December Reads
A lovely set of books to round out my year of reading!
Happy December, dear reader. I hope you’re warm and cozy — if you’re in the northern hemisphere, that is — and ready for all your holiday gatherings. I also hope you’re gifting someone in your life a book or five, like the Icelandic holiday tradition “Jolabokaflod” (the Christmas book flood). If you’re unfamiliar, this is a lovely festive activity where people gift each other a book on Christmas Eve, open it and begin reading immediately whilst enjoying hot cocoa or other holiday treats. How wonderful! 🥰
I will keep this intro short and sweet, because after this gets posted, I will be sharing a “year in review” type of thing. So, stay tuned for that and in the meantime, let’s get into everything I read in December — including a couple of short ones to hit my final goal for the year.
FICTION
AN HONEST LIE, by Tarryn Fisher
Fun fact about me: I will always read a thriller about someone who has a secret and is confronted by it, any day of the week. We’re following Rainy, an artist who lives in a remote mountainside area of Oregon with her fiancé. The women she’s friends with, although she doesn’t know them very well yet, have invited her on a girls trip to Las Vegas — somewhere she thought she’d never visit again. As we go through the story, we learn about Rainy’s upbringing and how she escaped a cult. It all comes together when one of her friends goes missing on the trip and secrets begin to surface. This was a slow burn but the plot was compelling enough to keep me engaged through the end.
BEAUTIFUL UGLY, by Alice Feeney
Thanks to me finally joining the Book of the Month club, I was able to snag this book as an early release (it’s set to publish in mid-January 2025!). And I could not put it down. This story is about an author whose wife goes missing suddenly on her way home to celebrate with him hitting the Bestseller’s list. A year later and no answers to her sudden disappearance and a serious case of writer’s block, his agent pushes him to stay in a cabin she inherited on a very tiny Scottish island to write his next hit. The island is home to just twenty-five people with little-to-no cell phone service or ways to get back to the mainland in the offseason, so he agrees, thinking it will help him move through his grief and write the book. I won’t say more, except this: you must add this to your TBR. Set a reminder to grab it when it comes out on January 14th because this is another banger by Alice Feeney!!
CHRISTMAS PRESENTS, by Lisa Unger
I grabbed this from Barnes & Noble on a whim for a few reasons: I like Lisa Unger’s work, it was a signed copy, and it’s Christmastime! This is a thrilling mystery that takes place around Christmastime, but is not a Christmas story. We’re following Madeline, a bookshop owner who was a victim of a horrific crime a decade prior, by the hand of the boy she was dating. He murdered one of her best friends, two of her other best friends went missing that night, and she was left for dead on the riverbank. A podcaster comes to their tiny town to revisit the crime for his show and another woman goes missing. How does it all come together? You’ll have to read this great novella yourself to find out!
THE GROWNUP, by Gillian Flynn
Not entirely sure how I missed this story by Gillian Flynn, considering she’s one of my favorite authors, but I’m glad my friend (hi, L!) recommended I read it to round out the year. Her exact words were, “get on some of those shorties!” This was everything I want in a short story, which means it left me feeling like it was complete but also wanting more. It’s about a woman who gives hand jobs for a living, who makes a pivot to being a psychic, and finds herself helping a woman who believes her house is haunted. The twists and turns in such a short amount of time further prove that Flynn is the master of her craft.
A short story, but it counts, just ask Goodreads!
THE BUDDHA IN THE ATTIC, by Julie Otsuka
This read like poetry. I grabbed it to round out the month/year because it was a short novel and was not disappointed. This is a historical fiction about young women who were “picture brides”, brought to San Francisco from Japan before World War II to marry and start new lives… which is not the fairy tale they thought it would be. It’s told in a first person narrative but has Greek Chorus stylings that again felt like reading poetry. Emotional, tragic, stunning… if you need a short read and like historical fiction, you will likely be glad you picked this one up.
NONFICTION
TALKING TO STRANGERS, by Malcolm Gladwell
This was an interesting read. I’ve read and listened to other works by Gladwell and it’s always insightful and educational, and this was no different. The way he connects the cases discussed is not something I would have ever considered had it not been presented to me in this format. A few of the strangers and cases discussed in this book are Amanda Knox, Sandra Bland, Fidel Castro, Neville Chamberlain, Sylvia Plath, and more. It simply boils down to this: it’s difficult to fairly assess a stranger. Definitely recommend picking this one up, and I enjoyed the audiobook experience.
NO TIME LIKE THE FUTURE, by Michael J. Fox
It’s always nice to spend a little time with Michael J. Fox, and this latest memoir of his was lovely. In his last two memoirs focused on his coming to terms with having Parkinson’s Disease (PD), and this one focuses on some things he was faced with in the last decade while living with PD. This rendition weaves in a wonderful mix of humor as he reflects on where he is with his PD journey, another pretty major health issue he encountered in the last few years, and still being an optimist despite everything. Listening to him read it is just the cherry on top, too, so I would spring for the audiobook if you can.
MASTER OF ME, by Keke Palmer
I adore Keke Palmer and when I saw her memoir was available on Libby right after being published, I jumped on it. She’s multi-talented and very funny, and I was looking forward to reading about her life up until now. She shares astute reflections of her life and career. This is more of a self-help type of book though, if I’m being honest. A playbook to be the curator of your life and career, really. Narrated by Palmer herself, it was engaging and a good read. I love when her laugh comes through, too. She’s magnetic and if you’re a fan, you will enjoy listening to this one.
ENCHANTMENT, by Katherine May
I follow
here on Substack and have another one of her works on my holds list (Wintering) and decided to add this one at the last minute to round out my audiobooks for the year. The narrator’s voice is calming and gentle and the beautiful narrative made this a nice listen. This exploration to move through an anxiety-ridden world through the elements (earth, wind, fire, air) to seek out calm and beauty in our lives was a nice way to end the year (and I’m really looking forward to reading Wintering next month!).
See what else I’ve read this year by clicking here.
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All the (non-affiliate) links for the books reviewed go to Bookshop.org, a wonderful site where you can purchase your books and support your local independent bookstore(s). 📚
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