Is Mother Dead has been on my shelf for well over a year and this has served as another reminder that I need to get to it asap!! I love a book thats about the cost of telling the truth at whatever cost. Also so lovely to read your Butchers Crossing review (and to read it alongside you)
Hjorth has a new book out this year, I think! I am excited to read it and I also have IF ONLY.. which I plan to read soon, too! I can't get enough of her!
We sure trauma-bonded over reading Butcher's Crossing, didn't we?! So much of it was truly painful to read but none of it frivolous. I have been recommending this book a lot!
I finished Anna at the end of the year and also loved it. I studied it in first year of my Russian degree in 1993 and didn't like it at all back then. We grow.
And I saw you are reading War and Peace now too!!! I love it already and I really hope I can stay on the group schedule but even if I don't, I know I will finish it!!! So curious which one I will end up liking more.
SO EXCITED for Saturday!!! I hope the scheduling gods are kind to us!!!
It was just such a heartbreak, we both cried so much! She wasn't ready to let go of the magic just yet but she's so smart, she couldn't not figure it out.
I can't believe we've been doing this book newsletter thing for so long at this point!!! It's so nice to have that constant in our lives!
Butchers Crossing crushed me harder than Stoner. I think you summarize it so well: "It’s a story about obsession — about what happens when an idea (purity, truth, mastery, wealth) becomes more important than consequence." And I think we can look around an apply to too many things in our society today. Amazing month and year reading. Prolific.
I love this so much. Your whole journey with Anna was kind of a turning point for my own reading life, and I spent a lot of December thinking about the broader questions/themes/genres etc. that define my own sense of personal bookish taste. It was more a reflective month than an active one, but it was much needed and I feel like I’m more excited about books again than I have been in a while. In December I read Wild Dark Shore which kind of calcified everything for me—the hype got me, and I had been wanting to read it all year and put the pressure on to do so in case it became a new favourite. It was a bust for me but also a breakthrough I think I really needed at this time!
Good or bad, it's all information and we can work with that, right!!! I am so glad that my sharing my earnest efforts is helpful to you too. It's such a journey...
The Wall!! I'm always so happy when I see it among other people's favorites--I don't think I was an early adopter or herald of any kind, but it's just one of those books that you sorta adopt as your own, you know?
I know exactly what you mean and I love that feeling of just claiming a book as your own. I did that for all of CLB's work this past year!!! haha MINE.
Big hjorth fan here!! She’s on my completionist radar for sure —glad you had a good time with Is mother dead this month! I’m needing to get to If Only, the new one coming out in 26, and her first in English “a house in Norway”
Hjorth is amazing, precise and relentless at once! I read Long Live The Post Horn! after Celine Nguyen's recommendation and as soon as I finished it I had to read Will and Testament. The type of books that crack something open in me.
Among other things, this wonderful post reminded me that Butchers Crossing has been sitting on my Kindle for some time, waiting for me. Now I can change that. Also, I am so excited to explore. Hjorth! Thank you!
It doesn't sound like you need the extra nudge, but one more thing re: Butcher's Crossing. I personally do not care for Westerns and stories of the American West and even still, I was completely affected by it. You can enjoy the book for the ideas, for the characterization and/or for the language.
Great to know – I'm not a huge fan of westerns either, but sometimes they hit just right. One of my very favorite books is The Homesman, by Glendon Swarthout, which then became an equally amazing film with Tommy Lee Jones and Hilary Swank.
The books from 2025 I can't stop thinking about are Angel Down by Daniel Kraus and my reread of Daniel Mason's North Woods. Getting absorbed in a story, even while "real life" is unruly, is a top-tier feeling!
What a beautiful, honest reflection on the 'December transition’. I especially cheered when I got to your November update! Huge congratulations on finishing Anna Karenina. It is actually one of my absolute life-favorite books. There is something about the scale and the soul of that story that makes you feel like you’ve lived a second life by the time you reach the final page 🩷
Is Mother Dead has been on my shelf for well over a year and this has served as another reminder that I need to get to it asap!! I love a book thats about the cost of telling the truth at whatever cost. Also so lovely to read your Butchers Crossing review (and to read it alongside you)
Hjorth has a new book out this year, I think! I am excited to read it and I also have IF ONLY.. which I plan to read soon, too! I can't get enough of her!
We sure trauma-bonded over reading Butcher's Crossing, didn't we?! So much of it was truly painful to read but none of it frivolous. I have been recommending this book a lot!
I finished Anna at the end of the year and also loved it. I studied it in first year of my Russian degree in 1993 and didn't like it at all back then. We grow.
Hope to see you Saturday.
And I saw you are reading War and Peace now too!!! I love it already and I really hope I can stay on the group schedule but even if I don't, I know I will finish it!!! So curious which one I will end up liking more.
SO EXCITED for Saturday!!! I hope the scheduling gods are kind to us!!!
P.S. I unintentionally paywalled the whole entire post. I apologize for locking everyone out of the comments section! NOT how we roll around here.
Rumi...😢 I'm glad to hear that bookstore trips and Gilmore Girls worked their magic✨️
What a great reading year, and we get to do it all again in 2026! Happy New Year 🧡
It was just such a heartbreak, we both cried so much! She wasn't ready to let go of the magic just yet but she's so smart, she couldn't not figure it out.
I can't believe we've been doing this book newsletter thing for so long at this point!!! It's so nice to have that constant in our lives!
💛
Butchers Crossing crushed me harder than Stoner. I think you summarize it so well: "It’s a story about obsession — about what happens when an idea (purity, truth, mastery, wealth) becomes more important than consequence." And I think we can look around an apply to too many things in our society today. Amazing month and year reading. Prolific.
100%. The book felt so poignant, for so many reasons. I have recommended it a million times since I read it and it's been only a month...
I love this so much. Your whole journey with Anna was kind of a turning point for my own reading life, and I spent a lot of December thinking about the broader questions/themes/genres etc. that define my own sense of personal bookish taste. It was more a reflective month than an active one, but it was much needed and I feel like I’m more excited about books again than I have been in a while. In December I read Wild Dark Shore which kind of calcified everything for me—the hype got me, and I had been wanting to read it all year and put the pressure on to do so in case it became a new favourite. It was a bust for me but also a breakthrough I think I really needed at this time!
Good or bad, it's all information and we can work with that, right!!! I am so glad that my sharing my earnest efforts is helpful to you too. It's such a journey...
The Wall!! I'm always so happy when I see it among other people's favorites--I don't think I was an early adopter or herald of any kind, but it's just one of those books that you sorta adopt as your own, you know?
I know exactly what you mean and I love that feeling of just claiming a book as your own. I did that for all of CLB's work this past year!!! haha MINE.
Big hjorth fan here!! She’s on my completionist radar for sure —glad you had a good time with Is mother dead this month! I’m needing to get to If Only, the new one coming out in 26, and her first in English “a house in Norway”
Writing my list, checking it twice...
Hjorth is amazing, precise and relentless at once! I read Long Live The Post Horn! after Celine Nguyen's recommendation and as soon as I finished it I had to read Will and Testament. The type of books that crack something open in me.
Aaah! I will go read about it now!!! I read Will and Testament immediately after or very soon after reading Sad Tiger... I was a MESS.
Among other things, this wonderful post reminded me that Butchers Crossing has been sitting on my Kindle for some time, waiting for me. Now I can change that. Also, I am so excited to explore. Hjorth! Thank you!
It doesn't sound like you need the extra nudge, but one more thing re: Butcher's Crossing. I personally do not care for Westerns and stories of the American West and even still, I was completely affected by it. You can enjoy the book for the ideas, for the characterization and/or for the language.
Great to know – I'm not a huge fan of westerns either, but sometimes they hit just right. One of my very favorite books is The Homesman, by Glendon Swarthout, which then became an equally amazing film with Tommy Lee Jones and Hilary Swank.
I loved Is Mother Dead? which feels strange to write considering the content of the book. But it stayed with me long after I finished it.
I had the same thoughts reading it. Why is this so enjoyable? It is honest, it is insightful, it is deeply felt, it's unsentimental.
Yes, everything you've said and more. And, petty, but I also love the cover.
The books from 2025 I can't stop thinking about are Angel Down by Daniel Kraus and my reread of Daniel Mason's North Woods. Getting absorbed in a story, even while "real life" is unruly, is a top-tier feeling!
I added Butcher's Crossing to my Want to Read list. It sounds wonderful.
So did I! Looking forward to reading it. Thank you, Petya, for pointing it out.
What a beautiful, honest reflection on the 'December transition’. I especially cheered when I got to your November update! Huge congratulations on finishing Anna Karenina. It is actually one of my absolute life-favorite books. There is something about the scale and the soul of that story that makes you feel like you’ve lived a second life by the time you reach the final page 🩷