Another journal

One of the things I want to do for this year is do monthly bookposts. I read apparently 91 books in 2025, a number which normally would indicate I am having ~problems~ but I haven’t, and my time management has been good, so! I think a bit of that volume was me tearing through some series like Nero Wolfe. Anyway, I do keep short little reviews on Storygraph but I thought it would be nice to integrate the fun little visuals they provide for each month and share those here.

Also, a friend has reached 20 years of bookposts and wow! Throwing my hat in the ring. Though I must note: I am not a reviewer, I do not have the mind for it. I can write you a tasty little paragraph max.

All that said, I’m not properly counting my monthly bookposting until I am doing it about January’s reads, but a quick warmup into the concept with December, why not.

Here are my Storygraph reviews for my top rated books:

The Witch Roads by Kate Elliott

Deeeeeeelightful. Tore through this and now impatiently await the second book’s release from library hold. Love the worldbuilding, love the intrigue, the characters, the food descriptions, but oooh boy love me a yearn and the one hear is all slow burn.

Somebody recommended this to me or to folks in general and I don’t know who! But it’s a duology and it’s very fun. Mmm, flavours of The Isle in the Silver Sea by Tasha Suri and Magebike Courier duology by Hana Lee, so if you like one or the other then the other two might also hit for you.

Night of the Living Cat Vol. 1 by Hawkman with Mecha-Roots (Illustrator), Nan Rymer (Translator)

What a delight! I had seen the anime and wanted to check out the manga, which is even more full of horror references (down to its own dense, darks-heavy style). What an utter delight this is, especially for the horror nerd. It’s a celebration of genre and trope, but also: cats.

I’d actually bought Night of the Living Cat–we watched the first season of the anime and loved it utterly. There are so many treats in there for the horror or sci-fi fan. And all the while the story very aggressively avoids violence (at most, loud noises or water to scare cats, which make everyone feel sad) while blackout-bingoing horror tropes. So I used a gift certificate I earned through insurance points (what a world) and bought myself some treats at a bookstore. I don’t need nor have space for the full run of this right now, though I super want to have them at some point. The art looks like a horror manga, but its just: cats.

The Magician of Tiger Castle by Louis Sachar

This was a delight! The same things that make Schar so fun in his Wayside and other middle reader books translate enjoyably to a grown up book. The framing was fun, the characters were a delight, and the story was a joyful romp with a smidge of darkness.

I couldn’t remember why I’d put this book in my Libby hold but as I was flipping through the front matter, a title caught my eye and I paged back: Oh. Wayside!!! This was the second book I’d read recently from someone who mostly wrote YA or middle grade and where the other made me mad, this one was a grade-A romp. It’s fun to have fun!!

Okay and here’s just a pretty gradient of all the books read for December. I’ll pull out Battle Royale by Koushun Takami and Saltcrop by Yume Kitasei as two more faves and note that if you are interested in historical burial practises and/or vampires, Killing The Dead by John Blair is a tasty non-fiction.

Okay, that’s it for December reads! I think this is how I’ll approach it for the upcoming year.