Seasonal Work by Laura Lippman
My rating: 5/5 cats
WELCOME TO DECEMBER PROJECT!
this explanation/intro will be posted before each day’s short story. scroll down to get to the story-review.
this is the FOURTH year of me doing a short story advent calendar as my december project. for those of you new to me or this endeavor, here’s the skinny: every day in december, i will be reading a short story that is 1) available free somewhere on internet, and 2) listed on goodreads as its own discrete entity. there will be links provided for those of you who like to read (or listen to) short stories for free, and also for those of you who have wildly overestimated how many books you can read in a year and are freaking out about not meeting your 2019 reading-challenge goals. i have been gathering links all year when tasty little tales have popped into my feed, but i will also accept additional suggestions, as long as they meet my aforementioned 1), 2) standards.
if you scroll to the end of the reviews linked here, you will find links to all the previous years’ stories, which means NINETY-THREE FREEBIES FOR YOU!
2016: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show…
2017: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show…
2018: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show…
reviews of these will vary in length/quality depending on my available time/brain power.
so, let’s begin
DECEMBER 23
It was hard to pick between the books and the locket, but the locket was forever whereas a book gets used up after a while. I was worried Gary was going to say that the locket was too valuable to keep, but he inspected it, nodding, and said: “Filigree.” I didn’t know what that meant, but I knew it was something that wasn’t quite good enough. I could imagine him looking at me one day and saying just that. “Filigree.” I was filigree and Barrett was pure gold. I didn’t mind. She was his real daughter, after all. I wanted him to treat her good, to think of her as something far more precious than me.
reminds self (not for the first time) to read more laura lippman ASAP.
laura lippman is so good. this story is so good.
it’s a baltimore christmas story featuring tess monaghan—lippman’s much-beloved/acclaimed PI and it is a perfect antidote to all that feel-good holiday fare bing-bonging around that’s been making me feel extra grinchy lately.
it’s absorbing and engaging and you’re deep into it; engrossed in the situation, feeling the characters, loving the voice and then it bites your head off just because it can.
holidays are exhausting and emotional. my feet hurt, my time is spoken for, my wallet is empty; the days are all unreasonable to do lists and the nights are all stress dreams. but carving out a little time each day to read a short story, especially when they are good, has given me an oasis in the glittery sugarstorm of panic and despair and double-sided tape. i am grateful for these moments.
give yourself a stocking stuffer of me-time and read this one!
read it for yourself here:
https://therumpus.net/2017/12/rumpus-…
*******************************************
DECEMBER 1
DECEMBER 2
DECEMBER 3
DECEMBER 4
DECEMBER 5
DECEMBER 6
DECEMBER 7
DECEMBER 8
DECEMBER 9
DECEMBER 10
DECEMBER 11
DECEMBER 12
DECEMBER 13
DECEMBER 14
DECEMBER 15
DECEMBER 16
DECEMBER 17
DECEMBER 18
DECEMBER 19
DECEMBER 20
DECEMBER 21
DECEMBER 22
DECEMBER 24
DECEMBER 25
DECEMBER 26
DECEMBER 27
DECEMBER 28
DECEMBER 29
DECEMBER 30
DECEMBER 31
read my book reviews on goodreads
