Best. Gift. Ever.

Unfortunately, this "best gift" wasn't actually one of my presents, though I am the one that gave it. This year for Christmas I gave my sister Harry Potter Film Wizardry.

If you're a Harry Potter fanatic like myself and my sister (which should be evident from my two posts about Harry Potter, found here and here), this should definitely go on your wish list. Or, use some gift cards or Christmas money and buy it immediately! You can get it from the Indigo website here or on Amazon here or from your local bookstore. Seriously, go now. You're still not convinced? OK, let me tell you a little more about why it's amazing.

It has a ton of inside information about the movies. Tons. You want to know how they made Fawkes? They tell you. How they dealt with the Dementors? Yep, you learn that too. Oh, and how they turned Ralph Fiennes into Voldemort? They fill you in on all that as well. With pictures!

There's also a ton of cool extras that the graphic design team made as well (those are some wickedly talented people!). They have the Yule Ball program, a catalogue for Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes, as well as some of Umbridge's decrees. Oh, and for the best part of this book, I'll show you a picture I took of my sister on Christmas Day...


That right there, my friends, is the Marauder's Map. I'll let you digest that for a moment.

.......



Jaw off the floor? Good. This is the most "real" Marauder's Map we Muggles will ever get. So cool.

What I really loved about this book is that they made sure to put in writings from the producer, David Heyman, and production designer, Stuart Craig. This really emphasized the fact that these people have absolutely loved their jobs for the past decade. Jealous of them? Because I am a little bit, and I've only just started my career! :) Each major cast member got to reminisce about the last ten years and their feelings about the series. It was really interesting to read about what everyone thought and all the behind the scenes bits that we would have never known otherwise.

Now, please tell me that you are sold on this book. Not quite yet? Well, here, I'll show you a compilation of some of the pages I found online.

You must be ready to go out and buy it now, aren't you? :) I know it seems like I'm being a bit pushy and I swear I'm not being paid by them to promote this, but really, this is a great book for any Harry Potter fan. Really. I actually wish I had a copy for myself. I encourage all of you to check it out and let me know what you think!

Enough about that, and now for a quick update on The Christmas Clock. I actually finished reading the book just after I wrote the blog post about it last week. It had a really sweet ending, and tied things up just as I wanted them too. I felt like it actually had a bit of a Miracle on 34th Street ending to it, but I don't want to give anything away, so I will leave it at that :) I still really recommend that book and think it's worth a read no matter what time of year it is!

Currently Reading: The Christmas Clock

Ah, the joys of the Christmas season. I love it. So much, in fact, that I am still reading Christmas stories. I wish I could prolong the holiday even more, but eventually, all the Christmasiness (yes, I'm making up words)
will be gone and I have to create it on my own. Right now, every thing is still in holiday mode since New Year's Eve is tomorrow (expect a resolutions type post soon!) and people are still visiting family and taking time off work. There are also lovely marathons happening on pretty much every specialty channel. I'm currently flipping between HGTV (Property Virgins) and Food Network (Challenges) while I'm writing this.

I just started reading The Christmas Clock by Kat Martin today and I absolutely love it. It was just released last October and I remember seeing it at work and wanting to read it. Unfortunately, I never got around to it. While I was working this year I happened upon it again and made a note so I would remember to check the library for it (side note: I finallllly got a library card!). Lucky for me, it was there!

I'm just over halfway through the novel, and like I said, I am in love with it - the story, the characters, the tone. It's a small book (eleven chapters, 145 pages, all packaged in a tiny hardcover) so if you're looking for a short novel to read next Christmas in between the five bazillion things you have to do, this is the one for you.

What I really love about this novel so far is that it has the true spirit of Christmas. Lottie Sparks is suffering from a form of Alzheimer's that is rapidly progressing and her biggest worry is that she will not be able to find a home for her eight year old grandson, Teddy, before she is no longer able to take care of him. She's slowly losing her memory, but every time she sees this old Victorian clock in a shop window she remembers her childhood. Teddy knows how much she loves the clock and desperately wants to buy it for her for Christmas.

The Teddy-Lottie storyline was the only one I knew about when I got into reading this, but there is actually a romantic story woven through as well. Sylvia Winters and Joe Dixon used to be in love and were engaged but all of a sudden, Sylvia up and left the small town and moved to the city. Now she's back in town and they are trying to figure out how to get used to seeing each other again. Both of them are in pain and it really gets to me the way things turned out with them. I desperately hope they can work things out.

I'll give you all an update when I finish the novel and let you know if it continued to be a fantastic book!

I hope you all had a magnificent Christmas (I sure did!) and have a Happy New Year as well! :)