My November & December in reading

My reading ran the genre gamut in the final months of 2021. Get ready for no underlying theme whatsoever.

Every once in a while I read a book in French to practice the language, and this massive novel took up most of my November. It’s basically Stephen King fan fiction. Nearly every Stephen King trope is in there—small town New England, young family with writer father, dangerous bully, supernatural forces, Indian burial grounds, etc. (This book was published in 2018—don’t you think we could skip the racist Indian burial ground trope at this point?) I’m sure you can guess the basic plot structure. It was definitely entertaining—and as for the French, I found it fairly easy to read. It only took forever because it was so long.

The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne

I hadn’t read The Scarlet Letter since high school, but when it came up on the Phoebe Reads a Mystery podcast, I decided to give it another try. You know the story. Hester Prynne has a baby out of wedlock, and her Puritan town forces her to walk around with the red letter A on her chest, for adultery. But who could the father be?!?! Here’s the thing about The Scarlet Letter: everybody sucks except Hester and little Pearl. Arthur Dimmesdale sucks. Roger Chillingworth sucks. If you want to read a book where you feel terrible for the protagonist the whole time, this is the book for you.

The Dead Queens Club by Hannah Capin

The Dead Queens Club is a YA retelling of the wives of Henry VIII, but in a modern high school, narrated by the Anne of Cleves character. When my friend Gena loaned it to me, I was skeptical—but it works way better than I expected! The language is punchy, the “wives” (those left living, anyway) become girl detectives. Who doesn’t love girl detectives? And Henry the Homecoming King is really likeable—until he isn’t. If you’re familiar with Tudor history, it’s really fun to make all the connections. I devoured this book.

The Short Story Advent Calendar, edited by Alberto Manguel

For years I’ve been meaning to order Hingston & Olsen’s Short Story Advent Calendar, and for years I’ve forgotten by the time Advent rolls around. But not this year! The concept is exactly what you think it is: one short story per day from December 1-25. This year’s theme was a trip around the globe, so every story was by an author from a different country. And I have to admit: I was disappointed. It may have been a rights/money issue, but so many of the stories were very old, and/or by authors everyone will have already read. Which doesn’t mean they’re bad—I like a Ray Bradbury or Muriel Spark story as much as the next reader. But this could have been a great opportunity to showcase emerging writers from these countries, to introduce us to new talents. I was especially upset that for Greece, they excerpted The Odyssey. A) It’s a poem. B) You’re telling me you couldn’t find any Greek short story writers? C) I hate The Odyssey, but that’s a me thing. I’m not sure I’ll order again next year.

You Had Me at Hola by Alexis Daria

I really wanted to like this romance novel about soap opera star Jasmine Lin Rodriguez and telanovela megababe Ashton Suárez working together on an all-Latinx show for a streaming service. It was fine. The sex scenes were hot. But for some reason I wasn’t feeling a lot of tension between the sex scenes. It’s not that I lost interest—it’s almost like it was a different type of book in between the sex scenes, so the sex felt abrupt. Lots of cozy family moments and then it’s like, oh yeah, we have to bang in the hotel room. If you’re into romance novels, give it a try! It just wasn’t for me.

Night Sky with Exit Wounds by Ocean Vuong

I realize I’m several years late to the party on this one, but HOLY COW this poetry collection is incredible. I won’t do it justice trying to describe it. The imagery is really simple and yet somehow harrowing. Like you’re reading the poems while standing on the edge of a cliff. Definitely grab a copy of this one if you haven’t yet.

Turmeric & Sugar: Stories by Anna Vangala Jones

I had a lot of PTO saved up by the end of the year, so I took almost two weeks off. And one of those days I spent on the couch, reading this short story collection in a single sitting. These stories are tender, but that doesn’t mean they’re overly-sentimental. They tell of estranged families, elderly neighbors, reincarnated elephants. I think my favorite might have been “Tape and Glue,” where a surly teenage girl visits her father and has an unexpected confrontation with his new girlfriend. Full disclosure: I know Anna, so I may be biased. But I genuinely think these stories are well worth reading!

The Intuitionist by Colson Whitehead

This is the first Colson Whitehead book I’ve ever read—and now I want to read everything he’s ever written. I bought it ages ago at Bookbug in Kalamazoo, and it’s been sitting on my shelf ever since, waiting for the right time. The novel tells the story of Lila Mae Watson, the big city’s first Black female elevator inspector. She’s a member of the Intuitionist school of elevator inspectors, who believe they can focus and sense what’s wrong with an elevator, as opposed to the Empiricists, who believe each component of an elevator must be physically inspected. When an elevator that she recently inspected crashes, Lila Mae is drawn into a conspiracy involving the upcoming Elevator Guild election and the lost work of Intuitionism’s founder, James Fulton. Surreal noir vibes, and a racial allegory to boot. I loved it.