Best Books of November
As I say every month, I’m shamelessly stealing this idea from Jessica Lahey. She has a recurring monthly date where she reviews all the books she reads that month. Book reviews are important for authors, and I want to get better at doing this.
So. I’m going to review them here and also online, but I’m going to do it a little differently. I’m only going to review the stuff I really liked. I don’t see a reason to spend my time writing about something I didn’t love; it’s just using up more of my energy. So only positive reviews.
These are the books I liked (or mostly liked) from November.
The Christmas Appeal (Janice Hallett): I read a second Christmas book because Janice Hallett is a gift to the world. It pulls in the same characters from The Appeal and follows the same format of reading emails and text messages. So good.
The Last Devil To Die (Richard Osman): Speaking of so good, I will buy every Richard Osman book, plot summary unseen. I don’t even look to see what the book is about. I just go to the bookstore the first day they have it and buy it. This was a sad one, though all the books are moving in their own ways. This one was just more so. It was a good mystery and a good time with these friends.
The Three Dahlias (Katy Watson): I bought this book because Janice Hallett blurbed it. (I am such a cheap sell.) But this was so so so much fun. I loved it and can’t wait to start the next book. Best trio ever — fun and empowering. Beyond being smart, savvy women, I liked that they always straightened the other’s crowns, even though they didn’t enter the situation feeling inclined to have each other’s back. It just happened because they’re awesome.
The Trial (Rob Rinder): Speaking of being a cheap sell, I purchased this book because it reminded me of the cover of The Appeal. (Are you sensing a theme?) You don’t really solve the crime as you do with The Appeal — it’s a straightforward mystery — but I learned a lot about the British legal system. And it was a good read.
The Kind Worth Killing (Peter Swanson): This is an older book, but it took me a while to get to it despite reading several other Peter Swanson books. I liked the writing a lot, though Swanson’s male characters are so creepy and unlikeable 100% of the time. It ends abruptly, but I enjoyed the twists until the last page. I’m not saying this well because it was a five-star read — engaging, well-paced, and interesting.
The Other Half (Charlotte Vassell): I waited a long time for this book to come to the US. (It has been out in the UK for months.) It was like a modern Brideshead Revisited as a murder mystery, and I loved the main detective and his co-workers.
What did you read last month?
4 comments
Oooh, some of those sound really good! And I’m with you on the “Thursday Murder Club” books — SO GOOD. 🙂
I read 4 books in November, all good reads, all reviewed on Goodreads, StoryGraph & my blog:
* “Murder Most Royal” by S.J. Bennett (#3 in “The Queen Investigates” series). Set at Christmastime 2016 at Sandringham. These books are a whole lot of fun. 🙂
* “Ex-Wife” by Ursula Parrott, the November pick for Lyz Lenz’s Men Yell At Me book club. Written in 1929, set in New York City, and considered shocking for its time. It’s a period piece in one way, but change a few of the details and it could very well be today too. I appreciated the honest portrayal of a woman learning to roll with the unexpected punches of life, and the way the women support each other throughout the book.
* “Ella Minnow Pea” by Mark Dunn (the December book for my Childless Collective Nomo Book Club). A novel written in letters, and what one reviewer called “a linguistic tour de force.” I was expecting a comedy, but it’s really more of a satire. There is humour, and some very clever writing — but the underlying message is serious, and somewhat unsettling — it’s probably even more timely today than when it was written in 2001.
* “In Memoriam” by Alice Winn. An amazing debut novel by an author who only just turned 30! Sad, hard to read in parts, but I highly recommend it. A story of unrequited love between two teenaged British boys that begins at an elite boarding school in 1914 and winds its way through the trenches of the Great War.
Love Richard Osman – I will read anything he writes! It’s uncommon for authors to make me laugh out loud, but he often does.
I’m definitely adding the Rob Rinder book. I didn’t realise he’d written novels. He’s a bit like a British Judge Judy I think. I’ve seen him on British chat and/or game shows (can’t remember), and most notably, there is a wonderful and very moving episode on him for “Who Do You Think You Are?” (the British show tracking genealogy – I think you have a different name/versions in the US). I’ve watched it several times (it is repeated all over the show) and I’m in tears every time. (He’s Jewish, which probably tells you if you want to watch it or not). He also has a second novel to come out next year, I see.
And I’ve just borrowed the Peter Swanson book too – it sounds excellent.
I read four books in November, but two are worth noting. The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller was wonderful. The story of Achilles, but written so beautifully for the first time he seems like a real person, with flaws and beauty and wonder. I loved it, and have Circes on hold at the library to read next. My first five star read for a while.
Another five star read was John Boyne’s All the Broken Places, a sequel (in some ways) to The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas (which I’ve never read or watched the movie, but had a vague recollection of the story after the Oscars one year), about the aftermath of war, of being on the wrong side, of what responsibilities children hold for their parents’ actions, of domestic violence, elder abuse, loneliness. Despite all that, it is one of my books of the year.
Ooooh, I got the Three Dahlias used, and it was so delightful! I got into The Inheritance Games series and read the last two in November, and The Wishing Game by Meg Shaffer which was delightful fun. I stepped out of my comfort zone with Mickey 7, which was so fun (space sci Fi) and much weirder and funnier than The Martian but that’s the closest comparison I’ve got. Then I read a physics romance, Love, Theoretically, that was fun candy. Last, a very disturbing but excellent Paul Tremblay book — A Head Full of Ghosts. It was a good reading month!