A selection of words and pictures to represent May’s reading:

commonplace book
noun
a book into which notable extracts from other works are copied for personal use.

~

One had no right to play about with people’s lives. One should not interfere with their emotions. A word, a look, a smile, a frown, did something to another human being, waking response or aversion, and a web was woven which had no beginning and no end, spreading outward and inward too, merging, entangling, so that the struggle of one depended upon the struggle of the other.

The Scapegoat by Daphne du Maurier (1957)

~

‘You think only men can run estates, yet many widows do, and women must when their men are at war. And all you want from us is male heirs. Too many men with power. Too many women without.’

The Stolen Crown by Carol McGrath (2023)

~

You can deal with a mood – a mood is bound to pass, and the more violent it is, the more complete the reaction to it will be. But a calm and reasonable determination is very different, because it’s been arrived at slowly and isn’t likely to be laid aside.

Unfinished Portrait by Mary Westmacott (1934)

~

‘It isn’t so easy, is it, to change who we are by changing where we are. The past has a nasty habit of following us around. I believe it’s called regret.’

‘My father said we should always look forward, not back, that you can’t change the past, but the past can change the future, if you want it to.’

The Last Lifeboat by Hazel Gaynor (2023)

~

The things you found in the mud went inevitably into Murdstone’s hands, but he could never take away the things you nurtured inside. Your memories. Your gifts.

Once a Monster by Robert Dinsdale (2023)

~

Favourite books read in May:

The Scapegoat

Authors read for the first time in May:

Robert Dinsdale

Places visited in my May reading:

France, England, the Atlantic Ocean

~

Reading notes: I didn’t manage to finish many books in May, for various reasons, but I’m pleased that I at least found time to re-read The Scapegoat, which I’ve wanted to do for years. 20 Books of Summer starts tomorrow and I’m still not sure which book I’ll be picking up first but I’m looking forward to everything on my list. I’m also planning to take part in Reading the Meow later in the month.

How was your May? What are you hoping to read in June?

A selection of words and pictures to represent April’s reading:

commonplace book
noun
a book into which notable extracts from other works are copied for personal use.

~

It is quite possible to live happily with a person who does not think as you do about the eternal verities, but it is not possible to live happily with someone who wants the window open when you want it shut, or shut when you want it open, or with someone who likes a fire when you don’t, or doesn’t like it when you do.

The Bird in the Tree by Elizabeth Goudge (1940)

~

“Somehow I don’t dare. It’s queer. I’ve always thought that innocent persons who became involved with criminals were absolutely idiotic not to go to the police first thing instead of muddling along, getting in worse stews. But here I am. Afraid – of what I don’t know.”

The So Blue Marble by Dorothy B. Hughes (1940)

~

In medicine or in any other enquiry, you didn’t go looking for what you wanted to be true, not least because that way you might miss the truth when it was right in front of you.

Voices of the Dead by Ambrose Parry (2023)

~

The shops displayed the most attractive wares; the cafés set out their little tables on either side of the Prado; guitar-players sang to any party of officers who looked as though they might be good for a peseta or two; the ladies of the town paraded in their best silk petticoats, and smartest satin bodices, flirting their fans, setting the long fringes on their skirts swinging with the provocative play of their hips; lemonade-sellers, in sleeveless waistcoats and white kilts, went up and down, doing a roaring trade under the avenues of trees; the gayest mats were hung out as sunblinds, creating a strange medley of bright hues in streets where the houses were already stained every colour of the rainbow.

The Spanish Bride by Georgette Heyer (1940)

~

All witnesses, metaphorically, wear black spectacles. They can neither see clearly, nor interpret what they see in the proper colours. They do not know what goes on on the stage, still less what goes on in the audience. Show them a black-and-white record of it afterwards, and they will believe you; but even then they will be unable to interpret what they see.

The Black Spectacles by John Dickson Carr (1939)

~

“You did, in fact, everything you set out to do.”

“There’s only one thing that’s more important,” he answered, “and that is, after you’ve done what you set out to do, to feel that it’s been worth doing.”

Random Harvest by James Hilton (1941)

~

Billy wonders if the rest of his life will be spent crossing back and forth across the plain, which he has heard described as an empty wasteland but knows to be dense with motion: the motion of ancestors, spirits, the animals that should be here and the animals that shouldn’t, songs, stories, people, goods, water, minerals, the railway, the roads, stock tracks, fire, and the celestial bodies. When he crosses the plain, he both lives inside this density and passes over it.

