November Reading Log

 

November 2:  It's non fiction November! When I told my husband I was planning on reading Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, he said it’s fiction. I disagreed but when I looked it up, found a variety of opinions and the main consensus is Zen is a fictionalized Autobiography in which the author took creative license with the subject matter. *sigh* And hubby hated it when he read it way back when. Thank you for bursting my bubble. I’ll make up my own mind what I think of the story when I read it. A few people who shall remain nameless have fooled me in the past with their so called  autobiographies which turned out to be fictionalized and resulted in me tossing their books across the room in disgust. However, there is literary nonfiction or creative nonfiction which I love to read which uses literary styles and techniques similar to fiction but is actually based on fact to tell a story, rather than a dry tome regurgitating facts.

I finished rereading Nina Sankovitch’s Tolstoy and the Purple Chair and got so much more out of it because I took my time, highlighted so much of it, wrote notes to myself in the margins, plus jotted down quotes and stuff in my book journal so I need to write a blog post about it soon.

Finished Dean Koontz Elsewhere which was quite good.  A parallel universe, time traveling story about an father and daughter who are given the ‘key to everything’ and what happens when they accidently set the thing off.

Finished my bedtime read – Toni McGee Causey’s Bobby Faye’s very (very, very, very) bad day which was a wild day which starts with her trailer flooding, her brother being kidnapped, and her racing through the day from catastrophe to catastrophe trying to save him and keep herself out of jail at the same time.

On the nightstand for nonfiction November, I had quite a few books but don’t think I’ll get through them all. My first pick is A.J. Jacobs The Know it All, or Struthless Your Head is a Houseboat.  If I have time, I’ll meander through True North: A Journey into Unexplored Wilderness by Elliott Merrick. And yes, Zen is still on the table for reading this month too.  As well as Haruki Murakami’s Kafka on the Shore.

My reading has slowed way down and not sure why, but I haven’t read any ebooks this past month.  Need a physical book in my hands these days.

November 10:  I’m dipping my toes into multiple books right now:

Bedtime: Life Forms by Alan Dean Foster- “When nine scientists discover a faraway planet that is miraculously like Earth, they immediately move in for a closer look but discover that nothing is as it actually seems and their survival will be challenged.”  Got to the “Uh Oh” moment last night and the characters don’t know what they are going to do.

Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami:  Kafka trying to figure out his life, Nakata, the cat whispering wondering about, riddles and reasoning tripped up by rainstorms of fishes and leeches is making for a odd read.  I think I may have started this book once before, but never finished it, because don’t remember half this stuff.

John Grisham’s The Racketeer (my G book) “Given the importance of what they do, and the controversies that often surround them, and the violent people they sometimes confront, it is remarkable that in the history of the USA only four active federal judges have been murdered.

Judge Raymond Fawcett just became number five.

His body was found in the small basement of a lakeside cabin he had built himself and frequently used on weekends. When he did not show up for a trial on Monday morning, his law clerks panicked, called the FBI, and in due course the agents found the crime scene. There was no forced entry, no struggle, just two dead bodies – Judge Fawcett and his young secretary.

I did not know Judge Fawcett, but I know who killed him, and why.

I am a lawyer, and I am in prison.

It’s a long story.”      Interesting so far.

A.J. Jacobs – The Know it All (nonfiction read) in which he is reading his way through the encyclopedia brittanica.  Currently on C – little know interesting facts which he tries to use in everyday conversation making for hilarious results.

Saturday Night Movie: My pick tonight for the movie – Dead Poets Society. We’ll see how the guys like it.

November 13:  Voting has started on the Goodread’s Choice Awards nominees and I recognize maybe one or two out of all the categories.    *facepalm*  I may be living under a rock.

November 17:  Can you believe there are 6 1/2 weeks left in the year? I can’t. Time to start brainstorming for next year. I’ve reached F in A.J. Jacob’s The Know it All in which he’s reading through the entire Encyclopedia Britannica in his quest to become the smartest person in the world. The first entry is fables, which coincidentally, coincides with the letter of the week and the first thing that popped up in literary terms when I searched the internet. Synchronicity! Maybe.

I finished Alan Dean Foster’s Life Form (reread from the 90’s which meant I didn’t remember any of it)  Excellent story about scientists going to another planet to study the habitat and come across natives of the planet. In the midst of their research, in the midst of learning about these life forms,  information comes to light that they may not have been the first humans on the planet, throwing their whole project into disarray.

Also finished Grisham’s Racketeer which had a twist near the end that explained everything. Well done.

Still in the middle of Kafka on the Shore. Not sure why keep losing interest and moving on to other books.

Haven’t decided on next read yet. Time to peruse the shelves.

Saturday Night Movie - Our monster movie Yuzo was a big fail – set during covid and a musical to boot. Turned it off and watched an excellent and engaging war movie instead – Operation Crossbow.

November 20:  Last night I finished How to Paint a Dead Man by Sarah Hall. It was supposed to be a reread but just looked through my records and discovered it was a DNF 10 years ago or so. Now I know why. No happily ever after and very depressing. Grief, affairs, a little girl going blind, an artist dying. The little girl gets killed, the old man artist dies from cancer, the younger artist I’m not sure about because his foot was stuck between some boulders off on a mountain,  and the morally gray female character is pregnant and not sure if it was hubby or the man she was having an affair with. But the baby knocks her out of her grief and the day turns sunny.  Oh brother!

November 24:  Happy birthday to me. I think my guys went a little bit overboard! Not that I mind, as I’ll read them all eventually!

Currently on Nora Roberts The Mirror which is excellent so no spoilers since my buddy read partner hasn’t read it yet.   Reading Isak Dinesen’s Out of Africa at Bedtime and still working on the Art of Slow  Writing by Louise DeSalvo.  Haven’t decided on my E book yet.

Saturday Night Movie:  Ender’s Game.