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| December Reads |
December Wrap-Up
- Finished: 9
- Started but not finished: 1
- Total pages read: 2,304
- Average rating: 4.42
I finished three novels and one memoir in December. The novels were Lauren Groff’s historical fiction The Vaster Wilds (5/5 stars), Octavia E. Butler’s dystopian fiction Parable of the Sower (4.5/5 stars), and Jacqueline Harpman’s I Who Have Never Known Men (5/5 stars). You can find longer reviews behind the links. Tara Westover’s memoir Educated (5/5 stars) I’m reviewing below. As you can see from the ratings, I had a great month in December!
I also
started one novel in December, The Beekeeper’s Promise by Fiona Valpy. I
finished it in early January, but since I read most of it during the Christmas
holiday, I’m reviewing it in this post as well.
The Beekeeper’s Promise by Fiona Valpy
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| The Beekeeper's Promise by Fiona Valpy |
Book title:
The Beekeeper’s Promise
Author:
Fiona Valpy
Genre:
Historical fiction
Published: May
16, 2018
317 pages
My rating:
3/5
I read
Kristin Hannah’s The Nightingale a year ago, and as both books are about women in French resistance, it was impossible not to compare the two books.
Valpy’s novel feels lighter and more hopeful, but it lacks the emotional weight of
The Nightingale. I also didn’t particularly care for the modern storyline – it
detracted from the historical narrative and felt rather contrived. I would have
enjoyed the book more if it had been purely historical fiction without the
modern storyline. The historical storyline would have also deserved more
substance and depth. Nevertheless, it’s a charming story and worth the read if
you like historical fiction set during the Second World War.
Educated by Tara Westover
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| Educated by Tara Westover |
Book title:
Educated
Author:
Tara Westover
Genre:
Memoir
Published: February
20, 2018
352 pages
My rating:
5/5
Educated is Tara Westover’s memoir of her life with a survivalist Mormon family. Her father owned a junk yard, and her mother worked as a healer and a midwife. Her father believed that the government was out to get them, so the family prepared for the end of the world by stockpiling home-canned peaches and sleeping with their “head-for-the-hills bag”. Homeschooled and forced to work in the family business from a young age, Tara didn’t set foot in a classroom until the age of 17, when she was admitted to Brigham Young University. There she learned for the first time about important world events like the Holocaust and the civil rights movement.
Memoirs are hard to rate, but this was a clear five-star read. Educated is about the transformative power of education and a tale of the grief that comes with severing the family ties. With its depictions of abuse and gaslighting it’s by no means an easy read, but definitely a book I’d recommend.
Nonfiction Books
In addition
to the fiction books and the memoir, I also read a few other nonfiction books.
One of them was my old high school biology book, and two others were about the
ancient Greek novels, Graham Anderson’s Ancient Fiction: The Novel in the
Graeco-Roman World and Helen Morales’ Vision and Narrative in Achilles
Tatios’ Leucippe and Clitophon. I also flipped through two Swedish
nonfiction books before decluttering them.
January Hopefuls
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| January Hopefuls |
I’ve had a
slow start for this year (as is obvious by how late I’m posting this wrap-up!).
I had the flu, so my plans for the new year got messed up. I have finished one
short novel, a “memoir” of a Samoyed dog Tunski. My goal is to finish one
novel, Andy Weir’s sci-fi novel Project Hail Mary, and two more of my
high school biology books. I would also like to start Once Upon a Broken
Heart by Stephanie Garber.
~ ~ ~
If you want
to see more about the books I read in December, check out my reading wrap-up
video below:
