december: 2024's finale of the reading stacks!

ta*da!! here are each of december’s weekly reading book review videos: complete with links where you can shop the titles (or learn more) while supporting the indie bookstore of your choice through bookshop.org

happy reading and story*hoarding, my frozen duckies! :D


✨📖 weekly reading book review december 2024: episode one!! 📖✨

here’s what i read this week:

💜 THE WAND KEEPERS: A SKY FULL OF DRAGONS by tiffany mcdaniel

📝 NOVELIST AS A VOCATION by haruki murakami 

currently reading:

💛 THE UNMAKING OF JUNE FARROW by adrienne young (re*read for book club !! 🙌🏽🌸)

miiiiight read next:

📰 NEWS OF THE WORLD by paulette jiles

🐱 I AM A CAT by sōseki natsume 

currently listening:

🎧 WHAT THE RIVER KNOWS by isabel ibañez (audio re*read so i may better enjoy the recently*released sequel!!)

on libro.fm: https://libro.fm/audiobooks/9781250336040-what-the-river-knows

currently watching:

(yes, again, of course.)

📺 disc 2 of GILMORE GIRLS season one….. “it’s max. maaaaxxxxxx medina….” 🙃☎️❄️

spent a delicious non*traditional pie day with family and football (& sketchbook for me!!) hope you got some rest this weekend, too. 🥰

⭐️

off to the studio,

💖xo,

*hallie 🤓


✨📖 weekly reading book review december 2024: episode two!! 📖✨

here’s what i read this week:

💛 THE UNMAKING OF JUNE FARROW by adrienne young

🩵 NEWS OF THE WORLD by paulette jiles

❤️ THE MOST WONDERFUL CRIME OF THE YEAR by ally carter

currently reading :

💙 THE PARTY by natasha preston 

reading next:

🧡 WHAT HAPPENED TO RUTHY RAMIREZ by claire jiménez (signed when i met her at writeshare summer camp 2024!! )

what stories are you loving right now?! 🥰

🎀🎬🩰🎨🎭✏️📰

💖xo,

*hallie 🤓


✨📖 weekly reading book review december 2024: episode three!! 📖✨

🚙 on this week’s roadtrip to nyc, i finished:

🖤 THE PARTY by natasha preston (teen thriller/slasher film… not for me. ☹️)

💛 WHAT HAPPENED TO RUTHY RAMIREZ by claire jiménez (adult literary fiction; read next to other readers on the subway! yay books!! 🙌🏽)

currently reading:

😬 THE BOOK OF STOLEN DREAMS by david farr (intense/violent/political mg…. i have feelings. 🫤)

🎧 finished on audio:

⚡️ HP 1 & 2 (shown here: the minalima interactive paper editions

might read next:

🤩 THE THIRTEENTH CHILD by erin a. craig (dark ya faerie tale ; mine from book of the month)

☕️ BEFORE WE FORGET KINDNESS by toshikazu kawaguchi (cozy japanese fiction; no.5 in the TALES FROM THE CAFE series. 🥰)

🎬

(i also spent a drizzly laundry recovery afternoon watching JOUR DE FÉTE by jacques tati & continuing season 1 of gilmore girls…. hope to go see MOANA 2 later this week…?! 🥰)

with all the glitter paint splatters of my heart,

💖xo,

*hallie 🤓

👉🏽 nyc24 highlight reel saved + my books of wonder & stationery store hauls are up, too!!

👉🏽 picture book deep dive & january happy mail poll coming to the crayon box this week, too!! 🥳🖍️


✨📖 weekly reading book review december 2024: episode four!! 📖✨

here’s what i read this week:

💙 THE BOOK OF STOLEN DREAMS by david farr 

🖤 THE THIRTEENTH CHILD by erin a. craig

book of the month coupon/link: https://app.bookofthemonth.com/refer-a-friend

💚 TAKE IT FROM THE TOP by claire swinarski

currently reading:

💜 IT’S ALL OR NOTHING, VALE by andrea beatriz arango(coming february 2025 from random house kids !! #arc )

miiiiiight be reading next:

💚 SMALL THINGS LIKE THESE by claire keegan

❤️ REFLECTION by elizabeth lim

💙 THE HUSBANDS by chandler baker

💛 LET IT GLOW by @marissameyerauthor & joanne levy (listening to the happy writer podcast episode where they’re interviewing the audiobook narrators! 🥹🎧 #specialskills )

❄️

wishing you a festive*as*ever monday,

💖xo,

*hallie 🤓


✨📖 weekly reading book review december 2024: episode five!! 📖✨


this week, i finished:

🤺 IT’S ALL OR NOTHING, VALE by andrea beatriz arango (coming feb. 2025 from random house kids!! ; thanks for the free ARC!! #randomhousekidspartner )


🔥 THE HUSBANDS by chandler baker


🔬 THE MILLICENT QUIBB SCHOOL OF ETIQUETTE FOR YOUNG LADIES OF MAD SCIENCE by kate mcKinnon


currently reading:


🐑 A WILD SHEEP CHASE by haruki murakami


✏️ ART CLUB by rashad doucet


miiiiight be reading next :


🩵 HOWL’S MOVING CASTLE by diana wynne jones 


🎭 ALL’S WELL THAT ENDS WELL by wm. shakespeare (see also: my “brush up your shakespeare: 2025” blog post!!)


🎟️ and an assortment of scripts from t.s. eliot, samuel beckett, noel coward, & david henry hwang. 



let me know what stories YOU’RE loving right now!! 

😄🎧🎨🎬🎭📺💚📝


👉🏽 & crayon box members: please don’t forget to vote in january’s #happymail poll before wednesday!!


👉🏽 & NEW crayon box members can get 25% off your first month for december’s stickerS, your welcome pack, voting rights, & more!! 😄💖🖍️ now through midnight NYE!! 🪩

🥳

wishing you every merry glittering blessing,

💜xo,

*hallie 🤓


so nothing this month hit me as a new-favorite-forever kind of book, but i did enjoy ally carter’s THE MOST WONDERFUL CRIME OF THE YEAR a whole bunch! and the other two gave me a lot to talk &/or think about. :)

🐑 A WILD SHEEP CHASE by haruki murakami (for the unexpected stream-of-narrative oddity from a popular author i hadn’t read)


🌸 THE UNMAKING OF JUNE FARROW by adrienne young (a re*read—this time in paperback—for a very lively and intriguing book club discussion!!)


🎄THE MOST WONDERFUL CRIME OF THE YEAR by ally carter (swoony & funny rivals*to*more crime fiction at a snowed*in*mansion of an iconic mystery author)


🎀
here’s to a happy new year full of new stories!!

hallie bertlingComment