What do you want for Christmas this year? Family and friends are pressing for answers. Okay, I will procrastinate no longer in compiling my holiday wish list. I share this with you because I know a lot of you love North Carolina as much as I do and there is a strong Old North State flavor to this list. I savored every word of COLD MOUNTAIN by Raleigh's Charles Frazier. I can't wait to do the same with his new novel 13 MOONS. The book takes us back to life in the NC mountains before the Civil War. Another book I want is 1,328 pages long but I can't wait to read it. William Powell's ENCYCLOPEDIA OF NORTH CAROLINA is a must have addition to my Tar Heel reference library. Cary’s Michael Williams, a friend and former neighbor has written a beautiful book of poems titled IN THE LIGHT OF DAY. Michael shared some of the poems during a recent reading and I can’t wait to get my hands on the entire collection. I am intrigued by Thomas Rain Crowe’s ZORO’S FIELD: MY LIFE IN THE APPALACHIAN FIELDS which details the author’s four years of life alone without electricity or plumbing in the NC mountains. THE SHARP TEETH OF LOVE by Doris Betts is also high on my list. I am drawn to books with great titles and that certainly has one. I would also like a year's subscription to OUR STATE NORTH CAROLINA magazine which I have enjoyed since I was a kid on grandfather Bergeron's lap. Toss is the PURE NIGHTNOISE CD from my favorite Celtic group, a Blue Ridge Parkway license tag and a BLUE RIDGE magazine subscription and there you have it. Feel free to stuff my stocking with season tickets to UNC football and basketball games and you'll have one happy camper. Please share your holiday gift ideas with a distinct Tar Heel flavor!
