Between writing, solo parenting, Thanksgiving travel, and trying to rest I hardly read during November. I was shocked when I realized that the stack of books on my bedside table had hardly moved in weeks. I began December more determined to carve out time for reading. I finished a witty book on writing, ventured back to Wessex and the battle of Danes and Saxons, finished another murder mystery series and enjoyed a youthful book with my children.

I am still working on my presidential biography goal. I started the final book of the Edmund Morris trilogy about Theodore Roosevelt and although Morris is a great writer, each book is incredibly long and detailed. It has been difficult to make headway with only reading a handful of pages at night. I am also attempting to read more historical fiction as I return to my favorite authors and find new ones. Some of the books I am finding are part of a series and I am excited at the opportunity to enter into the wonderful world of history over several books.

Here are the books that I made my way through during December:

BIRD BY BIRD BY ANNIE LAMOTT

"Thirty years ago my older brother, who was ten years old at the time, was trying to get a report on birds written that he'd had three months to write. [It] was due the next day. We were out at our family cabin in Bolinas, and he was at the kitchen table close to tears, surrounded by binder paper and pencils and unopened books on birds, immobilized by the hugeness of the task ahead. Then my father sat down beside him, put his arm around my brother's shoulder, and said. 'Bird by bird, buddy. Just take it bird by bird.’"

Besides Stephen King’s On Writing, Bird by Bird is one book everyone recommends when venturing into the world of writing. Lamott is wry, funny and, like On Writing, her book reads more like a memoir than a how-to. Chapters on "Writers Block," "Writing Groups,” and "How Do You Know When You're Done?” are just a few examples of how Lamott weaves an aspiring writer into better understanding plus a good reality check as to the way writing works in the real world.

I liked the witty commentary on how to respond to first-draft critiques, rejections and the actual publication process. Her examples were helpful and I liked how honest Lamott was with her views on other writers. The task of writing a book is daunting and Bird by Bird caused me to be able to find the joy and laughter in the idea of book writing.

The book is also very grounding and recognizes the need for transparency when it comes to novel writing. I especially liked her matter-of-fact way of writing—straightforward and frank. For example:

“You own everything that happened to you. Tell your stories. If people wanted you to write warmly about them, they should have behaved better.”

I highly recommend this book, like so many others, and encourage new writers to read through this short book as it is very insightful and lighthearted yet open-eyed and honest. My favorite line from the book really hits home not as just advice for writing, but advice for everyday living.

“You don't always have to chop with the sword of truth. You can point with it too.”

THE CONSEQUENCES OF FEAR BY JACQUELINE WINSPEAR

While on a delivery, young Freddie Hackett, a message runner for a government office, witnesses an argument that ends in murder then when he arrives at the delivery address, he’s shocked to come face to face with the killer.

Dismissed by the police, Freddie searches for Maisie Dobbs, a recipient of one of his governmental messages. Maisie is working secretly for the Special Operations Executive, and must be cautious as she pursues the case. Her two worlds collide when she spots the killer in a place she least expects.

The Consequences of Fear is the sixteenth installment in the Maisie Dobbs series. Much of the world is embroiled in World War Two and Maisie gets pulled back into her investigatory duties. Winspear is great at bringing to life possible stories of everyday people who endured WWI and WWII. She relates the mindset of the people in England well and shows what living in London during the Blitz. I have read history books, but non-fiction can be too horrific and a novel, like this one, sheds a light on history without all the gory details.

Even though there is a seventeenth book in the series I do not plan to read it. I had been teetering back and forth on whether to read through this series from the beginning and I felt done with the completion of this book. Most of what protagonists would want comes to pass and I feel as though there is little motivation to read another in the series. I will also add that I was not a fan of Maisie’s love interest in the story and that put a damper on my reading motivation.

For the series as a whole, I would say that several books were wonderful, insightful and even impactful. Books 1-4, 7, 12 and 14 were the best of the series. The first few were rich with history and the excitement of the beginnings of a series. Book seven, The Mapping of Love and Death, was my favorite of the series and was the book that prodded me and kept me going. The way Winspear took the story of a buried soldier from WWI newly discovered and created an entire story from her inspiration is impressive. A Journey to Munich was chilling to get an up close, albeit fictional, view of the Third Reich even before the invasion of Poland. Finally, book 14, To Die But Once, provided a riveting tale of the events at Dunkirk. This book also had a personal touch as it related a fictionalized version of the author’s own father who had been charged with test fire-retardant paint during WWII. The books where Winspear uses personal accounts from family are her best work.

