Hello Loves!
Here we are, with my last reading wrap-up for 2023.
I am lowkey soooo proud I managed to talk about all the books I read this year.
I won't lie, I did slip up with doing individual reviews this year. this is something I want to actively fix in 2024. But I kept up with my wrap-ups and this makes me soooo happy.
So let's talk about my December Books.
Well, I read 14 books.
I spent most of December focussed on doing Blogmas and Vlogmas (over on my IG) and reading did slow down quite a bit. Something I saw coming and I don't mind that reading took a bit of a backstage.
I read some good books and ended my yearly reading on Christmas Day.
It was a slow and sweet reading month.
Let's jump in.
BOOKS OF DECEMBER 2023:
1. The Greatest Goan Stories Ever Told, Edited by Manohar Shetty: I decided to spend my December in Goa, like so many people do, only I did it through my books. I read these 27 stories set in Goa and about Goans. Some written in English and others translated from Konkani and Portuguese. I really like the wide representation and scope and scale of these stories. If you are heading to Goa at some point, this might be the perfect companion and the perfect thing to dip in and out during your holiday.
3.5/5
2. Valimiki's Women- Five Tales from the Ramayana by Anand Neelakantan: Read this via Kindle Unlimited and really enjoyed these stories about the women in Ramayana, the women often in the sidelines and ones we see in only one particular way. I enjoy my epic and mythology retellings. If done well, they always make for good reads. I especially like the retelling of Manthara's story. To see this oft ridiculed and hated woman as something more...it humanises her and gives us a reason for her scheming and plotting. It also really makes you wonder why do much of the weight of the evil plot was placed on her shoulders? She was a mere maid? A trusted nanny, but still a member of the staff? I also loved the stories on Shanta and Kaikeyi.
I like books that make me stop and thing and this one did just that.
4/5
3. The Last Courtesan by Manish Gaekwad: A memoir that I had my eye on for a while. The story of a mother, told by her son. A mother who was the last courtesan of Calcutta. A lifetime of hustle and survival and providing for family and raising a child and holding on to dignity. I really enjoy/appreciate reading about lives very different from my own and ones I have seen around me. This one did just that. I liked that it was told with clarity and sincerely and without cloying sentiments or dramatics. The mother is a person and not perfect but she (like most moms) did her very, very best.
3.5/5
4. I Named my Sister Silence by Manoj Rupda, trans. by Hansda Sowvendra Shekhar: This one was on the JCB Prize shortlist and I wanted to read it for a while. It's about an adivasi man, who is looking for his sister who has left their little village to join the naxals in the forest. It's a story about a changing world and justice and the unimaginable injustices and exploitation and cruelty that so many of us aren't even aware of.
Short, powerful, relevant and important.
3.5/5
5. The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams: Then I needed something happy and festive and finally read this children's classic that everyone loves, especially Chandler Bing. I think I first heard of this book on Friends. I made a mental note to read it way back then and finally got to it only now. Well, it's exactly what I hoped it would be. Sweet, wholesome and adorable.
4/5
6. Here Comes Santa Cat by Deborah Underwood, art by Claudia Rueda: Read a sweet little picture book about Christmas and a Santa Cat.
Sweet and joyful.
4/5
7. The Return by Rachel Harrison: I read Black Sheep by the author a few months ago and loved it and picked this one up and this was a fun read. Spooky, creepy and very astute. It's about a woman who returns home after being missing for two years and something about her is very, very off. It's a horror novel but it also talks so brilliantly about female friendships and the various shades of said close friendships.
I enjoyed it a lot.
4/5
8. Delicate Condition by Danielle Valentine: I randomly started watching the new season of American Horror Story after years of skipping it. Binged the five episodes that are out now and I like the show and I had this book on my Kindle (on which the show is based this season) and I had to pick it up.
It's about an actress who's trying to have a baby in the same year she's had some success in her career. It's about biological clocks and the pressure on women to procreate and..witches and covens.
Fun and different. I quite liked it.
3.5/5
9. The Secret of Elephants by Vasundra Tailor: Another Kindle Unlimited read and one that I breezed through and enjoyed immensely. It's about families and secrets and the lingering and long term effects of said secrets. Right up my alley. Set in present day, 1950s and 70s, it was engaging and moving and very enjoyable.
4/5
10. What's Neema Eating Today? by Bijal Vachharajani, art by Priya Kuriyan: Read some sweet kid lit and this was cute.
3/5
11. Sweet Sunday by Geetha Rao, art by Sanika Phawde: Warm and sweet.
4/5
Read the two books above on PBS Story Weaver.
12. 13 Times by Cheryl Rao: A collection of spooky short stories. I went into this thinking this was for adults but it's not. It's for kids. So the stories obviously were not hella scary. Mild and mellow for most part.
OK types.
3/5
13. Christmas Presents by Lisa Unger: A little novella about days leading up to Christmas and a cold case and a small-town. I liked it...a bit. But the culprit was super easy to guess. But the atmosphere was decent and there was also a love story thrown into the mix which was sweet. But I had higher hopes from this one.
3/5
14. How the Onion Got its Layers by Sudha Murty, art by Priyanka Pachpande: My last read of the year. I started the year with a Sudha Murty chapter book and I ended it with one. Thought it was oddly fitting. This was sweet and wonderful and absolutely beautiful.
5/5
💝💝💝💝💝
And we are done.
Reading for this month and this year.
Hope you had a lovely reading month too.
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