November went by really quickly, but the highlight was definitely getting together with my family and having a great meal and an even better time with the people I really care about last week. I’ve got a lot of things to be grateful for, and it was nice to keep that front and center. As the holiday season rolls in, I’ve already gotten most of my Chanukah shopping done, so that’s a lot of stress off my shoulders, and now I can just wrap gifts in a leisurely manner. Ahh, just kidding. I’m obviously going to wait until the night before the family gets together and rush around like a maniac trying to get everything done at the last minute, like I do every year. It’s been cold, rainy, and super windy here, which is perfect weather to curl up under my new, super-soft and fuzzy blanket and read. Here’s some of my November highlights:

• I’m making good progress on my physical ARCs, and I’m absolutely loving the series I’m currently reading.
• I read a whopping 6 nonfiction books this month, and tried to focus more attention to Indigenous authors and topics in honor of Native American Heritage Month.
• My ongoing efforts to incorporate diverse voices led me to read books written by and about Black, Indigenous, Jewish, LGBTQIA+, disabled/neurodivergent, Muslim, Asian, and SWANA people.
• As far as ARCs, I’m still doing well, although it feels like my NetGalley progress is further along than my physical ARCs, but I’m planning to devote more attention to that.
• Finally, I participated in the 12 in 12 challenge, where I had 12 people recommend 12 books for me to read this year. So far, I’ve read 10 of them, so I think I have to get a move on to finish this by the end of the year.

Here’s my breakdown of monthly/cumulative totals for November:

November Totals:

• Books read: 38
• Books DNF’d: 0
• Pages read: 8,036
• Hours listened: 7 days, 8 hours, 50 minutes
• Average pages: 382.7
• Average hours listened: 10 hours, 24 minutes

Cumulative Averages:

• Days per book: 2.64
• Pages read per day: 130.52
• Books read per month: 41.64
• DNF’d books per month: 0.64

Genres Read in November:

• Fantasy: 12
• General Fiction: 2
• Historical Fiction: 3
• History/War: 2
• Horror: 2
• Humor: 1
• Mystery/Suspense: 8
• Romance/Erotica: 4
• Sci-Fi: 1
• Science/Nature: 1
• Travel/Food: 1
• True Crime: 1

Backlist vs. New Releases:

• Backlist books: 17
• 2022 releases: 15
• 2023 releases: 6

Fiction Vs. Nonfiction:

• Fiction: 32
• Nonfiction: 6

Format Read:

• Print: 8
• Digital: 13
• Audio: 17

Age Range:

• Adult: 24
• YA: 13
• MG: 1

My favorite books of the month were The Golden Enclaves by Naomi Novik and The Rage of Dragons by Evan Winter.

Here’s what I read in November:

• Seven Fallen Feathers: Racism, Death, and Hard Truths in a Northern City by Tanya Talaga
• Emperor’s Fate by Alex Gough (Imperial Assassin #6) (NG ARC)
• The Unlucky Woman by Jonathan Dunsky (Adam Lapid Mysteries #5.5)
• The Auschwitz Detective by Jonathan Dunsky (Adam Lapid Mysteries #6)
• The Golden Enclaves by Naomi Novik (The Scholomance #3)
• The Break by Katherena Vermette
• The Rage of Dragons by Evan Winter (The Burning #1)
• Betty by Tiffany McDaniel
• The Obsidian Tower by Melissa Caruso (Rooks and Ruin #1) (Publisher ARC)
• The Quicksilver Court by Melissa Caruso (Rooks and Ruin #2) (Publisher ARC)

• The Weight of Blood by Tiffany D. Jackson
• Highly Suspicious and Unfairly Cute by Talia Hibber (NG ARC)
• Even Though I Knew the End by C.L. Polk (ALC)
• Ash Princess by Laura Sebastian (Ash Princess Trilogy #1)
• Spice Road by Maiya Ibrahim (The Spice Road Trilogy #1) (NG ARC)
• The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

• A Deadly Act by Jonathan Dunsky (Adam Lapid Mysteries #5)
• My First Popsicle: An Anthology of Food and Feelings by Zosia Mamet (ALC)
• Extra Witchy by Ann Aguirre (Fix-It Witches #3) (NG ARC)
• Queen Among the Dead by Lesley Livingston (NG/YABC ARC)
• Planning Perfect by Haley Neil (NG ARC)
• The Cloisters by Katy Hays (ALC)
• Kingdom of the Feared by Kerri Maniscalco (Kingdom of the Wicked #3) (YABC ARC)
• Saint by Adrienne Young (The World of the Narrows #0) (Publisher ARC)
• Whiteout by Dhonielle Clayton (ALC)
• Have I Told You This Already? Stories I Don’t Want to Forget to Remember by Lauren Graham (ALC)
• The Light Pirate by Lily Brooks-Dalton (ALC)
• The Summer that Melted Everything by Tiffany McDaniel
• The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee: Native America from 1890 to the Present by David Treuer

• If You Tell: A True Story of Murder, Family Secrets, and the Unbreakable Bond of Sisterhood by Gregg Olsen

• Six Sweets Under by Sarah Fox (True Confections Mystery #1) (NG ARC)
• The Searcher by Tana French

• Blackwater Falls by Ausma Zehanat Khan (Detective Inaya Rahman #1) (ALC)
• Road of Bones by Christopher Golden
• No Quiet Water by Shirley Miller Kamada (NG ARC)

• The Obsession by Jesse Q. Sutanto (ALC)

• Kingdom of the Wicked by Kerri Maniscalco (Kingdom of the Wicked #1) — reread
• Kingdom of the Cursed by Kerri Maniscalco (Kingdom of the Wicked #2) — reread

How was your November? Did anything exciting happen?