December 2024: Reader's Choice

It's hard to believe that we are entering the last month of the year with 2025 just around the corner. For our last read of the year the choice is up to you. You can revisit one of our previous themes or simply chose a book that you want to read and haven't been able to fit it in yet this year.

Whatever you chose, enjoy your read and if you care to add the book to the Wiki, it can be found here: https://wiki.librarything.com/index.php/Reading_Through_Time_Challenge

I am planning on reading Act of Oblivion by Robert Harris.

Oh finally a chance to get into demon copperhead been too busy keeping up with theme books and others that call my name that I havent had the chanceto get to it. Still havent finished covenant of water

I have a number of books with winter in the title. Or I might go with something set at Christmastime. Another group is reading Gingerbread by Oyeyemi so that is tempting me too....

I think I will read a Pearl Buck. Have 3 on my shelf and would like to reduce it by one!

I have two books that I want to read for this prompt:

• Chenneville (by Paulette Jiles; narrated by Grover Gardner) The subtitle is “A novel of murder, vengeance, and loss”. The protagonist is a Union soldier sent home to Louisiana at the end of the Civil War and after having suffered a brain injury.

• Death Comes as the End (by Agatha Christie) A standalone, historical fiction mystery set in Ancient Egypt

I will read one or more Christmas novels set in the past.

Got back home yesterday from rehab for my surgery on my broken hip. Still have a ways to go on recovery, but I'll b spending time in December doing catch-up on stuff I've missed this past month-plus. Right now, I'm going to do the October "adultery" read with Therese Raquin, which will help get mey in the mood too for the second volume of Zola in the group read, His Excellency Eugène Rougon.

Sorry, I'm not doing a whole lot of posting considering I'm still a bit wiped out. And my RTT reading's all out of order too, considering I was just doing some cotton-candy reading on my smart-phone Kindle app while I was in rehab.

>8 CurrerBell: Good to see you back, hope the recovery continues well :)

>8 CurrerBell: No need to be sorry, I remember my surgery and of course you are wiped out. rest; do everything you pt tells you . heal soon

>8 CurrerBell: Glad to see you "back!" Hope you continue to heal and enjoy some good books.

>8 CurrerBell: I'm so glad you are back! Take it easy and don't pressure yourself when it comes to posting, we will always be here! Sometimes cotton candy reading (I like that expression!) is just what you need.

>8 CurrerBell: Thanks for letting us know how you are doing. Glad to hear that recovery is happening. Take care of yourself and enjoy some "cotton candy" reading.

I finished listening to Chenneville (by Paulette Jiles; narrated by Grover Gardner) last night - Near the end of the Civil War, John Chenneville suffers a traumatic brain injury and spends close to a year recovering before he can go home. Back in Missouri, his uncle eventually informs him that John's sister, her husband, and one year-old son have been brutally killed; And yet no one has been held accountable. As John goes forth seeking vengeance, the author paints a glorious landscape of post-war Texas both in its unspoiled vistas and the ruin & wrack of those who survived the War.
My only quibble is that Ms Jiles artlessly tied-in News of the World and Simon the Fiddler. The NOTW reference was fleeting and maybe even cute; but the STF tie-in felt awkward and even a bit of a cheat in more fully developing the story.
Still, I'm marking this one for a re-read when we get to The Old West prompt :-)

OP: 11/22/2024
ETA: 11/24/2024 - The more I think about this, the less I like this book for its weak ending. The gorgeous writing and character development is sadly capped by a cop-out that doesn't correlate with the story of Simon the Fiddler (Yes, I checked).

>8 CurrerBell: I'm glad to hear you're doing better. And cotton candy reading is perfectly understandable when recuperating from such an injury!

This is helpful, one I haven't got around to, well actually there's several but this one I really want to read before the year is out is Measure for Measure

I've started reading Death Comes as the End (by Agatha Christie), a historical fiction mystery set in Ancient Egypt in the year 2000 BCE. According to the introduction that the author wrote, it's based on some writing on scrolls/papyri found in Luxor.

ETA: I just finished reading ‘Death Comes at the End’ this afternoon. The widowed patriarch of a family brings home a young, beautiful, absolutely malicious concubine, and it does not go well. High body count, psychological motives discerned among suspects, painterly descriptions of the Nile Valley, no deus ex machina, and strong women characters tipped this into a solid four-star rating from me.
Research was obvious (though, having been written in 1944, I wonder if it still stands up to scrutiny), and I wonder if the protagonist’s thought processes might be too modern? Still, an entertaining read.

And that’s it for me for the month and the year!
I didn’t get books read for all the monthly prompts, much less in matching up the monthly reads with quarterly time periods, but I did read a couple of truly fascinating books. My favorite was The Swerve: How the World Became Modern (by Stephen Greenblatt; narrated by Edoardo Ballerini) for the Biblioculture challenge in August. It’s about how an Italian manuscript hunter came across a text of Lucretius and arguably ushered in the Renaissance. Highly recommend for next quarter’s challenge, “Renaissance”.

