November Reading Update

This year, I'm just going to keep track of books I read as I go through the year - not worrying about how many books I have waiting to be read or anything like that. So each month's roundup will just be a picture collage showing the books I've read, with a running tally for each month. I think I'll break down new (to me) books and re-reading as well. And maybe pick a favourite each month. This could change as the year goes on... Once again, I'll set my goal as 100 books - it's about what I have time for, more or less.

So, in November: new (to me) books read: 10 ; books re-read:  
Favourite Book in November:  The Librarian by Salley Vickers

in October: new (to me) books read:  4; books re-read: 1

Favourite Book in October: Overstory by Richard Powers

in September: new (to me) books read: 6 ; books re-read:
Favourite Book in September: The Dutch House, Ann Patchett

in August:  new (to me) books read: 7; books re-read: 2
Favourite Book in August: Where the Crawdads Sing, Delia Owens

in July: new (to me) books read: 5; books re-read: 9
Favourite Book in July: The Singer's Gun, Emily St John Mandel

in June: new (to me) books read: 4; books re-read: 2
Favourite Book in June: Muse of Nightmares, Laini Taylor

in May: new (to me) books read: 5; books re-read: 1
Favourite Book in May: Toffee by Sarah Crossan

in April: new (to me) books read: 6; books re-read:  0
Favourite Book in April: A Boy and his Dog at the End of the World, C A Fletcher

in March:  new (to me) books read: 5; books re-read:  5
Favourite Book in March: The Wolf and the Watchman by Niklas Natt och Dag

in February:  new (to me) books read: 6; books re-read:  0
Favourite Book in February: Heart of a Samurai by Margi Preus

in January:  new (to me) books read: 6; books re-read: 3
Favourite book in January:  Once Upon a River, Diane Setterfield

In November, I read:

• One children's book for school from a lucky dip (The Secret Island by Enid Blyton)
• One crime novel acquired in a charity shop - mid series, so I might go back and read them all (Sorry for the Dead, Nicola Upson)
• Another couple of books recently acquired in a charity shop, a nice light read (The Library of Lost and Found, Phaedra Patrick) and a less light but still entertaining read (The Girl with All the Gifts, M R Carey)
• And a couple which have been sitting around a bit longer (also charity shop purchases, as are many of my books), one by an author I have read and enjoyed before (The Librarian, Salley Vickers) and one a new-to-me author (The Giant's House by Elizabeth McCracken)
• A couple of teen fiction books passed on by Sarah, who was reading the second of these (Dash and Lily's Book of Dares; The Twelve Days of Dash and Lily by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan)
• And another in a crime series I'm reading (Search the Dark, Charles Todd)
• Plus I did go back and find the first in the Nicola Upson series (An Expert in Murder), which was good.

I noticed that I happened to read quite a few books about librarians in November - The Library of Lost and Found, The Librarian and one I'm listening to but haven't quite finished (The Bookwoman of Troublesome Creek) were all coincidental; I admit I chose the Giant's House because it was about a librarian and it seemed topical.  Then the two teen books about Dash & Lily, while not precisely about librarians did feature bookshops and reading heavily, and librarians appeared in the second. Quite a fun coincidence!