November’s Reads
This month has something that everyone can enjoy!
November’s reads were all over the place in genre from a historical fiction, to science fiction, a mystery, and a short story. When I reflect on previous months there was typically some type of general theme across the reads but this month was truly a mixed bag.
One thing I can say about all the reads is they’ll spark the imagination which I find helps me further experience a read. Visualizing the garden in The Yellow Wallpaper, dreaming of what the home in Dutch House looked like, imagining solving a murder in England during The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, and picturing the society of a dystopian future in Ready Player One was the fuel that rocketed me through all these reads.
When preparing for a guest, one of my favorite ways to get things ready is by picking out and gathering different books for them to read. So, it’s months like this containing mixed genres that helps with my ability to pick those for each person.
If you would like some more tips on personal touches that’ll add to a guest’s experience make sure to check out my tips on preparing an organized guest room!
Kisses,
Kate
4.8/5 goodreads Summary
When I previously traveled around the country weekly for work, my husband and I would listen to or read the same books as something to do together while apart.
This was one of the first reads that got us started on that habit but with the excitement of Ready Player Two being released on November 24th I had to revisit this book.
This story has a little bit of everything from action, romance, mystery, and sarcastic humor. Plus, I love anything dystopian future, 80’s, and I’m a total nerd that enjoys gaming so this read is always right up my alley!
Favorite Quotes :
“Whenever I saw the sun, I reminded myself that I was looking at a star. One of over a hundred billion in our galaxy. A galaxy that was just one of billions of other galaxies in the observable universe. This helped me keep things in perspective.”
“So now the polar ice caps are melting, sea levels are rising,
and the weather is all messed up. Plants and animals are dying off in record
numbers, and lots of people are starving and homeless. And we’re still
fighting wars with each other, mostly over the few resources we have left.”
“Because there is no map for where we are going”
“That was what saved me, I think. Suddenly I’d found something worth doing. A dream worth chasing. For the last five years, the Hunt had given me a goal and purpose. A quest to fulfill. A reason to get up in the morning. Something to look forward to.”
“No one in the world gets what they want and that is beautiful.”
4.5/5 goodreads Summary
This inspiring read brought me back in time to reminisce about my childhood, family relationships, the different states we moved to, and the different homes we lived in.
I enjoyed that my family read this book with me as a part of Bibliotherapy Book Club. The opportunity to discuss how our memories differed was not only interesting but revealing in what makes each of us who we are today.
This story also brought me back to an idea I often mull over, which is that things rarely happen overnight. Whether it’s building a family, creating relationships, gaining knowledge, establishing a career, improving our health, constructing a gardening, developing skills, or change it’ll take time, and that’s okay.
Favorite Quotes :
“Do you think it’s possible to ever see the past as it actually was?”
“There are a few times in life when you leap up and the past that you'd been standing on falls away behind you, and the future you mean to land on is not yet in place, and for a moment you're suspended knowing nothing and no one, not even yourself.”
“Disappointment comes from expectation,”
"But we overlay the present onto the past. We look back through the lens of what we know now, so we're not seeing it as the people we were, we're seeing it as the people we are, and that means the past has been radically altered.”
4.8/5 goodreads Summary
This book was everything I could want in a read yet wasn’t anything I’d expected it to be. I loved the main character along with his many quirks because I can easily relate considering I have a laundry list of my own.
My reading experience had me gasping, giggling, cryin, all while trying to put the pieces together. Hands down my favorite genre to read is mystery/suspense because it always keeps me turning to the next page and this book was no exception.
Favorite Quotes:
“Sometimes we get sad about things and we don't like to tell other people that we are sad about them. We like to keep it a secret. Or sometimes, we are sad but we really don't know why we are sad, so we say we aren't sad but we really are.”
“Lots of things are mysteries. But that doesn't mean there isn't an answer to them. It's just that scientists haven't found the answer yet.”
“I do not like strangers because I do not like people I have never met before. They are hard to understand.”
“In life, you have to take lots of decisions and if you don't take decisions you would never do anything because you would spend all your time choosing between things you could do.”
“And then I thought that I had to be like Sherlock Holmes and I had to detach my mind at will to a remarkable degree so that I did not notice how much it was hurting inside my head.”
4.0/5 goodreads Summary
I read through this book twice, it was so fascinating yet short. If you need a brisk read or you’re someone who falls asleep easily when they cuddle up with a book this could be a good read for you!
Set in the 19th century, this book is written from the perspective of a narrator suffering from postpartum depression. She secretly writes in a journal as she slowly descends into a breakdown while following a rest cure that her husband (a prominent doctor) prescribed.
The most interesting part for me was that it centered around how she saw her situation of feeling trapped come alive within the patterned wallpaper.
Favorite Quotes:
“But the effort is getting to be greater than the relief.”
“You think you have mastered it, but just as you get well under way in following, it turns a back somersault, and there you are. It slaps you in the face, knocks you down, and tramples upon you. It is like a bad dream.”
“John does not know how much I really suffer. He knows there is no REASON to suffer, and that satisfies him.
“He says no one but myself can help me out of it, that I must use my will and self-control and not let any silly fancies run away with me.”