As you probably noticed, I took December off. It happened by accident. Due to redundancy in November, my reading and my attention span to audiobooks took a hit and, by the time I realised, I went “Well, I usually take a few weeks off over Christmas and New Year, why not start now and return in January…?”
So that is what I did. It helped as I decided to tackle so books on my To Be Read list that are a little bigger and longer than my normal reads and pick some titles that have been on my list for FAR TOO LONG!
While I await the new series of The Traitors to start tonight (anyone else excited?!), I might as well chat about some (not all) of the books I read over the Christmas period.
Most of these are short stories or novellas. Don’t get too excited.
Choice by Jodi Picoult is a 40-odd minute long audiobook, which came from the Wade vs Roe overturning that happened in USA, and the fact that states decided that ban legal abortions, even if the woman was a victim of rape or incest or if the abortion will save the women’s life. In this shorty story, men are beginning to wake up pregnant and women aren’t, and follows a recently broken up couple where, on the morning of getting a huge promotion, James finds out he is pregnant and, because of this, is refused the promotion and Margot, a social worker, is seeing young, desperate teenage boys who are pregnant and are begging for help. help she can’t provide because, if she did, she would be arrested.
This turns on the tables on the US Supreme Court overturning Wade vs Roe and, while looking at sexism and why choice is so important. I wish this was longer than 40 minutes as I would love for it to go further, but is hugely timely.
Another short novella I read during December was The Invitation by Ajay Chowdhury. Taken place after the events of the third book in the series, The Detective, it follows Kamil Rahman who offers to help his boss, Anjoli, when she receives a strange email entitled Beheading. Claiming it’s an invite to the Tower of London to celebrate the 500 year anniversary since Anne Boleyn’s beheading, the pair go. But when they get there, things take a sinister turn when they discover an old uni friend of Anjoli has been kidnappped and they are against the clock to save her…
I have been meaning to read Ajay Chowdhury for YEARS now. Even since the first book in the series, The Waiter, first came out but I never get round to it. So, when I saw this short story and it was free, I jumped on it and devoured in almost one sitting, just like Choice… In 2024, I will be reading The Waiter.
I read one more short story (an MM romance called Not In It For the Money by Gabbi Grey - which was a nice quick read that I read in less than 20 minutes) and I quit a ebook (that I purchased for free so no guilt) at the 60% mark called 1st Shock by Misty Evans and Adrienne Giordano. It wasn’t for me as was a tad too dry for my tastes.
I did audiobook and read a few novels over December and I will probably chat to you about one or two in the coming days/week.
So, Happy 2024! I hope your reading over the festive period was fun and your 22024 reading will be a delight!!!
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