November Wrap-up & December Plans
It’s almost the end of the year, can you believe it? I hope this winter goes as fast as the rest of the year has gone by. It’s only the beginning of December and I’m already sick of being cold all the time. I’m not usually a fan of wishing the time away, but spring needs to hurry up and get here already.
First things first, I have some big news…I am now a contributing member of Insatiable Booksluts! (throws confetti) I’m very excited to be a part of the great team over there. If you aren’t reading their our blog already, you should be. Great articles, great people–it’s a fun time.
Now, I didn’t post much in November, but I have a valid excuse. Heh. I was dealing with an abscessed tooth and the dental work that came with it for most of the month of November. I’ll tell you what, the pain that comes with an abscessed tooth is the absolute worst pain I have ever experienced–or will ever experience again–in my whole life. It was excruciating. I couldn’t concentrate on anything. My reading even suffered because of it, and it takes a lot for me to skip out on reading. Whoa. But the tooth has been taken care of and the pain is gone. Hallelujah.
Funny story about that, though…
I am terrified of pain and needles and doctors and dentists and all that stuff. I was happy to make the dentist appointment if it meant not being in that much pain anymore, but I was terrified at the same time. Thankfully, our family dentist and everyone who works in his office are the most wonderful, and they were super understanding of my fears. So they gave me a prescription for Ativan to take before each appointment. Ativan is an anti-anxiety medication that also causes amnesia. So not only did I not care about anything they were doing to me, but I also don’t remember much about the tooth-pulling appointment at all. Well, I remember it, but it’s a dream-like memory. It feels like it happened to someone else. I was totally disconnected from what they were doing. And again, I just didn’t care. They could have said, “We’re so sorry, Heather, but the only way to fix these teeth is to decapitate you,” and I would have answered, “Okay! Cool!” Hahaha! That Ativan is a wonder drug, I tell you.
Anyway, my reading suffered a bit, so my stats for November look pretty ugly (to me). I’m sure some of my readers will chuckle at what I consider “ugly,” though. Heh.
November stats:
Books finished: 10
YTD: 193
Hours listened: 9 hrs
- Patternmaster, Octavia Butler
- Someone Else’s Love Story, Joshilyn Jackson
- Skeleton Crew, Stephen King
- I Remember You, Yrsa Sigurdardottir
- Video Kill, Joanne Fluke
- The House of Rumour, Jake Arnott
- The Moonstone, Wilkie Collins
- The Red Queen, Philippa Gregory
- Blindness, José Saramago
- Marina, Carlos Ruiz Zafón
My favorites this month were The Moonstone and Marina. Keep your eyes open for my review of Marina–it should be up soon.
Pages read: 3,856
YTD: 65,150
Pages read in November, by day
Currently reading/listening:
- It, Stephen King
- The Left Hand of Darkness, Ursula K. Le Guin
- Code Name Verity, Elizabeth Wein (audiobook)
December plans:
- Winter Solstice, Rosamunde Pilcher (#TuesBookTalk)
- Once We Were Brothers, Ronald H. Balson
- The Light Between Oceans, M.L. Stedman (Lit Collective–didn’t get to it last month)
- The Labrador Fiasco, Margaret Atwood (also passed over last month)
- Song of Susannah, Stephen King (I might get around to actually reading this in December)
- Murder of a Stacked Librarian, Denise Swanson (library book club)
- The Eyes of the Dragon, Stephen King (Read All the SK project, if we have time this month)
- Flowers in the Attic, V.C. Andrews (IB group read–announcement coming soon!)
For those who get together, I hope everyone had a nice I-Had-To-Touch-A-Raw-Turkey-And-It-Grossed-Me-Out Day! For those of you who don’t “celebrate” that holiday, I hope you had a nice November in general. What were the best books you read in November, and what are you looking forward to reading this month?