The Sun Walks Down by Fiona McFarlane (2022)

~

Some people tell you that they are not influenced by the atmosphere around them. They are quite mistaken. We are all more or less affected by the spoken or unspoken thoughts of others.

Inquest by Henrietta Clandon (1933)

~

“It’s no good going back over the past. It’s the future one has to live for.”

Murder is Easy by Agatha Christie (1939)

~

Favourite books read in April:

The Bird in the Tree, The Black Spectacles, Random Harvest and Voices of the Dead

Places visited in my April reading:

England, US, Scotland, Spain, France, Australia

Authors read for the first time in April:

Fiona McFarlane

~

Reading notes: My April began with some 1940 novels for 1940 Club, then I seemed to stay around that era for most of the month. I only managed to read one new author, but sometimes it’s comforting to stick to authors you already know and enjoy. I’m starting my May reading with a re-read of one of my favourite Daphne du Maurier books for Heavenali’s DDM Reading Week, but I don’t have any plans other than that.

How was your April? What are you hoping to read in May?

A selection of words and pictures to represent March’s reading:

commonplace book
noun
a book into which notable extracts from other works are copied for personal use.

~

Well, don’t be too hard on yourself, Jazz. We all remember the good times and try to forget the bad. It’s human nature and thank God for it.

The Murders at Fleat House by Lucinda Riley (2022)

~

“I blame myself for being drawn into argument with him, but what else could I do? I was glad to hear a cultured voice, even his, after so much solitary confinement. It was, in a sense, not unlike being stuck in the club with some bore whose opinions are very left or very right. You can’t do anything but listen to the man. You know he is wrong, but since you argue from the standpoint of individuals and he argues about a mythical mass, there is no common ground. And it’s utterly impossible to explain yourself.”

Rogue Male by Geoffrey Household (1939)

~

“It can’t get any darker than midnight.”

There must be a thousand Sicilian proverbs, but this one became my favorite, this one I clung to.

The Orchid Hour by Nancy Bilyeau (2023)

~

Man is a courageous and highly adaptable animal. The conditions he lives under are brought about largely by his own passions, but as soon as enough men find those conditions intolerable they change them as the people of Paris acted in concert when they advanced against the Bastille. It has always been so.

Farewell, the Tranquil Mind by RF Delderfield (1950)

~

Favourite books read in March:

The Murders at Fleat House

Authors read for the first time in March:

Geoffrey Household

Places visited in my March reading:

England, France, USA

~

Reading notes: March hasn’t been a great month for me due to some ongoing health problems (nothing too serious, I hope, but enough to cause a distraction from reading). I managed to take part in Reading Ireland Month with These Days, which I read at the end of February in preparation, but I didn’t have time to read anything for Reading Wales so I’ll make that a priority next year. On a more positive note, I’ve finished Rogue Male, my book for the recent Classics Club Spin already! It helped that it was only 200 pages long. In April, I’m hoping to join in with 1940 Club and have a few books in mind for that.

How was your March? Do you have any plans for your April reading?

A selection of words and pictures to represent February’s reading:

commonplace book
noun
a book into which notable extracts from other works are copied for personal use.

~

Children are not born with memories of who insulted their mother or slew their grandfather or stole their land. Those hates are bequeathed to them, taught them, breathed into them. If adults didn’t tell children of their hereditary hates, perhaps we would do better.

Assassin’s Fate by Robin Hobb (2016)

~

My opinion is that, to be happy, it is best to think that, as we are the product of events, events will continue to produce that which is in harmony with us.

A Laodicean by Thomas Hardy (1881)

~

This was another lesson she had taught Meena: the world need not know your heart if it does not benefit you. And when your feelings do not suit the moment, conceal, pretend if you need to. Whatever you need to do to survive.

Savage Beasts by Rani Selvarajah (2023)

~

What he had not seen, he could not speak of. In his master’s employ, he had always followed that rule. Wise men have neither eyes nor ears.

Rivers of Treason by KJ Maitland (2023)

~

“Miss O’Connell is right,” he said gravely. “We are all human beings with equal rights, with liberty to regulate our own lives, and to choose for ourselves what we shall do, or not do. The only thing I want you to remember is that before our liberty comes our duty to each other – not any one person to anybody else, but each to all.”

