Hi. This is a bit late. October was an absolutely crazy month, then NaNoWriMo took over my life in November. During these two months, I took a little bit of a step back from reading, blogging, videoing, Instagramming, everything. On the bright side, I did rediscover my burning love of Star Trek and started actually watching TV. Oh, and I actually wrote something for the first time in my life. Who would have thought?
Buckle up, y’all. This is a long one — I’ll be covering all things bookish in October and November!
Books I read in October
The Lake House by Kate Morton
The Lady’s Guide to Petticoats and Piracy by Mackenzi Lee (review)
Sawkill Girls by Claire Legrand (review)
The Royal Runaway by Lindsay Emory (review)
Sadie by Courtney Summers (review)
Lethal White by Robert Galbraith
The Whispering Skull by Jonathan Stroud
A Very Large Expanse of Sea by Tahereh Mafi
I managed to read eight books in October, which is pretty great considering I only read two in the last two weeks of the month. I had been teetering on the edge of a reading slump for most of the month, and it really showed! There’s a wide range of books here, but I think my favourites were The Lady’s Guide to Petticoats and Piracy and A Very Large Expanse of Sea.
Books I read in November
Skyward by Brandon Sanderson (review)
Mirage by Somaiya Daud
The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley
The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides
Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson
Not much reading was done this past month, which is totally understandable. In between NaNo-ing, I did manage to get five books read. Skyward was probably the (totally predictable) favourite, but The Hunting Party really took me by surprise! I’m now in the mood to read lots and lots of thrillers, which makes for a nice change of pace.
Books I am currently reading
Empire of Sand by Tasha Suri
Empress of all Seasons by Emiko Jean
The Pale Blue Dot by Carl Sagan
Hey, look at me! I’m only reading three books at once, this feels like quite an accomplishment. My main read was Empire of Sand, but I’m going to be buddy reading it with my marvelous blogging pal Nandini! I can’t wait for us to share our thoughts — I love what I’ve read so far.
To hold me over until our buddy read begins, I’ve started Empress of all Seasons. I haven’t been sucked into a book this quickly in a long time! I’ve been wanting to read this for ages and now that I have my chance, I know I’m going to be impressed.
Finally, my audiobook pick is The Pale Blue Dot by Carl Sagan. I absolutely adored the audiobook of Cosmos, which I listened to earlier this year, and wanted to read more from him. Much to my suprise, large portions of The Pale Blue Dot are actually recovered from an audio version Sagan recorded before his death. It’s a pretty astonishing experience — I’d highly recommend the audiobook if you’re interested!
Books I acquired in October
Muse of Nightmares by Laini Taylor
Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman
Spellslinger by Sebastian de Castell
A Blade so Black by L.L. McKinney
Tangleweed and Brine by Deirdre Sullivan
The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
Normal People by Sally Rooney
Swing Time by Zadie Smith
Passenger by Alexandra Bracken
The Casual Vacancy by J. K. Rowling
Before She Ignites by Jodi Meadows
Traitor’s Blade by Sebastian de Castell
Consider Phlebas by Ian M. Banks
Sawkill Girls by Claire Legrand
The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein by Kiersten White
The Chalk Man by C. J. Tudor
Crow’s Trap by Ann Cleaves
I tripped and fell and bought a bunch of books. So sue me. These books are a combination of charity shop finds, preorders, bookshop trips, and trades with friends. I’ve already read a few of these, which is great, but I certainly added a lot of books to my TBR. Ouch.
Books I acquired November
Wee Free Men by Terry Pratchett
The Fellowship of the Ring by J. R. R. Tolkien
The Two Towers by J. R. R. Tolkien
The Return of the King by J. R. R. Tolkien
S. T. A. G. S. by M. A. Bennett
Cold Magic by Kate Elliott
The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead
Legend by Marie Lu
Prodigy by Marie Lu
Champion by Marie Lu
The Young Elites by Marie Lu
The Rose Society by Marie Lu
The Midnight Star by Marie Lu
Kings of the Wyld by Nicholas Eames
The Watchmaker of Filigree Street by Natasha Pulley
Empire of Sand by Tasha Suri
The Dark Vault by V. E. Schwab
Dumplin’ by Julie Murphy
A Big Ship at the End of the Universe by Alex White
Fire and Blood by George R. R. Martin
The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton (review)
The Silent Companions by Laura Purcell (review)
Again. Tripped. Fell. Bought books. Oops. But to be fair, so many of these are either from my favourite charity book shop or are unhauls from my marvelous blogging pal Judith. It’s not as bad as it looks, I swear.
