Let’s Rewind: December 2019

It’s a few days before the end of December and although I hate to hurry the end of the year, I thought I’d go ahead and post my wrap up now since I doubt I’ll start and complete another book before the end of the year. Plus, I have loads of other things to post, like my favorite books of 2019 and my reading stats! 🙂

Let’s Rewind is my version of a monthly wrap up but instead of talking about only books, I include all types of other stuff, like articles… bookish news… commercials… random-ass links… movies… art… podcasts… cartoons… and whatever else happened to me in the month. You know, the usual stuff that people talk about in monthly wrap ups. So read on to see what I did and read this month. You might stumble upon something that interests you.

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I didn’t blog much in December. The month began in a rush. The busyness of November spilled over into December. I was doing so much that I barely had time for myself. Things began to slow down the week before Christmas and although I made goals to publish posts on here, I didn’t get around to them. Christmas came along and family was in town and I just didn’t feel like doing anything except read, sleep, and recuperate my strength.

So I took an impromptu break from blogging and simply partook of my interests whenever I felt like doing so. I FINALLY made it to the movies, I FINALLY watched a show that isn’t Supernatural on Netflix, and I FINALLY spent some calm moments reading. My family didn’t do a big Christmas celebration this year, so there were no tree and decorations, but some of us exchanged gifts and we had dinner. It was low-key but fun.

But now I’m turning back to blogging: publishing posts and catching up on reading what everyone posted while I was on blogging vacation. My hope is that January will not be as busy as the past three months and I will be able to get back to blogging on a frequent, slightly predictable schedule and celebrate gaining OVER 3,000 FOLLOWERS on here. 😀

We’ll see what happens.

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I surprised myself and completed 6 books this month. Because it was so busy at the beginning of December, I started the month with shorter reads.

A coworker loaned me her copy of The Deep by Rivers Solomon, a fantasy novella inspired by a song produced by the rap group Clipping. The story is about what happens to pregnant African slave women when they are thrown overboard. The story wasn’t what I expected. I liked the concept and the mythology that it presents, but I didn’t love the story as much as everyone else did. It was an okay read.

I then read Barnes & Noble’s book of the year — The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse by Charlie Mackesy (illus.). It’s a beautifully illustrated children’s book that will appeal to any age, but I didn’t like it. It attempts to be charming with its little nuggets of wisdom, but they are so commonplace that they came across as trite. The only things I liked about it are the illustrations.

I also listened to the audio book of Robin McKinley’s Spindle’s End, which was narrated by Justine Eyre. This was a reread that I’d been looking forward to for some time now but unfortunately, it didn’t go as I expected. I thought I would love it as I did the first two times I read the book, but I wasn’t as patient with the story this time and small things annoyed me. I blame it on how busy, tired, and stressed I felt at the time that I listened to it. It’s still a good story.

I’ve been curious about this book for some time now, so when I bought it as a Christmas present for a family member, I jumped at the chance to read it. My Sister, the Serial Killer was a compelling read. Written by Oyinkan Braithwaite, it’s a mystery about young woman who cleans up her sister’s messes, such as when she kills her new beau. It’s a good read but a frustrating one as well. The end was not what I expected.

I’m happy to have read this book because I thought I would end the year without cracking it open. Because of a buddy-read held on Instagram, I completed Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon James. This was the most unexpected read of the month and possibly the year. I didn’t expect that I’d complete it or get hooked on the story (it’s so hard to get into) and I certainly didn’t expect to like it. It’s the first novel in a fantasy series inspired by African folklore and myths. In this book, a man called Tracker joins a band of mercenaries to find a boy who is probably dead.

I’m still working on this one but will complete it tomorrow. I’ve been slowly working my way through Tamora Pierce’s Tortall books and The Realms of the Gods is my latest one. It’s the last book in the Immortals quartet, a YA fantasy series about a girl who can speak to animals. In this novel, Daine and Numair visit the Divine Realms and have more fantastic adventures. Unfortunately, and surprisingly, I’m having a hard time completing this book. I’m a little bored by it and don’t find Daine’s character as appealing as before, which is weird because I really liked this book way back when.

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😦 No articles read.

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Around the blog-o-verse

Notable Book Covers of 2019 (casualoptimist.com)

— A post all about the great cover designs of 2019. Bangkok Wakes to Rain, designed by Grace Han, is probably my absolute favorite cover design of the year. Every time I see it, I’m tempted to buy it just to feature it on my bookshelf.

30 Delicious Book Covers of 2019 (thebooksatchel.com)

— Resh Susan compiled a list of beautifully designed book covers published in 2019. The Vintage Japanese series, designed by Yoko Shimizu, and Bombay Balchão, designed by Mohit Suneja, are among my favorites.

Author Interview: Rachel Atwood (mylifemybooksmyescape.wordpress.com)

— DJ interviews Rachel Atwood, author of the fantasy novel Walk the Wild With Me, which I recently borrowed from the library 🙂

10th Annual End of Year Survey – 2019 Edition (perpetualpageturner.com)

— I enjoy doing this survey as one of the many wrap-ups I do to end my reading and blogging year.

Stuff I pubbed

BBC #6: Book Spines

— BBC is a book-blogging meme I started that’s all about book covers with great designs. In this post, I focus on eye-catching book spines. Often, it’s the spine we see first when browsing the shelves.

10 Year Challenge Book Tag

— A book tag created by Rincey at Rincey Reads that looks at how one’s reading has changed over a number of years.

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Supernatural. I’m not even going to include a picture for it. I’ve just been constantly watching it since fall rolled around.

Knives Out

It’s as funny and enjoyable as I thought it would be. I’d been looking forward to this movie since seeing the previews, and I’m glad it held up to my expectations and more. I loved the acting, although I didn’t like Daniel Craig’s accent much, and the story was great too. I wouldn’t mind seeing it again.

The Witcher

Y’all! I’m so hooked! I loved the show although I didn’t understand what the hell was going on for much of it. But Henry Cavill’s sexy ass kept me watching and also the great fight scenes and the bard. I like the bard. He’s funny. And Yennifer because I didn’t know if she was good or evil, and Ciri because I don’t know what’s going to become of her, and all the monsters. But mostly it’s Cavill that kept me watching because….

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That’s it for my December.

Happy Holidays to you all!!

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