The Empty World by D.E. Stevenson (1936)

~

‘You have to dream,’ I said. ‘That’s how the impossible becomes possible. Show me a grand triumph that didn’t start out as a dream.’

The Square of Sevens by Laura Shepherd-Robinson (2023)

~

Nowhere was there cohesion or form. Unrelated incidents and people whirled round in space. But Poirot knew quite well that somehow and somewhere there must be a pattern. Possibly several patterns. Possibly each time one shook the kaleidoscope one got a different pattern…But one of the patterns would be the right pattern. The question was where to start…

Hickory Dickory Dock by Agatha Christie (1955)

~

I think, says Doreen, a lot of people go through life not-knowing a lot of things. It does take courage, you know. To live a life that, at least to yourself, is true. For a lot of people that’s too high a price to pay.

These Days by Lucy Caldwell (2022)

~

Jason thought the world was built for heroes. I knew we had to build it ourselves.

Atalanta by Jennifer Saint (2023)

~

Is it disrespectful to the House to love some Statues more than others? I sometimes ask Myself this question. It is my belief that the House itself loves and blesses equally everything that it has created. Should I try to do the same? Yet, at the same time, I can see that it is in the nature of men to prefer one thing to another, to find one thing more meaningful than another.

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke (2020)

~

The sublimity of the music reached a nerve deep within her and stirred up feelings and emotions she had thought long buried, for the music brought a sense of hope. Perhaps it was an idealistic, naive view of what the future might be – yet surely hope was part of what makes us human, she reflected. The future can’t be forever blighted.

The Lodger by Helen Scarlett (2023)

~

Favourite books read in February:

The Empty World, A Laodicean and The Square of Sevens

Authors read for the first time in February:

Helen Scarlett, Rani Selvarajah, Lucy Caldwell

Places visited in my February reading:

India, South Africa, England, Scotland, Greece, Ireland, France, Germany

~

Reading notes: February was another good month for me; although I didn’t read as many books as in January, I enjoyed most of those I did read, which I think is more important. I’ve also read a good variety of books, including fantasy, crime, historical fiction, mythology and science fiction! Now I just need to get on with posting the reviews. In March, I will be taking part in Reading Ireland Month, hosted by Cathy at 746 Books, and am also hoping to join in with Reading Wales, hosted by Paula at Book Jotter.

How was your February? Do you have any plans for your March reading?

A selection of words and pictures to represent January’s reading:

commonplace book
noun
a book into which notable extracts from other works are copied for personal use.

~

Her words themselves mattered. Words in a song, words in a poem, words caressed until at last they speak a truth, one soul to another, they all mattered. And maybe they matter still.

Music in the Dark by Sally Magnusson (2023)

~

Because she is a woman, and because she is poor, and because she is foreign, she cannot possibly have the same feelings or longings that any other person has. She cannot be motivated by love. In his mind, she must be driven by need, by greed, by want.

Prize Women by Caroline Lea (2023)

~

As for me, in those days, I saw all political systems as more or less the same, forms of foolishness, the prattling of apes, designed to keep the lesser chimps down. This was a shameful foolishness of my own. I have come to see that neutrality is the most extremist stance of all; without it, no tyranny can flourish.

My Father’s House by Joseph O’Connor (2023)

~

Someone whom he had loved past words was becoming a gentle shade, melting away from him month by month, day by day. Time devours everything, but each mortal believes that his own memory can enshrine immortality. He holds the dear image in his heart, but while he yet holds it the laurels fade, the image is dimmed.

Wild Strawberries by Angela Thirkell (1934)

~

“Detecting consists of asking the right questions,” replied Warner. “Just as a barrister proves his case by examination and cross-examination, so does the detective, and one of the most important people he has to examine is himself. Asking myself questions is my chief way of forming theories, and when I have formed one, I seek to demolish it with more questions.”

Death of an Author by ECR Lorac (1935)

~

The Giant has learned this lesson: anything you can imagine, can exist.

The Giant, O’Brien by Hilary Mantel (1998)

~

I was candid in my reply since I could do nothing more. ‘I fell in love’.

‘But why did you allow it, with such a man? You should have turned away from him. A woman cannot choose whether she will love her husband or not.’

Which explained much about the Best marriage.

A Marriage of Fortune by Anne O’Brien (2023)

~

And suddenly she heard Thirza’s voice, as clear as a bell.

