What I Loved Reading In November

Even though I blogged less, the reading has been surprisingly good this month! I think the main reason why I because I’ve stopped requesting ARCs so much, and I now mostly read my backlist TBR titles. And they’ve been surprisingly good! I’ve got so many 5 stars this month, I can’t even. Although I must admit, I’ve also been really lucky with my ARCs this month, cause there are some 4 and 5 star titles among them too.

~ 5-Star Miracle Books Read ~

I don’t think I’ve ever had this many 5 stars in a month! I am so happy, this has probably been the best month of reading in 2018. I’m in love with all of these books! If you still haven’t read my review of The Eleventh Trade, a touching middle grade story of a refugee boy trying to save what remains of his family, you can read it here – very recommended. The Bride of the Blue Wind was also an amazing read, although very short – it’s a retelling of Bluebeard in a Middle Eastern fantasy setting with paranormal being. It’s SPECTACULAR, very unique and strongly written. I loved it! You can find a short little review on this Sunday post here. List of 13 will still be reviewed on December 13th (fitting date!) and it’s easily one of the best books I read all year – don’t let the cover fool you. I really loved it. Odd and the Frost Giants is something by Neil Gaiman that I’ve had for a while, and I wish I had read it sooner! It features a disabled character that deals with all sorts of crap and saves gods – he is amazing. I loved everything about this book, and there’s a little review for it on the same Sunday post here, as well as a review for How to Get from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be – which I REALLY recommend to all of you who suffer from anxiety because it has greatly helped me with mine. Another two books I loved were Brain on Fire, which I also briefly review on this Sunday post, and a Doctor Who comic which I absolutely loved – Humble Bundle got me into these, and now I’m sighing at the big prices of the following releases!

~ 4-Star Steady Good Books Read ~

I loved What Would Boudicca Do, but as most non-fiction, it got 4 stars from me, cause you pretty much have to floor me to get 5 – which is more common for fiction. But it was a great book and it will be reviewed next week. I also loved Redemption Song, part two of an urban fantasy series I am reading – which I cheekily didn’t really review anywhere (being badass here. LOL.) Then there were also the Afghan short stories which were blood curdling and scary, to be honest, but very good. And I finished a memoir that’s been lying around for forever – 13 Years in America, about how elusive the American dream actually is today. All of these books are recommended.

~ Okay Books Read ~

There were some alright books this month too – perhaps most of them were just not for me. The Tenth Doctor comics are all great, although this one was slower than the others, so it got less stars from me. Straight Expectations I did like, and it was written well – but the book was supposed to be about bringing up trans/gay teens – instead, it’s a pat on the back for how great a mother the author is, and more than a third of the book is dedicated to her own childhood – so it was not what I expected and I think it should have been about the kids, because that’s what the title and the blurb claims it is, when it’s not. If it was marketed correctly, I would have definitely given it more stars. Meanwhile, both Foam on the Crest of Waves and You Are This were good books, but merely not for me. You can find a little review of Foam on the Crest of Waves here.

~ Totally Meh Books Read ~

There was only one totally meh book this month – which reiterates what a good reading month it was! Normalized was supposed to be a satire on the fixation of super heroes that pop culture has now – instead, it came of as a tale about a mysogynist piece of crap super hero that I just couldn’t stand. The novel doesn’t do a good job of making it obvious it’s a parody – it doesn’t feel like one. It actually feels like it’s sexist and just.. horrible. I’m sure it wasn’t meant to look that way, but that’s how it reads. It was a waste of my time and I didn’t even bother finishing – I read half. It was offensive to even keep reading. Oh, and it’s absolutely not funny, despite being marketed to be so.

~ The Stats! ~

I read 16 books this month and I guess it’s only because some of them were short that I managed to pull this off. I might be reaching 150 books by the end of the year, and even if I don’t, my current 142 is already the highest number of books I’ve ever read in a year. All that when I only pledged 52, half of what I normally read! I’m amazed. But anyway, instead of sharing stats of this month, let me share this awesome graph that I made this week – it shows the genres of the books I’ve read all year. I was very excited to make it! It was fun too. If you want to make one like that and share it, please tag my Instagram or Twitter handle because I’d love to see your genres: