Consumption Diaries No. 25: December

by David Hettinger

Last Consumption Diaries of the year! I finished six books this month, which is actually the most books I’ve read in any given month this year. A far cry from my pandemic days of reading 80+ books a year, but things are different for me now and as long as I’m reading something, I’m happy with it. If I were not so obsessed with tracking and lists, I’d try to move away from counting this total at all, but I think it would give me more anxiety to not know.

However, I’m still always looking for the best way to keep track of my reading! I’ve tried spreadsheets before, which I typically forget about, and Goodreads is, well, Goodreads. I have enjoyed StoryGraph since its conception because I like the data it gives you and some of the features, but I find myself wanting more from that app too. I also recently downloaded Fable because all the cool girlies (Gen Zs) seemed to be doing that, and so far it’s a nice interface and I love that it includes TV shows, but I cannot possibly update THREE apps every time I read a book. So this is a plea: How do you track your reading, if you do at all, and what’s worked best for you?

what I read

Intermezzo by Sally Rooney

If you’ve spent any time in bookish internet spheres this year, you’ve surely seen plenty of discourse around Rooney’s latest, from the book’s contents to her writing to that interview where she discussed the merits of growth in her writing.

I have two sisters who are my whole world and a brother with whom I will likely never reconcile; that such joy and sorrow can exist within one plane is often incomprehensible to me. Family, though, is the most multitudinous entity there is. Holding both happiness and grief in your hands is simply evidence that you are part of one.

But in regards to novels about families, I gravitate toward storylines between sisters — a relationship I find to be one of the most sacred of all. (Two of my favorites this year were Blue Sisters by Coco Mellors and Private Rites by Julia Armfield.) Rarely do I read books about brotherhood. But, at least as told by Intermezzo, it’s all the same, the joy and sorrow held in one fist. I can’t ever find words to encompass the expanse, but I’m not surprised that Sally Rooney could. Whether you love her or balk at her popularity, you have to recognize her keen observation of humanity, of our relationships with one another. She’s never writing love stories, but they’re all love stories anyway.

Rental House by Weike Wang

A few years into Keru and Nate’s marriage, which is marked by their starkly different upbringings, the couple decides to invite their respective parents to a rental house on vacation. Keru’s Chinese immigrant parents, who are strict and often demanding of Keru, clash with Keru and Nate in different ways than Nate’s parents, working-class Republicans from North Carolina, find themselves at odds with the two. Things are nearly always tense, a pressure cooker of misunderstanding from all parties, but Keru and Nate are determined to make their family unit work.

Wang’s writing is straightforward and wry, which I thought was also the case for the other book of hers I’ve read, Joan is Okay; it takes me a moment to get into the rhythm because it’s not really what I expect, but once I do, I can appreciate the subtle humor. I did kind of wonder if the stereotype of the overbearing Asian parents was validating or if it was just a little tired, but it probably depends on how much lit fic concerning this theme you’ve read — and it’s not my place to say regardless!

I didn’t love this novel, but I certainly didn’t hate it. I’ve also seen mixed reviews floating around, but I wouldn’t let the negative ones deter you from picking this one up if you’re curious about the themes. And if this is your first Weike Wang, I think it’ll hit a lot more. I think books like this are fun because you aren’t influenced by either a slew of rave reviews or pressure to fit in and hate it. Also, thanks to the publisher for sending me a galley copy and making me feel fancy.

Revenge by Yoko Ogawa

I tend to struggle with short stories, despite my best efforts. I really want to be a short story girl. I understand them in theory, and I like what they’re aiming to do. But in practice, I tend to get lost and frustrated, and I feel like I’ve missed the point. Something that helps that is when the short stories are all related somehow, and Revenge delivers on that. These weird, dark little stories aren’t necessarily woven together, as the threads between them are tenuous, but they are there nonetheless, reminding readers how connected we all are regardless of our rich inner lives. These stories just happen to have a cute little element of horror to them.

If you’re a regular horror reader, none of these short stories will be particularly appalling, but they are either morbid or weird or dark. I felt like it was quintessentially Japanese lit, certainly rooted in reality but just with a twinge of something a little dark, maybe a little mythical. The Japanese translated fiction I’ve read is always straightforward in its prose, but it both does and doesn’t make sense — it’s up to your own interpretation. I didn’t have to struggle as much to “get it,” and that’s a win for me despite it ultimately not solidifying itself into something I loved.

