A Bookish November

This month I’ve read some great books thanks to Kelly picking my TBR, I’ve had a massive (and ruthless) cull on my TBR, and I’ve announced a book buying ban until the new year. It’s all go.

Mount Ted TBR closed at 308 books last month. As part of my de-cluttering and trying to get a grip on my TBR once and for all, I have had a huge clear out. It seems like only five minutes since I last did an unhaul, but this time I’ve been ruthless; I’ve culled the books I don’t feel I want to pick up right now (or any time in the near future), and the ones that I only have because I felt I ought to read them, rather than actually wanting to. I’ve also cleared more duplicates from the list (I swear they breed when I’m not looking).

I read 14 books this month: Cell 7, Day 7, Final 7, How to be Champion, The Storm Keeper’s Island, Lord of Shadows, Glass Town Wars, A Darker Shade of Magic, Evermore, Tilly and the Book Wanderers, In Your Light, The Star-Spun Web, The Call and Beautiful Broken Things. 

I added 9 books to my collection. You can see these in my most recent haul post. After writing this post I got approved for one new Netgalley title (naughty Charlotte), which I read straight away (good Charlotte), and one that I requested ages ago and was just accepted for.

After all the sorting and reading, my TBR is now 263 books high.

I’ve also announced a book buying ban until the new year (as a start) and I’ll be really working to reduce my TBR, because everything I have there now is something I really do want to read.

Where in the World? COMPLETE. Given the absolute failure I’ve had at trying to complete this challenge under the strict terms I set myself at the start, I’ve decided to branch out from my original intentions and choose a novel set in South America to complete the challenge. I am using The Truth and Lies of Ella Black, which I read and reviewed recently. This completes this challenge.

Magic Square – 23/25. How to be Champion, by Sarah Millican, ticks off the non-fiction title for this challenge. This leaves me with a classic and a biography to read, neither of which generally interest me or are sitting on my TBR, so that might be as far as I get on this challenge.

Book Riot Read Harder – 19/24. I’ve reviewed the squares I’ve haven’t checked off against the books I’ve read this year and managed to tick off a few more. A mystery by a person of colour or LGBT author: The Astonishing Colour of After (it’s not a traditional mystery, but it’s a mystery all the same). An Essay Anthology was Amazing Women which I read and reviewed some time ago. Vox features on several Social Science book lists, so comfortably ticks that box. Sarah Millican’s How to Be Champion covers the Celeb Memoir. Apparently, the Harry Potter books could be counted as classics of Genre Fiction (thanks again Goodreads for showing me that), and I’ve read three of the series this year so take your pick. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone has also featured on the Oprah Book Club reads, so that’s another ticked off. I was also surprised to see that Goodreads counts Children of Blood and Bone as a post-colonial book, but I won’t complain, as that’s another ticked off. This means I’m left with True Crime and a pre 1980 kid’s classic, which I almost certainly won’t read, and a comic by a POC, a comic that isn’t DC or Marvel, and a comic written and illustrated by the same person, which I may still get to. I planned to count Heartstopper for two of these, but it’s been chosen for one of my January reads (spoiler), so we will see what happens with these ones.

Netgalley Crackdown – I’ve ticked another off my Netgalley books this month The Storm Keeper’s Island, but also added two more. I’ve read one of those, leaving me with two books outstanding on my shelf. I am hoping to tick both of these off the list by the end of the year.

How was your October? What were your bookish highlights?