This past week I seem to have started and abandoned at least four different books, which doesn’t look good for my Goodreads stats, but I have read a lot of other great stuff this month, including finally picking up a New Yorker summer fiction special that a friend loaned me more than a year ago. Yay for holidays!

The Christmas holiday has so far been more about watching films than reading books. I’ve watched Inside Out (brilliant), Kingsman: the Secret Service (fun but silly, better than the comic book), Admission (better than reviews suggested but not Tina Fey’s best work), Mermaids (I love anything with Christina Ricci), My Sister’s Keeper (not as good as the book) and Happy Christmas (Anna Kendrick is great in everything she does, even, or perhaps especially, odd indie films made for about ten pence) and I’m only halfway through my time off!

Tomorrow I’ll do a summary of the year (though I’ve already revealed my top five books) but for now here’s how my December went. Happy holidays!

Books

The Looking-Glass Sisters by Gøhril Gabrielsen

Two Years Eight Months & 28 Nights by Salman Rushdie

How to Understand Israel in 60 Days or Less by Sarah Glidden

Short stories

“Ba baboon” by Thomas Pierce (New Yorker, June 2, 2014)

“The Duniazát” by Salman Rushdie (New Yorker, June 1, 2015) – this is also the opening to the novel Two Years Eight Months & 28 Nights so I’ve actually read this twice!

“The tennis church” by Sophie Hannah

“The missing guest” by Alice Sola Kim (Lenny, Dec 22, 2015, letter no. 13)

“Hidden Bodies: Chapter 7” by Caroline Kepnes (Lenny, Dec 22, 2015, letter no. 13)

“Field studies in digital love” by Emma Jane Unsworth (Lenny, Dec 22, 2015, letter no. 13)

“The Date-Night Babysitter’s Conduct Manual” by Emma Straub (Lenny, Dec 22, 2015, letter no. 13)

“Housekeeping!” by Helen Ellis (Lenny, Dec 22, 2015, letter no. 13)

“Home” by George Saunders (New Yorker, June 13 & 20, 2011)

“Asleep in the Lord” by Jeffrey Eugenides (New Yorker, June 13 & 20, 2011)

Essays

“My Christmas in New York” by Harper Lee

“Men explain things to me” by Rebecca Solnit

“80 books no woman should read” by Rebecca Solnit

“Men explain Lolita to me” by Rebecca Solnit

“The women’s movement” by Joan Didion

“The aquarium” by Aleksander Hemon (New Yorker, June 13 & 20, 2011)

“Archeology” by Jennifer Egan (New Yorker, June 13 & 20, 2011)

“The money” by Junot Díaz (New Yorker, June 13 & 20, 2011)

“Trading stories” by Jhumpa Lahiri (New Yorker, June 13 & 20, 2011)

“High-school confidential” by Téa Obreht (New Yorker, June 13 & 20, 2011)

“Shacks” by Edward P Jones (New Yorker, June 13 & 20, 2011)

Comics

Silk by Robbie Thompson and Dave Johnson, volume 1, issues 5-7

Silk by Robbie Thompson and Dave Johnson, volume 2, issues 1-2

Radioactive Spider Gwen by Jason Latour and Robbi Rodriguez, issues 1-3

Sex Criminals by Matt Fraction and Chip Zdarsky, issues 1-10

Fish by Bianca Bagnarelli