The truth’s not important, Vi. If people want to believe, then that’s just what they’ll do.

The Other Side of Mrs Wood by Lucy Barker (2023)

~

Power makes fools and puppets of those who lack it, turning us into poor, needy creatures, desperate to win favour from our master. And when we taste a little power ourselves, we place our dependants in the same position that we were in, as if to exact a vicarious revenge for past humiliations; and thus power works its slow corruption on those who do not have it as well as those who do.

The Shadows of London by Andrew Taylor (2023)

~

Let it be a lesson to us all that even good intentions can lead to great tragedy if not executed with the utmost care.

The Inugami Curse by Seishi Yokomizo (1951)

~

‘Influence is easily won and lost, but power cannot be unseated. If I am dethroned tomorrow, my influence will wane quicker than the moon. Whereas that mountain over there has stood for many lifetimes and will still be standing for many more to come.’

Lady MacBethad by Isabelle Schuler (2023)

~

If his will ever weakened, and he found himself staring out of the window, lost in dreams of other places, his mother’s words came back to him, spoken on a hot day at the edge of his convalescent bed when he was just a boy: ‘There’s other ways to travel’.

She was right. He had books, and there was no barrier to the places he could visit in his own mind.

Homecoming by Kate Morton (2023)

~

If the entire history of the universe was explained within the time-frame of a single day, the Earth wouldn’t have been formed until late in the afternoon. The dinosaurs would have arrived a few minutes before midnight. And human beings would only have existed for the final two seconds.

The Orange Girl by Jostein Gaarder (2003)

~

But it is easy to turn to the weakest when you are racked with pain, to hurt those who can’t defend themselves when you are unable to hurt those who have hurt you. This is how the world works, raging gods forcing nymphs and humans into submission, heroes taking advantage of lesser men and women, kings and princes exploiting slaves.

Clytemnestra by Costanza Casati (2023)

~

Thirty per cent of fifty thousand dollars! Jimmy jingled the few pieces of silver remaining in his pocket. Fifteen thousand dollars! And here he had been walking his legs off and starving in a vain attempt to earn a few paltry dollars honestly.

“There’s something wrong somewhere,” muttered Jimmy to himself.

The Efficiency Expert by Edgar Rice Burroughs (1921)

~

“Man is an unoriginal animal,” said Hercule Poirot.

“Women,” said Mrs Oliver, “are capable of infinite variation. I should never commit the same type of murder twice running.”

Cards on the Table by Agatha Christie (1936)

~

Favourite books read in January:

The Shadows of London and The Other Side of Mrs Wood

Authors read for the first time in January:

Lucy Barker, Isabelle Schuler, Costanza Casati, ECR Lorac, Edgar Rice Burroughs

Places visited in my January reading:

Canada, Scotland, Vatican City, England, Ireland, Norway, Japan, US, Australia, Greece

~

Reading notes: I read sixteen books in January, which is a great start to the year for me. About half of them were NetGalley books and for the first time in years I’m almost up to date with my NetGalley shelf – I only have five books left to read now (until I end up requesting more). I’ve also written most of the reviews but will wait to post them here until on or around the publication dates. The rest of this month’s reads included books for Nordic FINDS, Japanese Literature Month, Read Christie 2023 and the Classics Club Spin!

In February, Karen and Lizzy will be hosting ReadIndies, a month dedicated to books from indie publishers, so I hope to join in with that, as well as the next Read Christie 2023 choice.

How was your January? Do you have any plans for your February reading?

For the last time this year…

A selection of words and pictures to represent December’s reading:

commonplace book
noun
a book into which notable extracts from other works are copied for personal use.

~

His eyes invited me to say more. No one ever had. Whether mortal or immortal, people did not like the sight of grief. They feared it.

The Witch and the Tsar by Olesya Salnikova Gilmore (2022)

~

“Where there is no hope left, you may draft in as many soldiers as you wish, but you will still not be able to implement any restrictions, and once you have failed to persuade people of the benefits of such restrictions, you will find that you are unable to enforce quarantine at all. Quarantine is the art of educating the public in spite of itself, and of teaching it the skill of self-preservation.”

Nights of Plague by Orhan Pamuk (2022)

~

‘I say,’ he began apologetically, ‘you mustn’t mind Aunt Cecelia. It’s only her manner. She’s terrifically pleased to see you.’

