December 2025 CoverCAT - Something You'd Like For Christmas or Equivalent Gift-Giving Tradition

Many people give presents at Christmas, whether or not they are believing Christians. Those who don't celebrate Christmas even in its attenuated secular form often give presents at other times of year - Muslims often give food or clothes to friends and family at Eid Ul-Fitr, for example.

What would YOU like this year? It might be something frivolous or serious, something physical or more abstract. Use your book covers to inspire you.

I'm going to choose a traditional snowy white Christmas and mistletoe, which I know I'm not going to get away for this year.



If you feel so inclined please add what you're reading to the wiki

I intend to read my copy of Agatha Christie's A Caribbean Mystery which is part of the Agatha Christie Collection published by Black Dog. Each of the covers in this collection features a different color on the cover and a black and white photo. I would like to receive a vacation cruise to someplace warm for my Christmas gift, and the book cover features a tropical sunset, water, and palm branches.

Being truly addicted to books, I am hoping for more books for Christmas and so will be reading The Golden Oldies Book Club by Judy leigh.

Because I'm a quilter, I would always appreciate a quilt or at least some fabric to make more quilts.

Like many I'm a family caretaker. Sometimes I wish I had a nice quiet place to escape to. So, for Christmas I think I'd like to have A Home in Thrush Green.

I would love a dragon for Christmas. I will finally be reading the second book in the Jane Austen's Dragonsseries, Longbourn: Dragon Entail by Maria Grace

>3 DeltaQueen50: I was going to go with books (of course) but maybe I would like a dragon, like >6 lowelibrary:, so I can also continue with the Jane Austen's Dragons series. Decisions, decisions!

>7 JayneCM: Dragons would be fun - but books are certainly easier to store!

>7 JayneCM: I'm planning on books for mine!
Librarian Tales / William Ottens

I'm reading A Curious Incident by Vicki Delany with a sweet little cat on the cover that I'd be delighted to receive.


I'm also planning to read Personal by Lee Child that has an image of the Eiffel Tower. A trip to Paris would be a wonderful alternative if the cat is not available.

>10 VivienneR: That is a great idea! I just started a book with union Jack on the cover, and I’d love to go to the UK again soon.

So many interesting places and exhibitions.

Back before they mucked up their website, Powells Books let you create a wishlist, with a link you could share. My wishlist was called “Books make great gifts!” My book for this month therefore features book(s) on the cover (though you have to inspect it carefully to really see what you’re looking at, which is a person leaning forward to pull a book out of the spine of another huge book):


Too Loud a Solitude by Bohumil Hrabal

>12 Charon07: Great cover!

COMPLETED Look Up, Handsome by Jack Strange. A UK Christmas, which I won't be getting this year.

I finished Too Loud a Solitude: a supercondensed, superconcentrated wallop of the human condition.

I went with the obvious choice here...The Mistletoe Motive by Chloe Liese has a ton of books on the cover!

I completed my read of The Golden Oldies Book Club which had books on the cover.

Longbourn: Dragon Entail by Maria Grace ★★★★★

Fitzwilliam Darcy finds caring for a baby dragon more of a fraught guardianship than anticipated. Little Pemberley may have survived a perilous hatching and still successfully imprinted on humans, but she’s pining for one particular human to the point she is fast becoming a danger to herself and others. Elizabeth Bennet may yearn for baby Pemberley, but she has her own share of misfortunes to manage. Her cousin Mr. Collins, heir to the Longbourn entail, has decided that marrying her will add very greatly to his future happiness. While the estate dragon agrees--and insists she accept him--Elizabeth and the rest of Longbourn's dragons insist he is the last man in the world whom she could ever be prevailed on to marry--a better dragon's dinner than a husband.

I forgot how good these books were. In this one, I immediately fell in love with Pemberley and her toddler tantrums. And these versions of Elizabeth and Darcy is very true to the original. I have the next in the series planned for January.

>19 lowelibrary: Taking a BB on this one.

>20 LadyoftheLodge: Start with Book 1 of the series Pemberly: Mr. Darcy's Dragon. The series kinda follows the book and needs to be read in order.

I'll place my order for a train trip in Italy!

I have finished Küstenstrich, a mystery set in the environs of Étretat. The cover shows the beach and the cliff with the chapel of Notre Dame de la Garde on top, a place I would very much like to visit again – and a gift voucher for the lovely hotel we stayed in last time would be nice.

Hope all your Christmas wishes come true. Merry Christmas for all those who celebrate.

>24 Robertgreaves: And back to you, too, Robert, assuming you celebrate. And to others who do, as well, Merry Christmas from me, too!

>24 Robertgreaves: Thank you, and Merry Christmas to you as well. All the best to you and yours.

I hope you all enjoyed this as a good way of rounding off 2025. Thank you for participating.

Every Heart a Doorway

I'd love to go on an adventure through a magic door — and I want to come back as soon as I left so I don't miss anything in this world!


If you've ever wondered how Alice adjusted to the real world when she got back from Wonderland, take a peek into Eleanor West's Home for Wayward Children, where every child holds hope their door will open again.

I was so intrigued by the fantasy world-building that I forgot I had picked up a horror book until a body showed up. The premise is so unique, and seemed to be a sort of metaphor both for neurodivergent children of neurotypical parents and for children with trauma and/or mental illnesses — parents were spoken of both in terms of loving the child they had 'before' and not accepting the way they had changed, but also in terms like, 'their love wanted to fix her, and refused to see that she wasn't broken.' I also loved the unique characters and the way they shared details about their unique worlds. There were a few times the story got a little didactic, but my biggest complaint was that I felt the story should have been longer. Guess I'll have to pick up the next one!