Welcome to my blog and my first content post!
Today is what will be further known as Simply Saturday. I will take Saturday as a day to review books I read this week and talk about my upcoming week. As today is December 1st, I decided it was fitting to talk about what I read in November and when I plan to read in December.
December is always a huge rush with the holidays and trying to finish your Goodreads goal. My TBR is a little ambitious but I think I will be able to get through it.
Let’s start with the closing of November. In November I finally got out of my reading slump and read 13 books.
Obsidio – ⭐⭐⭐⭐ the final installment of the Illuminae files was absolutely fantastic. Everything came together and all of the characters from the previous two novels interconnected and meet at the perfect ending to a fantastic series. All these characters had such great character arcs through the whole series.
Fire and Fury- ⭐⭐⭐ of course on my first official post I have a very controversial book. To be honest I was just curious about this book. I went in with no expectations and just wanting to know the inner workings of the White House. The book was good journalism but overall it was pretty boring. There was really nothing that made this book stand out.
Pride- ⭐⭐⭐.5 this is the book that actually got me out of my slump. It is a retelling of Pride and Prejudice which I read earlier in the year. I am not usually one for contemporaries but it was included in my Owlcrate so I felt the need to read it. I have to say I was pleasantly surprised at what I got. It was a very simple story and it was just enough for me. The reason this book didn’t get all four stars was because there wasn’t a huge amount of character development in the book.
Necronomicon-⭐⭐⭐⭐ if you have not picked up a anything by HP Lovecraft I highly suggest you do. He puts words together so eloquently. I actually listened to this on audiobook and to be honest it was one of the best audiobooks I have ever listened to. Each story had a different reader that brought the story to life in the most magnificent way. I feel like HP Lovecraft is an acquired taste however I believe everyone should read at least one thing by him.
The Long Halloween-⭐⭐⭐⭐ Batman is my favorite DC Superhero. My favorite villain is either Poison Ivy or Catwoman. The fact that all three of these characters were in this graphic novel made me so happy to begin with. I loved the concept of this graphic novel. Some background knowledge of the DC Universe is needed to understand some of the characters but if you have a basic understanding it really is a fascinating story that takes place in the time span of the year.
Shadow of the Fox- ⭐⭐⭐ I really wanted to like this book more than I did but it was very mediocre. I got through the book and I got through it in a fairly quick amount of time but most of the story was just boring. The ending however was a huge Cliffhanger and now I have to read the next two books in the series to find out what happens.
Catwoman-⭐⭐⭐.5 clearly it was a month of super reads. I had started this book a few months ago and then it got put off to the side until last month and I wish I had finished it sooner. This is the third installment of the DC Icon series. It is not a graphic novel and you do not need background knowledge to understand the concept of the story. This book is more about how Catwoman came to be who she is. I think it was very good story touching upon the gray area between good and evil in this world.
Slaughterhouse-Five-⭐⭐⭐⭐ at the beginning of the ear I decided to take on the task of finishing a classic every month. Last month I tackled Slaughterhouse-Five. I was shocked at how much I actually loved this book. I remember hearing about it for the first time in Footloose and thinking about how I wanted to read it. Well here I am 7 years later writing a review about it. I think it is an interesting tale of war and love and time travel. I wasn’t expecting the time travel aspect when Kurt Vonnegut Kurt Vonnegut said he was writing a book about war but this is a classic that I think everyone should try to read . And so it goes.
At the Mountains of Madness- ⭐⭐⭐.5 this was the second HP Lovecraft book that I tackled in November. It was not nearly as good as Necronomicon. It is another Cthulhu story but it is written as a journal and I didn’t get as much out of it as I would a regular story. Sometimes journals can be a great way to tell a story but it just didn’t come through as well in this book.
The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven-⭐⭐⭐ this was a collection of short stories about living on an Indian reservation in Washington. I thought it was alright. Sometimes the line of who the narrator was got blurred. Otherwise the stories were decent and it was interesting to see that life isn’t so different living on a reservation. However, it did bring to light the racism to tell used against Native Americans.
A Clash of Kings- ⭐⭐⭐.5 I really love this series. This is my second reread of the series and I will soon be binging for the second time the TV show before it comes back on. I have been trying to read one A Song of Fire and Ice book a month starting in October that way I will finish up in November. I forgot how much I loved the second installment. So much more starts happening and things really start to come together. I just wished George RR Martin would finish Winds of Winter.
The Darkest Minds-⭐⭐⭐⭐ I had heard so many mixed reviews going into this book that I expected to hate it. Well I assumed wrong. From the start this book was action-packed and it was fabulous. I thought the plot was well-rounded as were the characters. The ending left me craving more and I cannot wait to jump into the next book.
We Have Always Lived in the Castle-⭐⭐⭐⭐ my parents are not big readers but my mom suggested I read this. She said she loved it as a kid and that was enough to make me try it out. I love Shirley Jackson’s writing anyway after reading The Lottery. I was not surprised at how twisted this book was in such a short amount of pages. Jackson never fails to make things creepy and always adds that punch a book needs to really get to you. She is another author I would suggest picking up at least one of her stories.
That is what I read a November. My wrap up posts will not be as extensive from now on because I will be reviewing every Saturday the books I read.
Now I will quickly give you my TBR for December. I recently picked up a cart from Target and it is now serving as my TBR cart as well as holding my coloring books.
It makes my TBR look better and now my that’s can’t knock my books into their litter box.
For my physical TBR I have:
Girls of Paper and Fire
Wintersong
Lifelike
Busted
Metal Gear Solid
We Are Okay
Beauty Queens
Unicorns vs. Zombies
Angus, Thongs, and Full Frontal Snogging
16th Seduction
17th Suspect
Blanca and Roja
Ebook and Audiobook TBR:
The Book Jumper
A Storm of Swords
An Elephant in the Garden
The Confectioner’s Guild
The Exorcism of Frosty the Snowman
Incubus Yule
The Christmas Dragon’s Heart
Over the Rainbow
The Christmas Sisters
Like I said before I have a super ambitious TBR this month. I’m hoping with the holidays and my new schedule I will be able to get things read and get things.
I will be back tomorrow with Shelfie Sunday where I talk about books I’ve added to my shelves this week.
Let me know what you read in November and what you you hope to read in December.
Peace, love, and books,
Mackenzie
P.S. you can check for pictures and updates on my instagram 👇
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