November Reading Wrap-Up

November goal:

In November, I’m setting a goal of 4 books.

What I read: (Link to my Goodreads 2019 Reading Challenge

Hotel Silence—Auður Ava Ólafsdóttir

3* (Nov 7)
Review

I’ll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman’s Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer—Michelle McNamara

4.5* (Nov 20)
Review

A Treacherous Curse—Deanna Raybourn

3* (Nov 16)
Review

The Vanishing Stair—Maureen Johnson

5* (Nov 23)
Review

Excuse(s) for Not Reading More: I read 6 books and feel no shame.

Diversity? An Icelandic novel, historical fiction, 2 YA novels, and 2 nonfiction (1 memoir, 1 true crime/memoir) audiobooks.

Star Ratings: I base this on the flat stars Goodreads displays in list-view, not the quarter-star system I assign in my reviews. (I made it to July this year before realizing I’d screwed up the math somewhere along the way.)

5 stars: 10 books
4 stars: 15 books
3 stars: 16 books
2 stars: 3 books
1 star: 0 books
0 stars: 0 books
Abandoned: 2 books
Not rated: 0 books

Pages Read: (does not include abandoned books, edited manuscripts, or Coffin Bell)

January – 993
February – 1232
March – 454 (ouch)
April – 1615
May – 1248
June – 1076
July – 375 (ewww)
August – 1603
September – 1196
October – 929
November – 1992

Coffin Bell Submissions: I used to include these because they took up so much of my time. I resigned my position as their short story editor in March 2019 so I could prioritize other projects.

January
- 20 short stories
February
- 14 short stories
- 1 CNF (creative nonfiction)
March
- 15 short stories

Reading Goals:

1. Read 40 books – Mission accomplished! I’m at 44/40.

2. Decrease my TBR –

Jan 1 – 73 physical / 21 Kindle
Feb 1 – 71/22
Mar 4 – 71/22 (huh)
Apr 3 – 73/23 (it was my birthday month)
May 1 – 73/23 (how?!?!)
Jun 1 – 72/22 (it was a good month for reading books I already own)
Jul 1 – 71/22 (surprising – I visited 2 bookstores this weekend)
Aug 4 – 71/22
Sept 3 – 71/23
Sept 30 – 73/21 (books = souvenirs and I was in Iceland)
Nov 1 – 73/21
Dec 1 – 75/22 (I blame Small Business Saturday)

3. Read 6 short story/essay/poetry collections – I want to double that if possible. Not sure that’s going to happen. (I realized in late September that I’d missed one and messed up the months.)

Jan – 1 (short story: The Sadness of Beautiful Things – Simon Van Booy)
Feb – 2 (poetry: No Matter the Wreckage – Sarah Kay & Sophia Janowitz, Good Morning, Good Night – Lin Manuel Miranda)
Mar – 1 (essays: Well-Read Black Girl – Glory Edim)
Apr – 1 (short story: Get in Trouble – Kelly Link)
May – 1 (short story: The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories – Angela Carter)
July – 1 (short story: The Doll – Daphne du Maurier)
Aug – 1 (essays: (Don’t) Call Me Crazy – Kelly Jensen)
Oct – 1 (short story: 25 Icelandic Ghost Stories – J ó n R. H jálmarsson)

November was a very good reading month! I’ve already finished one book in December, so I’m setting a goal of 6. It would be nice to finish with 50 books.