Wrap-Up: December 2019

December Snapshots

1. Welp, I need a do-over. So, 2019 was not a great reading year for me. Usually I read around 100 books in a year. Last year, I only read 77, and 7 of them were picture books that I read to the baby. I think some of you book bloggers have superpowers. How do you have full-time jobs, babies, blogs, and read 100+ books? After a day of work and baby, I read about 4 pages and then fall asleep.

A graphic representation of my disappointment.

2. Okay, this probably didn’t help with my reading. Who watched His Dark Materials? I loved it, people! The season finale was epic. I want the next season right now, please. I also watched most of Downton Abbey in December. I liked that show, too, even though the angst was over-the-top at times. Everybody has SO MANY PROBLEMS! Also, I laughed at how a character died every time the writers wrote themselves into a corner and couldn’t get out of it. Everybody has SO MANY PROBLEMS, and they’re all solved with DEATH!

3. I gave you things! In December, I gave away a Book Depository shopping spree. The giveaway winner was Angela @ Musings Of A Literary Wanderer. A few people asked to see the winner’s shopping list, so these are the books that Angela chose:

Meet Me In Monaco by Hazel Gaynor

The Duke And I by Julia Quinn

The Giver of Stars by Jojo Moyes

Letters from an Astrophysicist by Neil Degrasse Tyson

Scythe by Neal Shusterman

A Column of Fire by Ken Follett

Bellewether by Susanna Kearsley

Regretting You by Colleen Hoover

4. Christmas house, O Christmas house, how high is your electric bill? Some of the people in my neighborhood have a lot of Christmas spirit. A LOT. Check out the monstrosities I saw while walking the dog in December.

A flock of festive florescent wiener dogs?

You got a fence? You got a billboard.

I don't . . . I'm not even sure what's happening here. There was a speaker somewhere in this festiveness that was playing Christian church music.

Wayward Googlers

Here are a few amusing Google searches that led people to Read All The Things! last month. I’m sorry to the unfortunate souls who ended up here instead of finding what they were Googling for.

“amazon?” I wish. I’d be so rich if this was Amazon.
 
“Are scythe immortal.” Yes. Everybody in that world is immortal until a scythe murders them. That’s pretty much the whole premise of the series.
 
“After jeffrey ate the pizza.” I assume you’re asking about Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli? If you’re not, then your problems are probably too big for Google. After Jeffrey ate the pizza in Maniac Magee, he learned that he’s allergic to pizza. It sucks to be Jeffrey.

Books I Read

I finished 13 books in December, but don’t be too impressed. Seven of them are picture books that the baby got for Christmas. I gave up on one book because it’s too bleak for me right now.

Boy Erased: A Memoir of Identity, Faith, and Family by Garrard Conley

Eliza and Her Monsters by Francesca Zappia

Apt Pupil by Stephen King (Reread)

Sheep in a Jeep by Nancy E. Shaw & Margot Apple

I Want My Hat Back by Jon Klassen (Reread)

A Book of Sleep by Il Sung Na

All The World by Liz Garton Scanlon & Marla Frazee

Hello, Bugs! by Smriti Prasadam-Halls

First 100 Words by Roger Priddy

Italian Shoes by Henning Mankell

Where’s Spot? by Eric Hill

Caddie Woodlawn by Carol Ryrie Brink

Blindness by José Saramago (DNF)

Almost Midnight by Rainbow Rowell

Best Books Of December

I discovered that I don’t know how to compare a baby book to a not-baby book, so I made separate “best” lists for each of them.

1. Apt Pupil by Stephen King (Reread)

2. Eliza and Her Monsters by Francesca Zappia

3. Almost Midnight by Rainbow Rowell

1. I Want My Hat Back by Jon Klassen (Reread)

2. All The World by Liz Garton Scanlon & Marla Frazee

3. Sheep in a Jeep by Nancy E. Shaw & Margot Apple

Most-Viewed December Posts

1. Top Ten Tuesday: Favorite Holiday Things

2. Top Ten Tuesday: What I’m (Hopefully) Reading This Winter

3. Top Ten Tuesday: Winter Book Recommendations

All The Things!

Number of unread books on my TBR shelf = 54 books.

I’m currently reading = Best-Loved Folktales of the World by Joanna Cole.

What did you do in December?