Today is Christmas. While the air is moist here in Miami, not cold and crisp like a Dicken's novel, I have accustomed to listen to traditional Christmas songs indoors, set the air condition to a freezing 73 degrees, wrap myself in a scarf, while gazing out my kitchen dining window at swaying palms, choppy blue and green bay water and neighbors splashing in the clear blue pool and bouncing a fuzzy green tennis ball across the net. This is Christmas in Miami, not white but blue and green and I am thankful it is not below freezing temperatures.

Despite difficult times around, I am grateful for many blessings. For my family, for good health, for the improved health of my mother after an accident this August, for my friends and their support during a recent loss, for my children (pets) and their unconditional love and the valuable lessons they teach me, for having a beautiful home, and a stable job with health benefits. Despite some difficult moments this year, I am still blessed in many ways.

I wish all of you a Merry Christmas. No matter your religion, my Christmas wish is a wish of new beginnings, joy, hope and peace for all mankind.

The Sexy Potato Peel Book Club has read more books weighing as much as ten bags loaded with Idaho potatoes. That's a heavy load. That's because we're not afraid of hardcover books.

Most of our books are classified fiction, with a peppering of "historical fiction" and few non-fiction. Many we would consider Babe Books (similar to Chick Flick movies). Normally the main character is a female and overcomes personal and physical struggles with miraculous inner strength. I love the female hero books. They motivate and inspire me.

Starting with the most recent, here is a list of books we have read:

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Club (fiction)
To Kill a Mockingbird (fictional novel)
One Thousand White Women (fiction)
Those Who Save Us (fiction)
Molokai (historical fiction)
SnowFlower and the Secret Fan (historical fiction)
Thousand Splendid Suns (by Khaled Housseini)
100 Years of Solitude (famous Spanish novel we read in English)
Running with Scissors (a memoir)
The Lost German Slave Girl (historical fiction)
The Alchemist (novel)
Marley & Me (memoir)
The Courtesan (fiction)
Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert (memoir)
The Kite Runner (fiction) by Khaled Housseini
The Glass Castle (memoir)
The Orientalist (historical fiction)
The Mermaid Chair (fiction)
Paper Life (fiction)
The Secret Life of Bees (fiction)
How Soccer Explains the World (non-fiction)
The Tao of Pooh
The DaVinci Code (fiction)

If you would like our collective opinion or assessment of a book, use the comment section directly below and the Sexy Potato Peel Club will answer you within 48 hours! (That's because normally one of us is travelling--normally DA is jetting between the islands and Miami for work).

Stay tuned for our individual number one picks!