Wrap Up: November 2018 or Genre Fiction is the best

I had a pretty horrific month, personally. But my reading recovered from the abysmal month that was October, which is at least something; within 10 days I had read as much as I had read in the whole month before.

Books I read in November:

1. The Outcast Hour ed. by Mahvesh Murad and Jared Shurin: 3 out of 5 stars
2. Where Am I Now? by Mara Wilson: 4 out of 5 stars
3. Vengeful (Villains #2) by V. E. Schwab: 4 out of 5 stars
4. Binti (Binti #1) by Nnedi Okorafor: 2 out of 5 stars
5. Burn for Me (Hidden Legacy #1) by Ilona Andrews: 4 out of 5 stars
6. White Hot (Hidden Legacy #2) by Ilona Andrews: 4,5 out of 5 stars
7. Wild Fire (Hidden Legacy #3) by Ilona Andrews: 4 out of 5 stars
8. Broken Magic (Chronicles of Amicae #1) by Mirah Bolender: 3 out of 5 stars
9. The Trauma Cleaner by Sarah Krasnostein: 4 out of 5 stars
10. Be With Me Always by Randon Billings Noble: 3,5 out of 5 stars
11. Sadie by Courtney Summers: 4 out of 5 stars

Favourite of the Month:

TBR: Novellas in November (2018)

This year I am planning on participating in Novellas in November. You can find an overview of the history of this event and further links on Laura’s blog.

There are two (main) reasons why I am trying to participate in Novellas in November:

1. One of my reading resolutions was to read more novellas this year. I haven’t really done that.
2. My reading has been super slow these last few weeks.

I am not very good at TBRs (which is why I have stopped setting myself any), so I will have to wait and see how it goes this month, but I do have a few novellas I want to get to. I will try to read as many as possible in a single sitting in the hopes of getting into the groove of reading again.

The Strange Bird by Jeff VanderMeer

I adore Jeff VanderMeer’s writing and own a few books of his that I haven’t read, but for some reason I have not picked any of his books up in months. Crossing this one off my TBR would be ace.

Binti by Nnedi Okorafor

I have heard amazing things about this series, but I also DNFed one of Nnedi Okorafor’s other books (man, that one was disappointingly romance heavy). I want to like her writing more than I do, I think. But, this is less than 100 pages long and will hopefully be as great as everybody says it is.

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck

I would be nice to have read at least one classic book this year. I have neglected older books altogether this year and maybe that is a mistake. I have not read any Steinbeck but I have the nagging feeling that I would adore his work if I just got off my butt and actually read one of his books

The Lamb Will Slaughter the Lion by Margaret Killjoy

This sounds SO brilliant. And creepy. And disturbing. I was super excited when I bought it and really should get to it before the year ends.

 

Rogue Protocol: The Murderbot Diaries #3 by Martha Wells

I have read the first two in the series earlier this year and really enjoy the characters and the humor. It is just fluffy enough to hopefully sooth my reading despair.

Are you planning of participating in Novellas in November? What are your reading plans in general?

Reading List: Novellas

Another one of my resolutions for this year was to read more novellas. And as quite a few of the ones I had been eyeing were fairly cheap for my Kindle, I decided to go ahead and purchased an unreasonably high number of novellas to read over the next couple of weeks. This approach has advantages: I love reading on my Kindle and the books were cheap. The disadvantage is that if I happen to love the books, I will want to have print books of them. I guess I am doing a good deed for the publishing industry here. So without much further ado, here is a list of novellas I am looking forward to reading (I did a similar list for my Science Fictions reads.)

All Systems Red (The Murderbot Diaries #1) by Martha Wells

This sounds so brilliant. A socially awkward murderbot? With an affinity for crappy TV shows? Sign me up.

Binti by Nnedi Okorafor

I have previously tried to read a book by Nnedi Okorafor and did not enjoy this. However, I have heard nothing but great things about this trilogy. Also, this is only 98 pages, so I figure even if I don’t love it, I will be able to finish it quickly. It did win the Hugo Award, so I assume it’s brilliant. Also Nnedi Okorafor has the best hair.

The Lamb Will Slaughter The Lion by Margaret Killjoy

I added this a while ago because someone over at Goodreads whose taste I trust, reviewed this very favourably. I might be super scared reading this but sometimes I like that (and I did say I wanted to branch out in my reading). I will have to read this during the daytime though.

The Murders of Molly Southbourne by Tade Thompson

Again, I will be scared. But this book (and its brilliant cover) has intrigued me for months. I figured, I might as well go for it.

The Black Tides Of Heaven (Tensorate #1) by J. Y. Yang

I heard nothing but amazing things about this. It sounds challenging and different and absolutely beautiful.

River of Teeth by Sarah Gailey

Two things: Alternative history. People riding hippos.

 

As you can see, I am going full on genre fiction here, two horror books, two science fiction novellas and two fantasy books. I am planning on getting to more literary novellas later this year, hopefully including a couple of classic German novellas then.

Have you read any of these? Let me know your thoughts! Also, if you have any recommendations for me, these are always welcome.