All the books I read in November.
The festive season is now upon us but before I set out on some Christmassy reads, it’s time for another wrap up. Throughout November I finished 13 books (4 novels, a novella, 3 non-fiction books, 2 graphic novels, a short story collection, a poetry anthology and a play). I was predominantly in the mood for shorter reads for most of the month, hence the decent number I got through, and this brought my yearly total up to 126.
The highlight amongst them was in fact my most recent read, Spyglass by Hélène Deschamps. It’s the autobiography of a young woman who served as an undercover agent for the French Resistance and the American OSS during WWII, surviving against extreme odds time and time again, and completing dangerous missions despite her fears out of duty and honour to resist Hitler’s Nazi regime. Her life was truly incredible and has a ‘stranger than fiction’ feel, though what I respected most of all was the humanity she instilled within it, never afraid to admit her doubts, fears and regrets.
I also loved The Country Set by Hannah Dale, a collection of gorgeous paintings of animals native to the British countryside, accompanied by some interesting information about each species. Sweet Home by Carys Bray and Dolly by Susan Hill also stand out, the former being a collection of stories that focus on the struggles of family life and the latter a creepy novella that gets under your skin.
Undoubtedly one of the most unique reads however was Nutshell by Ian McEwan, a re-telling of Shakespeare’s Hamlet about betrayal and murder, narrated from the perspective of an unborn child. Yes, really.
All-in-all it was a very successful and enjoyable reading month and I look forward to seeing what December will bring.
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What was your favourite read in November?
Ooh, do you already have your festive reads in mind? Is there a favourite you go back to at this time of year? Your total is mighty impressive, and such a varied selection, too 🙂
I’m planning to read The Christmasaurus by Tom Fletcher soon for a bit of festive fun. I’m also hoping to try and pick up the new collection of Christmas themed short stories by Jeanette Winterson, and Letters from Father Christmas by Tolkien.
Around this time last year I read the first of the illustrated Harry Potters and I’ve been saving the second one for this coming month, so I’m hoping to make that a bit of a tradition as each one comes out 🙂
Do you have any specific reads planned?
That sounds like an excellent tradition to start. Tom’s book will be on my list too because my nephew loves his books and I love reading to him. Other than that I’m not really sure… I haven’t done nearly enough reading so might go on the hunt for a Christmas themed reading bonanza! 🙂
I’m such a mood reader that I don’t tend to pick up seasonal things very often but this year it’s worked out nicely that I just seem to be really in the mood for festive books at the moment 😛
Sounds good! I hope you and your nephew both enjoy it 🙂
I read four books in November! The non-fiction book I’m reading is “Jeffrey Gittomer’s Little Platinum Book of Cha-Ching”. In it he recommends cutting out some television time to exchange for reading. Like I needed the push! Okay, maybe I did. Thank you, Gittomer.
My favorite of the four was “Festive In Death” by J.D. Robb, simply because the author mentioned Reiki in it! I read that she had an energy healer at her Girl’s Night event at Turn The Page last month. I have so much admiration for Robb as a person, and now it seems we have more in common than ever. I also read “Obsession In Death” which put my mind at ease that I am not dangerous to the author, lol.
I read a poetry collection! “Leaf” by Joanne Van Leerdam. I enjoyed it very much,. I thought of you and my good friend Lynn Burton as I read through the poems, because the two of you read a lot more poetry collections than I do.
December is already promising since I cut out that extra TV time.
We have a holiday tradition where we read “The Sweet Smell of Chrismtas” which is a scratch n’ sniff story about a bear family getting ready for Chrismtas. “The Night Before Christmas” and “Olive The Other Reindee” complete our Christmas Eve reading. We snuggle together with hot drinks as we read, and then we put out cookies and milk for Santa. The reindeer get carrots. Then we’re off to bed to wait for Christmas morning. On the day we have a birthday sweet for the baby Jesus. We also celebrate Yule where we meditate and help each other prepare spiritually for the coming year.
Those are our bookish traditions for December. This year my daughter will be reading to my granddaughter and hopefully forming the same happy memories my children have.
I’ll definitely look up the poetry collection as I’m always on the lookout for more suggestions there!
It was lovely to hear about your Christmas traditions. They sound utterly magical 🙂
As for cutting out TV time to do more reading, that’s something I suppose we could all stand to do!
I’m always impressed by the variety of your reading, Callum! Thanks for sharing them with us every month!
We’ve built a good family life and I’m blessed to have it.
Gittomer also recommends more exercise. I hope that rubs off on me, too! I exercise regularly but I’d like to increase that.
That’s kind of you to say, but it really is my pleasure to talk about books whenever I can find an excuse! 😛
😀