Books I've Read & Places I've Loved: December 2017
Originally published on December 31st, 2017
Guys. This series is officially a year old, and that's the longest I've held on to a project. I remember dreaming this up and thinking how much fun I'd have making it, and that's still true. Even though sometimes I spend hours hurriedly taking pictures of the books I've read and remember all the places I visited in a month, I still love it and I still have fun making it. I see this as a summary of my month, and I look back over past editions often to remember the feeling that went along with a specific month. With all that said, here are the books I read and the places I loved in December of 2017.
BOOKS I'VE READ
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
I have watched A Muppet's Christmas Carol every Christmas for as long as I can remember. Because of this, I spent much of this book thinking "that's not how it is in the original!" before realizing that, oh right, this is the original. I love this story because it's a mixture of my favorite things- Christmas, nostalgia, and, of course, redemption of the 'villian.' If you're a fan of any movie adaption of this story but haven't read the book, I recommend reading it next December (or anytime you could use a little Christmas spirit).
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
This was December's book club book, and I have to say it is definitely my favorite that I've read so far. I loved it so much that I've been recommending it to everyone who asks me for a book recommendation, and I've been singing it's praises to anyone who will listen (and some who probably couldn't care less). Even though I've been recommending it to everyone, I will say one thing- it certainly isn't lighthearted. It's heavy, deep, and at times difficult. The writing is beautiful and fairly easy to read, but the story itself is one of the hardest I've read to date. Still, it's beautiful and one of the best books I read all year.
PLACES I'VE LOVED
My School's Gym
Yeah, our Christmas banquet was in the gym. It was beautiful though, with colors and streamers and a Christmas tree on the stage. I already wrote about how the banquet went, so I won't go on for too long, but I wanted to say again that it was beautiful, nostalgic, and I loved it. This was by far my favorite banquet that I've gone to. Probably because it came with a lack of expectation, and I was with some of my favorite people the whole time.
Starbucks
Like last month, breaks from school mean that I get to see my friends who now go to college (which, not gonna lie, makes me feel weirdly old). It was really nice to catch up with one my bestests of friends, and afterward we went to the Trader Joe's across the street where I bought flowers for me and my mom. This was easily one of my favorite days of the break, and there were many of those.
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Happy end of December! I hope this year was good for all of you, and that it brought you lots of good things. Like last year, this is the last post that will go up this year. With that said, I'd like to leave you with a quote I found recently that I've come to love: "I hope that in this year to come, you make mistakes. Because if you are making mistakes, then you are making new things, trying new things, learning, living, pushing yourself, changing yourself, changing your world. You're doing things you've never done before, and more importantly, you're doing something." ~ Neil Gaiman
I hope you all have a wonderful last day of 2017, and that 2018 is your best year yet.