November 2017 Wrap-Up (Blogmas)

November brought a lot of reading dread that was heightened by the ever closer end to the reading challenge of 2017. I had a really bad reading month back in October, and i really wanted to improve on it in November to make a final push towards my end of year goal of 52 books. I’m pretty pleased with how this month went, however i know it could have gone a little better. Here’s what i managed to get around to reading…

The Loneliest Girl In the Universe by Lauren James
I started reading this towards the end of last month, which meant it was the first book that i finished in November. I wanted to get it read before An Evening With Lauren James, a wonderful book event i was lucky enough to attend this month! I ended up enjoying The Lonelist Girl in The Universe so much more than i thought i would! I have a full review up where you can see why i gave it four stars!

Paper Girls by Cliff Chiang and Brian K. Vaughan
In order to try and meet my target this year, admittedly i’m trying my best to get as much read as possible. And sometimes that just means reading really small books that you know you’re going to get through super quickly. I have a small pile of graphic novels building up that i want to get around to, so i’m thinking the last few months of the year is definitely time for that. My full review of Paper Girls will be up very soon, but i did enjoy it and it was a nice change from reading novels!

Blackbird by ND Gomes
Also on my (never ending, really never going to happen) list of things to do before the end of the year is get around to some of the ARCs that have been sitting on my shelf since YALC. Blackbird was one of those. I ended up enjoying this story but it was very different to what i imagined it would be, it felt a little young for me to be honest. The protagonist acted a lot younger than i imagined her to be. My full review is up HERE if you want to know my thoughts.

The Christmasaurus by Tom Fletcher
Once again, on my never ending list i’ve had ‘finish some of the books i’ve started in the last year and left behind.’ The Christmasaurus was included. I’m lucky enough to be attending the stage musical of this book next month in London, so i wanted to get it read before i saw it live. I read about half of it last year after it’s release and finished it off in about a day this month. I have no idea why i waited so long to finish it because i truly loved the story. It made me feel festive!

If I Was Your Girl by Meredith Russo
Our LGBTQ+ book club choice for November and December is If I Was Your Girl, a story about a transgender teen growing up in a small town in the US. I’m really glad that the book club finally forced me to read this story. I found it quite inspiring and it genuinely taught me a lot about what teenagers must go though in these situations. As an own voices novel, it’s very powerful indeed. My review will be up soon!

Anthropology by Dan Rhodes
Anthropology is another book that i’d started a very long time ago now and wanted to get around to finishing. It’s a short story collection of one hundred stories made up of one hundred words each. This collection in particular focused on the theme of love, and in true Dan Rhodes style, they were all very unusual and honestly pretty depressing. He writes in a way in which you are forced to think about what you’re reading, and i really enjoy that about his writing.

Through The Woods by Emily Carroll
Reading Through The Woods was another last ditch attempt at hitting my end of year reading targets! I’ve also had this graphic novel sitting on my shelf for a few years now and have not gone anywhere near picking it up. I’m really glad that i read it in the end as it was a much faster read than i imagined. The stories within it were also much more horrifying and scary than i thought they would be. I wish i’d saved it for Halloween now! I ended up giving this collection four stars.

Towards the end of the month i also started to read It Only Happens In The Movies by Holly Bourne, which i am really enjoying so far (much to my surprise)! I will definitely get that finished first in December and then move on to some Christmassy reads.

Books Read: 7

Pages Read: 1,676

Average Pages Per Day: 56

Average Rating: 3.6

Years Of Release: 2017, 2016, 2015, 2010

Male/Female Authors: 3 male, 4 female

Genres: Contemporary, LGBTQ+, Middle Grade, Sci-Fi, Short Stories, Mystery, Graphic Novel

Books Read This Year So Far: 45