Is it cold outside? Here in the Klamath-Siskiyou Mountains, there’s a noticeable chill in the air, enough that I’d feel silly going outside in sandals, though I still want to. Book reading involves putting on warm shoes and covering my legs with blankets, but I’m still sifting through numerous books, and I’m thinking of taking notes, more than I have in the past.
Word of the Month
Celebrate
Bible Verses of the Month
Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice!.” – (Philippians 4:4 NKJV)
This month’s reading diary is at the bottom of this page, after the book list.
My Goodreads page: https://www.goodreads.com/lindajm
★ – I’m reading it.
✓ – I finished reading it. Yay!
⇗ – Still reading at the end of the month.
⇓ – I did not like it or finish it.
∅ – Stalled – I started but didn’t finish.
Finished Reading This Month
✓ History: The Wager, by David Grann
Another survival book.
Update: I finished reading this on December 28. Great history of another maritime disaster. Review
✓ Health: Forks Over Knives, by Gene Stone (and others)
I’m reading this for health inspiration.
Update: I finished reading this on December 20. Yes, I’m inspired and ordered two more books about the Forks Over Knives eating plan. Review
✓ History: Area 51, by Annie Jacobsen
I started this for Nonfiction November but I’m still reading it in December.
Update: December 18 – I finished the book. Not my favorite read ever since it is about military history from the Cold War, and airplanes, and atomic bomb tests… and none of this makes me happy. Review
✓ History: In the Heart of the Sea, by Nathaniel Philbrick
I’m continuing my exploration into the world of survival literature with this book about a whale ship disaster in 1820.
Update: I finished the book on December 16. Fascinating, but sad. Five stars. Review
✓ History: The Indifferent Stars Above, by Daniel James Brown
I hope I don’t DNF this book, but it is a hard topic for me… it is about the Donner Party expedition – an event I find heartbreaking and terrifying. I’ve been to the site of their disaster, and it was not a happy time for me.
Update: Finished in an almost-all-night audio-reading session. Worth reading. Review
✓ History: A Land So Strange: The Epic Journey of Cabeza de Vaca, by Andrés Reséndez
Cabeza de Vaca = “head of a cow” … was this man stubborn? I’ll let you know.
Update: Cabeza de Vaca must have been bull-headed, because out of about 300 men who started the journey in Florida in 1528, he was one of only a handful of survivors – less than 10. Great history and biography! Review
What I’m Reading Now
★ Fiction: Pale Fire, by Vladimir Nabokov
Ergodic fiction – a man obsesses over a poet, who has died. The foreword, poem, and commentary are all parts of this novel. There’s also an index. Definition of ergodic: “Relating to or denoting systems or processes with the property that, given sufficient time, they include or impinge on all points in a given space and can be represented statistically by a reasonably large selection of points.” (per Oxford Languages Dictionary)
★ Classic Fiction: Les Misérables, by Victor Hugo
I’m not giving up on this one.
★ Art: The World of Urban Sketching, by Stephanie Bower
Because… ART. I love urban sketching!
DNF
⇓ Humor: Based on a True Story: Not a Memoir, by Norm MacDonald
This guy thinks he is so funny, it is hard for me to go along with the joke.
Update: If I’d known this was about an actor from Saturday Night Live, I would never have started reading it. I normally NEVER read celebrity memoirs (very, very few exceptions). And I’ve NEVER (not once) watched an episode of Saturday Night Live. Just not my thing. I may DNF this book, but so far I haven’t. (Dec. 18)
Update: DNF’ed on Dec. 19 – just because I’m not a fan of celebrity memoirs.
My December 2024 Reading Diary
December 1 – I can feel the end of the year tugging on my heart.
December 5 – I’m finding myself drawn to disaster and survival books right now. True history, but terrifying. Speaking of terrifying, I’m finding it very hard to walk these days. I think it is osteoarthritis. I need to ask for more medical help. I bought myself a walker. What’s scary is thinking – if I’m having this much walking trouble at age 72, what will it be like when I’m 80?
December 8 – I just finished reading another survival history book last night. That’s the third in the last couple of weeks. It has occurred to me I just read three books about people who were starving. Maybe I’m getting myself ready to do some fasting again.
December 20 – Five days until Christmas! I’m enjoying my new book: Pale Fire, by Nabokov. It isn’t an easy read, but it is intriguing.
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