First of all, yes, I am exceptionally late posting this. I mean, I’ve already seen some people posting their January wrap-ups and I’m working on my own with a view to it being posted much faster! However, I didn’t want December to go unmarked and so, here it is, my very (VERY) late December wrap-up. I have lots planned for 2024 and one of those is, I hope, to have a more consistent and frequent posting schedule. Let’s see how that turns out!
December Stats:
Total Books Finished: 13
Total Pages Read: 2,222
Total Minutes of Audiobooks Listened To: 0
Formats:
E-Books: 8
Paperbacks: 3
Hardbacks: 2
Audiobooks: 0
Ratings:
5 Star: 3
4 Star: 4
3 Star: 5
2 Star: 0
1 Star: 1
DNF: 0
And now onto the reviews. If you’re interested in buying any of these, please consider doing so using my affiliate’s links below, every purchase helps to support me.
Tinsel in a Tangle by Ainslie Paton
Adult Romance Short Story / 4 Stars / Bought in 2023
This was a super short read I only picked up to fulfil a prompt to read a book set in Australia, but I ended up enjoying it a whole lot. The book is set in a hospital following an incident at an office Christmas party, during which a male colleague punched another in the face. As the book unfolds, we discover precisely why this has happened and a relationship unfolds between the man who did the punching and the female colleague he was defending who has accompanied him to the hospital. I ended up talking about the plot a lot with my husband as we discussed how the incident was handled and how realistic the outcome was. It’s a cute holiday romance with an interesting and unique concept behind it.
The X-Files: The Truth is Out There by Jonathan Maberry (Editor)
Adult Sci-Fi/Horror Anthology / 4 Stars / Owned Before 2023
I had an odd moment with this anthology of X-Files short stories: when I went to add it on GoodReads, I discovered that I had apparently already read it once back in 2016. Even after finishing it, only one of the 15 short stories contained any vague hint of familiarity. That could easily be seen as a bad thing, it was obviously very forgettable, but it does contain a good number of great little stories. Yes, some are rather silly (I’m looking at you ‘Male Privilege’ in which the male residents of a small town have gained vast tracts of land overnight or the bizarre story in which a married Mulder and Scully receive a valuable painting and Scully’s mom has become a smug art dealer) but others like ‘Snowman’ and ‘Dead Ringer’ were fun and in keeping with the original show. It certainly won’t win over any new fans, but X-Philes will find plenty to enjoy here.
What Christmas Is as We Grow Older by Charles Dickens
Adult Essay / 3 Stars / Borrowed from My Library
At only 7 pages long (no, that’s not a typo), What Christmas Is as We Grow Older is more an essay than a book, but when I was prompted to read “the shortest book on my TBR”, this was the title GoodReads presented to me. The title is somewhat self-explanatory, with Dickens looking at the ways Christmas changes in meaning as we grow older. I read it during the first Christmas without my Mum, making it all the more poignant, but it’s interesting and thoughtful and a pleasant way to pass half an hour during the holiday season.
Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones
Middle-Grade Fantasy / 1 Star / Borrowed from My Library
I’m almost nervous writing this about such a beloved book, but I didn’t get on with Howl’s Moving Castle at all and it became my second 1-star of the year. More than anything, I found myself exceedingly bored and willing the pages to go faster. The characters were unlikeable (except for Calcifer, obviously) and the ending felt faintly ridiculous as a romance appeared seemingly out of nowhere. I do intend to give the film a try at some point as I’ve heard it’s very different in tone but this fantasy classic was not for me at all.
Heartstopper Volume 5 by Alice Oseman
YA Romance / 5 Stars / Bought in 2023
What can I say about Heartstopper? By volume five, we all know what to expect from this adorable graphic novel series and this was more of the same. I liked the exploration of the inevitable distancing that happens in young love as one or both partners head out into adult life, here shown through Nick setting off on a road trip to visit various universities around the country while Charlie stays behind to complete exams. Nick and Charlie have lived in one another’s pockets for a long time now, enough that it’s becoming a concern to their friends and families, and it’s good to see that being addressed and that spending time apart doesn’t mean a failing relationship. I’m both excited and sad to see where the story goes in the sixth and final volume. Hmm, apparently I had quite a lot to say about Heartstopper this time after all!
The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter
Classic Children’s Picture Book / 3 Stars / Borrowed from My Library
I’ve been meaning to read more children’s classics and decided to grab a copy of this from the library to quickly fulfil a challenge prompt to read a book with a rabbit on the cover. I’ve always nurtured a dislike of Beatrix Potter books, finding them overly dark and disturbing since childhood, but I wanted to explore them again as an adult. This first foray wasn’t as uncomfortable as I anticipated and while it’s still no favourite, I’m encouraged to try picking up a few more Beatrix Potter books in the future.
