What I read in December 2021

Last month, I read 15 books, which was a normal number for me when my brain was behaving. Yay! Having a decent amount of company holiday over Christmas and New Year helped - I was a bit apprehensive because the quietness and lack of structure in the limbo period is usually bad for me, but this year I actually enjoyed having the time to read and play games.

While I got through quite a few books, I also added a lot to my TBR pile - the Kindle Christmas sale is a dangerous thing!

An Eye for an Eye, Fall, Three Pianos, Darkness Falls, The Cleaner

An Eye for an Eye, by Carol Wyer - 3.5*

Fall, by West Camel - 4*

Three Pianos, by Andrew McMahon - his songs hit differently now I’ve read this, and they were already pretty moving. 4.5*

Darkness Falls, by Robert Bryndza - not his best alas, there were quite a few careless inconsistencies and historical inaccuracies that took me out of the story. 3*

The Cleaner, by Paul Cleave - 4*

The Manningtree Witches, The New Neighbour, The Appeal, Like This, For Ever, Big Girl, Small Town

The Manningtree Witches, by A. K. Blakemore - 4.5*

The New Neighbour, by Miranda Rijks - 4*

The Appeal, by Janice Hallett - 4.5*

Like This, For Ever, by Sharon Bolton - 4*

Big Girl, Small Town, by Michelle Gallen - my pick for December’s Book Shelf Raiders. 4*

The Twelve Even Stranger Days of Christmas, What Lies Buried, Trust No One, Six Stories, Snapshots of the Apocalypse

The Twelve Even Stranger Days of Christmas, by Syd Moore - 4*

What Lies Buried, by Kerry Daynes - 5*

Trust No One, by Paul Cleave - 4*

Six Stories, by Matt Wesolowski - 4*

Snapshots of the Apocalypse, by Katy Wimhurst - brilliantly quirky, bleak yet entertaining collection of short stories from a member of my writing group. 5*

Looking ahead…

The Book of Form and Emptiness, Hag, The Twyford Code, Our Fathers, Cemetery Lake

OK, so I’ve already started The Book of Form and Emptiness, by Ruth Ozeki, but I’m looking forward to reading the last 90 pages of it (while also not wanting it to end!).

I’m big on folky, uncanny short stories at the moment, so I’m sure Hag, edited by Daisy Johnson, will be a treat!

Having (like many, many others) enjoyed Janice Hallett’s The Appeal, I’m excited to read The Twyford Code for the blog tour.

Rebecca Wait’s Our Fathers is my pick for January’s Book Shelf Raiders (this month’s theme is ‘a book featuring family’), while Cemetery Lake is the next stop of my tour of Paul Cleave’s back catalogue.

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About Alice Violett

Writer of blogs and short stories, reader of books, player of board games, lover of cats, editor of web content, haver of PhD.

Colchester, UK https://www.draliceviolett.com