I read a lot of short stories this month. It was nice to have some small wins with finishing short stories in one or two sittings. Several of my favorite authors have Amazon originals so I’ve been working my way through those. I’m conflicted about supporting Amazon, but that’s a topic for another day. A few of Mindy Kaling’s stories kept me entertained on a flight. I didn’t love Jenny Lawson’s, I Choose Darkness, at first, but by the end it felt worth reading. I love Kate Quinn and Alice Hoffman so I wanted to give their short stories a try and both were four star reads.
HIGHLIGHTS
My only five star book this month was The Good Sister by Sally Hepworth which is the second one of hers I’ve read and loved! Sally does a great job writing a variety of characters and her books strike me as very true to life. I’m excited to keep reading her backlist books and I’ve already recommended her to a family member and friend. She’s also a joy to follow on Instagram!
The other really good book I read last month was Devolution: A Firsthand Account of the Rainier Sasquatch Massacre by Max Brooks. This was for a book club (I reviewed it on Instagram and mentioned how I almost wanted to skip Thanksgiving dinner with family to read it) and I couldn’t put it down! I don’t think it would have been on my radar if not for the book club so I’m glad that brought it to my attention. I am going to try to read more survivalist/ end of life as we know it/ speculative fiction type books since I really do find them interesting and enjoyable. They are great escapist fiction reading for me!
The other books I read for book club and NetGalley just didn’t wow me unfortunately.
Angelika Frankenstein Makes Her Match by Sally Thorne started strong. I liked Angelika as the main character at first, but she began getting on my nerves about halfway through. I pushed on to finish since this was for a book club, but it left me quite disappointed in the end.
The New Millennium Serial Killer: Examining the Crimes of Christopher Halliwell by Chris Clark and Bethan Trueman felt like reading a dissertation with lots of repetition. I did a full review here.
American Mother: The True Story of a Troubled Family, Motherhood, and the Cyanide Murders That Shook the World by Gregg Olsen also had some repetition, and it went on much too long. It could use some heavy editing in my opinion which I found odd since this version was a re-release. I also did a full review here.
I’m excited for some holiday reads for the next several weeks to end the year! What are your favorite holiday reads for Christmas, Hanukkah, Diwali, etc.? I’m always looking for holiday reads that aren’t the typical American Hallmark type books.
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- Monthly Wrap Up: December 2022
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- Book Review – The New Millennium Serial Killer