In November, I read 12 books, but to be honest…some of them were just quick nonfiction reads and two of them were quick chapter books I read aloud to the kids. I enjoyed most of the books I read this month. I have some good recommendations for you all!
I tend to fully mood read rom-com Christmas books in December so that’s what is up next for me!
When Stars Are Scattered
I adored this graphic novel. Well, adored is a hard word to describe reading about a difficult story of two brothers growing up in a Somali refugee camp. They lived there for 12 years before they were finally sponsored and taken to the United States. I hope that there is a part 2, because this was certainly a cliffhanger- the Author’s Note at the end had me sobbing as it described his life a few years later, but I would love to see that as a graphic novel Part II. This would be suitable for a child ages 10+ but the content isn’t light and fluffy like they might expect from a graphic novel. It really is a hard story to read, but beautifully told in both picture and word.
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow
Whelp, I bought into the hype and finally read this one..and I didn’t like it. At all. It was very boring to me, and the platonic “friendship” bothered me. They are friends throughout life but have so many ups and downs that it felt like they were acting like 5th grade girls, not grown-ups. I also felt like it was written to appear like one was always in love with the other, but then- just kidding!- no one is in love. There were some very big plot twists that probably could have been a different story on its own. I just did not like this one at all. If you haven’t heard of it yet, it’s about two friends who meet in a hospital as young teens. They later reconnect in life and begin developing video games together. They are wildly successful in their career (with plenty of ups and downs) but they struggle to make relationships work sometimes. I suppose many people like it because it is a pretty accurate reflection of how real life can go, but I also just felt like it was too boring and too real – I like my books to have a little bit of escapism ha.
Welcome Home: A Cozy Minimalists Guide to Decorating and Hosting All Year Round
I love The Nester and even though my home is decorated very differently from hers, I feel like her decorating advice can apply to anyone, no matter their personal style. I always glean lots of great information from her books and this was an enjoyable read for me.
The Bodyguard
Highly recommend! This was a GREAT, closed-door, page-turning rom-com. It was exactly what I needed to read during a stressful week! The female lead is a bodygaurd- and she is good at her job. But when she is assigned a client that is different from all the other clients, the rules kind of start flying out the window. I loved this story for the romance, the predictability, the fact that the characters are dealing with trauma that presents itself in their relationships, and the witty banter. It was a fun read and I loved it!
The Fate of the Yellow Woodbee
We have started reading this series aloud with the kids and all of the books are amazing. They are all about missionaries or heroes of the faith. I love how the “hero of the faith” is never the main character of the story, but it’s always told from the perspective of someone local who may have rubbed shoulders with that “hero of the faith”. This one about Nate Saint and the Woaroani Indians was my favorite so far and I had to stop reading because I was crying so hard by the end. It is just so amazing that these men gave their lives in order to spread the gospel, and it is because they gave their lives that the gospel was spread- by one of the widows and surviving sisters of the murdered men. There are over 30 books in this series.
Accidental Saints: Finding God in all the Wrong People
I almost didn’t read this one, but I am so glad that I did! This is a personal memoir/life and thought book from a pastor who hails from a very different faith sector than what I am currently involved in. However- I loved this book. I loved her perspective on how when we choose to judge someone for something, we miss out on how God sees them or how God may be using them. She shows how Jesus often picked the least of society, or the ones who were the opposite of Christian to further his kingdom. Of course, I didn’t agree with everything she wrote in this book, but I loved the book and would for sure read more of her work!
Simplicity at Home: Japanese Rituals, Recipes, and Arrangements for Thoughtful Living
This was a total miss for me. The author has created a large textile company where they create everything out of linen. And she shows how she simply decorates her home. But from the pictures, her home literally looks like a a cement prison to me, and she only uses linen – which is frankly out of my budget and my lifestyle. The way she lives did not appeal to me at all and I gleaned nothing from this book (except that I don’t want to live in a cement walled/floored house ha).
The Care and Feeding of Ravenously Hungry Girls
I wanted to enjoy this one, but I just had a hard time getting into it. The story starts with a couple who are sentences to years in prison for a crime that they did commit- but the whole family grapples with the ripple effects of their decisions. I think that it is a powerful story to bring to light the varying perspectives of people who have incarcerated family members, but the flow of this story was just not working for me. I am not sure if it’s because my brain needed something a little more light and fluffy at that moment, or if this just wasn’t the book for me.
Swim Team
This was another graphic novel read, and it was certainly more suited for a younger audience than me as an adult- but I still enjoyed it! It is about a young girl who moves to a new town and against her own desire ends up joining the swim team. The girls on the swim team walk through some drama and learn how to navigate it and how to be more kind and accepting of one another and their differences. This was clean and I would absolutely hand it to my 8 year old!
The Antropocene Reviewed
This was another book that SO MANY PEOPLE loved and I just…didn’t get it. This is a collection of essays from the very famous John Green. He basically takes life situations (a band, a pandemic, a trip to Chicago) and writes a short review of that situation. Some I found funny, some were kind of sad, but I just couldn’t relate to most of them. I did end up reading the whole book, but I just wasn’t very impressed. Maybe I need to be of the same age/generation/experiences of him to “get it”? I don’t know…this one fell flat for me.
The Devil in the White City
Theo and I started reading this one together back in June when we were on our anniversary trip. We never got around to finding the time to read it together once we got back, so I decided to finish it on my own. This is a VERY detailed story of the World’s Fair that came to Chicago and the massive infrastructure and planning that went into it. It was fascinating, if a little boring at times. There is also the parallel story of a mass murderer who used the World’s Fair to lure (mostly) women and murder them. The last two chapters of the book are dedicated solely to him and his murders, and the solving of them and that was the best/most interesting part of the book in my opinion! It is worth a read, but it’s not a fast paced book at all.
Little Women
And finally, I rounded out the month by reading Little Women. Such a beautiful story. I don’t even have words to describe how much I adored it and loved it and cried through it and couldn’t put it down, even though it is nearly 800 pages long. I am now super excited to dive into some Little Women retellings and also pick up some other Classics!
And that is a wrap on my November reads! Did you see anything you would like to read? Or did I review anything that you have read?