What have I read this month?
It's been a very busy 30 days of reading for me, less National Novel Writing Month than National Novel Reading - to my agent's chagrin! I moved house in late October, adding thirty minutes to my daily commute and causing my book tally to skyrocket. I never used to be able to read on the train as it was only ten minutes to work and books would inevitably cause me to miss my stop and wind up in the Eastern Suburbs. Now I'm further out I can get properly into a book and resurface in time to get off the train - although there have been some close calls and I did overshoot whilst lost in one particularly enthralling book and wound up at the end of the line!
Here are my November Reads
Dyke - Sabrina Imbler
This had been on my TBR list for three years and turned out to be much smaller than I had realised, maybe 20 pages? Still an enjoyable read, more an extended poem than a book, so I took my time to properly breath in the words.
Saint Death's Daughter - CSE Cooney
The cause of my train calamity! Maybe the best book I've read this year and an instant favourite. Ironically this one was much longer than I expected and I was a little worried it would be a slog. Happily I absolutely flew through it and wished it had been longer! Cooney has a real knack for taking complex worldbuilding and making it seem intuitive and easy to the reader. I absolutely loved the snaking plot twists as well as the wonderful main character - this is a must read for any lover of fantasy.
Fatal Throne - Candace Fleming
Historical fiction from the point of view of Henry VIII's wives. Read on the kindle app whilst working a rainy night shift. Not bad but nothing groundbreaking - I enjoyed the Jane Seymour chapters best. Whiled away the time till the end of the shift.
The Brethren - John Grisham
Legal/Spy thriller set in a southern jail where three corrupt judges plot to scam closeted gay men. Ludicrously plotted but entertaining enough, though it suffered for not having a single likeable character. Interesting to see how much the world has and hasn't change since this was published in the early noughties.
Blue Moon - Lee Child
Easily my least favourite Jack Reacher - while the duelling gangs were bad enough the real villain was the American healthcare system, a problem no one seemed to acknowledge. Reacher really went wild this time, to a length I didn't enjoy. Normally I whiz through these but I only finished grudgingly, and as a completist.
Remarkably Bright Creatures - Shelby Van Pelt
I delayed reading this until I could find a cover with an octopus - for some bizarre reason the Australian copies had rocking horses (only tangentially related to the plot) - and I WANTED THE OCTOPUS. Finally tracked down a regular copy in Melbourne Dymocks. I enjoyed this but I could have done with more Octopus chapters and less humans. I think it needed an extra 50 pages to wrap up properly, the last chapters seemed a little rushed.
Chlorine - Jade Song
Less fantasy and more a grim perspective on coming of age in a high pressure environment. I liked that the lead was a female athlete, incredibly focused on her craft. The prose was excellently disturbing - I wouldn't say it was an enjoyable book but I thought it was very good and will certainly reread.
Assassain's Quest - Robin Hobb
Last of the Assassain's trilogy and ending the first chunk of FitzChivalry's story. Hobb is an incredibly talented writer and I really did feel as if I was on the journey with Fitz. Under different circumstances I might have felt this was an overlong book but as I happened to read it on a seven hour train journey through rural New South Wales it turned out to be the perfect length.
Artemis Fowl - Eoin Colfer
Re-listen of the audiobook I loved as a child. These are still one of my favourite MG series even if as an adult I can pick apart the science. Not sure why I previously rated these as 3 and 4 stars, they're going right back up to 5 and a place on the childhood favourites shelf.
That's everything from me this month - see you in December to find out if I make my 2023 Reading Challenge (6 books to go)!
Comments