This month was the first time I tried my hand at predicting Book of the Month selections. I would say that I did an okay job. Book of the Month has strangely been including older releases, and it definitely threw me off. Those are not something I can really predict.
Main Picks | Add-Ons | My Predictions | My Choices
Main Picks
Olga Dies Dreaming
Xochitl Gonzalez
Ren Scarborough is on a journey to impress Two siblings vie for the American dream until Hurricane Maria drags their estranged mother back into their lives.
I was going to predict that Olga Dies Dreaming was a January pick, but it looks like we get it early!
Contemporary Fiction
A History of Wild Places
Shea Ernshaw
A mesmerizing tale about the search for a missing woman last seen going into an isolated forest town with some secrets.
Contemporary Fiction
A Flicker in the Dark
Stacy Willingham
When a serial killer emerges with an eerily familiar pattern, Chloe Davis wonders if she’s really escaped her past.
I was also going to predict A Flicker in the Night as a January selection.
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December 2021 Book of the Month Predictions
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Somebody’s Daughter
Ashley C. ford
A moving coming-of-age memoir about the complications of family provides ample testament to the resilience of love.
Memoir
The Holiday Swap
Maggie Knox
Tis the season for hijinks! Twins who could both use a reset decide to revive their childhood habit and swap places.
Romance
Add-Ons
But You Seemed So Happy: A Marriage in Pieces and Bits
Kimberly Harrington
In these witty essays, divorce is an onion—it’s got lots of layers and is bound to make you cry (with laughter).
Essays
Taste Makers: Seven Immigrant Women Who Revolutionized Food in America
Mayukh Sen
Sometimes a melting pot is not a metaphor. This book profiles immigrant women who left an indelible mark on how we eat.
Narrative Nonfiction
The Anthropocene Reviewed
John Green
In this witty collection of essays filled with insightful ideas, John Green reviews the faults—and merits—in ourselves.
Memoir
The Postmistress of Paris
Meg Waite Clayton
The Postmistress of Paris is inspired by the real life Chicago heiress Mary Jayne Gold, who worked with American journalist Varian Fry to smuggle artists and intellectuals out of France.
Historical Fiction
My Predictions
I predicted two out of five of the main picks. I was actually planning on predicting Olga Dies Dreaming and A Flicker in the Dark as January Book of the Month selections. It looks like we get them a month earlier than I originally thought!
Somebody’s Daughter and The Anthropocene Reviewed were published in June and May, respectively. I do not recall Book of the Month including previously published books as selections and add-ons until the past few months. I am a bit stumped by this. Personally, I already own some of the books they have been including that were previously published, like Somebody’s Daughter, It Ends With Us, and My Dark Vanessa.
My Choices
Main Picks
I was only interested in two main selections this month – Olga Dies Dreaming and A Flicker in the Dark. I have already read A History of Wild Places, Somebody’s Daughter, and The Holiday Swap. So that made choosing the main selections quite easy. Both Olga Dies Dreaming and A Flicker in the Dark are January releases I am looking forward to reading. I also try to buy any of the BOTM selections by BIPOC authors if I am at all interested, because I want to show BOTM that books by these authors sell and they should keep including them. (I will eventually write something about the previous controversary of BOTM, but we are going to skip that for now.)
Add-Ons
I thought the add-ons were really interesting selections this month. Three nonfiction and one fiction is both fewer add-ons than usual and quite a few more nonfiction picks than typical. I was unfamiliar with both But You Seemed So Happy and Taste Makers, which are previously published books.
But You Seemed So Happy is one of those books that I will wait to see reviews from people I trust prior to committing to it. Is it actually funny? How much of a downer is it? These are two questions I need to have answered before purchasing this book.
Taste Makers is one of those books that I will select because it is a subject I know little about. I love to learn, especially about things that are outside my knowledge base and this fits the bill.
The Anthropocene Reviewed is a book that I am just not interested in. I am not huge on essays or short stories.
As for The Postmistress of Paris, this is actually a book I have had my eye on. I own Meg Waite Clayton’s previous book, The Last Train to London, which is well-regarded. I have yet to read, but that will not stop me from also buying The Postmistress of Paris. I love historical fiction that is based upon real life heroines that have been overlooked by history. And this is another book that fits the bill!
What books did you choose for your December BOTM selections? Let me know in the comments!
Read Between the Spines 