What did you read in November?

[Vespasia]

Post your list of books read in November!

Any highlights or disappointments?

There is only only one month left in the year. How are you doing on your reading goals?

[tacokick]

I feel like I cheated because I read a lot of Mary Downing Hahn’s children’s/middle grade/YA books this month.

I read 210 books by 11/30. By that time last year I had read 247. I don’t have goals but clearly I’ve been a slacker. I’ve read 2 books in December though!

Books read in November:

Wait Till Helen Comes by Mary Downing Hahn (classic)

American Predator: The Hunt for the Most Meticulous Serial Killer of the 21st Century by Maureen Callahan (well-written!)

Enough: Notes From a Woman Who Has Finally Found It by Shauna M. Ahern (she is insufferable)

What Is a Girl Worth?: My Story of Breaking the Silence and Exposing the Truth about Larry Nassar and USA Gymnastics by Rachael Denhollander (interesting, well-written)

The Hot Young Widows Club: Lessons on Survival from the Front Lines of Grief by Nora McInerny (fine)

It’s Okay to Laugh (Crying is Cool Too): A Memoir by Nora McInerny Purmort (fine)

Mister Death’s Blue-Eyed Girls by Mary Downing Hahn (very good!!!)

The Doll in the Garden by Mary Downing Hahn (classic)

Summer of ‘69 by Elin Hilderbrand (really read like a book actually from that era)

Took: A Ghost Story by Mary Downing Hahn (not good)

Once More We Saw Stars:A Memoir by Jayson Green (felt like it was missing something)

One for Sorrow: A Ghost Story by Mary Downing Hahn (okay)

Anna All Year Round by Mary Downing Hahn (very cute if you have little kids, historic Baltimore setting)

Our Wayward Fate by Gloria Chao (okay but not as good as her first book)

Almost Sisters by Joshilyn Jackson (not very good)

When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead (very cute)

The Day the World Came to Town: 9/11 in Gander, Newfoundland by Jim Defede (the backstory of Come From Away)

One Day We’ll All Be Dead and None of This Will Matter by Scaachi Koul (enjoyed a lot)

Who Thought This Was a Good Idea? And Other Questions You Should Have Answers to When You Work in the White House by Alyssa Mastromonaco and Lauren Oyler (messy)

Get a Life, Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert (didn’t realize it was a romance, liked the main character)

You Bring the Distant Near by Mitali Perkins (liked a lot)

Unfollow: A Memoir Of Loving And Leaving The Westboro Baptist Church by Megan Phelps-Roper (I felt like she wasn’t very authentic)

Acid for the Children: A Memoir by Flea (surprisingly sweet)

Biloxi: A Novel by Mary Miller (very bad)

Milk Eggs Vodka: Grocery Lists Lost and Found by Bill Keaggy (oddly mean spirited)

The Most Fun We Ever Had by Claire Lombardo (enjoyable but very long then ended abruptly)

[Vespasia]

The Address by Fiona Davis 4*
Bury Your Dead by Louise Penny 5*
The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon 3.5*
Nine Elms by Robert Bryndza 3.5*

I feel like the last two were total opposites. Bone Season was well written but I couldn't get into it and it took me ages to read. Nine Elms wasn't particularly good but I blew threw it in one day.

I am 48/50 for the year so I should make it. I have a fair amount of time off at the end of the month to spend reading. I'm also really looking forward to Children of Virtue and Vengeance coming out tomorrow and hope to read that one quickly. Plus, I have two library books I need to read before they expire.

[Vespasia]

Dec 2, 2019 21:14:47 GMT -5 tacokick said:

I feel like I cheated because I read a lot of Mary Downing Hahn’s children’s/middle grade/YA books this month.

I have been enjoying your reading list because it's brought back quite a few memories!

[tacokick]

Dec 2, 2019 21:17:27 GMT -5 Vespasia said:

Dec 2, 2019 21:14:47 GMT -5 tacokick said:

I feel like I cheated because I read a lot of Mary Downing Hahn’s children’s/middle grade/YA books this month.

I have been enjoying your reading list because it's brought back quite a few memories!

It’s amazing how well I remember them! A few I hadn’t read before. Well worth revisiting and it’s amazing how many the library has for the Kindle.