How the Grinch Stole Christmas! by Dr Seuss
Classic Children’s Story / 5 Stars / Owned Before 2023
Another children’s classic, How the Grinch Stole Christmas is a book I reread most years and this was no exception. It’s a brilliant book to read aloud as I’ve done many times before, but it also flows beautifully on the page and is easily one of my favourite Dr Seuss books.
Christmas Stories by Diana Secker Tesdell (Editor)
Adult Anthology / 3 Stars / Bought in 2023
I found this anthology in a charity shop and picked it up while looking for more holiday reading. The content is… odd. A lot of the stories it contains are only connected to Christmas in the vaguest of ways (some are simply set during cold weather) and even those more solidly festive aren’t exactly the merriest and most Christmassy of stories. Notable inclusions are ‘A Christmas Memory’ by Truman Capote, Charles Dicken’s ‘The Goblins Who Stole a Sexton’ - a short story that he would later adapt into A Christmas Carol after removing the aforementioned goblins and a lot of surprisingly vicious hammer attacks -, and ‘Christmas at Thompson Hall’ by Anthony Trollope which follows a couple attempting to travel home to England for Christmas and who end up in a farcical situation in a Parisian hotel (this one also involves serious bodily harm, this time via third-degree burns). There were several stories I deeply enjoyed here and will go back to, but also a good number of flops that had me squinting at the page and wondering what on earth I was reading.
The Cat Who Came for Christmas by Cleveland Amory
Adult Memoir / 3 Stars / Bought in 2023
This was another book I picked up on my charity shop hunt for Christmas reads, the cover and the promise of both Christmas and cats lured me in. However, I feel that shelving this as a holiday book was promising something more than it could deliver. This is actually a memoir following an animal rights activist in the 1970s who ends up fostering a cat found in a NYC alley on Christmas Eve and how the cat and the author teach one another a lot about life. The cat’s arrival on Christmas Eve is the only thing even vaguely Christmassy about the story which meant it wasn’t at all what I was expecting, but it was still an amusing and thoughtful read that cat lovers will enjoy.
Lockwood 1.5: The Dagger in the Desk by Jonathan Stroud
Middle-Grade Short Story / 4 Stars / Owned Before 2023
I finally completed the Lockwood and Co. Series in 2023, so I decided to squeeze in this short story before the year was out in order to say I’d read everything related to the series (and also to boost that GoodReads number a little!) This short story is set early in the series and simply follows Lockwood, Lucy, and George as they deal with a haunting in a school. It’s nothing special, but it's a nice addition for fans wanting more from their favourite characters.
Two Women Walk into a Bar by
Adult Memoir / 5 Stars / Prime First Reads Dec 2023
This one immediately leapt out at me from the December selection of Amazon Prime First Reads. Written by the author of Wild, the book initially tells the tale of the author meeting her future mother-in-law for the first time at a hotel bar, but the story is told along with many others as a reminiscence many years later at the older woman’s deathbed. This short mini-memoir is a look at the often complicated relationships between women, specifically between mothers and daughters-in-law, and how serious illness can transcend long-established boundaries. I loved it, especially reading it as I did having recently lost my own mother, but I could also see it reopening old wounds for many readers, so approach it with caution.
Amazon (Free on Prime)
Get a Life, Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert
Adult Romance / 3 Stars / Owned Before 2023
I’d been meaning to get to the Brown Sisters trilogy for some time now and finally picked up the first book to fulfil several reading prompts related to plus-sized romances. Honestly, this wasn’t my favourite book of the month, I’m not a huge romance reader to begin with, but I did appreciate the depictions of Chloe’s chronic illness which is what drew me to try this book in the first place. I also enjoyed Chloe’s sense of humour and the relationships between her and her sisters. I’ll probably try at least one more book in this series but I’m not singing its praises from the rooftops like many people just yet.
Amazon (Free on KU) / Bookshop
Letters From Father Christmas by J.R.R. Tolkien
Children’s / 4 Stars / Borrowed from My Library
Finally, I read Letters from Father Christmas, another book with a self-explanatory title. Every year while his children were young, Tolkien maintained a correspondence between them and Father Christmas, writing them letters that recounted goings on at the North Pole. Given that these letters were penned by Tolkien, these events include lots of elves, several incursions from troublesome goblins, and a sarcastic and talkative polar bear whose asides are scattered across all the letters. There are also dozens of illustrations in Tolkien’s unique style that show a unique take on the goings on at Santa’s Workshop and life in and around the pole. The book includes scans of the original letters alongside transcriptions (they can be hard to read) and is a beautiful piece of history from one father to his children that will be loved by Tolkien fans as well as anyone who loves Christmas.