After so many good reads in 2021, I'm looking forward to seeing what makes my 2022 list... and I think I'll need to keep going with my monthly TBR intention lists this year to help keep track of it all, after getting a stack of books for Christmas, having a long library holds list, gaining a bit of a kindle deal + Netgalley pileup, and even having some fun pre-orders coming my way (can't wait for In a New York Minute and Bomb Shelter!). So here's what I'm thinking for January:
Got a good mix of things lined up for the month: for starters, some fun to combat the post-holiday winter blues, with two selections from this NPR favorite romances of 2021 list I saw: first a YA one, Fat Chance, Charlie Vega, and then also a rom-com from an author I've been meaning to try, The Dating Playbook.
Then there's also the fun of a sequel, The Secrets of Winterhouse, to a middle grade novel I read in December and loved (see below!) - the winter setting makes these great for this time of year.
No One Is Talking About This is literary (perhaps a bit speculative?) fiction that received a lot of accolades and arrived in my Christmas stocking courtesy of Peter.
And to round out the month, finally getting around to some nonfiction: A Knock at Midnight. This sounds like a very powerful memoir, and I like how for January it also fits in with MLK Day, echoing the title of his sermon collection (which I'd also like to read, but this one is already on my kindle...).
A quick recap of December's TBR selections:
- Winterhouse: delightful middle grade with a bookish, wordplay-loving main character, a magical (literally and figuratively, it turns out) winter hotel setting that you just wish was a place you could visit in real life, a touch of mystery, and a touch of magic too. It's a modern-day character who has lots of echoes of classic children's literature - she's an orphan living with her mean aunt and uncle who has an adventure that leads her to a found family and an understanding of who she is/powers she didn't realize she had. The action takes place over Christmas/New Year's, so it was a perfect winter break read that I think I'll put in Hendrik's book-a-day advent calendar next year. ★★★★
- In a Holidaze was my other seasonal read for December. Though I have loved a lot of Christina Lauren books, I have to say that this wasn't my favorite - perhaps didn't really realize going in that it's a Christmas-time Groundhog Day trope situation, and that trope is not one I particularly enjoy for any story (except maybe the actual Groundhog Day). And, perhaps because of this Groundhog Day back-and-forth, I felt like I didn't really get to know and fall in love with the characters' relationship, not having a linear progression for it. So it was fun for a December read, but if you really want to love a Christina Lauren book, go for The Soulmate Equation, The Unhoneymooners, or The Honey Don't List. ★★★
- I Hope This Finds You Well: Kate Baer's first book of poetry, What Kind of Woman, was a big 2020 hit for how relatable for women, and how readable yet beautifully written they are; since that book came out she has been posting a lot of "blackout" poems on her Instagram, in which she takes messages she receives (usually from men, ranging from the more innocuously offensive to hate mail type messages) and blacks out some of the words to come up with a new, profound or uplifting message, one that empowers women. This new book is entirely made up of that type of poetry, some from messages she's received, and some from text she's seen around that tries to silence or shape women. Some of the poems also have a more positive/powerful beginning text too, such as Alexandria Ocasio Cortez's speech from the congressional floor. I liked how the book had the source material on the left-hand side, and then the cut-out poem on the right, so that you can compare. And whew, after almost every poem I had to stop to take in the punch of the message - yet I also cruised through the book because they were just so good. Definitely one to revisit. If you haven't explored her work, start on Instagram, and then get her books! ★★★★★
- Harlem Shuffle took me until January to finish... while I liked it overall, honestly I found it a bit hard to follow at times with all of the different characters who pop in and out, and the various tangents, so it took a little while. I heard it billed as a heist adventure set in late 1950s/early 1960s Harlem, which was a little misleading - the novel is indeed bookended by two heists perpetrated by Ray Carney's cousin Freddie, a bit of an inept small-time criminal, but we're not exactly in the heist action, more just hearing about it afterward and seeing how Ray, despite his best intentions to be an upstanding furniture store owner, gets pulled into this criminal side when Freddie tries to bring him in as the fence to sell off the stolen goods. The main point of the story is more character-driven, about how Carney tries to reconcile (or not) his two selves, the upstanding business owner and the stolen goods middleman, and eventually face up to the dangers this could cause for his family and employees when the mob bosses come calling; it's also an exploration of Harlem at the time, from everyday life to big events like riots after a police shooting of a young black man (hmmm, echoes of today to explore?), and you really feel the thrumming of the city of the time period. If you like historical fiction with a bit of snappiness and a bit of the seedy side of things (nothing too intense or violent in terms of the heist/mob stuff), it's a good read. The theme of straight/crooked selves at war in a man who is trying not to be his father actually reminded me a lot of S.A. Cosby's Blacktop Wasteland - if you enjoyed that, this is a less overtly violent, historical version. ★★★.75
- NYT No-Recipe Recipes: it was my goal to spend a little time browsing this cookbook that I got on a Kindle deal - because it's all well and good if you buy cookbooks, but if you never get around to looking at them, you're not going to get around to any new recipes... And I did enjoy browsing and bookmarking a bunch of them, because the little intro text to each one is pithy and informative, and the recipes themselves sound so enticing. Admittedly, I find no-recipe cooking pretty stressful: I'm a type-A person - give me exact measurements and instructions to follow please... which is exactly the opposite of this book. Ha! Each recipe just lists what you need, with no measurements, and then gives some general instructions. The upside is that the recipes are all pretty straightforward (but still interesting!) and achievable for weeknight cooking, especially out of your pantry, but it does take a little feeling out. I'll definitely be revisiting the recipes I tried so far (pasta with sausage + sage, curry lamb with mango chutney) because now that I've done them once I know what little tweaks I'd make to my interpretation of the instructions to make them better - and they were already delish! In general, definitely recommend this cookbook if you want something simple but different. ★★★★
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