[mrspez07]

Had a decent month and I need to read/listen to 5 books for my reading goal:

Audio:
Memoirs of a Geisha By Arthur Golden 4*
The Paragon Hotel by Lyndsay Faye 4*

Book form:
Elizabeth is Missing by Emma Healey 3*
The Lost Man by Jane Harper (this one was my favorite of hers so far) 4*
The bookshop fo yesterdays by Amy Meyerson 3*
Recursion by Blake Crouch 4*

[travella]

Ask Again, Yes by Mary Beth Keane 3.5*
Girls Like Us by Cristina Alger 3*
Nine Perfect Strangers by Liane Moriarty 1.5*

It was a pretty disappointing month of reading. I didn't care for any of the books. I'm at 55/45 for my reading goal for the year.

[meowmaps]

Those People by Louise Candlish 4*
Red at the Bone by Jacqueline Woodson 4*
The Secrets We Kept by Lara Prescott 4*
The Most Fun We Ever Had by Claire Lombardo 4*
Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland by Patrick Radden Keefe 4*
Olive, Again by Elizabeth Strout 5*
The Dutch House by Ann Patchett 5*

It was a good month for me. I enjoyed everything I read.

I’m at 72/60. I figure I’ll hit somewhere between 75 and 80 at the close of the year.

[abs]

Royal Holiday by Jasmine Guillory 1*. I didn't even finish.

What Happens in Paradise by Elin Hilderbrand 3.5* I really am enjoying the characters and story but the editing and writing in this series is very poor.

The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell 4*

I Found You by Lisa Jewell 4*

[ufcasey]

Steel's Edge (The Edge, #4) by Ilona Andrews - 3.5 stars
The One by John Marrs - 3.5 stars
Me by Elton John - 4 stars

Call Down the Hawk (first book in her Raven series spin-off) by Maggie Stiefvater - 4.5 stars

I'm at 120/125 for the year so I need to pick up the pace to meet my goal

[wildrice]

I read some good ones:

The Water Dancer - 5 stars. I'd like to read this one again, I feel like I was trying to rush through finishing it as a library book and probably missed things. Very well written, he's a great storyteller.

The Last Romantics - Tara Conklin - I gave it 4 stars but I enjoyed it a lot.

The Testaments - 4 stars, also really enjoyed.

I'm done with 42/45 books this year, so I am definitely going to meet my goal. I was thinking of bumping it up but I don't really see myself reading more than another 3-5 books this month anyway.

[CrazyLucky]

Home Truths - that was an amazon prime free book. It was ok 3* I feel like there is this big trend to have books written from two or more perspectives that seem unrelated until the end. And most of the authors don't do it very well. I thought this was an example of not doing it well.
Inspired by Rachel Held Evans - 3* very dense
The Witch Elm - 2*

I've read 33 books this year, which is good for me. I didn't have a goal, but 3/month seems reasonable. December might be tough. It's busy at home and at work.
I'm still planning to read Becoming though!

[rainbowchip]

Yes Please by Amy Poehler 4*
The Witch Elm by Tana French 3*
Know My Name by Chanel Miller 5*
Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo 3*
Ayesha At Last by Uzma Jalaluddin 5*
Troublemaker: Surviving Hollywood and Scientology by Leah Remini 5*
Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston 5*
My Story by Elizabeth Smart 4*

I'm at 62 books for the year. My goal was 52 so I'm good. I'm going to finish the book I'm reading now and one I got from the library and then I want to read A Breath of Snow and Ashes. So that's my plan for the end of the year.

[susiebw]

Turtles All the Way Down by John Green - 5 stars.

I'm Not Dying With You Tonight by Kimberly Jones - 3 stars

The Flight Attendant by Chris Bohjalian - 3 stars

Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens - 5 stars

The Woman in the Window - by A.J. Finn - 4 stars

These are a mix of print and audiobooks. 

My goal every year is to read more than I did last year, and I'm currently at 49 books, compared to 31 last year, so I'm winning!

My other goal is to read at least one presidential biography every year, and I have failed in that so far this year.  I need to pull the trigger on that Martin van Buren book I've been eyeing, but it's hard to get excited about him.  I've got three weeks . . .

