What I Read: December

I usually get through quite a few books in December because I love to read Christmas books and they are typically shorter and easier reads. I got the flu this December so I got through even more because when I felt good enough, I'd read and when I didn't feel good enough to read, I'd listen to my audiobook while I laid in bed. I really enjoyed getting to read so many fun Christmas books this year and made it through a stack of Christmas books I collected throughout the year either from Goodwill or Little Free Libraries. I got some new ones at Sam’s club to read next year!

Carter reading next to me on the futon, it was a wonderful Christmas break!

Photo courtesy of mom. I made this cute little Christmas decoration out of Christmas books I've collected over the years. Mom set her mistletoe mule next to it and it turned out really cute!

Books:

• The Autobiography of Santa Claus by Jeff Guinn- I found this at Goodwill and was super excited about it. I think I was hoping for something kind of like Saint Mick which I listened to and loved a few years back. This was nothing like that and was pretty boring. I struggled through it for quite a while and then decided to read another book at the same time which made it easier for me to get through this one.

• Comfort & Joy by Kristin Hannah- This was good but also kind of strange. I was reading it while I had the flu so I flew through it.
  
  
  

• Dear Santa by Debbie Macomber- I was super excited to see this one cheap at Sam's Club. It was really cute and I enjoyed it.

• All Is Calm/All Is Bright by Colleen Coble- This was okay, both stories were super similar but it was a quick read.

• The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo- I have never read this one so when one of my reading groups at school picked it to read, I decided to read it along with them so I could lead discussions in their book club. It was a sweet book and a super fast read. I could easily read 5 chapters the night before I met with my book club so I'd be ready to talk about it. Since I missed the last few days before Christmas break, I was behind and went ahead and finished this after Christmas during break.

• We Are All the Same in the Dark by Julia Heaberlin- I picked this out at our local indie bookstore on my birthday. The kids and I were looking in the “hurt books need love too” section. The cover was so pretty and the synopsis sounded really interesting. The cover and some pages were a bit bent up, but that was it. I loved this book and couldn’t stop reading it. It reminded me of Joshilyn Jackson with all the plot twists but was darker like Gillian Flynn.
  

eBooks:

• Things My Son Needs to Know about the World by Fredrik Backman- I love Backman and hadn't really seen his sense of humor before in his books. This had me cracking up quite a bit.

• Misteltoe and Mr. Right by Sarah Morgenthaler- This one was okay but not anything special. I realized after I downloaded it and started it that it must be part of a series because it was name dropping characters like I should care. I looked it up and it was part of a series. That usually makes it harder to enjoy because the author expects you to be invested in the characters already and I was not!

• 12 Men for Christmas by Phillipa Ashley- This one was cute. Some of the scenes were a bit more graphic than what I was expecting from a Christmas book, but I still enjoyed it.
  

• Christmas Every Day by Beth Moran- This book was so cute. I really enjoyed it. It wasn't super Christmasy and took place over a year so I didn't mind finishing it after Christmas.

Audiobooks:

• A Promised Land by Barack Obama- I got this book as a present for Christmas last year but when I found out the audiobook was read by Obama, I decided I wanted to listen to the audiobook. I really like reading books about Presidents. This one wasn't as interesting since I lived through everything he talked about. I liked that he talked a lot about Michelle. It was obvious what a strong relationship they have and what an important part of his story she is. It always bugs me how First Ladies are hardly talked about in the stories of other Presidents.
  
  
  

• A Mrs. Miracle Chirstmas by Debbie Macomber- I love Macomber's Christmas books and was really excited about this one. It was not very good. It felt a bit forced. I loved the angel part of it, but the rest of the book was just a little blah and I was ready to be done with it by the end and it wasn't even very long!

• A Boy Called Christmas by Matt Haig- I saw this while looking through the children's book section in a book store with the kids. I was super excited because I loved Haig's adult books I've read and it was a Christmas book. I loved this and it ended up being my least favorite book in the series. It's been made into a Netflix movie that the kids and I watched and liked.

• The Girl Who Saved Christmas by Matt Haig- This was the 2nd book in Haig's Christmas series and I loved it even more than the first book!
  

• Father Christmas and Me by Matt Haig- Book 3 in the series and that tells you how much I enjoyed these! I don't typically read all the books in a series in a row. I tend to need breaks in between books but I just flew through these. I enjoyed them so much!

• The Twelve Dates of Christmas by Jenny Bayliss- I really enjoyed this one. It was very cute. I liked the idea of a 12 dates of Christmas set-up where you go on 12 dates with 12 different people.

 

• A Mouse Called Miika by Matt Haig- This was a super short, super cute story from the perspective of Miika, Father Christmas' mouse friend in the Christmas series.

• The Truth Pixie by Matt Haig- I was really disappointed excited about this one because the Truth Pixie was one of my favorite characters in the Christmas series. I downloaded it and realized it was quite a bit shorter than the others. I was disappointed but it was still cute.