December Bookish Wrap-up
Hello again! Happy new year! Wow, am I really making another blog post? So quickly after my previous one? Yes. Yes I am.
Idk what was going on but December turned out to be an excellent reading month. Most of the books I read this month were fabulous and I found several new favorites. *Pat on the back for great reading choices. *
I read 11 books, so let's not make this introduction too long.
First up is The Most Fun We Ever Had by Claire Lombardo
Listen. December started off with a bang of a book experience. This was a journey. I cried 3 times. Me. Who didn't even shed one tear during 'A Little Life', which is arguably one of the saddest books in existence, cried while reading this book.
The story follows this family, the Sorensons. It is a multi-generational family saga type of thing, following the parents and then their kids, and then their kids. You see the parents falling in love and then raising their four daughters. You see the daughters as they grow up, deal with their lives, their relationships with each other, and then their children.
Right off the bat I will tell you, I genuinely don't understand what it was about this book that made me love it as much as I did. The writing was pretty good. The characters were pretty good. But why did I cry? I have no idea. The book is a little long and slightly repetitive. Sometimes it may feel that the author is dragging certain parts while not properly addressing other parts. But my oh my, there were parts of this book that touched my heart. It was so endearing that I actually felt that my ice coldness thawed a little. Would I recommend? 100% yes. Do I think everyone will like it as much as I did? No.
Next up we have Murder on the Links by Agatha Christie (Poirot Series #2)
I honestly don't have much to say about this book. Hercule Poirot audiobooks are always delightful. It was a great experience to listen to this while I do a puzzle. Do I remember much of the plot? Not at all. It was incredibly un-memorable. But if you want a nice little cozy murder mystery, I'm telling you, Poirot's your guy.
This next book, I honestly don't know why I kept reading it. It was The Hating Game by Sally Thorne.
I am genuinely surprised at my reaction here. I love a good cheesy romance. Like I am all for the cheese in romance books. I was supposed to love this book. EVERYONE loves this book. But for some reason, I absolutely hated it. I just hated both the main characters. I hated their romance and I was not rooting for them at all. Every time they were together I was just annoyed.
The main female protagonist was kind of an idiot. This girl was so convinced that the main guy did not like her, even after he kissed her. I was like ???? The man wouldn't kiss you if he hated you? Girl, why you are being dumb? Also the author repeatedly kept talking about how physically small she was. Like for some reason, her physical stature was brought up throughout the book. She's a 27 year old woman. I don't understand why her height is that important here?
The main male protagonist was also super annoying. This man had major daddy issues and I'm SO over that trope where a guy uses his daddy issues as an excuse to be a terrible person. You're an adult. Please act like one. Please talk to your father like a grown person rather than sitting around being angry at life cause you think he hates you. And this dad? Jeez. What a douche.
Aside from the characters, the plot also annoyed me. The two main characters are work colleagues who hate each other. But then they fall in love so fast. How do you flip flop that fast? They are never just friends. They either hate each other passionately or love each other passionately. Also, they both keep track of weird things about each other. Like this girl watches this man so closely she knows the schedule of when he wears his shirts which I honestly am just like, girl what are you doing, please get a hobby. Would I recommend? Maybe. Just because I didn't like it doesn't mean other people won't. I'd say, read it and then if you don't like it, hit me up so we can diss it together.
The next book was a surprise read, Night Theatre by Vikram Paralkar
The entire book takes place over the course of this one night and is quite philosophical. It ruminates over these important, 'what is the meaning of life?' kind of questions. I wanted a little more from the book though. I wanted more about the surgeon and more internal thoughts. But overall, the book was great and I would highly recommend.
In a shocking twist of events, I read a non-fiction book this month. Smoke Gets In Your Eyes by Caitlin Doughty
I don't care who you are, I would recommend this to you. I have no bad things to say about this book. It is hilarious, entertaining and quite endearing. The book is written by Caitlin Doughty who is a funeral director and it chronicles her life as a crematorium operator in San Francisco when she was 23. The book talks about death and funeral practices in the United States. but in the most hilarious way possible. There is also a lot of interesting history about funeral traditions across the world. It is just "10/10, would read again" kind of good.
Next up we have, Double Indemnity by James M. Cain
This was super fun. This is a short, mystery crime novel featuring some murder, insurance fraud and some ingenious plotting. I won't say much about the plot because it is really short, but I will say that this is what all short mystery books should be like. I will 100% be reading more books by this author in the future.
This next book went on my favorite books of all time list.
Vera by Elizabeth Von Arnim
Alright a little back story before I get to the actual book part. I started reading another book by this author earlier in 2020, 'The Enchanted April', but for some reason I just found it a little dull and never continued. I genuinely didn't think I would ever pick up another book by this author again, except I saw this book and the plot looked WILDLY different than 'The Enchanted April' so I was like alright let me give it a shot. Ummmm....what on earth went on here?
The book follows this young woman meeting this man, falling in love with him, getting married and then finding out her husband is not what she thought him to be. The way the plot folds out in this book is absolute genius. Everything happens so gradually and you don't even notice. Things just creep up on you. The book leaves you feeling super unsettled. There were some genuinely creepy parts where I was like hmmmmm......will I ever trust a human being ever again?
