot of comics this year, but I highly recommend DC's Bombshells, which features a team of all lady superheroes punching out Nazis in WWII, and the new Darth Vader by Charles Soule, which is set right after RotS. (I also still recommend the previous new Darth Vader comic by Kieron Gillen, which was set between ANH and ESB.)

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