8 reads & 3 recs from last month!
All the (non-holiday!) goodness December had to offer.
December was a roller coaster ride I’ve not yet recovered from. And you?
I made the most I could of the festive season, felt quite booked and busy, minded a flu patient, celebrated his birthday and my own, and have spent most of the days since then traveling through the UK, packing up and moving every 3 nights or so.
If I were honest, my favorite month of the year felt pretty touch and go this year. I know I am not old in the general sense, but if I were to think of things as they were in medieval times (as increasingly I find myself doing), I could officially be someone’s grandmother, were the year 1326 and not 2026.
I suddenly feel horrifically grown up, and not in the fun way. More of in a “Fun time is over!! Why aren’t you rich yet??? Why don’t you have 3 children?? Why are you still eating sticky toffee pudding alone in your Christmas pajamas and re-watching Harry Potter by yourself?? Where is the manuscript for your successful debut novel??” way. To be clear, no one is saying these things out loud to me. It’s just a feeling, very suddenly onset by my recent early-thirties-birthday, which I misjudged beforehand as a seemingly benign birthday to have without any real consequences or shift to myself besides growing ever so slightly older. Wrong!
If you’ve experienced this around my age and it goes away soon, please, dear god, tell me so.
In the meantime, to be positive, I am writing you from my favorite corner of this Earth, Scotland. I am sort of becoming more and more unhinged and desperate the closer it comes time for me to have to leave. Only whiskey will help me bury this desperation! Have been googling things like “Highlands Bachelorette party??” every day.
All my non-holiday December recommendations below! I love the festive season but very much looking forward to a calmer calendar and regular routine… anyone else?
There is no contest. The utter hero of my December was this coat purchase I made from Banana Republic, of all places. It’s a long grey cocoon that has served me perfectly and loyally, whether as a blanket to bundle up under during my red-eye to London, to fancy dinners and walkabouts, or as a cozy robe-like outer layer to put atop my Christmas PJs on a quiet walk. I got it during Black Friday for what I felt was a very good price for its quality, and I suspect the January sales will offer as good a price reduction too. (If you go for this, size down— I like a Medium usually and the Small is still very oversized in this coat.)
I screamed from the rooftop about Uniqlo Heattech all November and December, so it won’t surprise you when I say that the only way I made it through as much outdoor time as I did this last month is because of the Heattech scrunch socks and the touchscreen-compatible Heattech gloves. Both affordable MVPs.
Speaking of warmth, this Barbour sherpa liner vest has made an excellent layer under a barn jacket or a lighter coat, or on really frigid days, my long coat!
There was lots of great December (non-book!) reading, but I would be remiss not to mention Olivia Muenter’s “If the world is beautiful, then so am I.” and Tell the Bees’s “2025: The Year Everything Broke.”
Full book reviews below for paid subscribers, here’s a taste of what was most noteworthy. Coincidentally, highlighting 3 recent releases that have gotten a lot of buzz, and not all positive!:
Notes on Being a Man by Scott Galloway is easily the most controversial release of the year (maybe?). I have strong opinions— I’m curious if they are what you think they’ll be?— and am standing ten toes down behind them…
Workhorse by Caroline Palmer was everywhere this month. It dotted my Goodreads feed over and over every day, and I was expecting kind of a Devil Wears Prada bit, maybe a bit more literary. Sure, it had that essence, but it also had a lot of other stuff going on… another very strong opinion from me on this beloved/very popular recent release!
Conform by Ariel Sullivan was the first release from Jenna Bush Hager’s new imprint and the 9 book deal the debut author signed lead to some dropped jaws. I read it purely because I promised a friend with a long TBR that I’d suss it out for her— whoa! Wasn’t expecting to feel the way I did…
Lastly, the one title that I loved the most this month— it’s gotten no buzz, relatively speaking, and it’s come out of nowhere. The cover doesn’t do it any justice. But damn, if that wasn’t an incredibly well-crafted literary mystery…
There’s your taste of what’s to come! Now let’s dive in…
