NOVEMBER 2019 WRAP-UP

📚 It’s really unusual for me, but I had a rather meh reading month, as for quantity and content. Actually, I tend to read more slowly when the books are not that great.
But I listened to a lot of audiobook content!

📚 AND I have so far already read more books than my yearly goal of 100 books. So it’s not all that bad.

📚 PLUS, November saw my 5,000th follower! As promised, I sent a book to the lucky new follower (Shalini at Shalini’s Books & Reviews – please go and visit her). That ended up being quite an adventure. I talked about it here.
I promised another giveaway for all my current followers, I will post it in a few days.

📚 I actually did read/browse some gorgeous books published by Rockridge Press and received through The Callisto Publisher’s Club, but as they are mostly cookbooks and children activity books, I do not count them in my statistics.
Some bloggers disagree with that. I don’t mind what other bloggers do, I personally only count books what I really read from A to Z, no word skipped.

📚 Thankfully, it was #Nonficnov, so I visited lots of blogs featuring fascinating nonfiction titles.

📚 And I’m currently reading 2 great books – come back tomorrow to know more about them!

So here are the few titles I read in November:

6 books:
3 in print 
=  with 862 pages, an average of 28 pages/day
3 in audio
= 25H10, an average of 50 minutes

5 in mystery:

1. Scare Me, by Richard Jay Parker – free ebook won in a giveaway
2. Sharko, by Franck Thilliez – French audiobook
3. The Masque of the Red Death, by Edgar Allan Poe – audio, for The Classics Club
4. A Noël Killing, by M.L. Longworth – received for review for Criminal Element
5. The Mystery of the Hansom Cab, by Fergus Hume – audio, for The Classics Club

1 in nonfiction:

1. Tom Brown’s Guide to Healing the Earth, by Tom Brown – free book won in a giveaway

MY FAVORITE BOOK IN NOVEMBER

  Sad, but none of the books I completely read is worth being featured as a favorite. Let me tell you a few words about the ones I have not reviewed.

The Masque of the Red Death
I listened to this short story by Edgar Allan Poe for The Classics Club.
I was actually rather disappointed by it. I didn’t think there was much to it, probably because of the short story format. I even listened to an analysis of it, that was actually longer than the book itself, to be sure I had not missed something major. I didn’t even find suspense in it, as the end was obvious from the get go.

The Mystery of a Hansom Cab
And I listened to this one also for The Classics Club. I was really curious, as the author lived for a long time in New Zealand.
I was also rather disappointed. Even though it’s only 260 pages, I felt it was dragging for the resolution of the mystery. However, it was interesting to read about Melbourne in the 1880s. “A man is found dead in a hansom cab, and one of Melbourne’s leading citizens is accused of the murder. He pleads his innocence, yet refuses to give an alibi.” The reason why was also quite clear from the beginning.
I wanted to try this author, who supposedly really influenced Conan Doyle, but I don’t think I’ll read more by him.

A Noël Killing
If you want to try a Christmas mystery with a Provence setting, you may find A Noël Killing enjoyable. It was too slow for me, and as I notice the same criticism applied by other readers to the first book in this series, I don’t think I’ll stay in the company of Verlaque and Bonnet. It also contained inexact details about the region.
This is an excerpt of my review that will be published on Criminal Element mid December.

READING CHALLENGES & RECAP

Classics Club: 6/50 (until September 2024)
2019 Calendar of Crime Challenge 20/12?
Where Are You Reading?: 21/50 – to be finished in ??
Total of books read in 2019 = 104/100 – FINISHED
Number of books added to my TBR this past month= 26

BOOKS I REVIEWED THIS MONTH

   

GIVEAWAYS

The open giveaways are on my homepage

MOST POPULAR BOOK REVIEW THIS PAST MONTH

click on the cover to access my review (2013!)

MOST POPULAR POST THIS PAST MONTH
– NON BOOK REVIEW –

Nonfiction 2019 Book Pairings

BOOK BLOG THAT BROUGHT ME MOST TRAFFIC THIS PAST MONTH

The Mommy Island
please go visit

TOP COMMENTERS 

Judy at Keep the Wisdom
Karen at Booker Talk
Silvia at Silvia Cachia

BLOG MILESTONES 

2,071 posts
over 5,025 followers
over 186,900 hits

*

Come back tomorrow
to see the books I plan to read in December.

How was YOUR month of November?

Nicole at Feed Your Fiction Addiction
has created a Month In Review meme
where you can link your monthly recap posts
Thanks Nicole!