November Reads and December Plans

Hello December and Oh-my-God-where-has-the-year-gone!

Yes, it’s that time of the year again. The most talked issue lately has been the passing of the year and it seems that either my friends and I are all under the misconception that the year is 14 months long or just growing busier and busier every year. Sigh. It’s also so dark outside in Finland that I sometimes start thinking about going to sleep already at four o’clock in the afternoon – no kidding. Hibernation should be a thing. I’ve not yet caught the holiday spirit, but I think it’ll come along nicely after all my deadlines are over. Fingers crossed.

The month of November was pretty decent in the reading front. I read 5 books in the month and have now read a total of 88 books this year. I took me about two weeks to finish Frankenstein–a bit of a struggle, I have to admit–and after that I mostly went for short books. The books that I read in November are quite an eclectic mix: I’ve got romance, classic, contemporary women’s fiction, modern classic with post-colonial vibes, and a historical literary fiction all in one month. Some I enjoyed more than the others, but unfortunately none of them truly stood out. However, I’ve read so many absolutely wonderful novels this year, that I’m already hesitant whether I’ll be able to narrow it down to top 10 at the end of the month.

Books I read in November:

• A Rogue by Any Other Name by Sarah MacLean
• Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
• Iiris Lempivaaran raskas ja levoton sydän by Riikka Pulkkinen
• Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys
• The Brothers by Asko Sahlberg

Once I do get back into the swing of writing reviews, I’ll try to write reviews for all of these. To summarize my feelings for each books: I was positively surprised by the writing in A Rogue by Any Other Name; frustrated and intrigued by Frankenstein; cheering for the feminism in Iiris Lempivaaran raskas ja levoton sydän (eng. The heavy and restless heart of Iiris Lempivaara); fascinated and repelled with display of colonialism in Wide Sargasso Sea, and slightly puzzled with The Brothers. 

I’m currently in the middle of reading The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón which, despite the very engaging and weaving writing style, I am not head-over-heels in love with. I can see why people love it so much, and there’s still about 200 more pages for the story to grow even more interesting, but at the moment it’s only at the ‘very enjoyable’ point of the scale.

Books I plan on reading in December:

• The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón (currently-reading)
• Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng
• Scarlet by Marissa Meyer
• The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth George
• The Winter Book by Tove Jansson
• The Blue Room by Hanne Orstavik
• Storm of Swords by George R.R. Martin
• The Sandman, vol. 2–4 by Neil Gaiman

Although it’s the end of the year, I still have a massive list of books that I’d want to tick off as “read in 2015”. Nevertheless, I’m trying not to put too much stress on my end of the year TBR. Yes, it would be nice to reach 100 books or to complete all of my reading goals, but it’s just not going to happen. I’ll also be travelling a lot in December due to Christmas visits, so I’ve tried to come up with a combination that will stop me from lugging a stone of books in my rucksack. From the list, I’ve three as ebooks and the rest are either paperback or library books that are due back before the holidays begin.

Last year I did a thing where I went through all of the book hauls I had done that year and tried to read as many of the unread books as I could. This year, however, my book acquisition habit has gone through the roof. I quickly counted that this year’s list would probably contain around 30 titles, which means I’d feel disheartened already at the start of the month. Hence, I think I shall keep the idea and move it for January 2016 (maybe also February). It shall be my first bookish resolution of the new year. Estella from Estella’s Revenge is doing something similar with the #ReadMyOwnDamnBooks challenge, so if you’re experiencing the same issue and want some more support and concrete rules, you should check it out!

That’s all for this wrap-up post. I hope you’re all having a wonderful December and I look forward to hearing about your reading plans for the rest of the year. Happy reading! x