‘It must be awful if she isn’t,’ said Ann sincerely.

Rhododendron Pie by Margery Sharp (1930)

~

Just a few common words; and yet common things can sometimes be sublime, or, at the very least, delightful.

The Looking-Glass by Machado de Assis (2022)

~

She laughed then and rose up, beginning to pace, as though her feet were seeking the boards. ‘You see, now, the beauty of tragedy? It has so many faces. Not all doom and gloom, but nobility, honour and a hundred other qualities. You may laugh at a comedy, but you’ll forget it in time. Tragedy has burrs. It sticks to your heart. You remember what it made you feel, always.’

The Whispering Muse by Laura Purcell (2023)

~

He stopped and pulled her round to face him. “You’re talking nonsense, Sara. Wars are not won on soldiers, sailors or airmen, they are won on the temperament of the people. Nobody can beat a people who don’t mean to be beaten.”

The Winter is Past by Noel Streatfeild (1940)

~

“You always take for granted what you have until it is gone. And then you realize how much value it truly held in your life.”

Shadows and Strongholds by Elizabeth Chadwick (2004)

~

The sky boiled until, with a grace that even now left Shay breathless, the birds became a single entity. What were they? They were the shape of candle smoke or that twist of stars that lights clear nights. They were black silk. Patterns dissolved seamlessly into one another as they took on a form that was older than the earth itself, from an age before men’s straight lines.

The Ghost Theatre by Mat Osman (2023)

~

Most of the novels are by female authors – Daphne du Maurier, Angela Carter, Virginia Woolf. In the last month, she has read Rebecca, The Bloody Chamber, Orlando. It’s been a long time since she’s derived such pleasure from it, from the stories spun of other people’s dreams.

Weyward by Emilia Hart (2023)

~

He was struck again by the strangeness of people, their mystery, but also their recognisability. He felt he knew these people immediately, which to him suggested a certain homogeneity among humankind. A general familiarity. As if there were only ten different varieties of soul after all.

Old God’s Time by Sebastian Barry (2023)

~

‘Rather a waste of your time, isn’t it?’

‘If one has an opportunity to observe human nature, time is never wasted,’ said Poirot quietly.

The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding by Agatha Christie (1960)

~

‘Oh, the sort that are rather looked down on, I suppose,’ she replied, and laughed – though not, I rather thought, at herself, but at those who might dare to disdain her. ‘Which is to say I write stories about adventurers and forbidden love and the occasional dastardly plot for revenge, and the critics bemoan my lack of moral virtue. But people read them, and I think I should find it rather dull writing long, moralizing works.’

The Secrets of Hartwood Hall by Katie Lumsden (2023)

~

She loved, at twilight, when the distant brown-stone spire seemed melting in the fluid yellow of the west, to lose herself in vague memories of a trip to Europe, made years ago, and now reduced in her mind’s eye to a pale phantasmagoria of indistinct steeples and dreamy skies. Perhaps at heart Mrs. Manstey was an artist; at all events she was sensible of many changes of color unnoticed by the average eye, and dear to her as the green of early spring was the black lattice of branches against a cold sulphur sky at the close of a snowy day.

The Reckoning by Edith Wharton (collection published 2015)

~

Favourite books read in December:

The Whispering Muse, The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding and The Winter is Past

Authors read for the first time in December:

Orhan Pamuk, Olesya Salnikova Gilmore, Machado de Assis, Mat Osman, Emilia Hart, Katie Lumsden

Places visited in my December reading:

The fictional island of Mingheria, Russia, Brazil, US, England, Ireland

~

December reading notes: In December, I managed to read Rhododendron Pie for Liz’s Dean Street December and The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding for Read Christie 2022, but otherwise I’ve mainly spent this month trying to get ahead with next year’s NetGalley review copies! Unfortunately that means you’ll have to wait a few months for the reviews, but they are all written and scheduled and I feel as though some pressure has been lifted. I don’t have any specific plans for January, apart from needing to read Wild Strawberries by Angela Thirkell, which was chosen for me in the last Classics Club Spin.

What about you? Have you read any good books in December – and what do you think your first book of 2023 will be?

~

Happy New Year!

A selection of words and pictures to represent November’s reading:

commonplace book
noun
a book into which notable extracts from other works are copied for personal use.

