I...do not feel ready for December and all that it implies, but ready or not, in a few short hours, it will be here. And there is a bright side: ‘Tis the season of hope and compassion, joy and giving, and holidays—Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Winter Solstice, Epiphany, St. Nicholas Day, New Year.
A related bright side: December is chock-full of holiday-inspired readathons. The first one I’ll be participating in is Tistheseasonathon. It’s a week-long readathon (my favorite kind) running from Dec. 2 - 8. You can find out more about it and the hosts on Twitter @Tistheseasonnn.
Here are the prompts (stacking is permitted):
1. Read a book with snow on the cover
2. Read a holiday-themed book
3. Read a book you received as a gift
4. Read while eating your fave holiday treat
5. Read a book title related to music
Bonus | Buddy read: 10 Blind Dates by Ashley Elston
And here is my tentative (as always) TBR:
Prompts 1 and 2: A Wedding in December by Sarah Morgan
I love reading romance in December, ideally while curled up by the Christmas tree, with instrumental carols playing softly in the background. Ah, it’s so soothing. If only I could dial up snow on demand. Well I can’t in the real world, but I can in the book world: A Wedding in December is set in Aspen and accordingly features a white Christmas. We also have a bride with cold feet, a worried older sister, and a handsome best man. That’s about all I need to know.
Prompt 3: The Nine Lives of Christmas by Sheila Roberts or The Guinevere Deception by Kiersten White
I’m not sure which I’ll be in the mood for, but both were gifted to me. My mother gave me The Nine of Lives of Christmas for, yes, Christmas several years ago because I love cats, and apparently, the story features a match-making cat. But if I’m feeling the need for at least one fantasy novel, I can always pick up my gifted Book-of-the-Month subscription pick for November, billed as a feminist retelling of Arthurian legend.
A few years ago, I read and was utterly captivated by M. T. Anderson’s nonfiction book, Symphony for the City of the Dead: Dmitri Shostakovich and the Siege of Leningrad. So I couldn’t resist revisiting the composer’s life through Barnes’ novelization of it.
I admit to some reservations. First, Barnes’ Sense of an Ending was so internal as to be, for me, excruciatingly boring. Second, The Noise of Time’s description hints at similar interiority: “Shostakovich reflects on his predicament, his personal history, his parents, his daughter—all of those hanging in the balance of his fate.” Here’s hoping Shostakovich’s inner life is more interesting than that of Rando Guy Suffering the Pangs of Middle Age (i.e. the protagonist of Sense of Ending, whose name has long since left my memory).
Buddy read: 10 Blind Dates by Ashley Elston
I’m planning to read this one too since I bought it, haha. But seriously. I need to read the books I buy.
10 Blind Dates is a YA romance set during the holiday season that follows Sophie, who unexpectedly finds herself dumped. Her cousin sets her up on the eponymous blind dates, and then things happen. I don’t know what things yet, obviously, but hopefully they will be entertaining.
What are your reading plans in December?