Books Read
1) I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jeannette McCurdy (★★★★★ – audiobook, Libby) – A super impactful memoir about a Disney star who sustained years of abuse at the hands of her mother.
2) The Smart One by Jennifer Close (★★☆☆☆ – print, owned, Thriftbooks) – A rather lackluster story about a family and the secrets they keep.
3) The Bodyguard by Katherine Center (★★★☆☆ – e-book, Libby) – A contemporary romance about a female bodyguard who is hired to protect a Hollywood movie star.
4) The 57 Bus by Dashka Slater (★★★★★ – audiobook, Libby) – A true story about two people on the margins of society and how their paths intersect to tragic results.
5) Tokyo Ever After by Emiko Jean (★★★★☆ – print, owned, Target) – A cute follow-up to Tokyo Dreaming that taught me a lot about Japanese culture.
6) The Box in the Woods by Maureen Johnson (★★★★☆ – audiobook, Libby) – The fourth book in a YA mystery series that was set at a summer camp and gave some really creepy vibes!
7) The Wife Before Me by Laura Elliot (★★★★☆ – print, library) – An enraging thriller that had a satisfying (if a little convoluted) ending.
8) Victoria by Daisy Goodwin (★★★★☆ – print, owned, Thriftbooks) – A historical fiction novel that retold the story of the first years of Queen Victoria’s reign, albeit with some creative liberties.
9) What If It’s Us? by Becky Albertalli and Adam Silvera (★★★★☆ – e-book, Libby) – A fun queer YA love story with NYC as the backdrop.
10) Astrid Parker Doesn’t Fail by Ashley Herring Blake (★★★★☆ – e-book, owned, Amazon) – A queer romance involving a female carpenter and a female interior designer.
11) Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin (★★★☆☆ – print, owned, Book of the Month) – A buzzy book that fell short of my expectations. At times, it was brilliant but mostly, I was bored by it.
Book Challenges
1) Book Club: Our book for November was The People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry. I had already read this book (and wasn’t a fan). Our book club meeting for November is actually today (November was a crazy month for all of us and we couldn’t get our schedules to sync up!), and I’m interested to hear other people’s thoughts on the book. I know I’m an outlier in my displeasure with this book.
2) Unread Shelf Project: November’s prompt was “a title that starts with the first letter of your name,” so I chose The Smart One by Jennifer Close. I’ve had this book on my shelf for years, so it was nice to finally read it, even if I didn’t end up loving the book.
3) Goodreads Challenge: I only had two more books to read for this challenge and both of them ended up being DNFs! I started listening to Sing Unburied Sing by Jesmyn Ward on audio, but after two hours of listening, I was just so bored by the plot that I abandoned it. I also tried Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult, which gets rave reviews from people. It was giving me a lot of anxiety and that’s just not what I need from my reading life!
Book Stats
- # of books read: 11
- # of pages read: 4,028 pages
- Genre breakdown: YA (4), Fiction (3), Romance (2), Nonfiction (1), and Mystery/Thriller (1)
- Format breakdown: print (5), e-book (3), and audiobook (3)
- Fastest read: Tokyo Ever After, Astrid Parker Doesn’t Fail, and Tomorrow x3 all took 5 days
- Slowest read: The Smart One (11 days)
- Star average: 3.8
- % of books by or about BIPOC or the LGBT community: 37%
- Goodreads goal check-in: I set a goal of 135 books this year and currently, I am 12 books behind schedule.
Superlatives of November
- Favorite book of the month: The 57 Bus by Dashka Slater
- Favorite romance of the month: Astrid Parker Doesn’t Fail by Ashley Herring Blake
- Most disappointing read of the month: Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin
- The book with the cringiest title: I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jeannette McCurdy
- My least-favorite reading experience of the month: The Smart One by Jennifer Close
What’s the best book you read in November?
I love reading these because of venn diagram of overlapping faves is pretty interesting. We DO like some of the same books, but you also DNF a lot of books that I loved– so fun to read your reviews.
I can be a serial abandoner at times! I feel like I’m becoming more and more a mood reader the older I get, which is so weird to me because I’ve been a by-the-book TBR reader for so long. It’s messing with my readerly identity.
Oh, no. I’ve heard such good things about Tomorrow and Tomorow and Tomorrow and I’m using one of my precious library holds on it. I hope I agree with the majority on this one and disagree with you.
Also, I’m so surprised about your dislike of People We Meet on Vacation. I really liked that book – the dialogue was sparkling and the characters were so well written.
I am CONFIDENT that you will love Tomorrow x3 since I didn’t like it, haha.
Remember, we are anti-book twins so me not liking People We Meet on Vacation and you liking it should not be a surprise! That is par for the course for us. 🙂
I read a lot of good books in November! Book Lovers, How To Keep House While Drowning, Blue Nights, Black Cake, We All Want Impossible Things, Catastrophic Happiness. Right now I’m reading The Hotel Nantucket, and I am really enjoying this beach read in the middle of December!
I am reading a beachy read in the middle of December, too. It even has a pool on the cover! Haha. I read what I want!
Oh dear! Tomorrow etc. is on my must-read list — I’m sorry it was disappointing!
I am definitely in the minority with my opinion! Give it a try – you might love it!
I really liked Glad My Mom Died and The 57 Bus. Actually I live in Oakland and have taken that bus many a time so it really hit close to home. I also agree with you that Tomorrow etc. was not as good as I thought it was going to be; I did give it four stars in the end, but I expected to give it five based on the reviews and comments.
The last one I agree with you on is Emily Henry…Beach Read was another that everyone loved and I was not impressed. However, that did not stop me from trying again with Book Lovers, which also fell flat for me. I just don’t love her characters and do not find the story realistic.
Oh wow, that’s so interesting that you have taken the 57 bus – that must have made that book make such a stronger impact.
I do enjoy Emily Henry’s books (I think Book Lovers toppled The Hating Game off as my all-time favorite romance novel) but People We Meet on Vacation was not for me.
I really liked Tomorrow x 3 but it gave me all the nostalgic feels for the 90s, like playing Nintendo. It has been really hyped, though!
PWMOV was my least favorite of Henry’s. It kind of drug for me because of the nature of the conflict. Just freaking talk about what happened!
I was so hoping I would enjoy Tomorrow x3 like so many others have, but it just didn’t work for me. Maybe because I read it on my cruise? I don’t know!
Yes, PWMOV is Henry’s weakest book, IMO.