Everything I read in December. (Plus, life updates & a question for you!)
Anyone else really SLOW ROLLING 2025 so far?
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Howdy! Anyone else really SLOW ROLLING 2025 so far? Resolutions aren’t done, house isn’t clean, fitness goals remain unestablished, and I am not rising naturally with the sun each day. I’m considering Monday the true “start” to it all. If you had work this week… I feel for you, brother.
December was a boon reading month, mostly because I wanted to smash my Goodreads goal of 100 books for 2024. By the skin of my teeth, I hit 103! Woo! And thank god for novellas.
Frostbite: How Refrigeration Changed Our Food, Our Planet, and Ourselves by Nicola Twilley // This is a history of refrigeration— but it’s also just about the cold chain and how we make our food “last.” If you care about sustainability, food, or are even just a little bit anal about supply chain/food systems and what goes in your body… you should read this! I listened to this as an audiobook and once I got past the author’s accent (which at first just confused me but I now understand is a hybrid British-American accent and I feel bad for being annoyed by it in the first place) I got pretty sucked in. This is definitely a dense read/listen, but I was pretty captivated by what I learned and it’s changed my perception of grocery stores and packaging forever. (Not for the better, uh oh.) Read this so we can yap about it together, please!
Throne of Glass and Crown of Midnight by Sarah J Maas // This was the month I got sucked into Sarah J Maas’s TOG series. SEND HELP. I’m not ok. I finished Book 3 on New Year’s Day and I’m fighting with every bone in my body to delay so I don’t gobble up the whole series before the second week of January. This is undeniably her best work. I’m so deep in the hole right now. I’m thinking about having a blonde child and naming her Celaena Sardothien. I won’t be happy until my boyfriend reads this series so I can live with someone I can talk about it with (my two best friends also being down bad is not enough).
Winter Street, Winter Stroll, Winter Storms and Winter Solstice by Elin Hilderbrand // Oh boy! These were wacky. I did not expect Elin to have so many bad things happen to her characters around the holidays, it felt uncharacteristic of her style of writing. Unfortunately, I became extremely invested in understanding the characters’ fates and relationship statuses, so I had to read all the books. I think this means I’ve now read all but 2 Elin Hilderbrand books. FYI, if you’re curious about these books, they take place year around, so not necessarily “Christmas only” reads.
The Cinnamon Bun Book Store and The Christmas Tree Farm by Laurie Gilmore // Listen… I had a reading goal to hit. And I really wanted to know what life would be like on a Christmas Tree Farm.
Cruel Winter with You by Ali Hazelwood // A quick little novella! I am not a fan of novellas generally, but this Christmas one was very cute. Also my first Ali Hazelwood book. Read this if you had a crush on your friend’s little brother at any point (this has never happened to me but I’m sure it’s a common kink).
The Most Wonderful Crime of the Year by Ally Carter // This cozy mystery was very Knives Out/Glass Onion/Clue coded. I don’t think it needs to be Christmas for this book to be enjoyable, it just happens to take place at a holiday party, so if cozy mystery romance sounds up your alley, this is not at all past it’s “best by” date!
What did you read/love in December? Any of these favorites of yours too?
Speaking of reading in December, here are the First Rodeo letters you loved and read the most last month. I want to do a better job of sharing this month to month!
And of course, my all-time most read, which still seemed to be in heavy rotation for new readers last month:
If you’re new here and you haven’t perused the archive or read the above, now’s as good a moment as any! :)
Candidly, I had a bit of a wobbly December, despite heading into the month strong. Yes, it went by in the blink of an eye— but the jam packed nature of the month didn’t leave me with much time to actually keep locked in on my goals or intentions for this chapter of my life. Original story! Just kidding. I’m sure like me, you also found yourself eating more sugar than you’d have liked and at times wishing for the dull respite of January, when you can reliably have no plans on a weekend and consume salads with great ease.
I had told myself I’d only begin seriously considering job options come January— but a shiny distraction caught my eye and I spent a lot of time in December wringing my hands over whether or not this was the right opportunity for me.