I read A Homage to Catalonia by George Orwell I've read most of what Orwell has written, and this is my least favorite. I think it is because there are so many political parties, groups, and cities/areas of which I was unfamiliar that it just seemed so jumbled. This was Orwell's experiences during the Spanish Civil War, where he fought for the Republican (Socialist/Communist) side against Franco's Fascists. Interesting that he used the word Fascists and the history textbooks (at least in the US) use the word Nationalists to describe Franco's forces. Orwell spent a lot of time describing the in-fighting of the Republicans and what he finally saw as a betrayal by the same. He also addresses loyalty and the propaganda of the leftist press. The book ends with Orwell's escape from Barcelona into France when the POUM (Workers' Party of Marxist Unification) was suppressed. 8 hours 25 mins 3.5*

📖 ✅ Measure for Measure --- A second read. Easier to read then the others, I'm thinking it's because of its small cast. 3*

I'm not sure how many I'll finish but I'll try

📖 ✅ Ringworld funny but ok 3*
The Lifted Veil I'm new to George Eliot and starting with this short.
The Cambridge Companion to Sylvia Plath second read, this year the author I have been focusing on is Sylvia Plath.
The Middle East: The Cradle of Civilization One of the books I've lined up to get a little more familiar with Mesopotamia.
📖 ✅ The Aeneid (David West translation) a translation by David West 4*
📖 ✅ The Tale of Genji abridged, translation by Suematsu Kenchio, I enjoyed reading this and it gets me closer to read the unabridged novel. 4*

I decided to revisit our Science and Medicine month with this one:

The Icepick Surgeon / Sam Kean
4 stars

This looks at various ethical issues throughout history that still advanced science in some way or another. Each chapter was a specific person or issue, including piracy, the slave trade, competition that gets out of hand, stealing bodies for research, fraud, spying, animal cruelty (this still happens, but who knew Edison was torturing dogs, horses, and cows by electrocuting them in order to discredit a competitor?), Nazi experiments, lobotomies, and probably more I’m not remembering. There is a lot going on here. And a lot of unethical (and criminal) things happened in the name of science.

This was interesting. Some stories I’d heard before (maybe just the one of the title, the “surgeon” who did lobotomies with an icepick). In the conclusion, the author looks at some things to come… and there will likely still be scientists willing to do unethical things to advance science (or, at least, their own research). I don’t think I realized the author has a podcast, so I hadn’t heard of him, but based on this one, I’d read more of his books (he has also written others).

Due to being in the hospital I didn't et a chane to get to my library books so had to return them unread, this unfortunately included my choice for December so now I will try to read another historial fiction book sometime during the month.

I can't think of a better time of year than December to revisit a classic figure biography! Here are some of my favourites:

Zero Tollerance: An Intimate Memoir by the Man Who Revolutionized Figure Skating by Toller Cranston - 5*

Queen of Ice, Queen of Shadows: The Unsuspected Life of Sonja Henie by Raymond Strait and Leif Henie - 5*

Facing the Music: The Autobiography by Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean - 5*

Alone: The Triumph and Tragedy of John Curry by Bill Jones - 5*

I read Death Comes as the End by Agatha Christie (1945), one of her few (only?) historical mysteries, which is set in ancient Egypt. It doesn't fit any of the previous themes this year, but it is historical fiction.

I am jumping ahead to the next quarter with Romola which tells you more about Renaissance Florence than you may care to know.

I listened to The Christmas Hirelings by Mary Elizabeth Braddon. I enjoyed the Christmas atmosphere and the depictions of a late Victorian Christmas, although the story is maybe a little too sweet at times.

>26 MissBrangwen: Oh, I have that one! Thanks for the reminder.

>26 MissBrangwen: I read that a few Christmases ago, really liked it. I think Mary Elizabeth Braddon is a greatly underrated author.

>27 WelshBookworm: It is well worth a read!

>28 john257hopper: I haven't read anything else by her so far, but I'll certainly do so in the future.

I've finished reading The Castle by Fraz Kafka (narrated by Allan Corduner) I kind of liked this, especially its absurdity, and wold read again. 3.5*

I decided to listen to At Chrighton Abbey by Mary Elizabeth Braddon as my next audiobook - it is a ghost story set during Christmas and I enjoyed it immensely.

One of my reads this month was 'The Museum of Lost Quilts' by Jennifer Chiaverini. I've enjoyed this series in the past because of my love of quilting and the since of connection it provided to a unique community. The setting provides a quiet place apart from the chaos of the world at large and the hope that creative art forms will survive.

>32 cfk: It sounds lovely. Going to have to look for this one.

I just read Private Peaceful by Michael Morpurgo. Set during WW1 and narratdd by Private Tommo Peaceful, the story follows twenty-four hours at the front, and captures his memories of his family and his village life.

I am reading For Whom the Bell Tolls this month. I have not yet finished it, but I will before the end of the month. I thought I would go ahead and report it now since we're leaving town tomorrow to visit relatives and I will probably not be able to get back on LT until the new year.

I've also finished The Castle by Fraz Kafka (narrated by Allan Corduner) and The Lifted Veil (George Eliot) and started some Jane Austen.

Just finished Mikhail Bulgakov's A Dead Man's Memoir 3*** – a bit generous, only because it's Bulgakov. A satirical memoir of his life in the Moscow theatrical world, and unless you've got some interest in Stanislavsky you'll find it quite boring for the assortment of other characters. Doing this one to cover the November theme, which I never got around to during November due to the unfortunate argument that my 73yo hip got into with my asphalt driveway.

I'm just starting and hoping to finish by month's end Zola's rather short Therese Raquin, which will cover my missed reading for October.

hope you are well onthe mend and are reading much better books

Emma: A BBC Radio 4 Full-Cast Dramatisation, a touch dated but fun