Reading Wrap Up & December Highlights
December was a bit of a challenging month for me. The month started off with work being super busy, then we caught Covid a couple of weeks in. This meant I wasn’t able to do any of the Christmas celebrations and meet-ups that I had planned, which really sucked. I’ve decided that next year I’ll isolate myself before Christmas so I can at least see my closest friends, and I don’t have to worry about the possibility of missing out on Christmas with family.
I did get some good news at work though – two pay rises! Not too shabby at all. If you’ve seen my 2023 goals video on my Booktube channel then you’ll know that I’m trying to save a lot this year as well as continue to make overpayments on the mortgage, so the pay bumps are very welcome.
As for 2022 overall, I would say I had a pretty fantastic year. I got the promotion that I’ve been aiming towards for a while, I dealt with some very difficult challenges in my job, we were able to travel a little, we had a porch built on our house, and we got engaged in Iceland! I’m really happy with how 2022 went and I hope 2023 will be just as good, if not better.
How was your December?
Reading Highlights
Notes on an Execution ★★★★★
This was without a doubt my favourite read of the month. Notes on an Execution follows the women who were affected by a serial killer in various ways, while the serial killer is on death row and counting down to his death. It was a very compelling story and it’s one I would like to reread in the not too distant future.
Five Survive ★★★★
I got my hands on the new Holly Jackson book! While I struggled to get into this one because of the different vibe, I still found it very thrilling and exciting. I can see why Holly Jackson changed the setting, but I still hope she writes another book set in Buckinghamshire in the future!
Tokyo Ever After ★★★★
This was super cute and everything I needed. It’s basically Princess Diaries set in Japan (and a lot more modern), and I flew through it. I also picked up the sequel right away because it was such a fun and light read.
Breathless ★★★★
I love survival stories, and Breathless was a mix of that plus a serial killer! The main character in this one is climbing a mountain in the Himalayas, and you could tell that the author put a lot of thought into this journey. She has actually done the same journey herself!
God: An Anatomy ★★★★
This isn’t one of my usual reads, but I’m actually really interested in reading about the genealogy and history of the western (and Jewish) god and how it went from being part of a pantheon of gods to a solo act. It’s really interesting!
Other Highlights
In December I finally got to watch Glass Onion and I loved it! It does have a very different vibe to the first film, but I wanted something different to be honest. If Rian Johnson is going to do multiple films featuring Benoit Blanc then they’re going to need something to differentiate them. We went to see Avatar: The Way of Water in the cinema using our Odeon cards. I probably wouldn’t have wanted to pay to see it, especially as the publicity tour for this film included a dolphin show, which was particularly shocking because James Cameron has been talking about conservation and environmentalism up until now. It was a good film. A little long, and entirely predictable (it was basically the same film as the first but set on the beach), but visually beautiful.
We also finally finished season five of The Crown. It wasn’t as good as previous seasons and I felt the switch up was a little jarring. I’m still looking forward to season six though. And we finished off 1899 a couple of days before Netflix cancelled it, so I’m really happy I spent my time doing that.
Also! I hit 500 recaps on Recaptains in 2022! This happened either at the end of November or early on in December (I haven’t really counted) and I am so pleased. Recaptains is a project that I started with three friends back in 2013. We realised we couldn’t keep up with the amount of sequels that were coming out and we didn’t have time to reread the previous books. And so, Recaptains was born! Over the years, various people have helped me out with the site and we’ve had people send in contributions. I’m so, so grateful for everyone who has helped, and I’m sure our readers are too!
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