December 2022: Month in Review

How wild that I’m starting my December 2022 wrap up, but whether we’re ready or not, 2023 approaches. It’s been a heck of a year, but I’m pumped because I exceeded my reading goal of 52 books for the year and I’ve got tons of great books at my fingertips ready to be read.

This month I read:

The Last House in Lambton by Grace Gibson 4/5 stars
This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone 4/5 stars
The Bat (Harry Hole #1) by Jo Nesbø 4/5 stars
Icebreaker (UCMH #1) by Hannah Grace 4/5 stars

I also started the book about pockets! It’s interesting thus far. The approach is definitely a bit academic, but it’s not unenjoyable at this point. All in all, I’m happy with the reading I managed to to considering how this month went.

This month I hauled:

I was very good to myself as far as books are concerned this month. I bought many… many… many books. In fact I’m waiting for more to be delivered, though I don’t know if they’ll make it this week or not yet (spoiler, they did!) and there are numerous ebooks that I haven’t included here. Suffice it to say, I’ve got some reading material to keep me busy for a while.

Stolz und Vorteil by Jane Austen
Yes to Life in Spite of Everything by Victor E. Frankl
Murder by the Book: Mysteries for Bibliophiles by Various Authors
How We Are Hungry by Dave Eggers
Bad Dirt by Annie Proulx
Der Kleine Vampir I by Angela Sommer Bodenburg

These are all the books that came home from Germany with me this month. And yes… there are THREE copies of Pride and Prejudice here, two of which I cannot read because I do NOT have enough German to get through Pride and Prejudice in Deutsch. I was also sad because there were zero copies of P&P in the used bookstores I went to, so I had to get new copies from all three shops and really I have the two German editions because I saw the little yellow copy and it was so tiny and cute that I had to have it even though I’d already picked up a copy. So, you know adulting at it’s best.

The Crimson Crown by Cinda Williams Chima
A Queen in Hiding by Sarah Kozloff
A People’s History of the World by Chris Harman
A Game of Birds and Wolves by Simon Parkin
Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond
The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley

One of my methods of trying to defeat jet lag was keeping myself busy in the evenings to stay awake which is the perfect time to go book shopping. Hence this pile of books. The Crimson Crown was quite intentional, however the rest of these books were jet lagged me going “Oh! I’ve heard of this,” or “Oh! Stuff to learn!” and not putting the book back down.

Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
The River Between by Ngūgī Wa Thiong‘o
Cockroaches by Jo Nesbø
This is How You Win the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone
The Book of Accidents by Chuck Wendig
Things We Didn’t Say by Amy Lynn Green
The Darkness by Ragnar Jónasson
Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldtree
The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie

Funny story. I got home from traveling, went back to work the day after I got home and immediately picked up covid again from an outbreak at work… not from traveling. So after three days in the office I was stuck unexpectedly quarantining for a week and at the end of it I HAD to get out of the house and stretch my legs and there is no place like a bookstore to do just that. This pile is a combination of next books in series, purchasing a hard copy of a book I read on Scribd, some longtime TBR purchases, and random stuff I spotted whilst browsing.

Gideon the Ninth by Tasmyn Muir
Skin of the Sea by Natasha Bowen
Still Life by Louise Penny
His Dark Materials Trilogy by Philip Pullman

This one JUST made it into this post. I had a gift card and ordered these online recently and they were delivered on 12/31. It’s like it was meant to be. Gideon the Ninth I heard good things about over at Birdie’s Book Nook and decided to pick up a copy when I saw it. Skin of the Sea was a total cover buy – this book is gorgeous and I’m assuming it’s a mermaid book which I find intriguing. Still Life is the first novel in a mystery series that I read a novella from last year or so, but I hadn’t picked up the first book yet. Last but not least, the His Dark Material’s books, mostly because I’m intrigued by the show previews, but I won’t watch it until I read it. I don’t actually know anything about these books.

Non-Bookishness:

Outside of travel, work, covid, and books there is of course holiday celebrations with family. I watched season three of Jack Ryan and started my rewatch of Stargate Atlantis this month as well. I also have a new time drain in the form of a computer game that I’m almost afraid to speak of, but is also so relaxing and fulfilling… so there’s that. But’s that really all for December. Minus the covid, it was actually a pretty good month.

How about you? Any good reads this month? Other good discoveries? Do share!

Until next time, Happy Reading!