Hello DECEMBER! I love December. Snow is pretty (and we get a fair bit of it here). And Christmas music is my favourite (we have a radio station that plays all Christmas, all the time from December 1 to December 26. It is glorious.) And, December also means I get a week off from the day job without taking any vacation days! Hello uninhibited reading time! (I work at a uni and we’re closed between Christmas and New Year’s.)
November was a pretty good month for me. I started my new job, read a fair bit, wrote quite a few blog posts (I was even scheduled over a week ahead at one point), and bought quite a few books… Ooops. I swear, I got some from the library too!
What was in my November 2017 book haul?
- Anne of Green Gables: A Graphic Novel by Mariah Marsden (Adapted), Brenna Thummler (Illustrations)
- Smoke by Dan Vyleta
- Warcross by Marie Lu
- Renegades by Marissa Meyer (audio)
- Nice Try, Jane Sinner by Lianne Oelke
- Istanbul Days, Istanbul Nights by Leonard Durso
- Rickety Stitch and the Gelatinous Goo by Ben Costa
- Recess Warrior: Hero is a Four-Letter Word by Marcus Emerson
- The Wishing Spell (Land of Stories #1) by Chris Colfer
- Rhett and Link’s Book of Mythicality: A Field Guide to Curiosity, Creativity, and Tomfoolery by Rhett McLaughlin and Link Neal
I ordered a bunch more books (17…but it was a Cyber Monday sale…so I didn’t actually spend that much…). They haven’t arrived yet, so I’ll include them in my December Haul. 🙂
Oh, and I bought some books for my Bookish Secret Santa, but I can’t tell you about those just in case she reads this. The package is going in the mail tonight!
What did I read in November?
- Anne of Green Gables: A Graphic Novel by Mariah Marsden (Adapted), Brenna Thummler (Illustrations)
- Recess Warrior: Hero is a Four-Letter Word by Marcus Emerson
- The Wishing Spell (Land of Stories #1) by Chris Colfer
- Of Fire and Stars by Audrey Coulthurst
- And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie
- The Bad Mood and the Stick by Lemony Snicket
- Malala’s Magic Pencil by Malala Yousafzai
- The Bad Seed by Jori John
- Not Quite Narwhal by Jessie Sima
At the end of November, I’ve read 81 books this year! That puts me 108 of the way to my goal of 75 books in 2017. Apparently, I’m an over achiever. And, I still have a month left to read even more! Woohoo!
(Oh, and yes, I count picture books in my books read list because, well, they are books.)
In case you missed it
I made a serious effort in November to post more than in October. I wrote 12 posts. That’s more posts than I’ve had since the summer.
NaNoWriMo
As November is NaNoWriMo, I wrote a few posts to encourage Wrimos during the journey of trying to write 50,000 words in 30 days. I didn’t participate in NaNo this year, but I definitely hope to again (maybe even next year). If you’re a writer, these might be encouraging for you too.
- Encouragement for NaNoWriMo Participants
- Lessons Learned in NaNoWriMo
- NaNoWriMo Writing Prompts to Help You Cross that Finish Line
Top Ten Tuesday
I wrote a few bookish lists this month, including Books I Want the Kids in My Life to Read (spoiler alert: my nephews are each getting one of these books for Christmas!). I also wrote another TBR post, Ten Books on My Winter TBR. And, as we all know, I’m horrible at sticking to TBRs. I’m already waaay off track. 🙂
November was also a great month for book reviews!
Moxie is a book about a teen girl who starts a feminist revolution at her high school by creating zines.
You Bring the Distant Near is a multigenerational YA novel about the women in an Indian American family and how identity and culture can influence one another or clash.
Furthermore is a middle grade novel about a colourless girl in a world where colour is everything. She goes on a crazy journey to rescue her father who has been missing for years.
Moustronaut Goes to Mars is a beautiful picture book about a mouse who is a trained astronaut and who goes on the first mission to Mars.
Other Posts
Remembrance Day (November 11) is a day to remember the sacrifices that have been made for the freedoms that we enjoy today. I wrote a post about books set in wartime. World War II is a popular setting for historical novels and many romance novels. These books, despite most of them being fiction, have given me a greater understanding of the sacrifices that so many made — both veterans and their friends and families — during times of world war, and have increased my thankfulness.
I also joined one WWW Wednesday...and then promptly forgot to link it up…But you can still read it.
Alrighty then! That’s my look back at November. Now, it’s your turn!
Kristilyn says:
You’re doing so good with your reading this year! I need to see if my library has that Anne of Green Gables graphic novel. I’m currently rereading the first one because it’s the only one I’ve read in the series, but I love all things Anne. She’s such a great character!
Trisha says:
Thank you!! I’m super proud of myself. I never expected to be able to read this many books and work full time.
And yes! The Anne graphic novel is so good! If you get a chance read some of the other Anne books. It’s fun to watch her go through college and watch her and Gilbert’s relationship develop more. 🙂