A selection of quotes and pictures to represent December’s reading:

commonplace book
noun
a book into which notable extracts from other works are copied for personal use.

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“That,” said Lazare, “is a pity. Have you ever reflected, Miss Sally, how much wasted energy would be saved if people would do at the beginning what, in the end, they will certainly have to do.”

The Red Lacquer Case by Patricia Wentworth (1924)

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Life was a puzzle box. It was made up of innumerable little drawers – some locked, some not, with glinting clasps and metal teeth. Someone was playing a game with her.

The Queen of Fives by Alex Hay (2025)

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But at his core, Sean was captivated by Helen as no one else had ever been, and he coaxed from her all that was special. The most important thing to her was that he accepted her, just as she was.

The Ghost of Madison Avenue by Nancy Bilyeau (2019)

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It reminded her that you can throw away the rules of life and let your creative instinct take over; that you can put strange, unfitting parts together and create something atypical but beautiful, something truly unique.

Carrion Crow by Heather Parry (2025)

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“We’ve got to take our chance. But if we don’t, it may never come again. Not like this. If we love one another, nothing else matters. Nothing. Get that straight. Love is something which you can’t order on a plate. It just serves itself – or doesn’t – whether you’re German or American. We must just take it – it may never be offered us again.”

A House on the Rhine by Frances Faviell (1955)

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Each bird laid an egg that was unlike any other that had ever been laid by any other guillemot in history. In the high-density fields of the North Yorkshire cliffs, where birds might roost at the rate of fifty pairs to a square yard, it was required that a bird knew exactly which egg was theirs, so that it didn’t end up warming one six inches to the left, or an inch to the right.

The Impossible Thing by Belinda Bauer (2025)

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My peers made arguments aplenty in their lilting Latin platitudes: that dreams lack reason, which is the truth of all matters. That dreams defy logic, which is the root of all things. That in dreaming, we surrender our enlightened mindfulness to baser, animalistic instincts and, in doing so, negate the essence of our humanity. I listened to the arguments unconvinced, for it often seemed to me that I was more human for dreaming.

The Resurrectionist by A. Rae Dunlap (2025)

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“But you know, my dear,” said Poirot gently, “people are never like what you remember them. You make them as the years go by, more and more the way you wish them to be, and as you think you remember them. If you want to remember them as agreeable and gay and handsome, you make them far more so than they actually were.”

Third Girl by Agatha Christie (1966)

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Her enthusiasm always surprised Agnes. ‘How you so, Margaret? You always happy and you have so much energy I wish I had.’

‘My mother always told me life don’t wait for no one. You have to make it yourself.’

Island Song by Pepsi Demacque-Crockett (2025)

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Also, I got just gently interested in history. I said to the history teacher, Miss Nelson, ‘The reason I like this subject is because everything in it is safely in the past, so I don’t have to get worked up and worried about it,’ and she replied that she thought this was ‘a very odd and ignorant attitude to have and really not true at all.’

Absolutely and Forever by Rose Tremain (2023)

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‘Sofi!’ There is an unusual edge to her tone and she darts a look at my drawing. ‘Do not speak so when you only see half the story. Why do you always fixate on circumstances that do not concern you, when you could be improving your own?’

The Woman in the Wallpaper by Lora Jones (2025)

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Favourite books read in December:

The Impossible Thing, The Resurrectionist and Island Song

Authors read for the first time in December:

Heather Parry, A. Rae Dunlap, Lora Jones, Pepsi Demacque-Crockett

Countries visited in my December reading:

England, Scotland, Germany, Wales, USA, France, St Lucia

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Reading notes: I took part in Dean Street December this month, reading two very different books published by Dean Street Press – The Red Lacquer Case and A House on the Rhine. As you can see, I’ve also been reading some of the books on my NetGalley shelf with publication dates in January and February, which I’ll be reviewing nearer the time.

In January, I’m hoping to read something for Japanese Literature Month but otherwise I’m just looking forward to starting a fresh new year of reading!

What did you read in December? Do you have any plans for your January reading?

Happy New Year!