What I read in November 2022
If you go by the composite images in this post, I read nine books in November. But actually, I read 12, because I read my three allocated books for the Book Bloggers’ Novel of the Year Award 2022 (BBNYA) and I’m not allowed to say what they were!
I also did A LOT of writing. I took part in Flash Nano, which is like NaNoWriMo, except instead of aiming to write a 50,000-word novel in 30 days, the challenge is to write a short story every day. I’m pleased to say I managed it.
Some of the stories I scribbled are destined to be never looked at or even thought of again, but others I can totally develop, or use as a basis for something else. My next steps are to sort the wheat from the chaff and start polishing pieces up for competitions and the next Emotional Madness show (Friday 13 January 2023, Colchester Arts Centre!).
So, here are the books I read in November that I am currently allowed to opine on publicly…
Suicide Thursday, by Will Carver - 4.5*
Just an Ordinary Day, by Shirley Jackson - 4.5*
The Taking of Annie Thorne, by C. J. Tudor - good, but very very similar to The Chalk Man - 4*
Eastmouth and other stories, by Alison Moore - 4.5*
The Two Lives of Sara, by Catherine Adel West - 4*
Equal Rites, by Terry Pratchett. Re-read - 4.5*
Wyrd Sisters, by Terry Pratchett - 4.5*
Case Files, by Rachel Amphlett - 4*
After Sundown, edited by Mark Morris - 4*
Looking ahead…
Deliberately keeping my ‘plan to read’ list for December light, as there are so many things on my physical and digital TBR piles that I want to read, and tours are winding down for the holidays, so I want to see where the mood takes me.
Even so, I definitely want to read Witches Abroad, by Terry Pratchett, The Other People, by C. J. Tudor, and Beyond the Veil - the one Mark Morris/Flame Tree Press annual horror anthology I’m yet to devour.
The Christmas break might be a good opportunity for me to reduce said piles a bit. Or there might be a big bookshop sale like last year that will just make them even bigger (I make it sound like I have no agency in this, and books just come home with me from town SORRY I MEAN “THE CITY”. TBF it does feel like that sometimes).