Oh man, I am behind on writing this. Turns out the end of the year flies by. Lots to do with the holidays and wrapping up work at the end of the year and just I can't believe it's already December and there's so much to do and so little time left. But we're more settled into our new place, even finishing unpacking recently so the place feels less temporary and the Christmas decorations are up and the stove even works again so all good things
But that's not what we're focusing on right now. Right now, let's talk about books, shall we?
Number of books read
6
The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
The Body: A Guide for Occupants by Bill Bryson
Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law by Mary Roach
Evil Eye by Madhuri Shekar
Caffeine: How Caffeine Created the Modern World by Michael Pollan
The Man Who Died Twice by Richard Osman
The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
I apparently read this book around this time every year which honestly, excellent choice by me. I love this book so much, I love it every time and the full cast audiobook is amazing. Lots of love and many tears at the end. It gets me every time.
Rating: 5 stars
The Body: A Guide for Occupants by Bill Bryson
Another re-read! November was the month for it. This was mostly because none of my library holds were available yet, nor was anything on my TBR so I was just scrolling through whatever I had on audiobook. Always a fan of Bryson stuff and his science and history.
Rating: 5 stars
Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law by Mary Roach
Another great choice. Mary Roach's stuff is very similar to Bryson's science books (he references her book Gulp in The Body) and this time she deals with the different ways people have dealt with nature. Or specifically the entities tasked with dealing with those times when the lives of people and wild animals intersect. Park services dealing with bears in Canada or a government body that handles elephants in India. Perhaps not my favorite Roach book but it has her enthusiasm and humor when dealing with some strange science
Rating: 4 stars
Evil Eye by Madhuri Shekar
This is really more a radio play. It's a little over an hour long and the story is told through a series of phone calls and voice mails between a mother in India and her daughter in the US. Usha is focused on finding her daughter Pallavi a husband. But when Pallavi finds the perfect guy, her mother feels something is off. It's a short story but manages to balance humor and suspense in a focused story.
Rating: 5 stars
Caffeine: How Caffeine Created the Modern World by Michael Pollan
Another short story (I was waiting for a library hold which told me would be available any day now) this time about the history and science of caffeine. Or really the history and science of coffee and to a lesser extent tea. To write this Pollan decided to give up caffeine so he talks about his own relationship with the world's most popular drug, what being off of caffeine was like, how caffeinated drinks became so prevalent across the world (though the focus is largely the western world).
Rating: 4 stars
The Man Who Died Twice by Richard Osman
This book is the reason I was listening to some shorter books. I had been waiting for months for the second Thursday Murder Club book to become available from the library (at this point, I should just buy them) because i loved the first book so much. This second installment has the same humor and the same dynamic between the TMC members that I loved so much the first time around. And of course there's the mystery which kept me guessing. I've already put the third book on hold (a several month wait so we'll see if I end up just buying it).
Rating: 4.5 stars
Total pages read
1,629
Fiction
50%
Female authors
33%
BIPOC authors
17%
US authors
67%
Book format
audiobook: 100%
Where'd I get the book
Kindle/Audible: 83%
Library: 17%
Rereads
33%
Readalong/Book club
17%
Decade published
2000s: 17%
2010s: 33%
2020s: 50%
Resolution books
33%
The Graveyard Book is written by UK author Gaiman
Evil Eye is written by Indian-American author Shekar
