October and November were a busy two months for me. Two very hectic, stressful two months. Between school, work, my family and social life, it was just two months of non-stop “go-go-go”. I turned 25 in November as well, which was a milestone for me, which I wrote about in this post (hotlink).
What I’m trying to say is that I didn’t get a lot of reading done in the past two months. I read a grand total of nine books and only two books in November. The majority of the books I read were romances, which was no surprise to me. Romance is where I turn to when I want to de-stress, let my mind wander and explore, and become wholly enveloped in a story of two people learning to love one another and be together.
Here are the books I read in October and November:
- Sing, Unburied, Sing – Jesmyn Ward
- The Billionaire’s Counterfeit Girlfriend – Nadia Lee
- Intermediate Thermodynamics – Susannah Nix
- Taken by Her Unforgiving Boss – Nadia Lee
- The Billionaire’s Secret Wife – Nadia Lee
- Ghost Ship – James Rollins
- The Billionaire’s Forgotten Fiancée – Nadia Lee
- The Billionaire’s Holiday Bride – Nadia Lee
- Hamilton’s Battalion – Courtney Milan, Alyssa Cole, & Rose Lerner
While I didn’t get a lot of reading done, I do have a few favourites. Three in fact.
You’ve probably heard a lot about Sing, Unburied, Sing since it was published in early September of this year. It was one of the big Fall literary books, and it’s garnered a lot of attention, and it completely deserves it. Jesmyn Ward is arguably one of the best writers of this generation, I think. And I know there are many who agree with me on this statement. (I mean she was awarded the MacArthur Fellowship, aka. The Genius Grant, this year.) She has a way with words that few other authors that I have read have done. Her words stay with you, stick to you, even long after you’ve put down the book. I still can’t fully describe how incredible Sing, Unburied, Sing is a novel, but I can talk about how I felt reading it. There’s a weight that presses against you as you read this novel. At times, that weight feels unbearable, your heart cracks open and you feel the pain, the want, the need, that the characters feel in this novel. At other times you feel a balm sweeps across you and soothe you in a way like no other. It’s about the past, the present, and the future of the United States of America. It’s beautiful, haunting, and really like nothing I’ve read this past year. It’s about family, and heartbreak, love and joy. It’s about history and injustice. It’s about the ghosts that remain with us long after they have passed. This is s brilliant novel and one definitely worth reading.
For me, the best books are ones that I can connect with the characters in some way, whether it is because of past experiences or shared similarities, I seem to remember and love them the best. I connected with the main heroine of Intermediate Thermodynamics, Esther Abbott, almost immediately. Esther and I share a lot of the same personality traits, for better and for worse, and I became entranced with seeing her through this blossoming relationship with her next-door neighbour, Jonathan. We get to see the ups and downs of the beginning of their relationship and how they not only fall in love with one another but also push each other into places they’ve never been and grow. Intermediate Thermodynamics is the second novel in Nix’s Chemical Lesson series. The first book Remedial Rocket Science is also a brilliant novel. I definitely recommend checking out both of them.
The last book that I finished in November is Hamilton’s Battalion, which is a three-part anthology that includes stories from two of my favourite romance writers. I loved this entire book. Every story was different, and every story had their standout moments. Whether it was Rachel’s epiphany in Promised Land by Rose Lerner or John’s appetite for cheese in The Pursuit Of… by Courtney Milan, or Mercy’s letters in That Could Be Enough by Alyssa Cole, each story had that moment that made me open my heart to the stories and the characters residing in them. However, the one thing that moved me the most while reading this trio of romances was not the stories but Courtney Milan’s words in her historical note section at the back of the book. Milan talks about how hard it was to write a story like The Pursuit Of… in the face of all that is happening in the US since the 2016 presidential elections. To write about hope and love, in all its shapes and forms, to read about it and continue to believe in it in the face of all that is happening with the world is a form of resistance and self-care. It’s arguably why I love the romance genre as much as I do, especially when they have brilliant, kick-ass authors like Courtney Milan in it.
So those were my favourite books that I’ve read in the past two months. Be on the lookout for my favourite books that I’ve read in 2017 and a few other surprises coming later in the month and early 2018. Thanks for reading! 😘
A Work in Progress 