December 2025 Reading

You’ll have to wait a little longer for my Best of 2025 list (I'm having a hard time narrowing it to ten) but here is my December reading.  I think my favorite was the newest installment of the Thursday Murder Club.  Osman's gift for conveying what his characters are thinking is impressive.  That is why I think a voiceover would have made the Netflix adaptation even stronger (also it should have been a multi-part series).

Suspense

The Charity Shop Detective Agency by Peter Boland (2022). Several months ago, I started listening to this mystery about three friends who volunteer at a charity shop somewhere near Dorset. They are upset when a favorite client is murdered and decide to (somewhat ineptly) help the police with their investigation. When my library canceled its Hoopla subscription, I was left stranded mid-story and it took quite a while to find a print copy from ILL. Probably not worth the effort but I hate not finishing a book.

Christmas with the Queen by Hazel Gaynor and Heather Webb

This unusual historical novel from writing duo Gaynor and Webb uses the early years of Queen Elizabeth II’s reign as the backdrop for the friendship and developing romance between Jack Devereaux, a young chef from New Orleans, and Olive Carter, an ambitious young journalist for the BBC. 

Six Degrees of Separation – from I Capture the Castle to White House Autumn

It’s time for #6degrees, inspired by Kate at Books Are My Favourite and Best. We all start at the same place, add six books, and see where we end up. This month’s starting point is I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith (1948) which I read for the first time twenty-six years ago and have already used in a #6degrees. It’s about two sisters who live with their eccentric father and stepmother in a decrepit castle. They spend most of their time trying to improve their finances but yearn for excitement. 

Surely anyone who has read this book remembers the first sentence: “I write this sitting in the kitchen sink. . . .”

Meeting Brian Jacques

Belatedly I wanted to comment on Brian Jacques, the author of the Redwall series, who died in February. I would not have read his books had I not been working at Berkley, which at that time was one of his publishers. When I learned he was coming to the US to tour for a new book (sometime in 1995, I believe), I read Redwall and the first sequel, and was fortunate enough to have a memorable lunch with him and several of my colleagues. He was very warm and outgoing. Not surprisingly, I was the only one who had read his books, which he appreciated, and we joked about how he had named one of his characters, a badger, Constance, and I said I was glad not to have been a rat. He wrote a nice inscription in the hardcover I had brought with me, asserting that I was more attractive than my badger counterpart. We took him to a fancy steakhouse, Morton’s on Fifth Avenue, where my portion of steak was large enough to have fed my entire family growing up, and we all commented that the huge bowl of spinach was every child’s worst nightmare!

Brian, perhaps guessing that many Americans have a fascination with the British Royal Family, told us that recently he had met Queen Elizabeth when she visited Liverpool, and shaken her hand (I guess people don’t bow much any more!). He then shook hands with all of us, and told us half solemnly, half seriously, “Now you are just once removed from touching the Queen of England!” Anglophile that I am, this gave me a thrill! I hope I still have my autographed book - I have not seen it recently, but there are still a lot of books in boxes.