The author is also hilarious. The book is a dark comedy. You are simultaneously afraid for what might happen and laughing. The author also has a great line referring to 'vegetarian lovemaking'. I'll let you figure out what she's talking about on your own. I would HIGHLY recommend.
Following Vera, my next two books featured a fantastic Irish detective. They were The Ruin and The Scholar both by Dervla McTiernan.
These two books are part of a series featuring a Detective Cormac Reilly. I'm literally currently reading the third book in the series, because its THAT good. I actually dislike series and tend to avoid them because I always feel like sequels aren't as good as the first ones. But this one is fabulous. The best thing about this series is how detailed the story is. The author is absolutely fantastic at describing reactions and observations in addition to just general police things. There is honestly something so satisfying reading about a person who is really good at their job. Cormac Reilly is literally amazing as a detective. The dude isn't Sherlock Holmes, but he's got some great skills and is incredibly driven and smart. 10/10 would recommend. If you liked In The Woods by Tana French, I think you'll enjoy this series as well.
The next book I read was A Room With A View by E.M. Forster.
This is a Victorian classic, so you know, cars didn't exist yet. The story follows this girl named Lucy. I genuinely don't know why all British classics seem to feature a girl named Lucy. Lucy really wants to experience life and travel and basically leave her overbearing family. This book is a little like Jane Austen's books, in the sense that there is a ton of satire and general humor poking fun at rich people. This book took me a while to get into, but actually it was pretty good. The characters were super over the top but I enjoyed the storyline. Lucy is in the middle of an insane love triangle at one point and I think that was when I really started enjoying the story, because who doesn't love a good love triangle? At another point Lucy talks about how this one guy's awkwardness goes straight to her heart and I was just like, same girl. I was genuinely surprised by how much I enjoyed this book. Will definitely be checking out more by this author one day.
The final book of my December Wrap-up is Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.
I enjoyed this book, but I have many qualms about it. Someone compared it to Normal People by Sally Rooney, which may have impacted my expectations, but I genuinely enjoyed Adichie's writing and her characters. The story follows Ifemelu and Obinze, from their high school days to when they are well into their 30s. Ifemelu dates Obinze in high school and then ends up leaving Nigeria for the U.S. to go to college for her undergrad. Obinze, unable to move to the U.S. due to visa issues, ends up living as an undocumented immigrant in England. Adichie seems to want to mix romance and social commentary into one book, but it doesn't really work out. The social commentary definitely won, but it was really good. Ifemelu and Obinze's experiences in America and England respectively are really reflective of an immigrant's experience. There are a lot of tough conversations with other characters about race and identity that are insightful and fantastic. There are discussions of class and just generally how wealth and status can transform a person negatively and those are fabulous. In terms of a general book about two people's experience immigrating to another country and experiencing it firsthand, this was amazing.
However, in all of this, the relationship between Ifemelu and Obinze, which is arguably the main narrative of the book, was seriously lacking and not realistic. Adichie spends a lot of time setting up Ifemelu and Obinze's characterization. You really feel like you understand Ifemelu and Obinze as individuals by the end. What you don't really understand, is their relationship to each other, particularly when they meet again as adults. I feel like to explain my thoughts here, I'm going to need to spoil some things. So if you want to read it, which you should (but don't think its a romance), you shouldn't read this next section.
*SPOILERS*
Ifemelu returns to Nigeria. I genuinely don't know why, but she does. She meets Obinze, who is married with a child because its been like 15 years. They begin an affair. I have many problems.
1. They started their affair because they claim to have continued loving each other while loving other people. This doesn't make sense. It has been more than a decade since you both talked or met in person. Don't tell me that both of these people have not changed in 15 years, because they have. I am a different person than who I was 2 years ago, let alone 15 YEARS ago. Who they are in love with, is a version of the other person when they were young. They are in love with their youth, and youthful selves. They are not in love with each other at this point in time per se.
2. Ifemelu gets angry at Obinze for breaking off the affair. This is bullshit. First off, Ifemelu ghosted Obinze when she was in America. I get that she had issues that she had to deal with, but girl, you had 15 years to hit this man up again. 15 years during which you kept claiming that you were constantly thinking of this guy. Then you get mad at this guy when he calls to tell you that he can't be with you anymore cause you know, he's married and has a kid? Girl get outta here. Why are you being a home-wrecker? When you see the guy has a family you need to back off. He's not yours. You can't lay claim that since you knew him from before, you get dibs on him. No. That kid gets dibs on her dad.
3. At the end, Obinze leaves his wife and child to be with Ifemelu. This is again, bullshit. You're telling me that you are willing to leave your life behind for your HIGH SCHOOL GIRLFRIEND? You dated her for like 3 years when you were a teenager. You are an adult man now. Life has changed. People have changed. It honestly feels like Obinze is unsatisfied with his current position in life and wants to relive his youth when he still believed in the world's possibilities and so now that his high school girlfriend is back and they can restart their relationship, it will make him feel like he can do things again. Which, please get your head out of your a**.
*END OF SPOILERS*
Whew. That was a long one. If you read it till the end, applause to you cause wow, you are dedicated. Hopefully you enjoyed hearing about the 11 books that I read in December. As always, if you enjoyed this post, let me know. If you didn't, also let me know :)
