The Final Month | December 2024 Reading Wrap Up
Hey hi hello friends, and happy New Year's Eve!
I can't believe 2024 is over, how did the time go by so fast? I feel like the first half of the year really dragged on, but once summer ended it's like no time has passed at all and suddenly the year is done. I mean, considering summer temperatures didn't end until almost November here in Phoenix, I suppose that makes sense...
Anyway, welcome to the final blog post of 2024, my reading wrap up for December! In the month of December I read a total of eight books: 4 novels, 1 novella, 1 poetry collection, 1 essay collection, and 1 manga volume. I really took my time with the books I read this month, making sure not to breeze through them as I have been doing in past months. I like the leisurely pace I took, and I want to implement that in the new year, though we'll see how long that feeling lasts.
Alright, let's get into the final wrap up!
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Novels
1. Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk
Translated from the Polish by Antonia Lloyd-Jones
Means of reading: Physical
Star rating/CAWPILE: 4 stars/7.08 CAWPILE
Page count: 274 pages
Day(s) read: 12.01 - 12.08
Final thoughts: I was really impressed with the writing, which makes sense since Olga Tokarczuk won the Nobel Prize in Literature. I thought the main character was interesting to follow, especially as the story went on and she became more and more unreliable. I wish I knew more of the political and historical context of this book because there were definitely a lot of references to things that I just didn't understand.
2. League of Dragons by Naomi Novik
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Means of reading: Physical
Star rating/CAWPILE: 5 stars/9.02 CAWPILE
Page count: 416 pages
Day(s) read: 12.10 - 12.13
Final thoughts: I finally finished this series! It's only been four years in the making...sheesh. And what an ending, truly. I don't usually enjoy domestic endings to fantasy stories, but this ending felt completely natural and authentic to the characters. I loved seeing Temeraire really come into his own throughout the series, I think by this book he was truly formidable in his own right, not just as a weapon of war. And of course I love most if not all of the recurring characters in this series, so it was very nice to see them all and have a proper farewell for them.
3. Ice by Anna Kavan
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Means of reading: Physical
Star rating/CAWPILE: 3.5 stars/6.49 CAWPILE
Page count: 193 pages
Day(s) read: 12.16 - 12.27
Final thoughts: I don't think I can come up with a better description for this book than "really fucking weird." It's part apocalyptic sci-fi thriller, part character analysis, part literary philosophical commentary. The main character is probably one of most unlikable people I've ever read about, and yet I found him fascinating, particularly the way his brain worked. If this book was just a glimpse into what Anna Kavan's mind was like in the last few years of her life, I can't imagine what might have been if she had lived longer.
4. The Kingdom of Sweets by Erika Johansen
Means of reading: E-book
Star rating/CAWPILE: 3 stars/5.75 CAWPILE
Page count: 354 pages
Day(s) read: 12.21 - 12.24
Final thoughts: I wasn't aware that this was a horror retelling of The Nutcracker when I first went into it, but I found that out real fast. I have to say, that wasn't a very fun revelation to have at midnight when I was reading, the house pitch-black and shadows dancing outside of my window. Natasha was pretty insufferable, which made it hard for me to really enjoy the story. For all of her claims of being "the smart sister" and so worldly, she was rather naive and didn't seem to grow up at all as the story went on, despite it taking place over decades of time.
Novellas
1. The Nutcracker and the Mouse King by E.T.A. Hoffman
Translated from the German by Joachim Neugroschel
Means of reading: Audiobook
Star rating/CAWPILE: 3 stars/5.72 CAWPILE
Page count: 112 pages (2 hrs 41 mins audio)
Day(s) read: 12.06
Final thoughts: This was my first time reading this story, though I'm very familiar with the overall plot of The Nutcracker thanks to the ballet and, specifically, the Barbie movie (peak adaptation, if you disagree you're wrong). I wasn't expecting the story to be as dark as it was. I know that Alexandre Dumas retold it later and his version is the one that the ballet is based off of, but I didn't know that before reading. I wasn't expecting Drosselmeyer to be such a villainous character!
Poetry
1. Like by A.E. Stallings
Means of reading: Physical
Star rating/CAWPILE: N/A
Page count: 160 pages
Day(s) read: 12.23
Final thoughts: This collection wasn't anything particularly astounding to me, but I appreciated all of the nods to Greece and it's history/mythology/culture. Considering the author lives in Greece and has a Greek husband, it makes sense. I bought this book because of the fact that the author lives in Athens. I will definitely be picking up her other work, since everything she's published seems to revolve around Greece in one way or another.
Essays
1. Upstream by Mary Oliver
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Means of reading: Physical
Star rating/CAWPILE: N/A
Page count: 178 pages
Day(s) read: 12.07 - 12.14
Final thoughts: I don't have much to say about this, unfortunately. The writing was beautiful, of course--everything Mary Oliver wrote was beautiful. I appreciated her musings on literature and poetry and the makers of them, but some of her essays just didn't do anything for me. The overall personal impact of this essay collection was rather low, but I can be glad to have read it.
Manga
1. My Dress-Up Darling vol. 12 by Shinichi Fukuda
Means of reading: Physical
Star rating/CAWPILE: N/A
Page count: 192 pages
Day(s) read: 12.15
Final thoughts: Too cute, as always. And what a perfect time to have picked up this volume! I know it only recently came out so it makes sense that the publication was timed to happen in or near December. I love the crazy shenanigans these characters get up to. I'm excited to see what's in store for them!
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Total page count: 1,879 pages (2 hrs 41 mins total audio)
Favorite book of December: The League of Dragons by Naomi Novik
No DNFs this month
No unfinished books this month
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And that's a wrap on 2024!
I'll see you all in the New Year.
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