Thursday, December 5, 2019

Wrap-Up: November 2019





November Snapshots



1. So . . . it’s been a while. I haven’t written a monthly wrap-up post since March because it would be very boring to say, “I worked 10 billion hours and read no books.” That’s pretty much what happened all summer, but I’m back! I think. Let’s restart this wrap-up thing.


The view from my "office" window.




2. Who’s excited about TV? I’ve been watching His Dark Materials. I loved the books when I was a teen. I didn’t have high hopes for the TV show because the movie was . . . unwatchable. It was awful. But, I’m surprised by the show. The actors are talented, and it looks pretty. I’m enjoying it so far.






3. That thing you all said would happen actually happened, and I’m the only one who was shocked. I’ve said on this blog that I don’t have a treadmill anymore, so I run outside in the snow during winter. You guys were like, “Aj, you can’t run in snow. You’ll fall.” I was like, “Nah, I’m good.” Well, guess what? I was running in the snow, minding my own business, when I slipped on black ice and ate pavement. You’re shocked, right? My knee was purple and puffy for half of November. It’s healed now. I’m back to running in the snow. I’m just slightly more cautious on the wet patches.






4. Let me give you things! I’m giving away a book shopping spree. It’s open internationally, so please enter if you want the chance to pick out a bunch of brand new books. Seriously, you can pick whatever books you want. I’ll buy them for you.














Wayward Googlers



Here are a few amusing Google searches that led people to Read All The Things! last month. I’m sorry to the unfortunate souls who ended up here instead of finding what they were Googling for.

“city of ghostees critiques.” Ghostees? I don’t think that’s the vibe VE Schwab was going for with that novel, but I actually do have a critique for you. 

“My favirite book i read 2019 book haul.” Nooo! I refuse to think about “favirite” books until the end of the year. There’s still a month left in 2019. I have a ton of stuff to read. I can’t pick favirites yet. 
 
“Diverse books matter.” Agreed.

“narrative nonfiction bad storm.” Oh, I can actually be helpful with this one! Try A Pearl in the Storm: How I Found My Heart in the Middle of the Ocean by Tori Murden McClure. There’s hurricanes in that one.
  
“Top 10 Tuesday books about paying attention.” Was this a TTT topic? Should we suggest it as a topic? Probably not. I can’t imagine it’d be popular.












Books I Read



It was Nonfiction November! That’s why there’s a plethora of stupidly long nonfiction titles in this post. Also, the Sadie audiobook. That one’s fiction, but I listened to the last few minutes of it on November 1, so it counts as a November book. In November, I finished 7 books and gave up on 1.




Vincent and Theo: The Van Gogh Brothers by Deborah Heiligman
A Time To Dance A Time To Die: The Extraordinary Story of the Dancing Plague of 1518 by John Waller
Why People Believe Weird Things: Pseudoscience, Superstition, and Other Confusions of Our Time by Michael Shermer (DNF)
Honor Girl: A Graphic Memoir by Maggie Thrash
Fear: Trump in the White House by Bob Woodward
Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood by Trevor Noah
Quackery: A Brief History of the Worst Ways to Cure Everything by Lydia Kang & Nate Pedersen












Best Books Of November





1. Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood by Trevor Noah
3. Honor Girl: A Graphic Memoir by Maggie Thrash












Most-Viewed November Posts



 













All The Things



Number of unread books on my TBR shelf = 47 books.

I’m currently reading = Best-Loved Folktales of the World by Joanna Cole.














What did you do in November?






27 comments:

  1. I will be checking out the books you read. Great post - wonderful giveaway!

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  2. I really want to watch His Dark Materials but I don't want to get HBO until the entire season has been released. I'm also kind of holding out for reviews. I really want to read Sadie at some point! It wasn't even on my radar until I saw your review.

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  3. That’s quite a view you have. Beats my view of the office parking lot. :) Ouch on your knee. I hope it’s not giving you any trouble. And hopefully no one said “I told you so.” LOL

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  4. I find it hard to believe you read NOTHING since March. But I am sorry you fell in the snow. A couple weeks ago I was out playing Pokémon Go and I slipped twice: once on my steps (landed in a thick pile of snow so it didn't hurt) and then another time out on the sidewalk.

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  5. YES, Born a Crime was really good! Wow, what a great view you have at work!

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  6. I'm so sorry you got hurt, hugs! My friend's mom did the same thing, but she ended up with stitches by her eyebrow and a huge black eye, definitely the worst black eye I've ever seen. Black ice is the worst!
    Jen @ Star-Crossed Book Blog

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  7. That's an epic view from you office. I sit facing a wall, in a room with only one small window that looks out to the rest of the office. A secure room is sort of like a prison cell. OH NO! You poor dear. Sorry to hear about your fall, though I am glad you are healed up.

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  8. I am in awe of the fact that you only have 47 books that you haven't read yet. I probably bought 47 books in the month of November alone :) I am glad that work has slowed down for you but sad that you fell on the ice and hurt your knee. It looks like you had a great reading month. I hope you are having a great December!