A December to Remember by Jenny Bayliss

My only holiday season read this year, oops! I’ve read a lot of Jenny Bayliss as I think her cozy, small English town settings are some of the best for this time of year. They’re holiday-ish, but they never hit you over the head with Christmas, so I appreciate that you could read these in any cold month and feel immersed.

I also appreciate that her books aren’t really romances, though I think because they are marketed as such, they could be disappointing to some audiences. There is no spice, as the kids say, though there is always a romantic element to the plot. A December to Remember is even less so a romance, focusing instead on three estranged sisters as they are forced to come together in the wake of their mischievous and fantastical father’s death in order to fulfill his final wishes and reap the benefits of the estate he left behind. No surprise to anyone who's been here for a bit, I love sister narratives! The relationship between these sisters is very sweet. They’re all in their late adulthood years and navigating real adult issues rather than some of the sillier ones that the young adulthood romances contain.

Mouth to Mouth by Antoine Wilson

I love it when a little free library find works out! This cleverly named short novel takes place entirely through the eyes of a third-party narrator, whom the story is narrated to himself. Our narrator runs into Jeff, an old college acquaintance — never really a friend — in the airport, and the two spend their hours-long flight delay in the first-class lounge, recounting a story that changed the trajectory of Jeff’s life but that he has never told another person about. Shortly after graduation, Jeff saves a man’s life while swimming and, bowled over by the unexpected simplicity and mundanity that accompanied such a monumental act, becomes obsessed with the man whose story would not have continued without Jeff’s intervention.

I find this type of narration so clever because it is so unreliable, and readers are left to interpret and assume as they please. The narrator, a writer, doesn’t add much of his own opinion on Jeff’s story, so we are only being relayed the events as they unfolded in the eyes of someone who you immediately aren’t sure if you can trust. As he reveals his choices in pursuing the identity of the man whose life he saved, Jeff feels increasingly morally gray as a person — or does he? You are forced to ask yourself what you would do, or wouldn’t do, and how far you’d go to keep up a lie.

I also found myself thinking a lot about how flawed we all are, and how we tend to understand that about ourselves and those closest to us, but we flatten strangers and acquaintances to our brief interactions and interpretations of them. Of all the people we’ve stumbled across in our lifetimes, how many will we ever get to know as complicated people with inner lives and motivations different than ours? How many have saved lives, or ruined them?

The Obelisk Gate by N.K. Jemisin

After reading The Fifth Season earlier this year, I wanted to complete the Hugo award-winning sci-fi/fantasy trilogy before I completely lost steam and forgot about them forever. I have never been much of a fantasy book person, for no specific reason. I like sci-fi more, generally speaking, and so these books are perfect — though they lean more toward sci-fi, the second book starts introducing more fantasy and the two blend together well. The Obelisk Gate picks up right where The Fifth Season left off, and though it took me a minute to get into the story and its concepts (this was the case for me with the first book as well), it really sucked me in and I found it to be smoother and more gripping than the first book, probably because it didn’t need to spend as much time world-building.

what I watched

Tis the season for the horrible Netflix Christmas movie, so there isn’t much to say about that. I did squeeze Nosferatu right in under the wire, though, and honestly, hell ya it was fun. I found the pacing to be a bit weird, personally, as certain bits dragged for me (we get it, she’s convulsing), but Lily-Rose Depp was so captivating on-screen that I’ll forgive it. I am so thrilled that practical effects and old-school horror seem to be making a comeback in the genre, and this movie in particular is visually stunning, which is not something you get out of most horror these days!

I also finished two K-dramas: Brewing Love, a new release, and While You Were Sleeping, not to be confused with the problematic-yet-charming Sandra Bullock “rom” “com.” The former was light and fluffy but not particularly memorable, and the latter I loved. I’m in the middle of Snowdrop, which is maybe too long but really captivating nonetheless in its blending of political thriller and romance, and the internet’s favorite of the moment, When the Phone Rings. It is so much, and I love it.

That’s it from me this month, though look out for my yearly round-up coming shortly. And I’ll leave you with my vibe of the month:

Before you go: Find me on Instagram, Goodreads, StoryGraph, or Letterboxd to keep up with my oversharing and obsessive tracking habits in real-time.