DEBORAH CROMBIE: So how is everyone doing today? Are we recovering from the festivities? It was so lovely reading everyone's Christmas good wishes here yesterday.
And today, December 26th, we get to take a breath after the Christmas rush. It is the Feast of Saint Stephen, and in the UK (and its former territories) it's also known as Boxing Day. (Although if the 25th falls on a Sunday, Tuesday the 27th used to be celebrated as Boxing Day, because the Monday after Christmas was already designated a Bank Holiday. But that has now changed and the 26th is Boxing Day regardless. Confused yet?)
There is some argument about the origin of the name, but the most common theory is that it refers to the alms boxes in Christian churches, the contents of which were distributed to the poor on the day after Christmas.
It first shows up in the Oxford English Dictionary in the 1830s, defined as "the first weekday after Christmas day, observed as a holiday on which postmen, errand boys, and servants of various kinds expect to receive a Christmas box," but Samuel Pepys refers to the custom in his diary as early as 1663. Some scholars date the custom as far back as Roman Britain.
And of course if you're in the British countryside, the Boxing Day Hunt is a long held tradition.
(In case you're worried about the foxes, fox hunting is now illegal in England, Scotland, and Wales. The hunts follow scent trails.)
Of course Boxing Day has now become a big shopping holiday in the UK, compared to Black Friday in the U.S., which sort of undoes my fantasies of a Boxing Day spent sipping tea and eating cake in a perfect English village.
And since we Americans don't celebrate Boxing Day, I'm going to invent my own December 26th holiday and call it BOOKING DAY--a day in which one is at liberty to recline on the sofa and read the books you've gotten for Christmas!
Any good Christmas book hauls, REDs and readers, that you're curling up with today?
Booking Day sounds perfect to me!
ReplyDeleteI have a Barnes and Noble gift card to go book-shopping . . . right now, James Patterson’s “The Jailhouse Lawyer,” Michael Connelly’s “The Dark Hours,” and David Baldacci’s “Mercy” are at the top of my teetering to-be-read pile. A day spent curled up with a book sounds absolutely perfect . . . .
Joan, I loved The Dark Hours. Connelly really knows how to build a suspenseful story!
DeleteJoan, that sounds so fun! Look forward to seeing which books you got at the Barnes and Noble special sale today. I heard that the hardcovers are fifty percent off? today?
DeleteDiana
Oh, Debs! That is brilliant brilliant brilliant! And I think we could create a whole industry around it..
ReplyDeleteI am reading a book you will all hear about, I promise you, called RED QUEEN by Juan Gomez-Jurado, and truly, you heard it here first.
This year I have fallen in love with Lisa Jewell. The Night She Disappeared is so brilliant! Hannah Morrissey‘s Hello Transcriber and Anthony Horowitz A Lune to Kill and debut author Wanda Morris, who wrote All Her Little Secrets. Every time I make a suggestion, I think of more, like the incredible Ellle Cosimano, so I will just stop, and hear your suggestions.
And we definitely need to design some booking day greeting cards.
Yes, greeting cards! Perfect for sending after Christmas if you didn't manage to get your Christmas cards out before:-)
DeleteYes, greeting cards, Hank! There is the Icelandic tradition of gifting books on Christmas Eve. I love that idea of reading books the day after Christmas and for the next 12 days of Christmas!
DeleteDiana
Okay, Reds meeting about this. Let's set up a time.
DeleteI got several books for Christmas, but I'm not diving into them...yet. Sunday will be going to church with my family and then hanging out and most likely playing games.
ReplyDeleteHappy Booking Day! I'm reading Victoria Thompson's new City of Shadows, and I also have a Jaqueline Winspear to read, one I hadn't gotten to yet, while I wait to pick up Barb Ross and Cate Conte's new cozies next week.
ReplyDeleteA couple of years ago British friends around the corner invited us to a Boxing Day dinner. What a feast! Peter even made his own Scotch eggs.
Yum, Edith. Scotch eggs are a project!
DeleteHave fun with that wonderful book! <3
DeleteI love Booking Day! Can we make it official?
ReplyDeleteI had started Little Sister by Kellye Garrett, coming in March 2022. I have a few books on pre-order that should be delivered on my kindle on Tuesday.
