December 2025. What are you reading?

[Anonymous]

The Book of Goose by Yiyun Yi

I'm about halfway through . . . enjoying it, although it's a bit slow. Her prose is beautiful.

[Anonymous]

Just read Bog Queen by Anna North and The Book of Guilt by Catherine Chidgey. Both were excellent.

[Anonymous]

I'm trying to read Hamnet but not getting into it (only 20 pages in). Was supposed to be read for my book club this week and we'd go see the movie, but I can't make the movie night, so not as inspired.

I have the Everlasting by Alix Harrow and am excited to get into it.

The Correspondent unexpectedly arrived at the library from my holds.

Jan Karon has a new Mitford book out for Christmas and that also came in from holds.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Right now I'm reading Once and Future Witches by Alix Harrow.

I've read two Alix Harrow books before - 10,000 Doors of January years ago and The Everlasting last month. Her writing is incredible.

What is the genre of Alix Harrow's books?

Some books are magical realism and some are fantasy. They’re all beautifully written.

The Everlasting is about 320 pages, but gives the same feeling as reading an epic story.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm back on my bullshit and reading an Aubrey Maturin book, The Surgeon's Mate.

not sure what you mean but that’s a good one!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm trying to read Hamnet but not getting into it (only 20 pages in). Was supposed to be read for my book club this week and we'd go see the movie, but I can't make the movie night, so not as inspired.

I have the Everlasting by Alix Harrow and am excited to get into it.

The Correspondent unexpectedly arrived at the library from my holds.

Jan Karon has a new Mitford book out for Christmas and that also came in from holds.

I would try to get to 50-75 pp that's normally my threshold before tossing a book.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm trying to read Hamnet but not getting into it (only 20 pages in). Was supposed to be read for my book club this week and we'd go see the movie, but I can't make the movie night, so not as inspired.

I have the Everlasting by Alix Harrow and am excited to get into it.

The Correspondent unexpectedly arrived at the library from my holds.

Jan Karon has a new Mitford book out for Christmas and that also came in from holds.

I loved Hamnet. So fantastic.

[Anonymous]

I have the following books stacked on my bedside table:

The Bookclub for Troublesome Women (for bookclub)
Stone Yard Devotional
Fourth Wing
The Dutch House
The Bee Sting
The Luminaries
Martyr!

and yet I am reading fanfic instead. :-/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I read The Correspondent and Heart the Lover over Thanksgiving week... both amazing but quite the emotional doozy. I had a hard time picking next book but...

The Instrumentalist- about an orphan in Venice in the 1600s who is a musical prodigy. So far ok.

Also have Playworld and hoping to read Hamnet before seeing the movie.

Heart the Lover was quite good. Very emotional and left me thinking too much about the past.

[Anonymous]

Heartwood by Amity Gaige A thriller told from 3 different POV’s. It was very easy to transition between the different chapters.The MC is a nurse who decided to hike the AT after being a hospital nurse during COVID. I wish her character had been fleshed out more!

Leaves of Grass audio by Walt Whitman. 18 hours long and listened in the evenings. Very glad to have listened. He loves his country and I didn’t realize he had served as essentially a male nurse during the Civil War. Powerful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The Book of Goose by Yiyun Yi

I'm about halfway through . . . enjoying it, although it's a bit slow. Her prose is beautiful.

Now finished and can recommend . . . it's a really lovely and existential testament to the dynamics of childhood friendship and how fiction is not quarantined from reality.

Moving on to "The Correspondent," which already has me charmed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:“A Marriage at Sea.” So far, I think the couple is nuts and the incident completely foreseeable. But it’s an interesting story.

Thanks for this feedback— it’s on my to be read list as I tend to love ocean adventures and voyages.

I think you’ll like it. It’s a fairly quick, easy read— I’m almost finished. The subject matter is obviously not easy, but the author uses clear, unfussy prose that flows well and makes you want to keep reading.

[Anonymous]

Finished Red Queen, by Juan Gomez Jurado. Really enjoyed it… it’s like a Spanish version of the Girl With the Dragon Tattoo: a gritty crime thriller set in Spain, with a complicated heroine and a detective from Bilbao a checkered past working together to solve a series of kidnappings. Waiting for the second book in the trilogy to arrive at the library for pickup.

Also finished Now is Not the Time to Panic, by Kevin Wilson. Didn’t really care for this one. It was a quick read, but I found the whole story to be pretty unrealistic and the main character didn’t show any growth at the end, as an adult; it’s like an extreme case of arrested development and she’s stuck obsessing about her adolescence. I might check out other books by this author, but this one didn’t do it for me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm trying to read Hamnet but not getting into it (only 20 pages in). Was supposed to be read for my book club this week and we'd go see the movie, but I can't make the movie night, so not as inspired.

I have the Everlasting by Alix Harrow and am excited to get into it.

The Correspondent unexpectedly arrived at the library from my holds.

Jan Karon has a new Mitford book out for Christmas and that also came in from holds.

I loved Hamnet. So fantastic.

I thought Hamnet was spectacular. That said, if I recall correctly, the very beginning (e.g. first 30-40 pages) were a bit confusing and less "readable" than the rest of the book. So it may be worth just digging in for bit more!

[Anonymous]

Another Hamnet reader, and fully agree—stick with it to p. 50ish and then decide.