December: What Did I Read?

 So, how did I finish off this absolute circus of a year? I read five books in total, and it's probably the most mixed bag month of them all. I had a poetry collection I've owned since I was in Year 8 and never read; a book all about the global economics; the Communist Manifesto; Jane Austen's first ever novel; and Toni Morrison's Paradise. 

Let's kick things off with Paradise. I rated it 4 out of 5 stars on goodreads, and were it a little less of a confusing read, I would probably have given it full marks. What's it about? It begins with a terrible crime, the murder of a woman in a convent, and then recounts the lives of the many people involved, until it eventually goes full circle and returns to the scene of the crime. Structurally, this works very well. At first it comes off like every crime fiction novel ever. An unknown woman is murdered. But as the story progresses and we learn more of these characters, it eventually becomes so much more than that. Mostly due to how likeable most of the girls at the convent are. Even if they are (mostly) flawed, bitchy, godless women. Many of their individual stories are incredibly compelling and Morrison's gorgeous writing style only adds to this. What did I dislike? Well, despite its intense isolation and interconnectivity, there are far too many characters to keep up with. It's very confusing. As is the ending. Also, I was not a fan of the men in this book. But I suppose that's a stylistic choice. My final thoughts: I am not built for multi-narrative novels, so I couldn't rate this novel as high as it maybe deserves, but it was very good.

I cannot say the same for the next one. r. h. Sin's Whiskey Words & A Shovel Vol. 1 is a poetry anthology which received a lot of hype during that period of time when being 'tumblr' and Rupi Kaur's Milk & Honey was all the rage. Which really should've lowered my expectations towards the quality of this. Perhaps subconsciously it did, however, as it took me about three years to actually open this Secret Santa present. I rated this two stars, although that could be a little generous. Sure, there was some use of literary technique that was quite well done, but other than that- not so great. First of all, you can very much tell that it was written in that tumblr period because of how cringe bits of it are. And the way it talks to women is embarrassing in most parts, downright objectifying in others (I'm looking very disgustedly at that poem about eating a woman out). But if you like the simple poetry of that era, I would recommend this for you. Otherwise- not so much.

Switching things up, the next book I read was The Communist Manifesto. For those who don't know (which is probably very few), it is a political text written by the man who is known as the Father of Communism. It was interesting and concise (I rated it three out of five) but other than that, it's kind of flat. It dances around the point a bit & isn't very clear about what communism actually is. In my opinion. I do have a habit of completely reading over things, so maybe that's on me. Anyway, I certainly do not know any more about communism than I did before. I would probably need to read other theory to get a fuller picture, but it's probably a good start.

Taking another turn, I read Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey next. It's a satirical take on the popular Gothic novels of the time, so I obviously read it as part of my A-Level independent study. But it also has the signature Austen romance to go with it. This was so good! I've never read any of her works before, so I had no idea that she was this entertaining. The fourth wall breaks where Jane just turns to us and discusses how parts of her novel don't fit the pattern were delightful. Not only that, the gossipy nature and entertaining behaviour of every single character meant there was never a dull moment. My favourites were Catherine (obviously) and Mrs Allen, but even the annoying characters were so much fun to hate. For example, Isabella and John were incredibly aggravating but their ridiculousness was just so hilarious that I can let it slide. The literal only issue I have with this book is how abrupt the ending was- like she was rushing to finish it off and tied up all her loose ends in a matter of sentences. That is the only reason it's not five out of five. Overall tis is a fun, accessible, short classic. It was her first ever novel, so sink your teeth in!

And I finished off this year (well technically on January 1st, but shh) with The Almight Dollar by Dharshini David. This is a non-fiction novel about the global economy, and the inter-connected politics of it all. It's accessible and informative, with a very entertaining tone. It goes very well with the topic we're doing in geography, which is always good and part of the reason I was so committed to this book when in the past, I sort of gave up on non-fiction (looking at you, Prisoners of Geography and The Anatomy of Motive). However, it was quite surface level but also a bit wishy-washy. Good though. Would recommend for a base level knowledge of economics. Which is all I need.

So that's the end of my year! Quite good for books, I think I read about forty this year. We'll see what 2021 brings.