DRU: I loved LIKE A SISTER. It is one of my top reads of 2021.
Deleteoops, it should be Like A Sister
DeleteNext on my list!
DeleteI love Booking Day! Happy Booking Day! Enjoy!
ReplyDeleteBooking Day sounds perfect! In fact it's how I plan to spend my day, after I make a donation to a local organization that serves unhoused people in honor of Boxing day. A winter storm here in Oregon is contributing to both celebrations this year.
ReplyDeleteIt's been Booking Weekend here. After our holiday book discussion, I went to Audible and picked up every frothy thing offered from their "Plus" catalogue. I've listened to 5 books. So much fun! I finished An Eggnog to Die For, yay AMY! I'm reading Hannah Dennison's Danger at the Cove. Irwin is reading Mercy and it's due at the library on Wednesday. I may be late returning that one.
ReplyDeleteHAPPY BOOKING DAY!
Happy Booking Day to you, Judy!
DeleteHAPPY BOOKING DAY, REDS and READERS!
ReplyDeleteNo Christmas gifts (per se) so I was reading some of my December holiday-themed book purchases yesterday, including Amy Pershing's AN EGGNNOG TO DIE FOR.
JUDY: Thanks for the reminder to download free AUDIBLE books from their PLUS catalogue. I rejoined again with an AUDIBLE PREMIUM PLUS membership this time.
Boxing Day used to be the biggest shopping day of the year in Canada. I remember lining up outside pre-dawn (in the frigid cold) for doorcrasher sales. But online sales and Black Friday sales have been solely taking its place.
Grace, I have enjoyed so many titles from the plus catalog that it is really worthwhile for me! Right now they have lots of holiday themed stories, especiallyromances, if you are a fan. Also, I loved An Eggnog to Die For! So interesting about Boxing Day traditions in Canada. I used to do a little shopping after Christmas but not much.
DeleteBooking Day is a wonderful idea, Debs. I have Wanda Morris's All Her Little Secrets on my bedside table to read, but at the moment I am really enjoying Winter Solstice by Rosamunde Pilcher, which was recommended on here the other day by someone -- thank you to that person, whose name I don't recall. Enjoy the day, however you spend it: with boxes or books, and may it include good leftovers!
ReplyDeleteI am one of a couple of people who recommended Winter Solstice. Isn’t it wonderful!
DeleteI bought it and am hoping to get to it this week.
DeleteDefinitely Booking Day here. Finishing Jenny Colgan’s The Christmas Bookshop. Then a book from the library: Felicity Hayes-McCoy’s The Library at the Edge of the World.
ReplyDeleteHappy Booking Day. Brilliant idea Debs, much like Iceland's Jolabokaflod tradition. No, I don't know how to pronounce it. Books are exchanged on Christmas Eve and then all settle down to read.
ReplyDeleteLast night I found a Michael Robotham I hadn't read, THE NIGHT FERRY. So far so good!
And during the past week I've read DEATH AT GREENWAY by Lori Rader-Day. One of the ways I consider a book good, besides the obvious enjoyment in reading it, is the number of times I think about it in the days following. I can't get my mind off Greenway. Kudos to Lori if she's reading here. I was as intrigued by the setting as the story.
Today I plan to do absolutely nothing. Leftover ribs roast with potatoes and Yorkshire puddings and whatever else falls out of the fridge. Bills game this afternoon. Wearing my new "Bill-lieve" lucky sweatshirt!
All is well in the kindgom.
Kindgom? Where is autocorrect when I need it?
DeleteI rather like 'kindgom', Ann -- it emphasizes 'kind'!
DeleteIsn't Death at Greenway good, Ann? It was one of the books I enjoyed most this past year. Kudos to Lori!
DeleteANN: I agree, why does Blogger not have autocorrect?
DeleteDespite my Windows 10 language settings having turned off autocorrect, FB Messenger autocorrect is turned on. I can't count how many times it changed (almond) stollen into stolen! (AMANDA can attest to this annoying autocorrect feature).
Love the idea of Booking Day! We are reading and working on a jigsaw puzzle that I brought to my in-laws. All is calm and foggy in Knoxville. Last year it was covered in snow.
ReplyDeleteVery foggy here in north Texas this morning, too! It feels more like Christmas than yesterday, although it is warming up later.
