All things lovely – Cybils, books read, books to read + tiramisu

I always feel like the first post of the New Year should be Important.

That is kind of intimidating (particularly when you were up very late the night before Celebrating).

Never fear Elflings, I have a few important things to share, all of them lovely, and I think Important.

1) The picture above is from the Musée D’Orsay. This is important because this year I get to go to Paris for the second time, but for the first time as a married lady. Ooh la la!

2) Today, the Cybils 2010 Finalists have been announced. Prepare yourself for a feast of loveliness. These titles represent many of the most wonderful books you could hope for from the past year. May I call your attention in particular to:

The Middle Grade Novel Finalists

With four other judging pals, I will have the lovely/very challenging job of choosing the winning Middle Grade Novel from this outstanding list. The winner, along with all of the winners in the other categories, will be announced February 14, 2011. I would like to send a huge thank you to the first round judges for their hard work, reading so many books and narrowing them down to this list of seven. Thank you to: Ashley Bair and Alysa Stewart, Everead, Jennifer Donovan, 5 Minutes for Books, Sherry Early, Semicolon, Melissa Fox, Book Nut, Kyle Kimmal, The Boy Reader, Sandra Stiles, Musings of a Book Addict, and Cheryl Vanatti, Reading Rumpus. You made an outstanding team.

3) Now, I wish to share Shelf Elf’s List of Loveliest Reads from 2010. Truthfully, I think you could look at my reviews through the past year as my list of Loveliest Reads, because I don’t usually blog about a book if I didn’t find it lovely. If I had to choose the 5 Loveliest (which is really, really hard), this would be the list:

The Sky is Everywhere – Jandy Nelson

Revolution – Jennifer Donnely

Plain Kate – Erin Bow

The Bride’s Farewell - Meg Rosoff

Farm – Elisha Cooper

4) Books the Elf is Most Eager to Read in 2011… That’s hard. I think I’ll start with my Xmas books, which include: A Homemade Life and Jane. In YA land, I have to say I’m pretty excited for Maureen Johnson’s new series, beginning with The Name of the Star in October 2011 (more details here). And then there’s this:

5) My holiday was full of lovely discoveries, treats, presents, friends, movies, dog cuddles, stories and more. One of the loveliest discoveries I made was Amy Krouse Rosenthal’s wonderful project, The Beckoning of Lovely. You may already know about it. If you do, you probably love it as much as I do. You probably hope that you can fill up 2011 with a lot more lovely, a lot more of the spirit and hope that Amy’s project represents. If you don’t know about her project, get caught up here:

Now you might want to give $2 towards the film Amy wants to make. I did. It felt… lovely.

6) Tiramisu. I think that Amy might be okay with adding “Make Tiramisu” to her list of lovely things people can do to make the most of their time here. I made some yesterday. It was the best tiramisu possible. It was lovely end to 2010, and it left me hoping that this year will bring many more sweet discoveries and contentment. Cue Nigella:

Welcome 2011. May you be lovely.

(Musée photo from stockxchng)

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