[mie]

Ninja at First Sight by Penny Reid 3.5*
Happily Ever Ninja by Penny Reid 4*
Fix Her Up by Tessa Bailey 3*
Virgin River by Robyn Carr 3*
My Ex-Life by Stephen McCauley 3.5*
Dear Girls by Ali Wong 3.5*
Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins 3.5*

[litskispeciality]

Kind of a bad month. I finally finished "The Miseducation of Cameron Post" overall 3.5, kind of a let down at the end, and "Last Summer". I read almost half of "You".

I'm 20/24 for the year. Nov really stunk.

[Gato]

I read:
The Fifth Risk by Michael Lewis 5*
Olive, Again by Elizabeth Strout 4*
The Uninhabitable Earth by David Wallace-Wells 3*
Evvie Drake Starts Over by Linda Holmes 3*
The Worm at the Core by Jeff Greenberg and Tom Pyszczynski 3.5*

56/50 this year

[Michelle]

Dec 2, 2019 21:14:47 GMT -5 tacokick said:

I feel like I cheated because I read a lot of Mary Downing Hahn’s children’s/middle grade/YA books this month.

I read 210 books by 11/30. By that time last year I had read 247. I don’t have goals but clearly I’ve been a slacker. I’ve read 2 books in December though!

Books read in November:

Wait Till Helen Comes by Mary Downing Hahn (classic)

American Predator: The Hunt for the Most Meticulous Serial Killer of the 21st Century by Maureen Callahan (well-written!)

Enough: Notes From a Woman Who Has Finally Found It by Shauna M. Ahern (she is insufferable)

What Is a Girl Worth?: My Story of Breaking the Silence and Exposing the Truth about Larry Nassar and USA Gymnastics by Rachael Denhollander (interesting, well-written)

The Hot Young Widows Club: Lessons on Survival from the Front Lines of Grief by Nora McInerny (fine)

It’s Okay to Laugh (Crying is Cool Too): A Memoir by Nora McInerny Purmort (fine)

Mister Death’s Blue-Eyed Girls by Mary Downing Hahn (very good!!!)

The Doll in the Garden by Mary Downing Hahn (classic)

Summer of ‘69 by Elin Hilderbrand (really read like a book actually from that era)

Took: A Ghost Story by Mary Downing Hahn (not good)

Once More We Saw Stars:A Memoir by Jayson Green (felt like it was missing something)

One for Sorrow: A Ghost Story by Mary Downing Hahn (okay)

Anna All Year Round by Mary Downing Hahn (very cute if you have little kids, historic Baltimore setting)

Our Wayward Fate by Gloria Chao (okay but not as good as her first book)

Almost Sisters by Joshilyn Jackson (not very good)

When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead (very cute)

The Day the World Came to Town: 9/11 in Gander, Newfoundland by Jim Defede (the backstory of Come From Away)

One Day We’ll All Be Dead and None of This Will Matter by Scaachi Koul (enjoyed a lot)

Who Thought This Was a Good Idea? And Other Questions You Should Have Answers to When You Work in the White House by Alyssa Mastromonaco and Lauren Oyler (messy)

Get a Life, Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert (didn’t realize it was a romance, liked the main character)

You Bring the Distant Near by Mitali Perkins (liked a lot)

Unfollow: A Memoir Of Loving And Leaving The Westboro Baptist Church by Megan Phelps-Roper (I felt like she wasn’t very authentic)

Acid for the Children: A Memoir by Flea (surprisingly sweet)

Biloxi: A Novel by Mary Miller (very bad)

Milk Eggs Vodka: Grocery Lists Lost and Found by Bill Keaggy (oddly mean spirited)

The Most Fun We Ever Had by Claire Lombardo (enjoyable but very long then ended abruptly)

Whoa!

How do you read so much? 247 by 11/30 is an average of 3/4 a book per day.

Are you an editor?
(edit - I am not familiar with most of those titles - maybe they are short books and you are a teacher?)

]
My reading time is usually an hour to hour and a half before work (because I listen to audible while getting ready and on my drive in), and about the same at night (during commute and before bed).

I think I am doing well when I read 2-3 books a month! But I also like epic books by Diana Gabaldon and the like, when I can find a good series. I can read something light hearted like Crazy Rich Asians and get through the whole trilogy in less than 2 weeks...