DeleteMy reading still goes in spurts, right now I have Craig Johnson's The Daughter of the Morning Star on my nightstand. On my kindle a few new-to-me authors: Victoria Houston's first two Loon Lake mysteries, RV Raman's A Will to Kill, and (not new author) Barbara Ross's first Jane Darrowfield, Professional Busybody book.
ReplyDeleteWishing all a relaxing day to read, munch, putter around.
Booking Day it is. Last week was all about Ian Hamilton's Uncle series. I can be really critical of Hamilton, but I still read it all. This week, I am catching up on Elly Griffith's Magic Men series with Tana French's "Searcher" and a relatively recent Nicola Upson title waiting TBR.
ReplyDeleteI have The Midnight Hour to read as well!
DeleteBooking day sounds great to me! Although I'm not sure how it will be any different from any other day, as far as I am concerned.
ReplyDeleteLove the concept of Booking Day! I've been reading my way through this fabulous series, it's about two British cops, Duncan Kincaid and Gemma James. I'm well into book 10 now. I'm hoping book 20 is released by the time I finish book 19!
ReplyDeleteYou and the rest of us are waiting for book 20, Kait!
DeleteSo glad you're enjoying then, Kait!!
DeleteOn the the couch with Family Business by S. J. Rozan. She is a master, and I love Lydia and Bill.
ReplyDeleteOooh! Love that series!
DeleteBooking Day sounds fabulous to me. I arrived in Oregon yesterday and there was a hint of snow in the rain as we drove from the airport. I notice the outside light turning on and off after dinner. The sensor was picking up the snowflakes. :-) Back to Booking Day - I'm currently reading The Florentine's Secret by Jane Thornley. I have a new Mary Wingate in my Kindle -Bittersweet Herbs. The others are waiting back home. Happy Booking Day everyone.
ReplyDeleteBooking day: half of it is learning about writing, and half is fun mystery reading.
ReplyDelete1. Immersed in the India of over 100 years ago: MURDER in OLD BOMBAY by Nev March.
2. Amazing find through someone (who?) in a Sisters-in-Crime post:
SECRETS OF THE WORLD'S BEST-SELLING CRIME WRITER by Fugate & Fugate, illustrating how Erle Stanley Gardener (Perry Mason) was the precursor to current mystery structure guides from Jane K. Clelland to SAVE THE CAT.
Thanks for that recommendation, Becky. What a find!
DeleteYesterday after I'd tidied up from our Christmas brunch, I stretched out on the porch sofa and read the rest of the afternoon. It was such a treat, I can't tell you!! I never get to do that. I'm usually reading in little spurts throughout the day, or when I'm half asleep at bedtime--in which case I always have to backtrack the next day.
ReplyDeleteI read Jenny Colgan's The Christmas Bookshop, which I really enjoyed, having lived in Edinburgh.
My daughter fed my cookbook addiction yesterday the beautiful new cookbook from chef Eric Ripert, Vegetable Simple, and she gave me a novel called Miss Eliza's English Kitchen by Annabel Abbs, about the first successful female cookbook author in the 1830s.
But this week I'm reading only Christmas books, with Rhys's and Amy Pershing's up next!
Happy Booking Day, everyone!
For those JRW writers and posters who are my friends on Facebook, you can read my brief recap of my day yesterday on my page there.
ReplyDeleteBut for those who aren't, I had a good day. Low-key but still enjoyable. And my sister invited me and Ann over for a scrumptious meal with a roast and turkey with all the fixings. And I came home with leftovers!
And my friend Ann gave me some great baked goods and candy but she also gifted me with great books as well. She wrapped those books in a box and had a "221b Baker Street' sign on top of the package. (I saved that!). Inside was four books. Three anthologies featuring stories by Edith Maxwell for my collection...all signed by Edith. (Whoo Hoo!) And the new Paige Shelton thriller DARK NIGHT.
Oh, and she told me the delayed gift she arranged as well. Sometime in the springtime, we are going to take a car trip to see Edith at a book signing in her area and take her out for lunch! SO COOL!
