Hello lovelies! The new year has officially begun! I can’t wait to see what this year will bring, and I wish all of you the very best! I will write a post about my writing goals for 2023, but I’m currently still processing all the good stuff I read, watched, and listened to in December!
Sooo, without further ado, here are my December favorites:
I Read…
Saint by Adrienne Young!
She did it again, y’all! Technically a prequel to her Fable duology, Saint depicts the epic love story between Fable’s parents—a relationship that is referenced many times in the duology, with varying degrees of reverence and mythologizing.
I loved both Fable and Namesake (as well as The Last Legacy), and I couldn’t wait to dive into Saint’s origin story! It was everything I could hope for (and more). The lush worldbuilding, the high seas adventures, the smugglers and pirates and morally grey characters that you can’t help cheer for, the vibes—ghaaa, it was all SO GOOD! AGAIN!
Elias and Isolde’s story is wonderful; reading how they came together was chef’s kiss! Their story is cinematic and romantic, with compelling character-building and consuming prose that transported me straight to the azure waters of The Narrows.
I Watched…
Wednesday on Netflix!
Based on “The Addams Family” comics by Charles Addams, the show focuses on Wednesday Addams as she tries to solve a series of murders while navigating life at her new school: Nevermore Academy. Nevermore is a school for outcasts—psychics, sirens, vampires, and werewolves.
The series begins by showing the stoic, delightfully morbid Wednesday pulling a prank on the water polo players bullying Pugsley by dumping live piranhas in their pool during their practice. I mean, do I even have to say more? No, I don’t! But I will: when Thing finally made its debut, I did a little happy squeak! I know it’s just a hand controlled by a guy in a blue bodysuit, but Thing is ICONIC!
In all, the amazing acting, directing, and music has me wanting more (and by the way the show ended, I truly hope Netflix is gearing up for a second season).
I Listened to…
December was a month filled with concerts! My ultimate favorite was the opera Turandot by Puccini, as performed by the Dutch National Opera and the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Lorenzo Viotti and directed by Barrie Kosky.
Turandot is about an icy princess. By law, she must marry a royal suitor—if he can solve three riddles. If he fails to solve the riddles, his head is very dramatically chopped off. The opera is an extremely dystopian fairy story, with lyrics about torture and humiliation and the chorus literally calling out for blood. Kosky set the story in a dark dreamworld of distorting mirrors, a massive skull descending from the ceiling, and a glittering singing skeleton-emperor. It was all very Wednesday-eske, and I loved how he ensnared the audience in this strange, moody story.
Turandot was the last opera Puccini wrote before he died; in fact, he didn’t get to finish it. Kosky and Viotti decided to honor this by performing a fade-out: leaving the story open, the theater dark, the music dying. Only the haunting whispers of the fairy dreamworld remained—until they, too, dissolve into nothingness.
Mannnn, this was a musical storytelling experience I won’t soon forget!