A haul for the holidays!

Although I do tend to veer wildly off topic on frequent occasions, one of the main purposes of my blog is for me to rave/complain/recommend some of the books that thrill or disappoint me throughout the year.  I just adore books, and can't stop myself from always being on the lookout for new ones, even though it would probably take several lifetimes to get through all the ones I already have in my teetering TBR pile . . .

So I was thrilled to find out about the Happy Haul-idays contest being run right now by Chronicle Books.  Bloggers can post a list of Chronicle Books that they'd love to win, up to $500. One lucky winner will win their entire list!  In addition, if you comment on a blog post about the contest, you're entered to win, too!  Rules and details about the contest (including a list of other bloggers who are participating = more chances to win!) can be found here.

Here's my list of books that I'm crossing my fingers will find their way under my tree this Christmas:

• City Walks: London 50 Adventures on Foot By Christina Henry de Tessan
• London A Field Guide for the Curious By Fred Dust and IDEO
• The Smart Traveler's Passport by Erik Torkells
• The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook: Travel By Joshua Piven
• Paris Out of Hand A Wayward Guide by Karen Elizabeth Gordon
• 52 Great Travel Tips By Lynn Gordon
• Secret Lives of Great Filmmakers What Your Teachers Never Told You About the World's Greatest Directors By Robert Schnakenberg
• Secret Lives of Great Composers What Your Teachers Never Told You About the World's Musical Masters By Elizabeth Lunday
• Pride and Prejudice and Zombies Deluxe Heirloom Edition The Classic Regency Romance—Now with Ultraviolent Zombie Mayhem! By Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith
• Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Dawn of the Dreadfuls  By Steve Hockensmith
• Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters By Jane Austen and Ben H. Winters
• The Crimes of Dr. Watson An Interactive Sherlock Holmes Mystery By John H. Watson, M.D.
• The Sherlock Holmes Handbook The Methods and Mysteries of the World's Greatest Detective By Ransom Riggs
• Two Cats and the Woman They Own or Lessons I Learned from My Cats By Patti Davis
• Ernie A Photographer's Memoir By Tony Mendoza
• Craft, Inc. Turn Your Creative Hobby Into a Business By Meg Mateo Ilasco
• Lotta Jansdotter's Handmade Living A Fresh Take on Scandinavian Style By Lotta Jansdotter
• Handmade Hellos Fresh Greeting Card Projects from First-Rate Crafters By Eunice Moyle and Sabrina Moyle
• The Guerilla Art Kit  By Keri Smith
• The Irish Pub Cookbook By Margaret M. Johnson
• Super-Charged Smoothies More Than 60 Recipes for Energizing Smoothies By Mary Corpening Barber and Sara Corpening Whiteford
• Field Guide to Produce How to Identify, Select, and Prepare Virtually Every Fruit and Vegetable at the Market By Aliza Green
• Field Guide to Candy How to Identify and Make Virtually Every Candy Imaginable By Anita Chu
• Tea & Crumpets Recipes and Rituals from Tearooms & Cafés By Margaret M. Johnson
• The Book of "Unnecessary" Quotation Marks A Celebration of Creative Punctuation By Bethany Keeley
• Stuff Every Woman Should Know By Alanna Kalb
• Pictorial Webster's A Visual Dictionary of Curiosities By John M. Carrera
• Change the World for Ten Bucks Small Actions X Lots of People = Big Change By We Are What We Do

Wow! That was fun! I was really surprised at how many books I was able to add to my list.  Of course, plenty of worthy candidates had to be left off.  {sigh} Isn't that always the way?

Good luck to all!