As for my Boxing Day activities, I really love Deb's idea of making it Booking Day but the realities of life have made that semi-impossible. So far today, I paid the cable bill, did a load of laundry, swept the floors and I still have to vacuum. Oh, and I have to submit a list of my Top 10 albums of 2021 for KNAC.COM...and write the full-length article about it for the Classic Rock Bottom message forum like I do each year.
I did use a gift card I got from a co-worker to help pay for the Carol Pouliot mystery DEATH RANG THE BELL that was promoted here on the blog. I read the first book and enjoyed and I bought the 2nd one (still unread). But I figured since I had the card, I would get the third book too.
If life slows down today, I'd like to finish reading the advance copy of the new C.J. Box thriller SHADOWS REEL (which I will be reviewing for Mystery Scene) and get going on Lucy Burdette's UNSAFE HAVEN as well.
I think I'll have to go back to work just to get some rest.
Fingers crossed for a signing in May! Ann's the best kind of friend to have.
DeleteNo Booking Day here, since we're having friends over for tea and cookies and have to clean up the absolute BOMB of cooking utensils, china, gifts, and of course, the little piles of everything relocated from the kitchen table so we could play MONOPOLY last night. But I'm looking forward to reading my new books: OUR OWN WORST ENEMY by Tom Nichols, MURDER, NEW ENGLAND by M. William Phelps, and of course, stealing everyone else's books for a look-see.
ReplyDeleteI like the idea of Booking Day! Although every day is Booking Day here, it would be great to have a special day set aside for it, so I wouldn’t feel guilty about all the things I’m not doing because I’m reading!
ReplyDeleteI received so many books for Christmas that I don’t have time to list them all. One of the ones I started reading is The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles. I’m forcing myself to put it down because cooking and cleaning must get done at some point. It arrived early on my Kindle several days back.
One of my current projects is going through my books and deciding what to keep and what to donate. At times I think I would rather lose an arm than get rid of a book! I tell myself that donating books allows other people to enjoy them, too. So this morning I received an email from Barnes and Noble, informing me that for a limited time, there’s a fifty percent discount on all hard cover books. No, Deb, no! Do not read the entire email!!
DebRo
Both my sisters were raving about Lincoln Highway, Deb! Somehow books that long daunt me, but maybe I should give it a try.
DeleteI love the characters, Edith.
DeleteDebRo
My husband and I go to our favorite brewpub on Boxing Day - we were there several years ago and they had Old Speckled Hen on tap and a tradition was born. Also looking forward to more reading today - yesterday I finished The Other Passenger by Louise Candlish and started Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine. Agreed, Debs, it is so fun to read in long sessions instead of just short spurts.
ReplyDeleteDeborah,
ReplyDeleteSince Christmas gathering was postponed due to the surge in the Omicron, I do not know if I will receive more books for Christmas, though my birthday is coming up in January. So far I'm reading lots of Christmas books (ebooks) from the library. I have been reading old and new favorites like Twelve Clues of Christmas and God Rest Ye Royal Gentlemen. I love that Icelandic Christmas tradition of the Christmas Book Flood and I discovered that maybe one year before the pandemic started.
Wishing everyone Happy Christmas / Merry Christmas!
Diana
Happy Christmas, Diana!!
DeleteBoxing Day BPL (soccer) and leftovers. Busy day!
ReplyDeleteWe're spending a quiet day at home. I received 3 books and a Barnes & Noble gift card for Christmas so I'm a happy camper. Our granddaughter texted that she's tested negative for covid so I guess she'll be back New Year's Day to ready herself for her final term of culinary school. Now it looks like my niece may have covid; she's had all the shots and has had covid before. What the heck? At least it's mild.
ReplyDeleteToday is special to me, but it's not because of Boxing Day. I gave birth to my wonderful daughter on December 26, 1983, and she turns 38 today. She is the source of so much joy for me, and she gave me a granddaughter, which is the best bonus ever.
ReplyDeleteBlessings, Kathy!
DeleteBooking Day!!! I love it. I’m on my way to BN to cash out my gift cards right now!!! Woo hooo!!!!
ReplyDeleteMy sister gave me BEFORE YOU LEAP by Kermit The Frog . . . she knows me so well. <3
ReplyDeleteYes! From now on, I will call it Booking Day and celebrate it reading a book--right after I clean up the Christmas mess! thank you!
ReplyDelete