Reading Update & December TBR

Books I Read in November

1. Circe by Madeline Miller ★★★★★
2. If We Were Villains by M.L. Rio ★★★★★
3. A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab ★★★☆☆
4. Time Reborn by Lee Smolin ★★★☆☆
5. Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng ★★★★★
6. Girls Burn Brighter by Shobha Rao ★★★★★
7. Down Among the Sticks and Bones* by Seanan McGuire ★★★★★
8. The Tombs of Atuan by Ursula K. Le Guin ★★★★☆
9. Gather Together in My Name by Maya Angelou ★★★★☆
10. The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield ★★★★☆
11. Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel ★★★★☆
12. Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid ★★★★☆
13. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid ★★★★★
14. The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton ★★☆☆☆
15. A Thousand Ships by Natalie Haynes ★★★★☆
16. Dear Ijeawele, or A Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions by Chimamanda Ngozi ★★★★★
17. Sadie by Courtney Summers ★★★★☆
18. The Turn of the Key by Ruth Ware ★★★★★
19. From Eternity to Here by Sean Carroll  ★★★★★
20. Kindred: A Graphic Novel Adaptation by Octavia Butler and (adapted) Damian Duffy ★★★★★

This is by far the most I’ve ever read in a month, at least by book count. I somehow managed to meet my goals. I can easily listen to 2 books a week, so I push for three. 3 x 3 = 9 plus 5 – 7 in a readathon the 4th week. Where then does the rest come into play? I pushed extra hard for the two books on time which were not planned. This was Time Reborn and From Eternity to Here. I found myself a momentary peak of interest with time, so I couldn’t help myself from reading it. It wasn’t planned, but luckily I managed to make it work.

Then I finally finished Maya Angelou’s second autobiography. In fact, I even fit in one more book I didn’t even intend, Kindred the Graphic Novel. The Buzzwordathon taught me how great reading on the bus is, and now I want one for the bus all the time. Then, bus reading tends to lead to more reading outside the bus. Hence my finishing Kindred; I got over half way then finished it on the weekend. All of the books I am listing below are planned for audio, so I still have to decide what book (or books, but likely just one) I will read physically. I leave on the 19th, and I don’t want to bring a book. That means I want something I can finish in three weeks. At the same time, I don’t want another graphic novel right after the last. I guess we will all have to wait and see what I pick in the moment!

In any case, this has been a great month for reading. It is as if, the more I read, the more excited I become for other books because my plans become more ambitious. Then its less my love for any one book that keeps me going. Its more the desire to read all these other books I now have waiting on my list! I want to read them all now, but I can’t. That means I work harder to work my way toward them. This way, I am constantly motivated to keep going!

December TBR

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1. The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang
2. An Ocean of Minutes by Thea Lim
3. The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood
4. Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
5. Glory O’Brien’s History of the Future by A.S. King
6. Beneath the Sugar Sky by Seanan McGuire
7. Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz
8. The Farthest Shore by Ursula K. Le Guin
9. The Goldfinch by Donna Tarrt
10. Gone Girl by Gillian Finn
11. Queenie by Candice Candy-Williams
12. Arguable Essays by Christopher Hitchens

I’ll be honest. I don’t know if I can do this. Comps is approaching, and my evenings are becoming more monopolized by work. Worst case, I see myself listening to 2 books a week. I am planning to participate in a very merry readathon, but that will include another set of books (also impossibly long). I’ve moved a few stories I had planned on reading this month anyway to that TBR list to make room for more here. Whether I finish is TBD. Right now, there a few books that I consider hopefuls but am okay dropping if I have to.

The first is Queenie. I only just bought this, so I am okay with it sitting on my shelf a bit longer. However, I can see it never being read if I wait too long and lose the initial interest I had (its an eye popping cover, I don’t know much about it). The other is Arguable Essays because I want to finish it after I started it earlier in the year. That may not happen, but I will try. I had been responding to each easy. For the sake of time, I may leave the rest (less interesting topics) for a more general discussion for the sake of time. I plan to listen to individual stories, spread out between books. Hopefully, that will help me get through it.

Other than that, these are books that have caught my eye (An Ocean of Minutes and Never Let me Go). Then there are series I want to continue (The Farthest Shore and Beneath the Sugar Sky). I’m on the third book in the Earthsea Cycle, and I really want to get through all six ASAP because I bought the entire illustrated series, so I want to put it on my bookshelf even if it isn’t my favorite. Don’t judge me! I also want to read more Atwood even though her books don’t stand out so far as premise, so I decided to choose one and hope I enjoy it. Then the rest are books I’ve been meaning to read. I bought the Poppy Wars a year ago, and I am finally getting around to reading it. Then the Goldfinch and Gone Girl are both very popular books I’ve never gotten around to reading, nor have I seen the film adaptions.