OK – this is becoming something of a habit now, and I fully expect someone to revoke my blogging rights at some point in the not-too-distant future should it continue. It seems that I’ve only posted once since my last monthly wrap up, and that wasn’t even a review, but a “This Week in Books” post.
In my defence, I have had a busy month. It started with a weekend in Hay-on-Wye where I bought all the books, as can be seen below. In case you haven’t noticed, I absolutely love Hay, and thoroughly enjoy spending time there. While I normally attend the Hay Festival Winter Weekend in November, I have to admit that I do enjoy Hay outside of the two festivals when it’s much quieter and browsing becomes much easier, as does getting a table at a restaurant or pub. Book-buying is thirsty work, after all 😉
I then had a busy spell at work followed by a bout of illness before going on holiday for a week to celebrate my birthday. While I wouldn’t normally go on holiday for my birthday, it was a significant one this year (no, I won’t say how big!) and so used the excuse to escape to sunnier climes which I thoroughly enjoyed.
While I’ve not been blogging, I have at least been reading, and read twelve books this month, including one reread for my work book group. I’d like to say that I’ve made a significant dent in my TBR as a result, but it didn’t quite balance out this month’s acquisitions… 😬
Books Read and Reviewed
- Read in November:
- A Place Called Winter by Patrick Gale
- Sankofa by Chibundu Onuzo
- Survive the Night by Riley Sager
- The Haunting of Henry Twist by Rebecca F. John
- Atalanta by Jennifer Saint
- Come Closer by Sara Gran
- Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
- Scarlet by Genevieve Cogman
- The Shadow Cabinet by Juno Dawson
- Children of the Sun by Beth Lewis
- Mister Magic by Kiersten White
- Children of Memory by Adrian Tchaikovsky
Favourite Books This Month
Books Acquired
I purchased ten books while in Hay! Many, although admittedly not all, were discounted either due to being second hand or remaindered stock.
I purchased another four on Kindle, using my holiday as an excuse to stock up my Kindle!
My other half also bought me a boxset of Arsène Lupin books after we finished season three of Lupin on Netflix (I wasn’t able to find a better image than the one below).
TBR Watch
- Books out = 11 read + 1 DNF* = 12
- Books in = 18 purchases
- Gives an increase of 6 in my TBR
*I may come back to the DNF at a later date, but for now it has been removed from my TBR.
Jo's Book Blog 
So happy that you enjoyed Children of the Sun too, it was one of my favourite books of the month too 😍
Wasn’t it great?! I love Beth Lewis’s writing 🙂
Looks and sounds like a wonderful month Jo glad you’ve had a good one!
BTW have you heard of Bluesky? It’s another alternative to Twitter like Mastodon. I’ve been on there for a while now and find it easier that Mastodon. Lots of book bloggers and authors have moved over as Twitter is getting worse and worse. It’s in BETA at the moment and you need a invite code to join. I have one if you’re interested? x
Thanks, Nicki!
Hah! Funny you should mention Bluesky – my other half has recently sent me a code to join up! I haven’t quite taken the plunge yet, but good to know it’s easier than Mastodon – I haven’t a clue what I’m doing on there! I’ll be sure to look you up when I do sign up x
Isn’t that strange! I gave up on Mastodon not long after I joined. x
It’s same with me this month. I wrote few posts but surely less than usual as I hardly had time to write or blog hop or post on social media but I definitely had time to read. I hope we both can do better in December. Wish you amazing last month of 2023.
Well, frankly I can’t do much worse! 😀 Here’s to a more productive month x