Monthly Wrap-Up – November 2020

Hello everyone,

Well, all of a sudden we are in the final month of the year. I have no idea where November went, it absolutely flew by! Still, there are still a number of things to look back on in what was a month of fairly mixed fortunes.

In the UK, November began with us being placed back in lockdown. The lack of daylight hours this time has made it feel more depressing, but on the plus side I have still been able to go into work as universities have remained open. Without that, the month would have been unbearable.

I did however have to spend one week working from home as there was a positive COVID-19 test in the building where I work, so that was an anxious time. The lockdown is due to end tomorrow, but even after that I will still be living in an area with the tightest restrictions in place, so it is only going to make a small difference.

In more positive news, there was the outcome of the US election, which I was absolutely delighted about. Then there were the books I read, which all turned out to be very good!

I finished a total of five books in November, including two buddy reads and one which definitely has to go down among my best reads of the year. I can only reveal four of them here, as the other one was for the Book Bloggers’ Novel of the Year Award (BBNYA) and is therefore top secret!

So, here are four of the books I read in November: 😉

One Of Us Is Lying ⭐⭐⭐⭐.5
The Cousins ⭐⭐⭐.5
The Once And Future Witches ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
All Your Twisted Secrets ⭐⭐⭐⭐

It has been a busy month, so I struggled to find the time to do much writing. I managed to write a few poems, but am definitely hoping to do more in December. I should have more time, considering that I finish work on the 20th – the challenge then will be not to procrastinate! I am also hoping to complete an online web development course, which I have recently enrolled on.

December is also my busiest and best month of the year for blogging, as I like to publish a lot of posts looking back on the year. This is the first of 21 posts I have planned for the month, so do keep an eye out for them! All I know is that it is going to be super busy!

Something else I hoping to do in December is move into my new flat! It has taken time, but all that is left to do now is finish painting the living area and get some small pieces of furniture, and then I will be all done. It is really exciting, and a nice way to end this rather unsavoury year. I am very much looking forward to Christmas, too.

To finish, here is a list of some of my favourite posts of the month by other book bloggers:

• Danni did the Dark Academia Book Tag. It was the first time I had seen this tag and I loved it – and her answers.
• Are you doing Blogmas this year? If so, Leisha put together a great list of fun post ideas.
• May compiled a list of nine books she is hoping to read before the end of 2020.
• Kaya shared some of her favourite covers of the year from diverse authors.
• Ruby did an interview with the author of the moment – Chloe Gong.
• The amazing Sofii celebrated four years of book blogging, and shared a list of things that she has learned in that time.
• Maisy compared some of her old posts with what she posts now.
• Malka asked a really wonderful question – what makes you well read? She followed that up with a fantastic discussion post.
• Rosie discussed how video games may have influenced her reading habits.
• Becky started a weekly book bloggers’ appreciation post, where she shares posts of different types from across the community.
• One of the Top 10 Tuesday prompts in November was books that would make good song titles, and Shaz was absolutely spot on with her suggestions.
• Dini wrote a great discussion about the pros and cons of book blogging.
• Florence explored the topic of Canon – which books should be taught academically. In her first post in this series, she cited three works by diverse authors that are inspired by Greek mythology.
• Brittany wrote all about her first week working in publishing. So interesting and inspiring!
• Hannah read her first ever mystery novel – In The Woods by Tana French – and really enjoyed it!
• Yesha wrote an amazing review of Black River by Joss Stirling, which made me add it to my TBR with no hesitation!
• Talking of books being added to my TBR, Christine’s review of The Thief On The Winged Horse captivated me.
• What can I say? Sarah also made me add to my TBR with her review of The Appeal!
• I loved Celine‘s combined review of Thirteen and Fifty Fifty by Steve Cavanagh.
• Emily wrote a fantastic and detailed review of Stephen King’s story collection Different Seasons.
• Jessica wrote a wonderfully thoughtful and balanced review on Belzhar, a book she read four years after buying 🙂
• Nastassja‘s review of Anxious People was clever and witty, which made me laugh!
• Kriti reviewed Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport, and that led to an interesting discussion on her use of social media.

Finally, congratulations to everyone in the book blogging community who took part in NaNoWriMo. You should be really proud of all your writing!

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Did you have a good November? Any nice plans for December? Let me know in the comments!