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  9. Oh no sorry to hear about the falling! Ow. And I love that pic- ballons are so cool. :)

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  10. I love looking at those google searches too... some real gems there!

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  11. I didn't like His Darkest Materials-the books and the film! I don't intend to even look at the series! November was a decent reading month but as much as I'm reading I don't seem to be making a dent in the Goodreads total which is annoying!

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  12. LOL, that is a random "top 10 Tuesday" Google search! I listened to The Golden Compass but never continued with the series, I should probably do that, and I think the TV show is on a channel we don't have, unfortunately.

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  13. Be careful. Running on snow is one thing but when there is ice underneath, it's a whole different ball of wax. I have fallen a few times.

    Your book, "Vince and Theo," reminded me of an exhibit I saw earlier this week at the Columbia Museum of Art in Columbia, SC. The title was Van Gogh and his Inspirations. It contained 12 Van Goghs, but a large number of other artists who influenced Van Gogh's style, where he'd take an idea or two from each. It was an interesting exhibit--I wish I would have longer than an hour and a half to spend in the exhibit.

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  14. I'm so happy you are back to blogging and not working a million hours a month and not reading.

    Sorry to hear about your fall. I would not dare run on ice or snow; I have enough trouble walking on paved paths in our warm winter weather. I fell about two months ago as I was walking up to the entrance to Kroger. Yep, just tripped on the edge of the sidewalk. I'm trying to focus on being more careful. I will not fall, I will not fall...

    I read a lot of nonfiction in November, too. Only nonfiction, in fact.

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  15. I refuse to do my year's favourite, favorite or favirite books until the end of December either. There's still possibly a dozen still to read!
    Sorry to hear about your running topple, but glad you're fully recovered now. I miss my running, but daren't risk re-tearing the calf muscle that gave out. Nowadays it's cycling for me instead which does, at least, get me to places much faster!

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  16. Oh nooo! I'm glad your knee is better. That's no fun. I almost ate it going into work today. New Hampshire was just hit with quite the storm and the steep hill leading down to my work wasn't cleared yet... oye! I hope you have a great December!

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  17. You've a nice view from your "office". :) I'm glad your knee is better - running in the snow does seems dangerous. I agree: It's too soon to talk about my favourite books of 2019. I'll probably only do it by the end of the December or in 2020.

    Happy readings!
    Tânia @MyLovelySecret

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  18. Your "office" view looks incredible. I work in a basement so I'm very jealous, lol.

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  19. I love your "office view"! And I'm sorry about your knee injury, but glad it's healing. Maybe you should think about investing in a treadmill?

    Yeah, I'm not ready to pin down my favorite books of 2019 yet, either. I mean, I've still got three weeks to find more of them!

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  20. Oh, oof, sorry about your knee. I am glad to hear you're better. 😮

    I think all of you people have made me decide to read Sadie. 👍✨

    I did SciFi month November,but only managed four books for it. 😛

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  21. Oh no, I'm sorry about your knee! You gotta be careful for sure!!! And nope, I can't think of 2019 book favorites yet. It's not OVER! I have more time!!! I wanted to read more nonfiction books last month and nope, that didn't happen. haha I do have some that I'd like to get to soon though.

    -Lauren
    www.shootingstarsmag.net

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  22. That's a beautiful cover for Best Loved Folktales. I keep meaing to watch His Dark Materials but forgetting to.

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  23. I'm sorry I laughed about the falling (though that knee sounded super painful) but to be fair I would probably go running in the snow too. As long as it is not actively snowing, why not? :D

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  24. Oh no, I'm sorry you fell! But good for you that you get back to it!
    Sadie has been on my TBR-list for forever, maybe it's time to pick it up. Love the nonfiction books too!

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  25. I'm really interested in watching the Dark Materials Series, but (confession) I never read the books. And it is sadly for really weird reasons---I think when the book first came out, there was a big uproar about it pushing atheist ideals, and I somehow got it in my head that I shouldn't read it. Which is crazy because, like, some people complain that Harry Potter promotes witchcraft and ... yeah, I completely ignored that idea and decided that those people are insane. I have no idea why the Dark Materials thing stuck in my head the way it did. (Except, I just looked at it, and it came out in 1995---I was kind of a baby Christian then, so maybe I was more susceptible to the idea that a book could somehow ruin my faith? Harry Potter came out in 1997, but I actually didn't know much about it at first and didn't read it till later.)

    So, that was a very long explanation of my non-reading (that you didn't ask for). LOL! Sorry for processing my thoughts and feelings via your comments!! :-)

    Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction

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  26. The title A Time to Dance A Time to Die has me curious. See what I read in November at Girl Who Reads

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  27. Black ice has taken me out too--one time I rounded a corner and the next thing I knew I was horizontal. So sorry about your injury! I want to read Sadie in 2020! This is the second blog post that put this book on the top of the November books. Happy New Year!

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