How was your month in books? Which book was your favorite? With so many reading events this month – did you participate in any?
+ KIM +
I seem to be developing a routine of ho-humming my way through the first two and a half weeks of the month. Somewhere around the 20th of the month I realize I have started a lot of books but finished none and I finally buckle down and read the damn books. This month was no different.
Over Thanksgiving weekend I participated in #ThankfullyReading hosted by Jenn @ JennsBookshelves. I really love this event because there is always a lot of quiet down time after Thanksgiving to fit in a few more books and to remind myself how thankful I am for books.
I read a strange combination of books this month but my favorite was probably Call Down the Hawk, Maggie Stiefvater. What can I say? I love my Raven Boys and it was so fun to revisit this world. I was worried that new characters and a new setting would ruin the overall feel of it for me. It was definitely different but I loved it all the same.
Also read in November:
- Sage #2 & #3, Brian K. Vaughan & Fiona Staples
- Recursion, Blake Crouch
- 419, Will Ferguson
- In A Holidaze, Christina Lauren
+ TANYA PATRICE +
My month started out pretty slowly, but audiobooks saved the day – especially during my unofficial participation in #thankfullyreading Weekend from Nov. 26-29th. By the end, I had a very eclectic reading month overall – all fiction books on immigrant stories, fantasy, horror and dystopian – and books set in the US, Ghana, England / Nigeria,
My 5-star reads are …
Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo – it completely deserved that 2019 Book Award! This book is a collection of interlinked stories of 12 black women living in Britain. Majority of these women are first- or second-generation immigrants with partners from Africa or the Caribbean. “it’s easy to forget that England is made up of many Englands.” Girl, Woman, Other is about representation – and not just the obvious ones – gender, race, class – but there’s so MUCH more including identity, lifestyle choices (from the seemingly boring to the unapologetically dramatic), personalities, different childhood. It’s subtle and it’s in your face
His Only Wife, Peace Adzo Medie which is set in Ghana and is about an arranged marriage between Afi and Eli … only Eli already has live-in girlfriend, who his family don’t like, and have thus arranged the marriage to Afi. This is a short audiobook and it held me so completely that I was surprised when it was over … I wanted more!
When No One Is Watching, Alyssa Cole – a mystery in Brooklyn wrapped with a whole lot of black history and the effects of gentrification all without being super heavy handed (I mean it was – but it tied really well into the whole mystery of what was going down in the neighborhood).
Little Bee, Chris Cleave – this book is not pretty – it’s depressing AF but it tells such an intimate and hard story in a way that will keep you completely engaged. This is the story of refugee named Little Bee. What she went through in Nigeria before escaping, then being held for 2 years in a detention camp before being released and reconnecting with someone she had met there. It’s also the story of a journalist, Sarah. Her story intersects with Little Bee in a very real way but I don’t want to give anything away. The author is a white (British) man telling the story of an immigrant – so this is not an #ownvoices story.
Also read in November …
- Tender is the Flesh, Agustina Bazterrica and Translated by Sarah Moses ☆☆☆☆
- We All Looked Up, Tommy Wallach ☆☆☆☆
- The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires, Grady Hendrix ☆☆☆
What was your favorite book read this month? What are you most looking forward to reading in December? We’re linking up with The Monthly Wrap-Up and Show Us Your Books November.
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