Reading Lately: December Roundup

Really Good, Actually: Graduate student Maggie was the first to get married out of her friend group... and now the first to get divorced, at age 29. While her thesis is floundering and her marriage is over, Maggie struggles through her first year solo, navigating the emotional ups and downs, the attempts at self-care and reinvention, the figuring out her identity in the dating pool with the label of "divorcee" so young. The writing grabbed me right away, but to be honest, after a couple of chapters I wondered how an entire book could be made out of this - she's pretty sad-sack - but the writing/narration was such that it kept me into it and actually propelled things along pretty well even with so much ruminating/emotional breakdowns. Her life just felt real and relatable (aside from the part where I'm in comparison an old lady who has been married for a million years); the emotions felt honest and true to how life is so messy, as did the breakdowns/repairs of friendships. Other than a part where she went *completely* off the rails in a self-sabotaging way that I could have done without, if taken as a comedic journey of a woman searching for joy and meaning when life suddenly looks a lot different than what she thought it was - it's pretty good, actually. (Ha). If you enjoyed the more recent release The Wedding People, this would be a pretty good comp title with the exploration of a breakup of a marriage, the English professor protagonist, the depth of emotion and real-life messiness communicated in a sharp, wry, and sometimes bittersweet way. Though as it's also a coming of adulthood tale in many ways, with the younger protagonist in an earlier life stage compared to The Wedding People, it also compares to books like Queenie, or even Bridget Jones' Diary. ★★★.75

Mystery/thriller

The Thursday Murder Club: In an upscale retirement village in the English countryside, there's an activity for every day of the week and every interest. But 4 unlikely friends have their own come together on a different unlikely interest: solving cold cases. When one of the co-developers of their village winds up murdered, the Thursday Murder Club has its first live case. They confront their own pasts/losses/regrets as almost-80-year-olds at the same time that they hilariously badger the local detective team into giving them details and clues about the investigation, or fake senility to get away with impeding it. I'm not always one for a cozy mystery, which is why I'm late to the party here, but this one's retirement village characters with their interest in solving murders + the overall writing/structure were great. Enough to charm me but also not feel boring/slow as can sometimes happen for me with a cozy. Maybe the characters "of a certain age" are just working well for me, because I also found delightful Vera Wong's Advice for Murderers and Kills Well with Others in my 2024 reading. It's a romp, but the characters contain enough depth (good reminder that older people can be overlooked, but they contain multitudes!) that there's a lot to mine for future plots, I'm sure - I'll definitely read on in this series to find out. Seems like it would make a great Netflix series too, which I hear is coming. ★★★★

The Last One at the Wedding: Down-to-earth UPS driver Frank Szatowski gets an unexpected call from his estranged daughter inviting him to her wedding, and he is so thrilled to be in contact with her again that he pushes to the back of his mind some strange and then downright concerning things about her relationship and about her super wealthy in-laws-to-be. But when he arrives at the isolated New Hampshire family estate for the wedding, things get even more concerning when he hears about some locals' accusations against the family, and he has to figure out how to get to the bottom of it/do the right thing while balancing the risk of losing his relationship with his daughter again if he pushes too hard. I heard this described as the commercial version of The God of the Woods, and as that was my favorite book of 2024, that descriptor got The Last One at the Wedding onto my list pronto. And I can totally see the comparison: I liked the similar woodsy camp/estate setting, the exploration of (uber) rich people behaving badly as well as the lengths a parent would go for their child, the fish-out-of-water feel of a working class protagonist trying to figure out how this wealthy crowd works and seeing how their wealth lets them skirt the law, the slow burn mystery - but here with more plot-focused, less literary writing. It definitely didn't move me and won't stick with me in the same way as The God of the Woods, but a good thriller-lite with some interesting twists (despite a couple of little plot holes/stretches that I just decided to get over). Oh and the author's previous book is more in the horror genre, which doesn't appeal to my reading taste; this is not horror, but there are some elements that could verge on it if they went farther (especially a particular scene with a nest of daddy longlegs... yuck), which did make it stand out from your standard thriller-lite book to me. ★★★.75

Romance/rom-com

Back After This: Cecily is a longtime podcast producer who has always wanted to host her own show, but she has spent her career being an all-hands-on-deck type of team player and has put all of her own aspirations, not to mention personal time and love life, on the back burner for it. Her boss finally gives her the opportunity she's been waiting for, but with a catch: first Cecily has to host a show about influencer-turned-dating-coach Eliza... and be the recipient of the dating advice + blind date setups. She goes on 20 dates as agreed, but none of them have sparks flying like the accidental run-ins she keeps having with Will, a photographer slash waiter with whom she has a legitimately cute meet-cute. Eliza (and essentially Cecily's boss) says no way can she date Will because of the show - and so Cecily has to figure out how to balance her real life feelings with professional expectations, not to mention public ones when the show goes viral. I enjoy an Emily Henry book of course, but Linda Holmes might be my rom-com favorite - like a classic, favorite movie rom-com in how there are some sticky or funny situations but it's not over the top or exhaustingly zany, the female protagonist is perfectly bookish, the couple is one you root for through and through, and the bedroom scenes are left...in the bedroom. Plus, she is the queen of writing non-cheesy banter, in my opinion. There's such a great rat-a-tat to the conversation, but nothing that makes me roll my eyes or feels totally unrealistic/slapstick, as can sometimes happen in a rom-com. She's also excellent at weaving in pop culture references seamlessly, and literary ones to boot, and I loved the behind-the-scenes of podcasting (which Linda Holmes of course knows all about firsthand). Recommend for fans of Evvie Drake, of course, but also books like One to Watch for the dating/reality show aspect, or Annabel Monaghan's books for the older/more established protagonist. This was absolutely delightful, and I am so pleased to have gotten an advance e-copy from Netgalley so that I could enjoy it sooner! ★★★★.25

Historical Fiction

The Wealth of Shadows: In 1939, small-time tax attorney Ansel Luxford sees the terrifying rise of Nazi Germany in the news, but unlike his fellow citizens, he also sees beyond it to a great war that will consume the world not just because of fighting, but because of finance. He sees that in order to feed the new economy it has built, Germany is required to keep overtaking other countries, and it On top of that, the US is bound by law to remain neutral at this time and cannot be seen to support any particular countries such as England or France - but in his desire to do something to right the wrongs he sees happening in Europe, Ansel manages to get himself onto a team at the Treasury Department that is starting a clandestine investigation into how the US can thwart Germany via economic warfare. This secret research department is tasked with finding legislative loopholes and backdoor deals to try to get more weapons into the hands of countries that need them, and keep more money (such as the Jewish assets that German SS officers are trying to confiscate) from getting into the Nazi coffers, all secretly enough to give the Treasury Secretary and the President plausible deniability. Kudos to Graham Moore for finding a new angle on WWII historical fiction (these characters are all real people, and many of the events/actions are too, but had any of us ever learned about it as part of a WWII curriculum?), and one that really taught me a lot about financial systems (I can't be the only one who had no idea what the difference in purpose between the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund are, and when/why they were created...) - but 10 points off for the publisher for marketing this in any way as "thriller". It does have some intrigue and potential spy/mole stuff, but for me there is nowhere near enough tension to compare to John Le Carre or bring in the word "thriller". I mean, obviously at the time the real people on whom these characters are based didn't know that the US was going to join the war, or know how the war would turn out in general (and that would be legitimately terrifying to live through), but as a reader of today... I knew where it was headed, and the tension just felt manufactured for that reason. Combine that with a little more into the nitty-gritty of international finance/economic theory and an epigraph quote on every single chapter (pet peeve of mine), and it just didn't do it for me. I can see it being a great "dad book" option though. Can also see it as a movie - this author wrote the screenplay for The Imitation Game, so that's probably a good indicator of the kind of thing you're getting here. ★★★

Nonfiction/memoir

Be Ready When the Luck Happens: You've probably heard of Ina Garten's cookbooks or Food Network show, but do you know how she got there? From an emotionally difficult childhood to a young marriage to an initial career as a bureaucrat in DC... it's fascinating. I had only a passing familiarity with Ina Garten, but I appreciated the warm and friendly vibes she gives off - and that is absolutely the vibe of this memoir too. It's like some good comfort food for your ears (do it on audio for sure!) in the voice and the sentiments. It also goes into a category with Nina Totenberg's memoir (Dinners with Ruth, which I ADORE) in being an intimate and wise and charming narrative of a beloved icon's life, and a really inspiring story of a woman who really created the life and career that she wanted, despite what social norms and gender roles said - and in having such pioneering success, created opportunities for those women who came after. Yet at the same time she seems to be so down-to-earth and invested in friendships. Really enjoyed the behind-the-scenes on cookbook writing, tv show filming, and more, and the perspective on working hard so that she could be ready when the lucky breaks arrived and grab onto them. And random fun synergy with the other charming foodie memoirs I enjoyed on audio this year (Stanley Tucci's What I Ate in One Year and Taste) to mention: all have scenes that involve cooking with the lovely Emily Blunt! ★★★★

So far January has been about cozy reading vibes, along with my stack of Christmas gift books. Stay tuned for more!