What are we reading in December?

Happy December, everyone! What are you reading in this final month of 2018? I'm starting with a festive mystery novel, Murder for Christmas by Francis Duncan.

I've finished The Chrysalids and am currently reading Iron House and listening to The Second Ship.

I'm reading a pulpy 1950s private eye mystery set in Montréal: Murder Over Dorval, by David Montrose.

I just finished The Black Angel by Cornell Woolrich. The plot is highly unlikely but you can just tag along for some good suspense reading. It can be summed up with "what not to do if you suspect your husband is having an affair".

I am currently reading Written on the Stars by Aisha Saeed, this book will complete my 2018 Category Challenge and I am also completing my 2018 PopSugar Challenge with The Silkworm by Robert Galbraith.

Now planning to start Black Money, by Ross Macdonald.

I'm also getting my aviation nerd on and reading The Soaring Pilot's Manual, by Ken Stewart. I don't intend to become a soaring pilot; one of my friends flies a glider, so I want to understand what the heck he's talking about :p

I'm currently reading The Spy Who Came In From the Cold by John Le Carre. And then I'm going to try and finish two books I started earlier this year - The Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown and The Danish Girl by Daniel Ebershoff -before the year is over.

I am just starting Lime Street Blues by Maureen Lee, a book about Liverpool in the swingin' 60's, and A Dog's Way Home by Bruce W. Cameron for the AlphaKit.

ETA: I decided to save A Dog's Way Home for when I need a sentimental story and I have picked up Going Home, a rather generic apocalyptic story which will also fit the SFFFKit theme.

I'm almost finished The Boy Who Could See Demons by Carolyn Jess-Cooke. Not sure if I like it or not.

>9 VivienneR: I finished The Boy Who Could See Demons. It was OK, but there was something I didn't like and I just couldn't put my finger on it.

I enjoyed The Vendetta Defence by Lisa Scottoline. This was my first Scottoline and it was entertaining. A good courtroom drama set in a south Philly Italian neighbourhood featuring a decades-old crime and repercussions. I'll look out for more Scottoline.

Today I put a fair dent in 1921, by Morgan Llywelyn. It's the sequel to 1916 and will cover the events leading up to the creation of the Irish Free State. I'm definitely picturing Eamon de Valera as Alan Rickman and Michael Collins as Liam Neeson :D

I recently finished Wired Love: A Romance of Dots and Dashes by Ella Cheever Thayer, and I'm currently almost done with A Duke in Shining Armor by Loretta Chase.

I've been abandoning books willy-nilly, but I've been sticking with Doctor Who books. Yesterday I finished Doctor Who: The Vault, by Marcus Hearn; and today I started and finished Doctor Who and the Image of the Fendahl.

Next up in bus reading will be The King's Agent, by J. Kent Clark, which I pulled out back in October because of the RandomCAT. It wasn't my official selection, but I'll take any cue to put a book on the on-deck pile :)

I've read Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency and A Room With a View and I'm trying to see if I can finish The Fires of Heaven before I go on vacation on Thursday so I won't have to take any REALLY big books with me...

I'm wrapping up a series reread with Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

I am just finishing up Murder For Christmas by Francis Duncan and have picked up The Master of Ballantrae by Robert Louis Stevenson.

Finished Moon over Soho that I enjoyed except for the sex scenes that seemed too explicit and out of context with the story. That filled my MysteryCAT for December.

I've also been having a clean up of books I'm not sure about. No use taking up shelf space so I had a quick look (or listen) and out they went. That'll leave room for shiny new ones in 2019.

I was on the train this afternoon and listened to the first of two audio-exclusive Doctor Who adventures I have on my virtual shelves: Blackout & The Art of Death. The narrator could not do multiple voices well (and Amy was totally beyond him), so I ended up just having it on in the background while I surfed the internet. Not terribly memorable.

And now that I'm home, I'm raiding my parents' bookshelves. The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding and Other Stories looks like a seasonally appropriate thing to read!

There There – Tommy Orange
Audiobook performed by Darrell Dennis, Shawn Taylor-Corbett, Alma Cuervo and Kyla Garcia.
4****

In his debut novel, Orange explores the world of today’s Urban Indian; people who may be registered with a tribe in Oklahoma or New Mexico, while living in Oakland California. These are people who struggle with the issues of the urban poor, while also trying to work against stereotype, and still connect with and celebrate their native culture.

Orange tells the story through the lives of a dozen different characters, all of whom are going to attend the Big Oakland Powwow. Some struggle with substance abuse and/or alcoholism. Others have issues of abandonment. Some have embraced their heritage despite little or no support from family. Others have turned from a culture they feel has failed them. Their lives are interwoven by coincidence, thin threads of DNA, circumstance, proximity and/or their shared desire to attend the powwow. They are in turn angry, desolate, hopeful, joyous, loving, confused, determined, generous or mean.

I did feel somewhat confused by the work, mostly due to the many characters and the constantly shifting point of view. Still, Orange’s voice is unique and powerful. And I look forward to reading more from him in the future.

The audiobook is performed by four talented voice artists: Darrell Dennis, Shawn Taylor-Corbett, Alma Cuervo, and Kayla Garcia. I don’t really know which performer handled which chapters, other than matching the narrator’s gender to the character’s voice. Despite the stellar job done by all of them, I think I may have enjoyed this more had I read the text rather than listened to the audio.

Finished The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding and am now continuing the murder theme with The Massey Murder, by Charlotte Gray.

I'm hoping to finish Phantom some time today, then I will pick my first read for the new year. I have to get my act together and act like I am going back to work on Wednesday and also tidying up a bit.

I finished out the year with A Lot Like Christmas by Connie Willis (perfect seasonal reading!), A Countess below Stairs by Eva Ibbotson (a treasured comfort read), and The Memorial Hall Murder by Jane Langton (in which Handel's Messiah is featured prominently). I doubt I'll be finishing any more books this year, so time to think about my first 2019 read!

I'll be carrying over a couple of books into the new year, namely The Wars of the Roses, by Dan Jones, and The King's Agent, by J. Kent Clark.