I am glad that I read through the Maisie Dobbs series, but I do think my time with the Lady Investigator has come to an end. It has been a good cozy mystery series that is not gory or vulgar, but I am ready for a change of pace and a new main character. I encourage anyone who likes cozy mysteries and the pace of slow reading to dive into the series but know that some of the storylines get repeated or are a little redundant.

THE PALE HORSEMAN BY BERNARD CORNWELL

The second installment of Bernard Cornwell’s epic saga of the making of England. At the end of The Last Kingdom, The Danes had been defeated, but the triumph of the English is not destined to last. The Danish Vikings quickly invade and occupy three of England’s four kingdoms—and all that remains of the once proud country is a small piece of marshland, where Alfred, King of Wessex, and his family live with a few soldiers and retainers, including Uhtred, the dispossessed English nobleman who was raised by the Danes.

Uhtred believes himself a Dane at heart but when Iseult, a powerful sorceress, enters Uhtred’s life, he is forced to consider feelings he’s never confronted before—and Uhtred discovers, in his moment of greatest peril, a new-found loyalty and love for his native country and ruler.

I considered not continuing this series because of the depictions of war, but I was drawn back in with Cornwell’s vivid historical descriptions, bloodshed notwithstanding. The Pale Horseman expands on the character of Uhtred, who seems a confused character at times, not sure of which path he should follow. The character arc is strong though as Uhtred, when given a choice, does tend to do good even if fate does not always treat him well.

“Life is simple," I said. "Ale, women, sword, and reputation. Nothing else matters.”

This quote simply puts the essence of the story and what one might expect to read about. Even so, in the end, those who enjoy history get to read about the incredible feat of Alfred and his army who kept the dream of England alive thereby rendering the present world with the tale of Danish defeat rather than Saxon extinction.

I am still planning to read more of the Saxon series, but with the bloody descriptive nature of the series in mind, I intend to space out each book so I get a break from shield walls and the butchery of the 9th-century war. The history is too fascinating to pass up and I am looking forward to reading more about how England was formed through the fictional eyes of Uhtred.

THE INCREDIBLE JOURNEY BY SHEILA BURNFORD

A classic from 1961, The Incredible Journey is the story of three pets with an instinct that told them that the way home lay to the west. And so the doughty young Labrador retriever, the roguish bull terrier and the indomitable Siamese set out through the Canadian wilderness. Separately, they would soon have died. But, together, the three house pets faced starvation, exposure, and wild forest animals to make their way home to the family they love.

In my effort to at least reach fifty books this year (still short of my goal of sixty), I read this book with my kids in a rare instance of them both agreeing on a family book to read. I began the book with familiarity with the 90’s movie interpretation of the story, but I had no idea how good the book would be. Burnford is wonderful with description and her use of language. Every sentence felt like a mouthful of detail and descriptive language. It was a challenge of vocabulary and finding a way to allow the words to roll smoothly around.

“Anyone unaccustomed to the rather peculiar points of bull terrier beauty would have thought him a strange if not downright ugly dog, with the marked, down-faced arc of his profile, his deep-chested, stocky body and whip-tapered tail. But the true lover of an ancient and honorable breed would have recognized the blood and bone of this elderly and rather battered body; would have known that in his prime this had been a magnificent specimen of compact sinew and muscle, bred to fight and endure, and would have loved him for his curious mixture of wicked, unyielding fighter yet devoted and docile family pet, and above all for the irrepressible air of sly merriment which gleamed in his little slant eyes.”

Every chapter was moving and powerful and even with the knowledge of the end, I kept finishing page after page wondering how on earth the three traveling companions would ever make it home. My kids were riveted every night as I read through the eleven chapters, fully absorbed in the plight of the wandering animals and sharing my concern for their fate.

I highly encourage anyone who has not read The Incredible Journey to give it a try. The book is not merely for children but is a wonderful read at any age. As a writer, this book was inspiring from a language and vocabulary perspective. I rarely find a book that is even more enjoyable to read at loud than in silence, but this book met that mark. Perhaps, my kids will ask me to read this book to them again before long and I can see if the book holds the same magic it held in our first reading.

COVER PHOTO - ‘Selective Focus Photography of London Eye during Golden Hour’ courtesy of Adrianna Calvo

DECEMBER 2023 READING LIST