What I Read in December

OK, OK, so it wasn't exactly the grand reading finale I'd hoped for, but I finished 64 books this year, & I feel pretty good about it. Sure, I was aiming for 80 - but hey, 64 feels pretty darn good. The average person reads, like, four books a year, right? So I'm doin' all right.

Here are the five books that rounded out my 2019. How about you?

She Said: Breaking the Sexual Harassment Story That Helped Ignite a Movement by Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey
Easily one of the best books I've read this year (full list coming soon), She Said is written by the two award-winning New York Times journalists who uncovered, painstakingly investigated, & ultimately broke the Harvey Weinstein sexual assault story. It is, in my opinion, one of the most incredible nonfiction reads of the decade, written by two brilliant, compassionate, thoughtful, & skilled journalists who prove, with every single sentence on the page, why journalism is still so very necessary. ★★★★★

Call Me God: The Untold Story of the DC Sniper Investigation by Jim Clemente & Tim Clemente
This was my favorite kind of true-crime audiobook: the kind that sounds exactly like a podcast. Jim Clemente is the former FBI profiler; his brother, Tim, is a counter-terrorism expert & former FBI agent. They both worked on the 2002 D.C. sniper investigations, which this audiobook describes in depth. It was incredibly in-depth, interesting, & emotionally moving. ★★★★★

Saving Zoë by Alyson Noel 
This YA novels follows Echo, a high school freshman whose older sister Zoë was brutally murdered one year earlier. The book doesn't really address the murder itself, which is, you know... nice. It's primarily about how Echo manages in the wake of the tragedy - with her parents, at school, & when interacting with Zoë's ex-boyfriend, who the whole town seems to despise. ★★★★☆

Celebrating Eucharist: A Mass Book for Children
Yep, I'm counting this. I mean, I did read it! Sure, it's for kids, but it was also fairly in-depth for a "quick" read. I read it during the mass that preceded the baptism of our friends' daughter & found it both interesting & relatively helpful - though it didn't define a lot of unfamiliar-to-me-words (doxology, antiphon, paten, ciborium). Don't kids need to learn those definitions, too, or do Catholics come out of the womb just knowing?!

Look Me in the Eye: My Life with Asperger's by John Elder Robinson
Robinson, the brother of author Augusten Burroughs, writes about growing up with Asperger syndrome, long before Asperger syndrome was named or diagnosed. He's brilliant, thoughtful, & often misunderstood as being rude or disrespectful - just because his brain works differently than most. After working in the music industry, he also has some great stories (though they drag on at points), making for an interesting peek into his neuroatypical mind. ★★★☆☆

Tell me what you're reading, then add me on Goodreads to keep in touch & see what I've read in months past. You can also follow my bookstagram account!

My "What I Read in..." posts include Amazon affiliate links to the titles I discuss. If you buy a book using one of these links, I will receive a small percentage of commission. Please don't feel any obligation to use these links, but if you do, it will help me buy more books.