five things Friday: December TBR edition

Already to the last month of the year, and time to pick out what final books I want to fit into 2021! Also to start thinking about those best-of-the-year lists... decisions, decisions. At least for December, here's what's potentially on the agenda:

First up, want to pick up Harlem Shuffle to finish off my 12 BOTM books for the year, and am looking forward to finishing off my final RAD Reading Challenge category by picking up Kate Baer's new collection, I Hope This Finds You Well. Definitely sounds like it will be as great as What Kind of Woman. And I've been wanting to preview a few middle-grade books for Hendrik so that he can have some good selections to keep him busy over the upcoming break from school; Winterhouse is about a magical hotel full of secrets, most specifically its huge library containing a book full of puzzles that need to be solved - which is right up both of our alleys. 

I'm not usually one to buy/read cookbooks, but I got this NYT No-Recipe Recipes book on a great Kindle deal, and I want to actually take some time to sit down and read through the intro and heavily browse the recipes to bookmark some for future use. Wanting to simplify cooking, with our busy schedules, but also still have some interesting meals in the repertoire since I'm getting bored of some of the usuals, and this book definitely looks like it'll provide all of that. I just have to get myself to actually utilize the book, so planning some time to sit down and look at it ought to help...

And since it's the holiday season, thought it might be fun to add in a little seasonal reading if I have the chance. I always enjoy Christina Lauren books, so In a Holidaze would be a fun one to breeze through, I think. 

For my November reading list, I had shared some books I was most looking forward to on my library Kindle holds list. Three of them arrived to me by now:

• The Paper Palace: set at a family's summer cabin in the woods near Cape Cod, the present timeline follows one day in the aftermath of an infidelity: Elle has had sex with her oldest friend Jonas, even as their spouses and kids were around. And to uncover what led to this, we get interspersed stories from Elle's childhood and strained family dynamics, the summer she met Jonas, the secrets they've kept throughout the years. It reminded me a bit of Ann Patchett's Commonwealth in how it tells the story of a family from the instigating point of by an infidelity that changes everything - actually this is the case in both the present and past timelines for this story. It's a character-driven book, but the type that is propulsive because of the secrets the characters have kept, and has relationships/family dynamics that feel real and relatable (especially the matriarchal one), even if some of the happenings are not comparable to my family (there's rather an ick factor a couple of times with sexual predators, FYI). But exploring the family history through a particular place - their historied summer home in the woods - really made me think about my family and the cottage that has been our summer gathering place for generations. Felt maybe slightly long to me at times, in trying to get the backstory pieced together, but overall was impressed with the character dynamics - even if I didn't love Elle's choices - and really liked the dialogue and some of the themes it explores. ★★★.5
• State of Terror: I have mixed feelings about this one. I don't read many political thrillers, but I got the feeling that this really hews to the genre, which means a certain tone/pacing of writing that maybe can feel a little formulaic. But if you like the genre, you'll like it. Knowing it was written by Louise Penny of the Inspector Gamache fame and Hillary Clinton, who are good friends in real life, was the big impetus for picking it up, and it was very interesting with that perspective, given that the main character is a female Secretary of State working for her rival political opponent - and that when you get a large chunk of the way through the book, all of a sudden you get a whole bunch of Three Pines easter eggs. Interesting to see what real-life experiences of Secretary Clinton's were drawn on for the book, but the way the previous administration in the story was so obviously modeled on the Trump administration sometimes felt a bit on-the-nose.(Also: appreciated that there isn't any intense torture type stuff, a big reason I don't usually read this genre.) ★★★.5
• The Guncle: wasn't 100% sure this one would be for me, as I've read a previous one by this author and found the tone was a little too flippant for me. Had heard a lot of good review though, about this story of a family tragedy that brings together a gay uncle (guncle) and his grieving young niece and nephew, so I gave it a whirl, and while I can see why some people love it and adore the relationship of the guncle/kids and the overall feel-good story with the snarky-ish sort of curmudgeonly feel (almost some Man Called Ove vibes in that way), it just didn't feel as endearing to me because again the tone of that type of book is just not quite for me. Feels almost farcical or forced at times? I don't know. But if you like the curmudgeon loner is changed for the better type book, you'll like this one, I bet. ★★★

Still really looking forward to Where the Truth Lies (literary mystery) and The Charm Offensive (rom-com), because these are 2 genres that I just crave right now, and I've heard these are good picks in those categories!

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