I swear.
The last two are actually books I read and reviewed ages back! I was lucky enough to chair an event with Stuart and Laura this past week and I bought myself copies of their books. The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle and The Silent Companions are brilliant books and Stuart and Laura are marvelous people!
Book post
Girl Squads by Sam Maggs
The Silver Queen by Josie Jaffrey
Skyward by Brandon Sanderson
Empress of all Seasons by Emiko Jean
The Mortal Word by Genevive Cogman
Whiteout by Gabriel Dylan
Check out the smashing book post I’ve received over the past couple of months! I’ve been waiting on The Silver Queen and Skyward for awhile now, and I’m so thrilled to have copies of these books! The biggest surprise was Empress of all Seasons, which I absolutely cannot wait to read. Many thanks to the authors and publicists for sending all of these through!
NetGalley approvals
The Wolf and the Watchman by Niklas Natt och Dag
Shadow of the Fox by Julie Kagawa
Wild Magic by Tamora Pierce
Wolf-Speaker by Tamora Pierce
Emperor Mage by Tamora Pierce
Boneless Mercies by April Genevieve Tucholke
The Favourite : Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough by Ophelia Field
Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon (extract)
Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid
The Accidental Beauty Queen by Teri Wilson
The Wych Elm by Tana French
The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides
Enchantee by Gita Trelease
The Ruin of Kings by Jenn Lyons
Empire of Sand by Tasha Suri
The Devil Aspect by Craig Russell
Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams
Descendant of the Crane by Joan He
Descent of Shadows by Ryanne Glenn
Hey Justine, why is your NetGalley rating 32%? No idea, guys. Not a clue.
I’m not even going to try listing all of these covers.
Other projects to brag about
Podcast launch: The very first season of the podcast I launched with my sister has launched and finished! We’re planning season 2 now and are plotting some specials to drop through the rest of the year, so subscribe. Why wouldn’t you?
Off the Grid readathon: I teamed up with my marvelous book twin Shanah to host the Off the Grid readathon! We set our phones aside, logged off of social media, and read to our hearts content! I finished Sadie and read a good chunk of Laura Purcell’s The Corset during the readathon. Our next round starts on 11 January, so come join us!
NaNoWriMo: I didn’t end up winning NaNoWriMo, but I wrote 22,725 words this month! How crazy is that? For someone who has never written a word of fiction, that’s not bad. I’m planning to pick up this project again in the new year!
You all still here? Great! This has been a crazy period of time, but I’m so happy to get back into the swing of blogging and posting videos to my YouTube channel.
You win a prize for making it this far. The prize is puppy and kitten pictures. You’re welcome.
I love that NetGalley comic. 😆 I really want to read Skyward, but I’ve just [finally] started The Well of Ascension by Brandon Sanderson so I’ve convinced myself to finish that first – and I’m hoping to read The Silver Queen this month!
Great job with NaNo! I’m glad to hear you’ll be continuing to work on it – I’m excited to continue developing my story, too.
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Oooh!!! The Mistborn series is fantastic — you’re in for a treat. Well of Ascension has one of my favourite endings ever 😀
Thank you! Good luck to you as well! 😀
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Awesome post! I love your haul! also that comic is the best hahahaha
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It makes me laugh every time I see it 😀
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Let me know what you think of The Boneless Mercies. I read her debut novel a few months ago and it was YIKES, but I’m interested to see how she’s improved since then…
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Oooh intriguing! I will do — I’ve heard mixed things about it so far.
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SKYWARD! I loved it too 🙂 I devoured the audio book in a couple days which is rare for me. MBot and Spensa are amazing. Glad you had awesome reading months!
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NEED Skyward!!!!! It’s Brandon Sanderson (which you are wholly and completely the reason for my current obsession with him!!), it’s sci-fi, and there’s a pilot school. It has me written all over it!
And you tripped and fell and bought books huh? I’m going to have to use that line 😂
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It’s soooo fun!! You’ll LOVE it!!
It totally happened, I swear 😉
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‘tripped and fell and bought a bunch of books’ wooooow, that happens to me all the time too! 😀
Looks like the last couple of months were a whirlwind! Hope December is great. (Also, I love that comic by Hiu, it’s SOOOO accurate.)
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It’s trueee! I’m telling you, I don’t want to keep buying books, it just keeps happening to me 😀
It has been pretty crazy, but I’m feeling okay about it all now that I’ve had a wee break! Hiu’s comics are the best thing.
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A lot a wonderful books, Justine! Hope you have a great December and add loads more to your bookshelves!
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