~

I liked the moon, with its soft silver beams. It was at once elusive and filled with trickery, so that lost objects that had rolled into the crevices of a room were rarely found, and books read in its light seemed to contain all sorts of fanciful stories that were never there the next morning.

The Ghost Bride by Yangzse Choo (2013)

~

Why were the things that were closest so often the hardest to see?

Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan (2021)

~

‘I call upon the powers of the night to curse this man.’ I yelled the words, holding both arms above my head. ‘I summon the power of the dark moon to strike him down.’ I was bluffing, of course. No witch can summon up powers in that fashion, but a good percentage of witchcraft is the ability to make people believe. And, sometimes, to scare them witless.

The Buried by Sharon Bolton (2022)

~

Memory didn’t reveal the past, but some vestige of it, coloured by what happened later and what is happening in the present moment. Memory is at the service of our will. We hide from what it’s inconvenient to remember – or unbearable to acknowledge. How else could we live with ourselves?

The Darlings of the Asylum by Noel O’Reilly (2022)

~

Sometimes a thread breaks and there is no picking up of that thread again. This does not happen much in books for it is considered bad writing to leave a thread hanging. Threads like that can unravel, the whole garment made ragged and its shape altered.

Blue Postcards by Douglas Bruton (2021)

~

Desperate people tried prophylactics and remedies ranging from quarantine and laxatives to bloody self-flagellation and plague-themed prayer. But the sad fact was that the plague’s spread illustrated nothing so much as the deep interconnection between medieval communities – and their terrible vulnerability to an infection that thrived on human mobility, overcrowding and limited standards of hygiene.

Powers and Thrones by Dan Jones (2021)

~

Grief marks a person, changing them for ever, like a tree struck by lightning. The tree may keep growing, but never in the same way.

For Thy Great Pain Have Mercy on My Little Pain by Victoria Mackenzie (2023)

~

‘Anyone can fool the world by acting a part. Even the devil can give alms,’ said Mr Sutcliffe.

‘But how can we determine character, if not by actions?’

‘We must look for the intention behind the deed.’

The Secret of Matterdale Hall by Marianne Ratcliffe (2022)

~

There is no use sighing over the past when the future is ours.

The Mysterious Mr Badman by WF Harvey (1934)

~

‘Yes,’ said Miss Marple. ‘I had thought of that.’

‘I suppose you think of everything!’ said Lucy bitterly.

‘Well, dear, one has to, really.’

4.50 from Paddington by Agatha Christie (1957)

~

But it will be better, and more correct, if I say that all evil derives from bad example, and the weakness of our nature lies merely in our being obliged to follow that bad example. Furthermore, I am persuaded that the human race is positively destined to set it.

The Life and Opinions of the Tomcat Murr by ETA Hoffmann (1819)

~

Or is it that if someone has power over you, you just don’t have the confidence or energy or whatever, to challenge them? Because some people have that charisma, don’t they? Born leaders. They tell you they have the answers, in such a way you believe they really do. But just because someone is a born leader, doesn’t mean you should follow them.

The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels by Janice Hallett (2023)

~

Perhaps that was the point. You don’t need to be the strongest person in the room. Just the bravest.

The Murder Game by Tom Hindle (2023)

~

Tomorrow, tomorrow! Don’t think about it until it happens! You are beginning to dwell on it, and you mustn’t.

The Ladies of Missalonghi by Colleen McCullough (1987)

~

Favourite books read in November:

The Buried, The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels, 4.50 from Paddington and The Mysterious Mr Badman

Authors read for the first time in November:

Noel O’Reilly, Douglas Bruton, Marianne Ratcliffe, Claire Keegan, Victoria Mackenzie, ETA Hoffmann, WF Harvey

Places visited in my November reading:

Malaya, England, France, Ireland, Australia, Germany

~

November reading notes: November is always a busy month with lots of reading and blogging events taking place, so I’m pleased to say that I managed to join in with most of them. I read several novellas for Novellas in November, finished a nonfiction book for Nonfiction November and was able to fit in books for AusReading Month and German Literature Month as well. Sadly I didn’t have time to read anything for Margaret Atwood Reading Month but do have some of her books on the TBR that I would like to read soon anyway. As you can see I’ve also made a start on some of my NetGalley review copies for 2023!

In December, I’m hoping to read at least one or two books for Liz’s Dean Street Press December but otherwise have no special plans!

How was your November? What are you planning to read in December?