Friday Reads 12.1.23
It’s the first Friday in December, friends, and you know what that means… let’s talk about what we’re reading!
I have an essential recommendation today for a book I read earlier in the year that is releasing on Tuesday, Ariel Lawhon’s THE FROZEN RIVER.
This book, people. It’s received just about every accolade there is already, and I’m sure there are more to come. On the surface, it’s a story about a midwife in 1789 Maine who’s never lost a mother. That’s how Ariel pitched it to me a decade ago. It is so much more. Martha Ballard is a bonafide badass, and Ariel has created a heroine as compelling as Claire Fraser from Outlander. You will love it. Trust me and grab your copy when it goes on sale Tuesday!
It is the first of December, and that means many things are happening. I got home from the family trip to Italy last night, and I am ready to jump into the creation of #HLN with both feet. I was shockingly uncreative on the trip, which is very rare for me. These trips are always meant for research, but there wasn’t a lot of downtime to simply sit and think. I took a lot of pictures and videos so I will revisit many spots in my mind to pull things together for the next couple of books, as I visited a few areas I’d not been to before. But the point of the trip was to get my dad together with his uncle, and visit with my cousins, and that was accomplished with verve. We had a lot of fun with the family, and I’m so grateful we were all able to make this trip. The highlights are on my Instagram.
I didn’t read much, as I found out the hard way reading horror when staying alone in a very old Italian villa is not conducive to pleasant dreams (thanks, Finley), but I watched a lot of movies. A sampling…
Skyfall
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Pride & Prejudice (the Kiera Knightly version)
Emma (the Anna Taylor-Joy version)
Clueless
Legally Blond
Ford vs Ferrari
Barbie
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
And I listened to a bit of Case 63, which I will now be returning to, because I loved the premise—the dialogue grabbed me immediately.
I also signed up for Slow Read of the Hilary Mantel Wolf Hall books. I’ve always wanted to read them, and I love the idea of doing it with a group. He’s also doing War and Peace, but there’s only so much time in this life.
That’s it from me this week. How about you? What’s on your reading plate this weekend?
PS: A new craft post on writing the dreaded synopsis went out for paid subscribers last Sunday…. Check it out here.
