As is often the case, my posting petered out towards the end of the month. We had a family vacation to Disneyland planned for the 13th through the 18th, and that completely blew up my reading & blogging. When I travel I stay off the internet as much as possible, to focus on my family and on the experience itself. In addition, theme parks are a physically demanding experience – I walked between 8 & 10 miles a day all 5 days we were there.
Then, of course, once we got back, it was Thanksgiving week, so I spent a lot of time catching up on my work contract and cooking for the holiday.
I ended up finishing 7 non-fiction books:
- Hell’s Half-Acre by Susan Jonusas
- In Patagonia by Bruce Chatwin
- Homegrown: Timothy McVeigh and the Rise of Right-Wing Extremism by Jeffrey Toobin
- 84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff
- Ultra-Processed People by Chris van Tulleken
- The Great Dechurching by Jim Davis & Michael Graham (with Ryan P. Burge)
- Border: A Journey to the Edge of Europe by Kapka Kassabova
I am also currently reading The Invisible Bridge: The Fall of Nixon and the Rise of Reagan by Rick Perlstein. It’s a long one, and I only have 12 more days on my loan, so I’m trying to read 100 pages a day, because if I don’t finish it, I will have to put it on hold again, and wait for a copy.
I also read a number of novellas this month, for #NovNov23:
- Foster by Claire Keegan
- 84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff (I’m not sure that this one actually counts, since it’s technically non-fiction, but the page length is right)
- Penric’s Demon by Lois McMaster Bujold
- Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan
- A New York Christmas by Anne Perry (all of Anne Perry’s Christmas stories are novella length)
- A Christmas Escape by Anne Perry
- A Christmas Hope by Anne Perry
I’m still not going to claim to be the biggest fan of the novella, but in terms of technical virtuosity, Claire Keegan is an amazing writer. Both of her novellas are beautifully written, without a word out of place.
December is going to be noteworthy for two things: Dean Street December – because the lovely blogger Liz Dexter at Adventures in Reading . . . is reprising her wonderful event from last year – and Christmas mysteries! This is a favorite time of my reading year.
Yes, nonfiction counts for Novellas in November, otherwise I’d be in a pickle! And thank you for the shout out for Dean Street December!
I started November reading and reviewing well on holiday 5-12 but then had so much work my reading and reviewing slowed down!