What are you reading in December 2022?

[Chris, Moderator]

Please share what you're reading this month (December 2022), and any comments you'd like to make about the book(s).

All genres welcome here!

[Cheryl]

As always, I'll be reading Newbery books (for another group). And I'm working on the box of ST:TNG that I inherited from my brother. I'll finish the last Narnia book by tomorrow, and I expect to finish the last book of the Expendable series, Radiant, this month.

I'm also considering a reread of my favorite author's works, starting with a SF novel of all things, The Scavengers, by Michael Perry, who usually writes philosophical memoirs that are funny.

[Shel, Moderator]

I'm just a few chapters in to The Farthest Shore for the series read. I'll probably have time to finish it in the next day or two.

[Mary]

My Hero Academia, Vol. 4 by Kohei Horikoshi

[Mary]

My Hero Academia, Vol. 5 by Kohei Horikoshi

[Mary]

My Hero Academia, Vol. 6 by Kohei Horikoshi

[Lindsey]

December is my month to finish any books I've started, but not start anything new. This year, that's The Spare Man, The Lost Metal, The Golden Enclaves, On War, Babel, Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators’ Revolution, Music Theory 101, Bastille vs. the Evil Librarians, Green Arrow: The Golden Age Omnibus Vol. 1, and Half Sick of Shadows.

With where I am in each of these, that's around 3 500 pages, so if you'll excuse me I'm apparently busy this month! ;-)

[Cheryl]

The Scavengers by my favorite author author:Michael Perry|2772479]. Lower level YA dystopia-ish. There needs to be a sequel so we learn (along with the young hero) more world-building, and so we see what she does next. (Perry has said he's working on it.)

[Mary]

My Hero Academia, Vol. 7 by Kohei Horikoshi

[Kathi, Moderator & Book Lover]

I finished The Boy Who Would Live Forever: A Novel of Gateway by Frederik Pohl, that last book in his Heechee saga, 8/10. Comments in our discussion topic about the Heechee saga

Ready to start Matter by Iain M. Banks for our BotM discussion.

I’m also reading How to Play Cricket by Liz French and Cricket For Dummies by Julian Knight in preparation for our January trip to Australia where both my grandnephews play club cricket and are avid fans of the sport.

[Mary]

Oni the Lonely by C. Chancy

[Mary]

Tell No Tales by C. Chancy

[Alan]

Currently reading Matter by Iain M. Banks. Lots been going on so I haven't made much progress.

[Kathi, Moderator & Book Lover]

I finished Matter by Iain M. Banks, 10/10, comments in our BotM folder.

Part of a 2022 reading challenge is a holiday book this month, so I read The Christmas Box by Richard Paul Evans, 5/10, short, predictable, but somewhat touching. I am going to read the other 2 books in his Christmas trilogy, Timepiece and The Letter. Then I’ll be ready for Tehanu.

[Shel, Moderator]

I am a little more than halfway through A Dirty Job by Christopher Moore, which has been languishing on my kindle for a long time. It's ok - it's entertaining, but I can do without the ethnic stereotypes in the side characters. But I wanted to read something fairly brainless and this fits the bill.

[Mary]

Posthumous Education by Drew Hayes

[Alan]

I was reminded that I started this some time ago for a specific story and is still on my currently reading list. Perhaps I will finish during 2023 The Jack London Science Fiction Megapack: The Complete Science Fiction and Fantasy of Jack London Jack London

[Cheryl]

Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End is an especially good read now as I'm 60, my mom is 80, and even though we're both healthy these conversations need to happen. I'm visiting her, so I read it right after she did and we're both very clear now. Next I'll get my husband to read it... there are so many different ideas about what 'quality of life' and 'dignified end' and 'extraordinary measures' mean.

Probably the best thing I learned is how wonderful hospice care can be. Sometimes patients even live longer with it, because they don't have the stress & trauma of all the treatments one gets if one is institutionalized.

[Alan]

Cheryl wrote: "Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End is an especially good read now as I'm 60, my mom is 80, and even though we're both healthy these conversations need to happen. I'm..."

My late wife spent her last few days in Hospice and they were very caring.

[Cheryl]

Thank you.
I am sorry for your loss.

[Alan]

Cheryl wrote: "Thank you.
I am sorry for your loss."

Thank you.
9 years ago, she was 62.

[Cheryl]

Gone too soon, never forgotten.

My father was 78, two years ago, and I still find myself sometimes thinking of him in the present tense. He's alive in my heart.

I will definitely use hospice if appropriate. I'm glad to hear it works in OK.

[Alan]

Cheryl wrote: "Gone too soon, never forgotten.

My father was 78, two years ago, and I still find myself sometimes thinking of him in the present tense. He's alive in my heart.

I will definitely use hospice if ..."
We were living in Portland Oregon at the time. I now live with my eldest son and his family in Bixby (Tulsa) OK

[Cheryl]

Oh. Well, I bet I could find it in the Yukon (OKC) area if I needed to.

[Kathi, Moderator & Book Lover]

Moving the hospice topic elsewhere, just to keep this thread on topic.

[Shel, Moderator]

Cheryl wrote: "Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End is an especially good read now as I'm 60, my mom is 80, and even though we're both healthy these conversations need to happen. I'm..."

That is an excellent book. I read it some time ago and it gave me a LOT to think about.

[Cheryl]

I'm enjoying a few children's novels by Kevin Henkes this week, and I'm also about to pick up First Steps: How Upright Walking Made Us Human.

[Bill]

I adored Olive's Ocean by Kevin Henkes
Liked quite a few others by him too.

[MadProfessah]

Reading the second book in the DS Adam Tyler series set in Sheffield England.

[Shel, Moderator]

I just finished A Dirty Job by Christopher Moore. I rated it two stars - it was entertaining, but there were a lot of outdated stereotypes and mildly offensive humor that I could have done without. I don't know that I'll seek out anything else by Moore.

[Mary]

Haley and the Miraculous Potion by M.C.A. Hogarth

[Shel, Moderator]

Just started The Tiger and the Wolf a few months late for the discussion :) (I meant to read it for the discussion, but we own it and I had library books that HAD to be read before returning, so I didn't get around to it in time) I'm not very far in, but I'm enjoying it!

[Kathi, Moderator & Book Lover]

I finished the 3 Christmas books by Richard Paul Evans and rated them 5, 6, & 4 on a 10 point scale. The I read Tehanu by Ursula K. Le Guin for our series discussion, 9.5/10.

I also finished one of the cricket books I’m reading so I can better understand what my grandnephews in Australia are up to, and I’m about halfway through the other.

Now I’m finishing up the Dragon’s Heirs trilogy with A Prince in Camelot by Courtway Jones.

[Cheryl]

First Steps: How Upright Walking Made Us Human was fascinating, and so was Unthinkable: What the World's Most Extraordinary Brains Can Teach Us About Our Own. I'm starting a kids' novel for a quick break, then I've got Different: Gender Through the Eyes of a Primatologist by the wonderful Frans de Waal. Normally I wouldn't read so much NF so fast, but I'm visiting my mother so things are different.

[Mary]

Perseus Corbett and the Forbidden Valley by David Breitenbeck

[Mary]

Curiosities of Puritan Nomenclature by Charles Wareing Endell Bardsley

[Random]

I've been so distracted with work and the holidays that I haven't accomplished much this month as far as reading.

I've taken this week off work and was finally able to spend some of it with my husband yesterday catching up on Star Trek Prodigy when we lost power.

So I curled up and planned to finish Tehanu. As I was scrolling through my books, Horrorstör grabbed my attention. Next thing I knew I was 75% done and the power had been back on for an hour. It had sounded like a gimmick that I picked up for cheap for a laugh. It ended up being quite engrossing.

I need to get back to Tehanu, but The Final Girl Support Group is beaming "read me!" messages straight into my brain.

[Cheryl]

Hope to finish Commitment Hour within a day or so, then get ready to start the author's The Expendable Series all over again. I get more out of them each time, somehow.

But first get caught up on other piles. Including Hiddensee: A Tale of the Once and Future Nutcracker for group!

[Kathi, Moderator & Book Lover]

Not sure I’ll finish anything else before the end of the month/year, but I did finish A Prince in Camelot by Courtway Jones, 8.75/10. The final book in the Dragon’s Heirs trilogy focuses on Mordred, known as Dylan the Orphan for most of the story. This depiction of Mordred is about as far from the traditional Camelot story as you can get, and he’s quite a sympathetic character. The author builds his story slowly and steadily, piece by piece, to its bittersweet conclusion. A fitting final chapter in this trilogy.

And then I zipped through A Thief of Time by Tony Hillerman, 8.25/10. A solid mystery with Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee, one working a missing person case and the other, stolen equipment. They end up working together on the murders that are connected to their two investigations.

[Random]

Finished The Final Girl Support Group
It was also quite engrossing.

Might start Meddling Kids while I'm on a roll.

[Nyssa]

My last title of 2022 was The Expanse: Origins!
I really enjoyed it, and I am looking forward to continuing the Leviathan Wakes series with book # 3 Abaddon's Gate.