December Books + TOP 5 books of 2023

Hello…and happy Thursday.

It’s crazy to think a week from today, we’ll be back in school. Ok, enough negative talk…today is all about the positive. One of my favorite posts of the year is sharing the books I’ve read and my top 5 faves.

December Books:

Well, I was on a roll with reading but struggled in November and even December. While I usually read Christmas themed books in December, I was still reading (and finally finishing) Demon Copperhead from November. Then, I read Just Mercy with a group of students at school. I was able to read a couple of winter/Christmas books, and I really enjoyed them too.

This month I read:

{As always, book summaries are from Goodreads…}

Demon Copperhead:

Summary:

Set in the mountains of southern Appalachia, this is the story of a boy born to a teenaged single mother in a single-wide trailer, with no assets beyond his dead father’s good looks and copper-colored hair, a caustic wit, and a fierce talent for survival. In a plot that never pauses for breath, relayed in his own unsparing voice, he braves the modern perils of foster care, child labor, derelict schools, athletic success, addiction, disastrous loves, and crushing losses. Through all of it, he reckons with his own invisibility in a popular culture where even the superheroes have abandoned rural people in favor of cities.

Many generations ago, Charles Dickens wrote David Copperfield from his experience as a survivor of institutional poverty and its damages to children in his society. Those problems have yet to be solved in ours. Dickens is not a prerequisite for readers of this novel, but he provided its inspiration. In transposing a Victorian epic novel to the contemporary American South, Barbara Kingsolver enlists Dickens’ anger and compassion, and above all, his faith in the transformative powers of a good story. Demon Copperhead speaks for a new generation of lost boys, and all those born into beautiful, cursed places they can’t imagine leaving behind.

Quick Thoughts:

This book was long, but it definitely sticks with you when you are finished. I did feel like it dragged in parts and was sometimes hard to keep some of the minor characters straight. The David Copperfield connection is an interesting twist on telling this story.

Rating:

Just Mercy:

Summary:

An unforgettable true story about the potential for mercy to redeem us, and a clarion call to end mass incarceration in America — from one of the most inspiring lawyers of our time.

Bryan Stevenson was a young lawyer when he founded the Equal Justice Initiative, a nonprofit law office in Montgomery, Alabama, dedicated to defending the poor, the incarcerated, and the wrongly condemned.

Just Mercy tells the story of EJI, from the early days with a small staff facing the nation’s highest death sentencing and execution rates, through a successful campaign to challenge the cruel practice of sentencing children to die in prison, to revolutionary projects designed to confront Americans with our history of racial injustice.

One of EJI’s first clients was Walter McMillian, a young Black man who was sentenced to die for the murder of a young white woman that he didn’t commit. The case exemplifies how the death penalty in America is a direct descendant of lynching — a system that treats the rich and guilty better than the poor and innocent.

Quick Thoughts:

While this book wasn’t on my list, students in a class I work with regularly were reading it, so I decided to as well. I know the movie is popular which is a connection most students had, but the book was very powerful. I liked that Bryan Stevenson shared many stories besides Walter McMillan’s, driving home the message about wrongly condemned, minors in the juvenile justice system, and the death penalty.

Rating:

Meet Me in London:

Summary:

Aspiring clothes designer Victoria Scott spends her days working in a bar in Chelsea and her evenings designing vintage clothes, dreaming of one day opening her own boutique. But these aspirations are under threat from the new department store opening at the end of her road. She needs a Christmas miracle, but one is not forthcoming.

Oliver Russell’s Christmas is not looking very festive right now. His family’s new London department store opening is behind schedule, and on top of that his interfering, if well-meaning, mother is pressing him to introduce his girlfriend to her over the holidays—a girlfriend who does not exist. He needs a diversion…something to keep his mother from meddling while he focuses on the business.

When Oliver meets Victoria, he offers a proposition: pretend to be his girlfriend at the opening of his store and he will provide an opportunity for Victoria to showcase her designs. But what starts as a business arrangement soon becomes something more tempting as the fake relationship starts to feel very real. But when secrets in Victoria’s past are exposed, will Oliver walk away, or will they both follow their hearts and find what neither knew they were looking for…?

Quick thoughts:

This is a cute Christmas read set in London. What’s not to like?

Rating:

Lovelight Farms:

Summary:

Two best friends fake date to reach their holiday happily ever after in this first romantic comedy in the Lovelight series.

A pasture of dead trees. A hostile takeover of the Santa barn by a family of raccoons. And shipments that have mysteriously gone missing. Lovelight Farms is not the magical winter wonderland of Stella Bloom’s dreams.

In an effort to save the Christmas tree farm she’s loved since she was a kid, Stella enters a contest with Instagram-famous influencer Evelyn St. James. With the added publicity and the $100,000 cash prize, Stella might just be able to save the farm from its financial woes. There’s just one problem. To make the farm seem like a romantic destination for the holidays, she lied on her application and said she owns Lovelight Farms with her boyfriend. Only…there is no boyfriend.

Enter best friend Luka Peters. He just stopped by for some hot chocolate and somehow got a farm and a serious girlfriend in the process. But fake dating his best friend might be the best Christmas present he’s ever received.

Quick Thoughts:

This is book #1 in the Lovelight series, and it’s a cute premise for Christmas (although some there are some not so G rated parts).

Rating:

Recap of 2023 Books:

My goal again this year was to read 40 books, and I fell short of that goal…but it was still a solid year of reading.

Here are my Goodreads stats:

• 38 books read
• 13, 399 pages read
• The shortest book I read (The Sixth Wedding) was 76 pages.
• The longest book I read (Demon Copperhead) was 560 pages.
• Average book length n 2023: 352 pages

My 2023 Reads:

Another year of reading here, there and everywhere.

January:

• Live Wire: Long-Winded Short Stories
• The It Girl
• Remarkably Bright Creatures

February:

• Carrie Soto is Back
• The Magnificent Lives of Marjorie Post
• Bridge to Terabithia

March:

• Spare
• Wrong Place Wrong Time
• Majesty

April:

• The Husbands
• A Quiet Life
• Night
• The Secret Bridesmaid

May:

• Finlay Donovan Is Killing It
• The Paris Library
• Daisy Jones and the Six

June:

• The Soulmate
• All the Days of Summer
• Double Decker Dreams

July:

• Meet Me at the Lake
• Endless Summer
• Lessons in Chemistry
• Summer Stage

August:

• The Five-Star Weekend
• Hello Beautiful
• The Sixth Wedding
• Hotel Laguna

September:

• The Block Party
• Look For Me There
• The Senator’s Wife

October:

• Mad Honey
• Before We Were Innocent
• Coronation Year

November:

• Demon Copperhead

December:

• Just Mercy
• Meet Me in London
• Lovelight Farms

Top 5 books of 2023:

This year, I started off strong and I always feel like I read some of the best books early in the year. While three books a month is a pretty good average for me, I had a few months where reading was slow. I always enjoy creating a summer reading list, and seeing what books I can get read with a bit of extra time off.

Before I share my Top 5 reads of 2023, these books deserve honorable mention recognition. Here are they are in the order that I read them:

• Daisy Jones and the Six
• Lessons in Chemistry
• The Five-Star Weekend
• Hello Beautiful
• Mad Honey

Here are my 5 favorite reads of 2023 …

Remarkable Bright Creatures

The Magnificent Lives of Marjorie Post

A Quiet Life

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The Paris Library

Coronation Year

Previous Top 5 Books:

What’s the best book you’ve read this year?

Happy reading!